Divers North-Northwest-West of Ft. Worth

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I think the first meeting or two should be centrally located in the metro as to lend itself the most accessible to everyone involved. We can lay the groundwork of what every body wants to gain from this and discuss options of future meetings and dive dates.
Agreed. I like the Grapevine idea. That is probably close to the middle for the guys furthest west and east, and there are ample places to meet/greet/eat for the first g2g.
I hope we can grow something beyond the current monthly dinner/booze nights and annual group tropic dive trip that most of the surviving local groups have to offer. I would like to see a core group of people that are willing to be consistently active and dive the local and surrounding lakes and aren't afraid of cold water and low viz. There are enough dive spots in Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas to keep us busy all year long, not to mention easy trips to Alabama and Florida.
I think that's what most g2g's evolve into, regardless of intent. I'm definitely down for diving. 99% of my diving is in zero vis, so that doesn't bother me. I'm doing the Flower Gardens March 16-18 through Lone Star Scuba if anyone is interested.
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Ah, nice....a little activity while I've been away. :)

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but please bear with me and I will discuss my original intent in a little more detail:


I think that's what most g2g's evolve into, regardless of intent. I'm definitely down for diving. 99% of my diving is in zero vis, so that doesn't bother me.

I understand where you are coming from, but the idea is to avoid that to the best of our ability. Again, I'm not saying anything negative about the other local clubs and would welcome their involvement in some of our proposed programs. Even a joint effort is not out of the realm of possibility when it comes to conservation efforts. I would also like to bring in a variety of speakers if possible to meetings to discuss everything from various conservation activities, the Texas Artificial Reef Program, various tech diving possibilities, side-mount, representatives of various organizations (PADI, NAUI, SDI/TDI, IANTD, NSS-CDS, NACD, GUE, UTD, etc, etc).

Yes, I put GUE in there. I know GUE/DIR is "somewhat" of a dirty word around here, but I'm looking for members with open minds as well. If we bring in a GUE speaker and you are adamantly opposed to the organization, then simply do not come to that meeting....no harm/no foul. But even if you have a remote interest, please come and listen.

Now I used GUE because most know the back stories, but this goes for any organization. You might not like SDI/TDI, but what if we can get someone like Steve Lewis or one of his counterparts to discuss re-breathers? I'm not saying bring in these speakers from a great distance, but there are times when these speakers are in the DFW or surrounding areas doing something else, and probably wouldn't mind attending an evening event. Unless I am completely mistaken, one of the main trainers for the KISS GEM rebreather lives in Dallas. I'll have to check with Lone Star Scuba about that. Regardless, that is just one idea, but I'm sure ya'll understand my point. The club needs to be both active and evolving. If I see it start falling into a trend like that mentioned above, I'll be one of the first to speak out. :)

The other item that needs to be discussed is training. I would like the club to consider holding training sessions. Yes, I'm talking about bringing in private instructors for classes, but beyond that, just club dives in the local lakes where we are focusing on training. Now, if you are not interested in training on that particular dive, come on out anyway....I am sure there will be other divers that just want to dive without focusing on individual concepts.

So, the club will focus mainly on local diving, training, conservation, and education. And, yes we will discuss trips to the Texas gulf, Florida gulf, North Florida Springs, Flower Gardens, etc.

Is this a grandiose idea? Well, maybe, but I'm just looking for something different and a way to keep diving in our area fun, entertaining and educational. So there it is....that is the idea and I welcome any other ideas, negative remarks, positive comments, entertaining notions.

I heard two for the first meeting in Grapevine....any others?

Safe dives,

Cyp
 
I know some might think, Grapevine, thats close to all that construction around DFW Airport but that will not last forever. Eventually it will get better.

Also I am all for GUE. I am not sure why this hasn't seem to have caught on more that it has in the US. Seems like they are heavily concentrated in FL, CA, Washington and overseas but these are the only areas.

Throw out some dates and let the fun begin
 
A little late to the thread, and a little ways south of you guys, but we are a small group in central TX attempting to start a similar thing. We are the Lone Star Underwater Explorers, a group dedicated to the ideals of conservation, exploration and education. We have just received our non-profit status and we are looking to recruit and gain members that share our passion for Texas diving, the protection of our local resources and raising the bar for dive training. We are a "GUE-centric" group, in that our founding members are all GUE-trained and our diving philosophy is pretty well in-line with GUE's mission, philosophy and approach to diving.

We're just getting off the ground, so things are VERY new, but we're hoping to have some cool stuff happen this year.

I would love to "join forces" with you guys regarding training and diving opportunities. We have built and are continuing to build relationships with some of the top GUE and NAUI-Tech instructors, along with local aquatic conservationists and scientists which will allow us to offer some kick-ass training and speaking engagements in the coming year. Even if one does not desire training, they can at least come out and enjoy time with some well-known folks in the industry.

