How to Engage Younger People in Diving?

[Ben_3]

@Ben_3 does that course take only one weekend, with pool work and everything? Most shops around here take 2 weekends. Does the gear rental include personal gear (mask, fins, snorkel, booties), or do you have to buy it? Do they do all beach dives?

I hope it's kosher to refer to posts in other threads, but I just read @The Chairman as saying when he got started diving, early BCs were available but not considered mandatory, and as a kid he couldn't afford it, so he just didn't get one. Would any dive instructor endorse that for a new diver today? That's another couple hundred bucks to buy, or recurring rental fees, that new divers face that the OGs didn't.

-1st weekend is pool work so confined dives and then on the 2nd weekend they complet the open water dives.

-Yes you can ask to have a complet kit rented though the shops usually try and sell new mask, fins and snorkel.

-Open water dives are done most often at a quarry. Some times in a lake or the St-Lawrence River. Chartes are possible but you have to pay the extra fee.

 

[Flatline]

After reading over post #157 a few more times I’m pretty convinced that the scuba diving industry has pretty much over complicated and over priced themselves out of the market for the majority of potential new participants.
Scuba was never a “cheap” sport, after all there is “life support” equipment involved.
But I can’t help but think about how it used to be way back in it’s infancy when gear was dirt basic. I don’t know how relatively costly the gear was then as opposed to now, but there was a lot less of it. So much has been added that is considered “mandatory” now that didn’t even exist back then, and somehow people managed to dive and not kill themselves. Classes were longer but I don’t know how the pricing worked in an organization like the YMCA as opposed to the retail structure they have now through a dive shop.
Scuba diving has become way to politicized in my opinion. I wonder if this has become another huge turn off for someone who looks into diving then sees all that and says forget it.

Nail on the head!!!! I honestly believe the industry has done this to itself. Equipment? Not so much. You can get entry level equipment for a good price. IF the dive shop is not snotty and try’s to up sell you out of being a diver. An entry level diver does not need a 1000$ reg and 1000$ computer. Capable dive computer? $200 - 300. In 93’ when I was certified they were enormously expensive. I dove tables for years. Now the absurd proliferation of classes? It’s crazy. The fact that I was forced to go back a get a deep cert after having AOW for 2 decades and logging 100’s of 100-130 foot dives? These money leach courses are reprehensible. Buoyancy should be in OW. Deep should be in AOW. These stupid cert charts look like a maze today. </rant>

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Nail on the head!!!! I honestly believe the industry has done this to itself. Equipment? Not so much. You can get entry level equipment for a good price. IF the dive shop is not snotty and try’s to up sell you out of being a diver. An entry level diver does not need a 1000$ reg and 1000$ computer. Capable dive computer? $200 - 300. In 93’ when I was certified they were enormously expensive. I dove tables for years. Now the absurd proliferation of classes? It’s crazy. The fact that I was forced to go back a get a deep cert after having AOW for 2 decades and logging 100’s of 100-130 foot dives? These money leach courses are reprehensible. Buoyancy should be in OW. Deep should be in AOW. These stupid cert charts look like a maze today. </rant>

Well this is why I mentioned starting freediving first, because it exposes you to the inner workings of the dive industry (including maybe scuba) through another portal.
When I got certified I was already freediving for several years, I was an abalone diver. To get certified was two weekends. The first weekend was class and pool and the second weekend was ocean open water dives. It was $300 for the class and $50 for the bc and reg rental, I already had everything else (and knew how to use it). The pic card was probably $20-$25 can’t remember.
We were taught tables forward and backwards and we were certified to plan and conduct a dive with a buddy on our own to a max of 130’. There was no limit of 60’ mentioned in our class. By the time I did AOW I already had several dives past 100’
There was no “deep diver” specialty that must have come later. Advanced was supposed to cover deep back then.
My first reg was a SP MK20 with a G200B and it was $389 full retail. I added an air2 for another $200 and an analog console with SPG, depth gauge, compass for $150-170.
I already had a dive watch and we used tables.
The BC was a first gen Seaquest Black Diamond for $600 which was big bucks.
And that was all at full retail. If there was scubaboard and a decent used gear market all that could have been sliced in half or better.

 

[GJC]

Well this is why I mentioned starting freediving first, because it exposes you to the inner workings of the dive industry (including maybe scuba) through another portal.
When I got certified I was already freediving for several years, I was an abalone diver. To get certified was two weekends. The first weekend was class and pool and the second weekend was ocean open water dives. It was $300 for the class and $50 for the bc and reg rental, I already had everything else (and knew how to use it). The pic card was probably $20-$25 can’t remember.
We were taught tables forward and backwards and we were certified to plan and conduct a dive with a buddy on our own to a max of 130’. There was no limit of 60’ mentioned in our class. By the time I did AOW I already had several dives past 100’
There was no “deep diver” specialty that must have come later. Advanced was supposed to cover deep back then.
My first reg was a SP MK20 with a G200B and it was $389 full retail. I added an air2 for another $200 and an analog console with SPG, depth gauge, compass for $150-170.
I already had a dive watch and we used tables.
The BC was a first gen Seaquest Black Diamond for $600 which was big bucks.
And that was all at full retail. If there was scubaboard and a decent used gear market all that could have been sliced in half or better.

