The Isle of Purbeck Sub Aqua Club (IPSAC) was formed in 1988.
The opportunity arose when Divers Down of Swanage (the oldest diving school in the UK) was sold in 1988... some ex-members of the dive school took over the BSAC number (1058) and carried it on as a BSAC Diving Club... and thus, IPSAC was born.
See below for a more detailed history of IPSAC - use the scroll bar in each timeline box to read more about that period in our history.
IPSAC is proud of its history and the fact that several members who joined the courses in the early 1990s are still members of the club. As highly experienced local divers, they are always happy to share their knowledge with new recruits. So if you have any questions about diving around the Isle of Purbeck, just ask!
Use the Contact Us page to get in touch.
A Detailed History
Dennis and Bob Wright, both ex-Royal Navy Divers, wanted to set up a Diving School at Swanage Pier. The only other school in existence was at Dartmouth Creek, but this closed down in the middle 1960s.
Permission was granted from the Pier owners (the Encombe Estate) to start their diving activities from the Pier. The tool shed near the main gates (now gone) was to be their first H.Q and from there, customers were taken for a 1 hour dive under the Pier
Courses were run over 2‐3 days and in September 1959, an application was lodged with the council to build a diving school
Permission for the new Divers Down dive school was granted and was assigned the special branch number 1058 by BSAC.
By the Spring, the first week‐long diving courses commenced at the new school located just before the start of the wooden part of Swanage Pier (where the Divers Down shop can still be found)
A diving tank was acquired from Ian Frazer (who was using it to show off diving to the general public at fair grounds).
The tank stood around 8ft high x 10ft long with a ladder up to the top and was installed right by the dive school.
The tank made the first days of a dive course very easy to monitor. It also was a great attraction to people visiting the Pier who could gaze at the divers as they strolled to and from the Victorian wooden pier
Courses started in March through to October, this was the pattern of the dive school year
Bob Wright moved to Lanzarote to start a dive centre there
Dennis fell seriously ill
Dennis tried to take on qualified instructors to keep the dive school running but it became almost impossible to get sufficiently qualified instructors, and the school sadly declined
During the 30 years that Dennis and Bob Wright ran the dive school, there were no accidents or fatalities – an excellent achievement
1988: IPSAC was born!
The dive school was finally sold.
It's BSAC members (around 50 divers from all over the country) were no longer able to retain their BSAC membership through Divers Down Special Branch 1058, so a new BSAC Branch would be needed
Dennis Wright, Jon and Jo Mosen established the Isle of Purbeck Sub Aqua Club (IPSAC) and, with only 6p in the kitty, formed a committee with Bob Campbell and Tony Smith. The new club acquired the original BSAC dive school number – 1058
Jo Mosen came up with the club name and designed the club’s Plesiosaurus logo – which is even more appropriate now as the Isle of Purbeck has been formally recognised as part of the Jurassic coast
The first action was to start training courses for local members as the majority of existing members were from out of the area.
Local members were already using the pool at the Corrie Hotel (now demolished) and the pool at Spyways at Langton. This was a bit shallow, so for the new courses, Jon and Dennis approached Purbeck Sports Centre to use their pool at Wareham. They welcomed the club, but could only make the pool available on Saturdays
A diving course was advertised and 12 novices were taken through their paces from October to March. Jon and Tony were the instructors for the pool activities with Dennis and Bob running the lectures
That first year, Tony and Jon both completed over 80 sea training dives each to get the novices up to Sports Diver
As the second year started, Dennis left the club.
The routine had been established - another 12 novice divers were trained up.
Club dives on Wednesdays and at weekends saw divers taken by boat to two sites: the first buddy pairs went in on the Kyarra or the Outer Mussel Beds and, when they surfaced, the next buddy pairs were dropped in by the cliffs for a close in drift dive or in and around the caves and ledges
The social side was in full swing too: Roger Wagstaff often used his 31ft hard boat (Kyarra 2) to take club members down the coast for a BBQ at Chapmans Pool and club members also hijacked a long-standing Monday night BBQ and dive down at Kimmeridge arranged between Tony and Mary Smith and Jon and Jo Mosen
During the early 1990s, the club purchased their first inflatable boat - Neptune? - and, after a lot of preparation work, the boat became very well used.
After a couple of seasons, this first boat was replaced with a 5m rib - IPSAC Diver? - which was also used regularly for Wednesday night club dives and for weekend dives.
Unfortunately, while on its mooring in Swanage Bay, easterly winds and the associated waves caused considerable damage; separating the tubes from the hull. She was salvaged and repaired and re‐launched for the new season. She was later sold and the club purchased another boat - Belle
With lots of boat trips and training to organise, it became apparent that endless phone calls and answerphone messages were not the most efficient way to co-ordinate everything. So Peter and Jayne Szekely rose to the challenege and, working closely with Jeremy Goodall and Chris Dunkerley, they built the first IPSAC website - complete with a fully functional dive trip booking system!
This meant dive co-ordinators could create a dive trip and members could book themselves on. It became a lot easier and quicker to ensure boats were not over capacity for any trip and that inexperienced divers were buddied with more experienced members and that no-one was booked to dive a site that was deeper than their qualification allowed.
IPSAC also acquired another boat in 2008 - Posh Harry
Over the next 10 years, the amount of training carried out decreased, while the diving and socialising continued apace!
As a result, IPSAC no longer offers training.
And the dive boats changed again... IPSAC no longer own a dive boat as a club, but Chris Dunkerley and Keith Coombes have kindly allowed IPSAC to use their boats, Posh Harry, Belle and Pier Dory, for club dives
The tradition of diving and socialising continues!
In summer, we dive every Wednesday night and every weekend; a combination of shore diving, commercial charters and Chris Dunkerley's jet boat - Arawak. In winter, we socialise every Wednesday night and sometimes in between!
And we're always happy to meet new members - so come and join the most active and friendly dive club in Swanage!