Biggest thing killing dive shops?

[boulderjohn]

Those I know who had their own compressors enjoyed diving 100 fold.

What is the cause and what is the effect?

Are you saying that if people had to own their own compressors, they would enjoy scuba more, or is it that the tiny number of people willing to shell out thousands of dollars to own and maintain a compressor did so because they already enjoyed scuba?

As for me, that lower bar for entry to scuba that you mock was important. I had a vacation planned to Cozumel, and I cannot sit on a beach and tan, so I took a quick and inexpensive course on the theory that I would dive a couple of days on that vacation and possibly on future vacations to tropical locations. I was envisioning possibly 6 dives every few years at the most. If you had told me I would have had to take weeks of training, with mile swims, long training runs, and the other physical fitness requirements you have regularly promoted in threads over the years to be certified, I would have looked for some other way to spend my time. If you had told me I would need to own my own tanks and compressor, I would have laughed out loud.

My initial vision of occasional shallow dives in warm, tropical climes morphed into what I do now. In the past 10 months, my average pleasure (non-instructional) dive has been well over 200 feet deep, in water about 60 degrees. I think that is the kind of diving that you think would attract divers to the sport. In my case, it was just the opposite. I was attracted by the kind of diving you ridicule, and I very slowly changed into the diver I am now. I had to find out what scuba was really like before I could get the interest in taking it to where I am now.

 

[drrich2]

Diving has been trying to sever ties with the fit, male, heroic archetype like Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt for about 30 or 40 years now. The culture scolds those who want to be what made it sexy and exciting and apologizes for them.

Any thoughts on how to reverse that trend, while mitigating the dark side of doing so? For example, we might not want to...

1.) Alienate people who don't fit that archetype. Weekend warrior-types can play golf, basketball, bass fish, ski, etc..., without bearing much resemblance to name brand sport professionals. Can we promote 'heroes' without making other people feel like losers? I think so...but who? Navy SEALs? Record setters?

2.) Avoid glorifying people doing overly dangerous things. I get the sense on the forum sometimes limit-pushers using deep air, or risk takers, are often frowned upon out of concern they'll inspire the unqualified to make foolish, lethal dives (as the Doc Deep fatal dive). Even solo divers doing benign dives within their scope of ability sometimes run into the 'solo is always wrong' mentality.

Richard.

 

[boulderjohn]

Some people are missing an important point about statistics, etc.

If you make something, anything, hard to get into, either by cost or by physical challenges in initiation, only the people who are highly motivated to do that activity from the start will begin the training. If you say that the people who were trained that way turned out to be more likely to stick with it, that has nothing to do with the training. It is all from their initial motivation. Those People would still be highly motivated to begin the sport regardless of the opening requirements.

When I taught OW classes, I always asked people why they were talking the class. At least half said it was so they could dive on an upcoming vacation trip--implying that it might be the one and only time they do it. Is there some reason we should spit on those people and cast them out, like demons in an exorcism? If so, as I indicated in my last post, I would not be a diver now.

 

[runsongas]

f150 will hold at least 2 divers + gear easily, so split the gas cost with a buddy.

filling less tanks sounds great till not having foot traffic means all your other revenue just took a nose dive too. because all the people that were coming to the shops for fills are steering their friends to the new shop they are going to.

 

[Billy Northrup]

I think they days of a stand alone scuba shop are numbered (here). When I look down the peer I seek Kayak rentals and the like I think a savy business person could bundle several businesses together and make it.... Preferably associated with a boat.

 

[dmaziuk]

That's not true in the UK.

A club is just a group of people who meet at a free place. Usually a pub. They will occasionally rent swimming pools - which are owned by the local council so who have to let the public use them. They then go to a quarry and do there open water dives. The kit they have is hugely discounted and will usually be a buddy commando bcd - these are fine and last forever. They also get grant money from the lottery here.

There running costs are very little. Each member pays a modest amount to keep it all running. They do not need to have the same levels of H&S as a commercial operation. The system works well actually.

Where do they get the fills?

 

[HantsDiver]

Where do they get the fills?

Some/most own compressors. Lottery money/bigger clubs etc... A second hand compressor costs hundreds not thousands. One member of the club might be an engineer and maintain it.

Some clubs have full trimix mixing stations. At one club I can think of in the UK they have a set up that would beat nearly anything in the US commercially. They just pay cost for their Helium and o2. If they have 2/300 members who annually pay 200 that's between 40/60,000 pounds a year. Or around 100 thousand dollars.

Also if you are a "bsac" member - you can usually use other clubs compressors if you are diving away from home.

It's a system that works well. I don't like it for other reasons - but I admire how they have gotten it to work that well.

 

[drrich2]

When I taught OW classes, I always asked people why they were talking the class. At least half said it was so they could dive on an upcoming vacation trip--implying that it might be the one and only time they do it. Is there some reason we should spit on those people and cast them out, like demons in an exorcism? If so, as I indicated in my last post, I would not be a diver now.

Cultural question in scuba; we wouldn't wring our hands if Discover Scuba course grad. retention rates were low, would we? After all, that's the course that lets people learn about and try scuba diving, to see whether it's something they want to follow through with.

Maybe we should look at OW training & certification the same way?

In that case, rather than brainstorm as much about retaining a lot more of the people currently certifying, some of the focus might shift to identifying some hypothetical demographic more likely to become committed divers, defining it, and figuring out how to reach it with advertising. Is this doable?

Richard.

 

[dmaziuk]

The point is that if I feel like diving in the local cold muck I can go to my LDS and rent everything including full tank. And I don't do that often enough for them to make ends meet. With the club system, I have to buy my own everything including compressor with its own semi-detached house, and still rent the stuff where I actually dive: remote warm water destinations. Now explain to me how I would support the club system more than I am supporting my local LDS?

"One member of a club must be an engineer to maintain it". Yep. What else you're forgetting to mention?

 

[tridacna]

Some/most own compressors. Lottery money/bigger clubs etc... A second hand compressor costs hundreds not thousands. One member of the club might be an engineer and maintain it.

Some clubs have full trimix mixing stations. At one club I can think of in the UK they have a set up that would beat nearly anything in the US commercially. They just pay cost for their Helium and o2. If they have 2/300 members who annually pay 200 that's between 40/60,000 pounds a year. Or around 100 thousand dollars.

Also if you are a "bsac" member - you can usually use other clubs compressors if you are diving away from home.

It's a system that works well. I don't like it for other reasons - but I admire how they have gotten it to work that well.

Curious. What “other” reasons?