Growing Technical Dive Clubs

[w ripley]

How weather-sensitive are your trips?

I have wanted to dive off North Carolina for several years, but I'm really hesitant to book a trip and commit a bunch of money, only to arrive and find out I'm totally blown out of diving. Especially with the costs of tech charters, you might run into the same issue with recruiting from out of area.

You are absolutely right: It is one of the pitfalls of ocean diving. A season of bad weather is bad on the boat ops and divers.

Sometimes we'll set up a window of several days and go on the best, or have alternate dates should the first get blown out. It's hard on the locals, and murder on people who have to travel any distance.

 

[rjack321]

I agree with the suggestion that you need more entry points throughout the season. Someone may not feel "ready" for 150ft until late in the season and by the time the next spring rolls around they miss your entry level charters before they get their sea legs again.

Depth is much less important than attitude and how much fun they are to be around IMHO. I'd be thrilled to fill 120-180ft charters frequently.

 

[offgasser]

I would be interested in a Las Vegas (area)/Southwest club/group of regular tech dives. It is HARD enough finding recreational divers to want to dive Lake Mead, much less technical divers.
I have a boat and have made 68 technical dives off of her, all with a technical diver (or two). My technical dive buddy list is VERY small.
Lake Mead is NOT the Andrea Doria or the Great Lakes region, however, it is in my back yard and at the VERY least it is great for technical dive training. I have enjoyed EVERY one of my technical dives this way.

 

[Doppler]

You are absolutely right: It is one of the pitfalls of ocean diving. A season of bad weather is bad on the boat ops and divers.

Sometimes we'll set up a window of several days and go on the best, or have alternate dates should the first get blown out. It's hard on the locals, and murder on people who have to travel any distance.

Bill: what is the local policy on blown out trips? I hear all sorts of ideas that are all over the map and know that one operator in my area is hurting because of his 'limited refunds' policy

 

[w ripley]

I would be interested in a Las Vegas (area)/Southwest club/group of regular tech dives. It is HARD enough finding recreational divers to want to dive Lake Mead, much less technical divers.
I have a boat and have made 68 technical dives off of her, all with a technical diver (or two). My technical dive buddy list is VERY small.
Lake Mead is NOT the Andrea Doria or the Great Lakes region, however, it is in my back yard and at the VERY least it is great for technical dive training. I have enjoyed EVERY one of my technical dives this way.

I think most technical divers like doing season warm-up dives with other technical divers. Our group goes to a local quarry. Your boat and Lake Mead sound like a good platform, too.

It takes someone to pull everyone together and keep them together. Facebook has turned out to be a good vehicle for groups, like dive clubs. Take a look at our Virginia Beach Technical Divers group page and you can see how we're using it. Set up one for your area and put out a couple of posts on the diving forums and people in your area will know about you, hopefully join your FB page, and go from there. We can talk about this more with PMs, if you like.

If there are several tech divers around you, then find a place that won't cost anything (we started in a dive shop but have gone to restaurants with private meeting rooms. Ordering lunch or dinner and having a beer adds to the fun of getting together).

Schedule a topic, have someone from a tech gear company come in (Submerge Scooter, DiveRite, etc.) and have a meeting. The purpose is to get everybody together and talk about tech diving.

You'll just have to see how things pan out. The comments earlier about the cost of tech trips vs. the economy will play a big part. It's going to be hard to make an active tech dive season work out here in VA, but all we can do is keep trying.

I'm close to announcing our diving schedule for this season and will post here when it's ready, so everyone can see how we're working it this year.

If I were you, I'd give it a try. If it doesn't work you can always bring your boat to VA, LOL.

 

[w ripley]

Bill: what is the local policy on blown out trips? I hear all sorts of ideas that are all over the map and know that one operator in my area is hurting because of his 'limited refunds' policy

What seems to work around here is holding your seat with a credit card, but not running the card. If the trip doesn't go, no big deal. If the boat goes, and you don't make it, you are charged. Some only charge a deposit. You aren't charged if someone can be found to take your place.

Not running the card also lets you, the diver, put your name on a lot of scheduled dives, or to ensure that you've got a seat on the dives you want to do. It would be cost prohibitive if you were charged for each ticket or even for a deposit for each ticket when you made your reservations. Not so when the card isn't run until it's trip time - makes things different.

Making reservations allows the boat owner, the person making the charter, etc., to know who's coming early on, and to be paid whether you show or not. You've got to cover the operator or you can forget about future dives. And, we're all adults, so if you sign up and don't show, well . . .

We've seen just about every angle, but the one above works best. It is especially nice for people coming from out-of-town.

BTW, we try to set it up so that out-of-towners can come in the night before, and sleep on the boat free.