BIUPC winning diary

Kirsty Andrews · Issue 147, Nov/Dec 2025 · pp. 65–68

Products mentioned: Nikon D500, Nauticam housing, Retra Pro strobes, Nikon 60mm lens, Nauticam MFO-1 diopter, Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobe, uwcamerastore fibreoptic snoot, Tokina 10-17mm lens, Nauticam CMC-2 wet lens, Nauticam MWL-1 wet lens

Having recently won the British & Irish Underwater Photography Championship for the second year running, UWP Mag asked me to give some insights into the day, perhaps giving away some secrets of my success. The competition window is 10pm Friday to 10pm Saturday but my trip started a little earlier as my club, the Bristol Underwater Photography Group, had a 4 day charter booked on the Celtic Cat out of Porthkerris, Cornwall. When BSoUP changed their historic Plymouth splash-in weekend to the BIUPC, taking place all over the UK and Ireland, entrants were encouraged to get together in groups to enjoy the sociable competitive aspect on a micro-scale - the timing of our BUPG trip was coincidental but nice in a way. Some upsides and downsides, as I will explain. The week before the competition - constant checking of the weather forecast. Winds not great but at least no Easterly which tends to b…