An Open Letter of Personal Perspective to the Diving Industry by NetDoc

[clint@uniquescuba.com]

For me the question is this:

If the instructor and shop had been insured by the PADI sponsored program, would they have taken these same actions?


IMHO, and strictly my opinion..... NO, not even close


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I've been following this case for a while now..... because I think the outcome will affect most of us.

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I've tried to keep up with comments posted on SB and FB, as well as read all the court documents I have had access to.

I gotta say, I'm thoroughly confused when parties can't even agree on what type of wetsuit the poor child was wearing.

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Pete, I have personally slowed down on participation as more and more people have started contributing with their mouths.... listing things as FACT:, when they weren't even there and have obviously not taken the time to read everything that's available.

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These threads are much like Fox News during a political campaign.

Still, it's good to keep up with what's being posted, but people need to have their BS filter set on High.


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And before you respond with "He was wearing a worn out 5mm wetsuit you idiot... it's a FACT" ... yes, I've read that one already

 

[shoredivr]

I believe the supposition that buoyancy is high in Bear Lake is BS. It is VERY unlikely it is as high as normal salt water, so the kid was still overweighted a LOT. Even if it were like the Great Salt Lake, which is NOT likely, the kid was still overweighted. You can look at all the formal geological and limnological doscuments for Bear Lake and anamalous buoyancy is never mentioned. The mineral load in the water is mentioned, but it is nothing special, and would not likely cause any noticable buoyancy effects to a diver.

Having dived in Bear Lake a few times I found no difference to the buoyancy in the Great Lakes. Bear Lake water tasted like fresh water.

 

[The Chairman]

If the instructor and shop had been insured by the PADI sponsored program, would they have taken these same actions?


IMHO, and strictly my opinion..... NO, not even close

Is there a basis for this opinion other than a gut feeling? Perhaps we should go through those who have been ousted by PADI to see if the correlation holds and that it consists of only those not insured by VC&B. I wouldn't even know how to do that, but my 'opinion' is that it wouldn't matter. Why would it? They're not the ones making a big to do about this incident. If they were trying to send the message that you should use VC&B or else, one would expect them to do just that. I asked PADI Course Directors and instructors if they have had any such message given to them and none seem to recall anything like it being sent their way. Is this a double secret probation kind of thing?

As for the facts, I don't think I've called anyone an idiot because they've disagreed with me on what's fact and what's not. This thread has been pretty amiable so far in that regard and I appreciate that. The best I've seen is that it was a 5 mil farmer john (2 piece) style wetsuit and none of the witnesses indicated that it was worn out. Even if it was brand new, I believe that 30 pounds and a steel tank would still be at least 10 pounds too much for a 120 pound kid and possibly much more.

 

[Zippsy]

For me the question is this:

If the instructor and shop had been insured by the PADI sponsored program, would they have taken these same actions?

IMHO, and strictly my opinion..... NO, not even close.

This is a question, not a challenge: why would it make a difference to PADI? I understand that they want you to use their preferred insurer because of the financial benefit they get back but once an instructor has used a different insurer, and there is a claim, why would it matter to PADI?

 

[danvolker]

Is there a basis for this opinion other than a gut feeling? Perhaps we should go through those who have been ousted by PADI to see if the correlation holds and that it consists of only those not insured by VC&B. I wouldn't even know how to do that, but my 'opinion' is that it wouldn't matter. Why would it? They're not the ones making a big to do about this incident. If they were trying to send the message that you should use VC&B or else, one would expect them to do just that. I asked PADI Course Directors and instructors if they have had any such message given to them and none seem to recall anything like it being sent their way. Is this a double secret probation kind of thing?

As for the facts, I don't think I've called anyone an idiot because they've disagreed with me on what's fact and what's not. This thread has been pretty amiable so far in that regard and I appreciate that. The best I've seen is that it was a 5 mil farmer john (2 piece) style wetsuit and none of the witnesses indicated that it was worn out. Even if it was brand new, I believe that 30 pounds and a steel tank would still be at least 10 pounds too much for a 120 pound kid and possibly much more.

