Louisville Diver
Contributor
From the peanut gallery, let me just say that this dispute is a helluvalot better than most reality TV - and it is brought about from a pretty heavy handed moderation policy that isn’t helping to clarify issues in the sport after a recent tragedy.
I’d like to say that it is coming from confusion, but it really isn’t, is it? Looks to me like it is a now-collapsing rear-guard action to protect the reckless world of overcrowded SoCal overnight dive boats, much to the detriment of unsuspecting and naive novice dive consumers.
We were first promised that everything was top notch, first rate and safety forward in SoCal, that this event, while tragic, was a one-off. Those of us who’ve been on better LOBs in the Caribbean, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia were derided as elitist snobs for being horrified over the offerings in SoCal. Now that the reports are coming out on how slipshod and dangerous this operation was, the goalposts are getting repositioned, waivers are trotted out, and posts are getting deleted with threads locked down.
I might be just a dumb inland family and business lawyer the last 30 years, but I have set up some dive operations in coastal areas and know enough about the sport to know when I’m getting shined.
I’m reminded of the shutdown of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises a dozen years ago. They’d been selling timeshares and offering advance fares that were too good to be true. Voices on forums urging caution were shouted down and moderated off - good people who had previously enjoyed positive experiences couldn’t believe that they would be ripped off when it was abundantly clear that they were being ripped off, and continued pouring money into a sinking enterprise (our favorite household line “X bought me a drink at Jammerfest, she would never treat me like this). This has much the same feeling, at least regarding Fitzler.
The Windjammer thing involved a complex web of ownership and operating entities, some of which went as far as involving shifty trusts on the Isle of Man (I had authority to establish entities in Anguilla at the time, and knew the game). I note that there are now some complexities with TA, as the boats are owned by a family trust and operated by contract with TA. Does that sound like it is customer forward to any of you?
I’d like to say that it is coming from confusion, but it really isn’t, is it? Looks to me like it is a now-collapsing rear-guard action to protect the reckless world of overcrowded SoCal overnight dive boats, much to the detriment of unsuspecting and naive novice dive consumers.
We were first promised that everything was top notch, first rate and safety forward in SoCal, that this event, while tragic, was a one-off. Those of us who’ve been on better LOBs in the Caribbean, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia were derided as elitist snobs for being horrified over the offerings in SoCal. Now that the reports are coming out on how slipshod and dangerous this operation was, the goalposts are getting repositioned, waivers are trotted out, and posts are getting deleted with threads locked down.
I might be just a dumb inland family and business lawyer the last 30 years, but I have set up some dive operations in coastal areas and know enough about the sport to know when I’m getting shined.
I’m reminded of the shutdown of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises a dozen years ago. They’d been selling timeshares and offering advance fares that were too good to be true. Voices on forums urging caution were shouted down and moderated off - good people who had previously enjoyed positive experiences couldn’t believe that they would be ripped off when it was abundantly clear that they were being ripped off, and continued pouring money into a sinking enterprise (our favorite household line “X bought me a drink at Jammerfest, she would never treat me like this). This has much the same feeling, at least regarding Fitzler.
The Windjammer thing involved a complex web of ownership and operating entities, some of which went as far as involving shifty trusts on the Isle of Man (I had authority to establish entities in Anguilla at the time, and knew the game). I note that there are now some complexities with TA, as the boats are owned by a family trust and operated by contract with TA. Does that sound like it is customer forward to any of you?