I'm trying to get a timeline in my mind for cost of equipment and courses and length of courses.

What year were you first certified?

 

[Esprise Me]

Yeah computers themselves are another thing. I bought a PADI OW manual that included tables and learned how to use them months before I took the course because it took a while for schedules to line up and I'm a gunner like that. But the OW manual the shop distributed had no tables or instructions on how to use them, only a card with a code for a crappy online computer simulator. I'm not such a purist as to refuse to dive on a plan of "come up when low on air or NDL according to computer," but I'm glad I at least taught myself the old-school way so I can dive without a computer if I want to.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm trying to get a timeline in my mind for cost of equipment and courses and length of courses.

What year were you first certified?

1998 so not really that long ago.

If I had to start all over with gear and was on an extreme budget, I’d probably just get the DGX BP/W package they have, it’s only around $400 last time I checked. I’d buy a cheap $150 wrist computer like a puck. If I had to buy a reg set new I’d probably go with a Dive Rite package or Deep 6 package. I’d get it with the long hose short hose and plain SPG combo.
Other than that all the rest of the stuff is pretty basic.

If I was going used I’d look around for older Scubapro regs even a MK2 would be fine or older Conshelf. If I wasn’t into plates and wings I’d just look for any used poodle jacket that fit and wear it out until it was completely trashed then throw it away and look around for another decent used one, and just keep doing that.
There is so much barely used gear out there right now for pennies on the dollar.

 

[tursiops]

When I got certified I was already freediving for several years

When was that?

 

[M-Cameron]

I think in general, diving could use more exposure and perhaps a lower upfront cost.

Coming from a family of non-divers near Toronto, I never realized scuba diving was a thing people did outside of tropical vacations that we couldn't afford while I was growing up. Even though I was fortunate enough to have been exposed to a number of other outdoor activities through my local Scout troop (camping, hiking, skiing, swimming, kayaking, etc), it was only after I got certified that I learned that people actually dived locally. This was despite the fact that I lived less than 10 minutes away from two separate dive shops (Scuba 2000 and AquaSub Diving Centre, which some of you will recognize from Alec Peirce's YouTube channel). In the end, I was only exposed to diving after I graduated university and could afford a trip to the Caribbean.

Another big barrier to entry is the upfront cost. Between the OW course fees, textbook, rental equipment, and required personal gear (mask, fins, snorkel, gloves, and booties), my LDS charges about $800 USD for an OW course, which is a lot of money for a hobby people may not even be sure they'll enjoy, particularly if you're struggling with high costs of living and crushing student debt. Much more efficient to save that money and spend your recreational time watching cat videos instead of fish.

i kind of agree.....honestly i think its mainly a lack of exposure.

honestly the only reason i got into diving was because i drive past a dive shop every day, and on a whim i stopped in and did a try-dive. if i took a different route to work, and never drove past that shop, honestly i would have never given diving a second thought.


i dont think cost is a HUGE barrier to entry, young people have no problem spending $400 on video games or buying $7 coffees.....spending <$1000 on scuba gear and OWC i really dont see being a huge issue.....so long as theres perceived value there.


if you told me i was going to spend $1000 on gear and an OWC, and that i would only use it when (if) i traveled to the bahamas.......ide find something else to do.

but if you told me about all the local diving and lakes i can enjoy.....then yeah im game.


i think diving would benefit from just more exposure in general....but also more emphasis on local diving.

 

[DBPacific]

i kind of agree.....honestly i think its mainly a lack of exposure.

honestly the only reason i got into diving was because i drive past a dive shop every day, and on a whim i stopped in and did a try-dive. if i took a different route to work, and never drove past that shop, honestly i would have never given diving a second thought.


i dont think cost is a HUGE barrier to entry, young people have no problem spending $400 on video games or buying $7 coffees.....spending <$1000 on scuba gear and OWC i really dont see being a huge issue.....so long as theres perceived value there.


if you told me i was going to spend $1000 on gear and an OWC, and that i would only use it when (if) i traveled to the bahamas.......ide find something else to do.

but if you told me about all the local diving and lakes i can enjoy.....then yeah im game.


i think diving would benefit from just more exposure in general....but also more emphasis on local diving.

I agree on having a much higher emphasis and outreach of local diving opportunities. The advertised diving I mostly see is for getaways and vacations, so until I saw an opportunity to jump in with research diving I held off. The closest dive shop to me is an hour away, too, so not easy to ask questions or go in to try gear if you don't have a car. I have definitely blown a lot of my savings on the classes and gear that I'm now trying to work back to a good level.

I don't want to repeat myself more than I have on the whole 'I don't think it's cost prohibitive for young people' thing so I'm electing to ignore that and move on with my night

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I have met a number of younger folks for dives who had to rent cars. An additional hassle. With high rents (Seattle) and school loans, you just can't ignore the burden of costs younger generations have. Look at how tuition and housing has increased faster than wages (especially minimum wage). I think that shops that would set up at dive sites and say "hey, just show up, we'll outfit you with gear for a couple dives for a shop dive" would go a long way.