Pete,
To me, this sounds like part of the high volume Dive Instruction Paradigm ....
Fill up a class, get everyone geared as fast as possible with gear that takes little if any direction or configuring by instructors( nothing that consumes time--time costs money)....Figure most students won't dump air well out of the BC, so they will be given big volume floppy BC's that pretty much are one size fits all, or a few sizes that are obvious.... and then make them really heavy with lots of lead so the instructor does not have to spend time with each one getting them to be able to descend.
It's all about teaching the minimum, and not having anyone to police the obvious abuse that is widespread in the industry....Things made worse by concepts like Groupon or Loss Leader Dive instruction for volume Sales of gear.

But we should not be bitching about "WHAT IS"....
....None of the big agencies are going to change this.

What we can do, is find a Shop or a group with Spectacular Instructor(s)...and find ways to promote the daylights out of these spectacular instructors...let the Dive Shops with them, use this as "Bragging Rights"....Every good Dive Shop should try hard to find one of these awesome instructors, to BRAG about, AND to drive new divers to the shop....This means the shop spends ad dollars, and social media dollars, to promote the instructors that are awesome--the 5% of instructors, that all students should want--but currently have NO IDEA HOW TO FIND.......
And as Scubaboard members, it should be our job to re-enforce the understanding that most instructors are bad, and that you need to seek out the great ones....and with tools like SB, it does not have to be that hard to find the best.


If we do this right, we might create a world where a Dive Instructor with true skills, could actually make a good income.....
And avoid the present bad joke:

"What's the difference between a Dive Instructor and a Pizza" ?
"A pizza can feed a Family of Four"

 

[Wookie]

What we can do, is find a Shop or a group with Spectacular Instructor(s)...and find ways to promote the daylights out of these spectacular instructors...let the Dive Shops with them, use this as "Bragging Rights"....Every good Dive Shop should try hard to find one of these awesome instructors, to BRAG about, AND to drive new divers to the shop....This means the shop spends ad dollars, and social media dollars, to promote the instructors that are awesome--the 5% of instructors, that all students should want--but currently have NO IDEA HOW TO FIND......

Dan, why can't we have an agency that promotes this?

 

[redacted]

Dan, why can't we have an agency that promotes this?

Probably because they would rightfully cost more (be more expensive), yet provide the same piece of plastic in the end.

 

[clint@uniquescuba.com]

OK, I'll try to boil this down to zero

Again, these are only my observations and strictly my non professional opinion


Scenario 1

PADI Instructor - PADI sponsored insurance


If PADI were to settle for $800K, why would they demand to stay named in the case to help the plaintiff win a larger settlement against an instructor and shop insured by PADI?

Helping to win a larger settlement in this scenario would be ridiculous because it would harm the PADI publishing company and the Private Equity Firm (and shareholders).



Scenario 2

PADI Instructor - Willis Insurance (PADI competitor)

By settling for $800K and staying named in the case to help win a larger settlement against the shop and instructor, PADI is able to potentially serve a devastating blow to an insurance competitor in the process. ( and send a strong message )


This scenario is the most self serving to the Private Equity Firm and Shareholders that own the PADI publishing company.


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On a side note, Pete, my latest comments were not directed to you personally. I only named you as a response to your observation that some people have not been as active lately.

 

[danvolker]

Dan, why can't we have an agency that promotes this?

Just like with the colleges that kids go to, for Pre-Med...there is always going to be a curve....There will always be the average or mediocre.....The bar may be higher at some for what "average is", but ultimately, each class has the potential to have a kid in it that will shatter the curve....and for dive instructors, there needs to be a way for IDENTIFYING these exceptional instructors, and then getting Social Medias like SB and Facebook, to allow EVERYONE to know who these "curve shatterers are....

Diving Instruction absolutely has the curve shatterer, as much as a Pre-Med class...the instructors that are like this, are so much better than the norm, it really hurts to see the difference.

And....the job of the Agency is to provide the structure for the Dive Education, but just like an Allegheny College or a Harvard or some hot college you like---any Agency is going to have it's own "Average"...most of it's graduates will be average....

We need to "Drive" the top 5%, and the Agencies are not structured for this.

We...SB and Facebook networks AND Dive Clubs..... are.

 

[Wookie]

As long as the industry standard is mediocre instruction, and we demand mediocre agencies, we shall have what we demand.