Could someone tell me?

[Rick Murchison]

Jarhead once bubbled...

Rick, have you noticed a geographic pattern of the complaints of silting?

Of course... and we see the same pattern in the groups that come down for their OW checkouts, too. But there are enough from close by that hamburger it up that a regional correlation isn't worth pursuing. There are a few good shops out there - we claim to be one, and our divers are always coming up to me and asking "who are those guys kicking up the bottom?" (someone mentioned the six-month wonders... our youngest instructor is 32 with 1000+ dives, our average instructor is 50 with 30 years diving experience) "My" folks may not be perfect, but they're horrified and embarrassed whenever they do kick up a cloud.
Rick

 

[MikeFerrara]

You can most certainly see a geographic correlation in silt complaints. It is a simple one, any where there is silt and someone who knows that the silt should stay on the bottom. I have watched divers in the ocean, in person and on video (I show these video's in class) and if there was silt there would be no vis. If it were not for the course sand in the ocean nobody would see anything. That is one of the nice things about coral, you can kick the daylights out of it and it doesn't hurt the vis at all.

 

[MikeFerrara]

jepuskar,
We'll be cavin in Kentucky next weekend. Too many caves, not enough time.

 

[Jarhead]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
You can most certainly see a geographic correlation in silt complaints. It is a simple one, any where there is silt and someone who knows that the silt should stay on the bottom. I have watched divers in the ocean, in person and on video (I show these video's in class) and if there was silt there would be no vis. If it were not for the course sand in the ocean nobody would see anything. That is one of the nice things about coral, you can kick the daylights out of it and it doesn't hurt the vis at all.

I'm sorry Mike. I admit I was "yanking your chain". We do have silt here and it does get kicked up from time to time. But even then, vis is better than the river. Attached are some pics from Morrison Springs. The silt is 8"+ deep in places and the consistancy of talcum powder.

Morrison Springs Pics

 

[Dan Gibson]

Mike,

The best place to start is with Andrew at Fifth Dimension or email Sonya Tittle at sonya@fifthd.com

It does seem tough to get GUE to respond at times. I have not quite figured that one out. I would say that alot of these guys are very busy with Halcyon at this time. Demand for there products has grown dramatically. I saw that you went straight to Tyler Moon in one of your earlier posts. That would also work. Make sure you post to this board. I received three requests from hear alone.

What I have found is that people are now coming up to our group and asking about the equipment. That is a start. If they see you in the water doing a good job, they get even more interested. This is very evident when you can do things effortlessly and they struggle. That really gets their attention. Now you have them hooked. Who knows, they might decide they like what they see and want to join your group. This can only lead to better skills and possible additional sales. Most people like being associated with quality.

I agree that there are several instructors locally that need significanrt improvement. I want to get a class together where Andrew comes in and teaches some instructors. He can convince almost anybody why his methods are better.

If you saw an instructor with a wetsuit that had the knees badly damaged, would you want to dive with them? I noticed this on an instructor recently. He does very little diving outside of class. The OW dives rarely reach the 20 minutes that I believe are required for it to count as a dive. If students are done in 10 minutes, so is he. They may swim back to the exit.

Dan

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
Dan
I tried all summer to set up a DIRF and got the run aroud as far as dates. It wasn't until the end of that ordeal that i got hooled up with an instructor who would give a date. The earliest he had was Nov. so we decided to wait untill next year.

Unless we can make changes that effect the majority it won't make a significant difference.

IMO we need higher quality where a diver receives their basic training because there will always be many who don't seek any additional training. An OW class needs to get a diver headed the right direction.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Dan Gibson once bubbled...
I would say that alot of these guys are very busy with Halcyon at this time.

I'll bet they're busy with DEMA. Like most everyone else.
Rick

 

[roakey]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
I tried all summer to set up a DIRF and got the run aroud as far as dates. It wasn't until the end of that ordeal that i got hooled up with an instructor who would give a date.

Mike,

Contact Sonya at FifthD. GUE isn't who you contact, just like you don't contact PADI to schedule an OW class; GUE is the "certifying" organization, not the instructors.

The DIRF class I setup was as close to an accident as you can get. I called up to see if any DIRF classes were going to be offered in the area, and by the time I got off the phone I was organizing one.

sonya@fifthd.com

Roak

 

[MikeFerrara]

The only reason I was talking to GUE is we are often on the phone with Halcyon And of course, some of the GUE folks are also Halcyon folks. I have since been in contact with T. Moon but we just ran out of warm weather and I didn't want to exclude the wet suit folks. We'll get something set up for next season.

 

[jepuskar]

I checked out that 5th Dimension website...specifically the videos of the skills/fin kicks.

Pretty darn cool...I need to learn some of those kicks, not to mention the horizontal ascent/descent. Those secondary hoses were really long too...I see the advantage of having that. Hmmm, interesting stuff!

time to move someplace warmer for the winter.

 

[MikeFerrara]

jepuskar,
Meet us for a dive sometime and you can check out the equipment and the techniques. We introduce those kicks, including bcking up and turns in our OW class. The point is, though, that if need be you can travel inches from the bottom without disturbing anything. And...it's not hard to do!

Mike