We will also be out as an organization at the local lakes nearly every weekend, just diving and hanging out. Not so much right now, but as it warms up, we'll be around Travis, Canyon, and other lakes between Austin and San Antonio pretty much any given weekend. If anyone wants to meet up, we'll gladly meet and dive.

Beyond local diving, we're setting up a trip to South Padre in June with Tim O'Leary to do some diving on the clipper and the rigs. If anyone is interested, let us know. We might be offering some North FL or Mexico cave trips later in the year, since one of our founding members is now GUE Cave 1 and another founding member is heading to FL in a few weeks for cave training. We're also putting together a wreck-diving trip in August, which looks to be totally awesome.

Thanks again to Cyprian for letting me know about this thread and for being like-minded in what we desire out of diving. Hope to dive with you guys in the near future!
 
50Fathom, thanks for jumping in.

Side note to all readers, I knew about 50Fathom and LSUE forming in Central TX as we had discussed this via PM and through that discussion, realized that they were forming something similar to what I am trying to suggest in the DFW area.

Again, my post topic was poorly titled, and for that I apologize. I should have just called out DFW area divers. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20.

Keep the thoughts coming, folks.

Safe dives,

Cyp
 
I know some might think, Grapevine, thats close to all that construction around DFW Airport but that will not last forever. Eventually it will get better.

Also I am all for GUE. I am not sure why this hasn't seem to have caught on more that it has in the US. Seems like they are heavily concentrated in FL, CA, Washington and overseas but these are the only areas.

Throw out some dates and let the fun begin

As relates to GUE not catching on as well in Texas and other areas central to the US....I'm going to bite my tongue, but I will say that it had a lot to do with a few select individuals that pushed the wrong buttons. I know a couple of GUE divers around here, and I have talked to some on the internet boards and they have always been cordial and willing to help without pushing their ideas. I've read the internet boards for a long time, Scubaboard almost since the beginning, even though I didn't official join until 2003, and I've read more than my share of the various battles. There are back stories involved, but well beyond the scope of this thread. I don't want to jump off topic so I will leave it at that. :) Let's get together for some dives or lunch sometime, Korvette, and I'll be happy to discuss then. And no offense intended to you by asking that we stay focused on the club formation. I can just see this "topic" inside this thread turn into another battle and I do not want that to happen.

Back on topic: I agree that the Grapevine area around DFW airport is a mess, but we were trying to find something more central to the people that have posted in this thread thus far. Again, I am open to suggestion? I just do not want to miss out on those driving from the Irving area by pushing the first meeting too far North. I would love to get everyone to come down around the Alliance airport area, but that's just because I'm only 20 mins away from there and it's easy driving for me and the others NW and W of Ft. Worth. :)
 
the idea is to avoid that to the best of our ability. Again, I'm not saying anything negative about the other local clubs and would welcome their involvement in some of our proposed programs.

Yes, I put GUE in there. I know GUE/DIR is "somewhat" of a dirty word around here, but I'm looking for members with open minds as well. If we bring in a GUE speaker and you are adamantly opposed to the organization, then simply do not come to that meeting....no harm/no foul. But even if you have a remote interest, please come and listen.
I was really speaking from my experiences of car g2g's. I have no knowledge of local dive clubs. It just seems that you run out of talking points, or people want to have a drinking g2g (which is a lot of fun sometimes), and the meets DEvolve into drinking only. Making some of them about training and keeping that structure should help. In case my other post didn't hint at it, I'm a PSD, so training doesn't bother me a bit, and maybe I can drag some other guys out with me. I don't know the backstory on the negative connotation of GUE, but I think it's a great idea from the little I do know.
We are the Lone Star Underwater Explorers, a group dedicated to the ideals of conservation, exploration and education. We have just received our non-profit status and we are looking to recruit and gain members that share our passion for Texas diving, the protection of our local resources and raising the bar for dive training.
Please post up when y'all are diving. I'm from Austin, and my parents live in Kyle now. I'd definitely be down for coming down for dives. I'm interested in diving Aquarena Springs, also, if y'all help with that. I'll be down for 2 weeks, March 23-April 4th-ish.
 
Please post up when y'all are diving. I'm from Austin, and my parents live in Kyle now. I'd definitely be down for coming down for dives. I'm interested in diving Aquarena Springs, also, if y'all help with that. I'll be down for 2 weeks, March 23-April 4th-ish.

I live in Kyle, and some of our founders are in Austin. Anytime we go out, we'll let y'all know. Sometimes we'll be diving, other times, the club will be putting on "Two Week Tweaks", which is where every two weeks, we schedule a paid event where 2-4 people can come and get a short discussion on the philosophy, the gear configuration, "why" we do what we do. Then we "tweak" their gear to be more philosophy-compliant, (but nothing radical, unless they ask), and then we all do a half-day or so of diving with the group, focusing on team, buoyancy and trim.

So either for fun, or for a "Tweak dive", we'll let y'all know.
 

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