BSAC diver celebrates 80th birthday with 60-minute diamond anniversary plunge

A scuba diver has celebrated his 80th birthday with a 60-minute underwater plunge, to mark Ipswich Dive Club’s diamond anniversary.

Bob Kessler spent one minute underwater for every year there has been a British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) branch in his home town of Ipswich.

Great-grandfather-of-four Bob is the oldest active diving member of Ipswich Dive Club, also known as iDive, where members are planning a series of activities to mark the club’s 60th anniversary year.

Several iDive members have pledged to complete 60 dives in 2016, while others have set themselves the challenge of collectively diving 60 different UK sites throughout the year.

With a false hip and false knee, former Royal Navy sailor Bob said: “I wanted to do something around the number 60 to mark the anniversary.

“Some of our members are doing 60 dives in different places, but I couldn’t do that – the mind is sharp but the body is weak! So I decided on this, it’s my 80th birthday and so I thought why not combine the two.”

Bob was joined by several other club members for his underwater challenge at Ipswich’s Fore Street Pool, from 7.30pm on Thursday January 28, the day after his 80th birthday.

Source: www.bsac.com