How Can We Keep Divers Diving After Certification?

[boulderjohn]

The dive shop with which I am associated has taken a lot of effort to try to get people into a more detailed biology/oceanography program. We purchased a program called Beautiful Oceans, which teaches much of what Bill is calling for. We include some of it in our OW instruction. We offer regular classes using those materials, and advertise it well.

Almost no one signs up.

We are about to start work on a very ambitious program that will bring a lot of related science into scuba instruction. We are gong after a very specific type of student whom we believe will indeed be a life-long diver, but we don't believe our most wildly successful outcome will vastly change the numbers of the industry as a whole.

 

[RJP]

2nd, LDS need to start realizing that the guy who dives a couple times a year doesn't need and can't afford premium equipment.

Faulty premise. The number of times you dive a year has no relationship to what kind of gear you can afford...or even really what kind of gear you "need." There's plenty of people with deep pockets who feel they need a titanium regulator and datamask.

 

[RJP]

Priorities.

R..

Right - so making diver easier or cheaper won't change his priorities.

 

[rstofer]

There have been many good answers here. In particular 'climate' resonated with me.

However, I think the single thing that would make most difference would be better training. The feeling of flailing in the water is not a good one and probably equal but opposite to the feeling of weightlessness and freedom afforded by good buoyancy control. However, I definitely do not want to hijack another thread into the 'crappy training' realm.

J

Right! But then when I suggest that new divers take AOW right after OW, the instructors go berzerk. They don't even want to dive with their own students.

If you want to keep people diving, get them comfortable. Four open water dives just doesn't get it done. Twenty five dives (OW, AOW, Rescue plus 5 specialties) MIGHT get it done. But that's the way it used to be, many years ago. A LOT of training turning out a high percentage of long time divers.

New divers understand that right out of OW, they know exactly nothing. They can feel it. Now, I know that Jim Lap will jump in here about his program and I'm sure it is excellent. But, if the training is so good and new divers are so comfortable in the water, how come they don't hang around?

And how come instructors throw a fit when I suggest AOW immediately after OW? That's a rhetorical question, I know their answer. I disagree with them but I understand. They want brand new divers to head to the cold dark ocean and scare themselves silly diving with a similarly qualified diver. No wonder new divers don't hang around.

Richard

 

[djtimmy77]

In my workplace, there are perhaps 8 people right around my age (25-35) that have gotten certified in the last 3-4 years. 3 of us got certified together. out of the 8 people, 2 of us dive regularly. One dives a couple times a year, and the other 5 don't really dive. 5 of us have full sets of gear.

If it was $20-30 to go out on a boat that wasn't jam packed like sardines, and you didn't have to leave a tip for someone who grabbed your fins for you as you got out of the water, I think a couple of the other guys would be a lot more inclined to go regularly. Paying $60-65 for the boat, $10-20 for a tip, and then an additional $20 to rent air tanks for two dives adds up to be quite a bit.

I also think time and motivation are other huge factors. Some people don't want to get up early to give up most of a day. Two of them have babies so they don't have time. Two have wives that aren't interested in diving. Two of them like going out drinking on the weekend too much to give that up. Fortunately my GF is an UW photog so I nearly always have a trustworthy buddy available.

I also know that 3 of the guys are pretty uncomfortable in the water, and therefore don't want to spend money on doing something they don't really enjoy.

 

[boulderjohn]

Back when we were in our 20's and 30's, my wife and I played a lot of tennis. We would sometimes sit at a court, 2nd or 3rd in line, patiently waiting for our turn to play. The city built more courts, but we still had to wait in line.

My decayed knees no longer allow me to play, but when I pass by a court today, it is rare that I see anyone playing, let alone waiting their turns. The city has not built any new courts that I know of in 20 years, while our population has grown by at least 20% since then.

Why this precipitous decline in tennis? I have no idea. The cost of a tennis racket and balls is tiny compared to what you have to pay for almost any other sport, so it is hard to believe that is a factor.

I don't know how the rest of the nation is, but in our area golf has had a similar trend. We had a huge boom in golf course development not long ago, and now it is clear that they are overbuilt, and they are providing all kinds of incentives to get people to play. I can't remember when I last paid full price for a round of golf.

It may be that the baby boomers who flooded the courts and courses in our youth are less interested in such sports as we age. It may be something else.

Any dropoff in scuba may be similar in nature and may have little to do with the sport itself. It may instead reflect larger forces at work.

 

[RJP]

New divers understand that right out of OW, they know exactly nothing.

I bet not. I think a good many of them think "Holy cow, I'm now a trained, certified diver. This is as good as it's gonna get and I suck at this, and it's no where near as fun as I thought it would be."


No wonder they bail?

 

[Diver0001]

Right - so making diver easier or cheaper won't change his priorities.

Right. Some people just want to try it and there's nothing you can do to "keep them diving".

I may try sky diving some day (it's been on my list for quite a while) but I have no intention of becoming a sky diver. I tried parasailing....once, I also climb at an indoor gym in the winter when it's too cold for diving but I have no intention of becoming a great climber. I bowl a couple of times a year with the kids but I don't want my own ball...

you get the picture. Diving is for a lot of people just one thing on their list.

R..

 

[ScubaSteve]

This is as good as it's gonna get and I suck at this."


No wonder they bail?

That I disagree with. I think many view themselves as having talents/skills that they actually have not yet mastered. Those that do realize that they are not great get frustrated because other divers can seem intolerant of new divers. Not everybody but many IMO. Others just get frustrated because they do not see the improvements because they are not diving with a good buddy/mentor who can help point things out (good and bad) such as how much they have improved somewhere.

 

[DiveNav]

....My decayed knees no longer allow me to play, but when I pass by a court today, it is rare that I see anyone playing, let alone waiting their turns. Why this precipitous decline in tennis? I have no idea......

.... It may be that the baby boomers who flooded the courts and courses in our youth are less interested in such sports as we age. It may be something else.....

We did not have ScubaBoard (and the Internet) back then

Alberto