DUI Dog Days

[LVX]

Windy Point Park, Austin, TX
April 21st – 22nd , 2007 – All Divers
Schedule - Saturday, April 21st

9:00am-5:00pm: Demos will take place all day with the last divers going in the water no later than 4:00 PM.

All divers must fill out liability and rental forms at registration prior to being fitted with equipment. All divers will be fitted into a drysuit and insulation as well as various accessories such as ZipGloves and neoprene hoods. Divers who are new to drysuits, i.e., not drysuit certified, will be guided on their test dive by a certified and insured instructor or divemaster. Divers may try as many suits as they like. DUI staff will be on hand to assist with the sizing and fitting of suits and answer technical questions. All test divers will be given a free DUI Test Diver hat, DUI catalog and a coupon for free “stuff” when they purchase a drysuit or BC from a participating dealer, after the demo.

11:00am-2:00pm: Lunch will be available to all staff and participants during this time. Please plan your diving and work schedule appropriately to ensure you have lunch. We will have hamburgers, hotdogs and veggie burgers as well as chips and drinks.

Sunday, April 22nd

The schedule is essentially the same as Saturday.

9:00am-4:00pm: Demos will take place all day, with the last divers going in the water at 3:00pm. All equipment must be returned by 4:00pm, in order to begin breakdown and pack the truck.

In addition to the facility fee ($10) DUI DOG Rally Participants will need a DUI event ticket.

 

[texdiveguy]

How did the event go for you folks???

 

[Debraw]

I talked to Troy last night and he said they had about 45 people. He said it was more like the Sunday at CSSP during Dog Days. Pretty slow. My guess is that DUI may not be back to Windy Point, Austin, after such a poor turn out. That's just a guess though, no discernable fact.

 

[JessH]

I talked to Troy last night and he said they had about 45 people. He said it was more like the Sunday at CSSP during Dog Days. Pretty slow. My guess is that DUI may not be back to Windy Point, Austin, after such a poor turn out. That's just a guess though, no discernable fact.

That would be a shame. I really wanted to go but was out of town. Hopefully there will be a next year....

~Jess

 

[PvilleStang]

They seemed really happy with the weekend considering the mediocre weather. There was around 80 or so for the turnout, and for the first year, they seemed to really like it. They said they were going to come back, pending Richard would let them, which he definitely liked it! One thing that really needs to be worked on for next year, though, is more instructors / divemasters to give the tours. There were a number of people who showed interest in leading the dives, but it was the same four, and they were getting exhausted after leading dives for 6 hours.

 

[hydro12]

I heard the same thing Pville is saying. Faith called up some folks from DUI and said she thought the turnout wasn't too bad for the first year that far South in Texas.

As for more instructor guides - I definitely agree. It had to have been tiring for that same group to stay in that cold water all day. I went with Troy and Kirk each a few times.

My one gripe is that unless you were "Drysuit certified" you couldn't go without a guide, regardless of how many drysuit dives you may have had - either this weekend, or previously. Kinda limited some of the conditions in which you could test drysuits, considering thermocline was at about 56 ft and they weren't "supposed" to let you go below about 40 ft. You also couldn't see how the suit reacted to venting more air if you weren't inflating it much below 40 ft.

All in all, it was definitely a lot of fun, and I would love to attend another one.

 

[ianr33]

My one gripe is that unless you were "Drysuit certified" you couldn't go without a guide, regardless of how many drysuit dives you may have had - either this weekend, or previously.

I agree. Am sure they have that policy just to cover themselves legally but it is tedious.
I dive my drysuit most weekends this time of year,sure as heck dont see any reason to get a card for it at this stage!

 

[Debraw]

Well, then maybe they will be back! That sounds good. We supported the event at CSSP last year with more than 14 staff members. Some of the bigger shops only provided one or two staff members on Saturday and then none on Sunday at CSSP last year. This time I did not push it as much to my staff members considering it is a little out of our area and we still sent 4 people but 2 of the 4 left on Sunday around 12 noon.
I think every shop in Texas that sells DUI drysuits should provide at least 2 staff members for Sat and Sun at Windy Point and at CSSP. It's not to much to ask the shops who sell DUI to pitch in and help after what DUI does to put on such a huge event.
I also think if you are in the market for a DUI dry suit you should support the shops that help with the event. Rewarding the shops that do not help with the event does not encourage them to help in the future. DUI has issued coupons this year if people tried out a suit at the event that is only redeemable at the shops that participated. We are matching the coupon with an equal discount for all those who tried out a suit this weekend.