Young divers VS Old divers

[divezero]

Young divers VS. Old divers.

In this day and age, there seems to be a "war" going on in the dive industry. We have young divers on one side and the old divers on the other.

There are many young divers and young dive companies by which I mean, the willing to change with technology and adapt to this day and age.

Then there are the old divers who stick to their brick and mortar dive shop with no interest whatsoever to adapt to the technology of the internet and the new ways of doing things.

The dive industry is in a rut, the young divers and dive companies have to win this war, in order to welcome and attract the new divers to the industry. The future of diving is coming, and it is time for a lot of dive companies to either adapt or get out of the way.

There have been many examples of this in the past couple of years.

I know most of you have an opinion on this, so lets discuss this.

 

[John_B]

 

[NudeDiver]

Why must we continually pit one group of divers vs another? Old vs new. DIR vs non-dir. Split finners v. non-splitfinners. AI-comp users vs non-AI-comp users. Agency 1 vs Agency 2. Crickey! When will enough be enough? Dive, and let dive for cryin' out loud.

 

[divezero]

Haha, john do you have any more popcorn, this could be a good one.

Nudediver - You are right, there are ongoing battles between divers, but the age concern is getting worse and worse. The new generation are growing up and getting jobs where they can now afford vacations and scuba diving and do play around on the internet.

Most sports, such as skateboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding do not have this problem, as everyone lies in one age category. In scuba diving, where everyone can scuba dive, you will have this problem, and it is very interesting seeing everything onfold as the sport of scuba diving attracts more of a younger crowd in todays lifestyle of extreme sports and adventure.

 

[NudeDiver]

Nudediver - You are right, there are ongoing battles between divers, but the age concern is getting worse and worse.

What exactly is the concern? It's not my concern. I've never heard this concern expressed by any diver I've ever met.

The new generation are growing up and getting jobs where they can now afford vacations and scuba diving and do play around on the internet.

So?

Most sports, such as skateboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding do not have this problem, as everyone lies in one age category. In scuba diving, where everyone can scuba dive, you will have this problem, and it is very interesting seeing everything onfold as the sport of scuba diving attracts more of a younger crowd in todays lifestyle of extreme sports and adventure.

A problem? What problem? Why is it a problem? Young people and old people. Unless you're looking for a date, I don't see how it could be a problem. Even then - drink enough beer and you can get over that issue as well.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Most sports, such as skateboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding do not have this problem, as everyone lies in one age category. In scuba diving, where everyone can scuba dive, you will have this problem, and it is very interesting seeing everything onfold as the sport of scuba diving attracts more of a younger crowd in todays lifestyle of extreme sports and adventure.

Treating scuba diving as a sport (from physical, mental and marketing standpoints to name three) may be a large part of the problem. Also, typecasting those other activities as one age category is ignorant. For one thing my uncles who are now 70-ish gave me my first hand me down skateboard. With regard to the other two disciplines; Banana George the water ski guru is 94 (are there more wakeboarders than waterskiers?) and Jake Burton is over 50 (are there more snowboarders than skiers?).

Water skiing and snow skiing give the snow boarding and wake boarding industries an extra margin in an economy where expensive recreations need every margin. Skateboards can be built in your bedroom from parts delivered in the mail and there are numerous free venues. Seems to me like comparing apples, oranges, cherries and figs.

The path we are on means I want to be friends with the guys with the compressors; local dive shops are a threatened species

 

[NudeDiver]

Treating scuba diving as a sport (from physical, mental and marketing standpoints to name three) may be a large part of the problem.

Yeah, see, it's not a sport. I've already addressed this in another thread

The path we are on means I want to be friends with the guys with the compressors; local dive shops are a threatened species

Well, really...if it comes down to that, I'll just spend some money on a compressor. But I don't see it coming to that. When I moved here, we had two dive shops. Now we have three. And a 4th is opening up soon. If dive shops are a dying breed, perhaps we just didn't the word. Yeah - Alaska - always at the end of the line.

 

[porsc]

sorry nudediver, i generally agree with you, but totally disagree with your perspective of diving not being a sport. it is a sport, period. it is accepted as a sport worldwide, and always has been. if golf can be considered a sport, i fail to see why diving wouldn't be. all joking aside, it depends on what type of diving you are doing. there is a lot of deep diving, and timed cavern diving that you must be in great shape to participate safely. also, generally the better shape you are in, the higher degree of safety you have in diving. this has been proven in many studies of dcs, and ean depth limits previously done by the navy. you generally do not see any fat, out of shape people diving on wolf and darwin islands in the galapagos, north sulawesi or raja ampat. the conditions are too rough, and out of shape people just aren't able to complete a full dive in these conditions. certainly there are easy condition diving, where you need little athletic ability to negotiate the dive. but that is only one kind of diving, and i can tell you from experience, that there are many places where i have worked, where out of shape people have been denied a chance to dive certain sites, for this very reason. trust me, this is a sport my friend.

i do agree with you halemano, there is not a rift between older and younger divers. i think divezero missed his target a little bit, in how he phrased it. i know many, many older divers who are using cutting edge equipment and diving technique. the question might, MIGHT be a little more accurate if posed as divers who embrace new technology in this industry, and divers who are still using rocket fins! lol. i have seen many divers who are still using equipment from the seventies and eighties, and i am always mystified at the sight.

i also agree that it gets old, to pit one group against another. while stating my afore mentioned comments above, i have to say that my general attitude is a little different than what goes through my head when i see outdated equipment. i generally believe that the best equipment for any diver, is that which fits them comfortably, and performs safely and efficiently enough for them to dive happily.

 

[covediver]

Haha, john do you have any more popcorn, this could be a good one.

Most sports, such as skateboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding do not have this problem, as everyone lies in one age category. In scuba diving, where everyone can scuba dive, you will have this problem, and it is very interesting seeing everything onfold as the sport of scuba diving attracts more of a younger crowd in todays lifestyle of extreme sports and adventure.

I think you proceed from a false assumption...The war to which you refer is not between young and old but between two very different approaches to marketing...

Demographics of snowboarding and wakeboarding do favor the younger enthusiasts, but in a marketers dream as they age up they move into skiing and more traditional forms of boating, either power or sailing. The further one moves offshore in water sports the more a few things become apparent, the number of participants decreases, the age increases, as does the disposable income.

I am not sure diving falls into the extreme adventure sports that you think it might, although some elements of the sport such as freediving might appeal to a more adventure sports crowd, it is by no means the playground of the young. The demographic I see as regular divers (those making 10 or more dives a year) tend to be middle age and fairly affluent. Lots of younger people do try the sport and may dive incidental to their lesiure pursuits, but diving is not the activity around which they organize their leisure time.

No doubt there are sports that appeal to a specifically younger demographic, skateboarding is a good example. There are also lifetime sports that few people take up as an adult, fishing is one of these. Most people who fish started as children, very few started as adults. That is one reason that fishing gear manufacturers sponsor youth fishing events. Scuba diving is one of those sports that because of the expense it is usually taken up as an adult.

 

[drdaddy]

Maybe divezero is talking about LDS vs the internet. Well, good luck on getting your air fill (especially nitrox mix) on the internet . I love both my LDS and Craigslist!!!

I like what I dive and even bought a couple of backup BCDs so I'll have the old familiar stuff around when I get older. I use computers, but also know how to use tables and keep my analog gauges on my console.

I guess that makes me neither the old or young - just "middle-age".

But when I get "old" I hope there is some young "whippersnapper" around to help me carry my gear and push me off the boat (gear on please).

drdaddy