Oldest active scuba club

Last updated: May 1, 2020 at 17:44 pm

1938 — Göteborgs Amatördykarklubb (Gothenburg Amateur Diving Club). The club, which was founded on October 22, 1938, began its activities after receiving two Le Prieur open-circuit scuba units sent from Paris-based Epervier & Gillet. Among other objectives, founders Jerker Lundell (a folk teacher), and Enar Liedholm (a bookbinder) dreamed of discovering a long-lost Viking drakkar longship sunk in battle near Gothenburg. The dive club was initially assisted by Jean Painlevé, co-founder of the world’s first scuba diving club, who demonstrated the use of diving apparatus as well as underwater photography techniques. The Gothenburg Amateur Diving Club is still an active organisation as of May 1, 2020.

The Cave Diving Group is the longest running cave diving organisation. It was formed in 1946 by the late Graham Balcombe. The Cave Diving Group is the representative body for cave divers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its function is to educate and support cavers for recreational and exploratory operations in British sump conditions. Members of the Cave Diving Group were involved in the rescue of a youth football team trapped in a cave in Thailand in 2018. The Cave Diving Group is still an active organisation as of May 1, 2020.

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EDITOR’S NOTES
The oldest scuba diving club (still active) was not the first scuba diving club.
Göteborgs Amatördykarklubb
Cave Diving Group

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