The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
This past weekend I was invited by John McCain to try out Dive Rite's newest addition to the Nomad line, the LTZ. Mselenaous and I decided to meet John at Dive Rite to get it fitted just right. We got there at lunch time and immediately, we run into Joyce from Dive Gear Express and her BFF/SO Mike. After a few minutes of talking about the Mega Dive at Ginnie, Brandy got back from lunch and we started the process.
No, this wasn't my first time to visit Dive Rite in Lake City. I've always enjoyed my visits there, but they were short and only a few minutes at a time. I love that they have a sign at the very front desk suggesting that they have to work, but live to dive. I also love that the entire facility is filled with great pictures, mementos and dive gear. You can tell that their love of diving is what drives the whole process. To accent this was the fact that the Hires were away in Bonaire diving. They were doing the final tests on the Nomad LTZ. As you know, you just can't be sure about this kind of thing in a N Florida cave.
I've known Lamar and Jared for some time. I've always been impressed with their personal resolve to innovation and perfection. I must admit to stealing ideas from Lamar in particular and refining those to work for me. Today, I was impressed with how this attitude has infected his staff. It was amazing that everyone I met at Dive Rite in Lake City was driven by a quest for quality. No one displayed this attitude better than Brandy. She's the one who does the final assembly and inspection of Dive Rite BCs. If you use a Dive Rite BC, chances are, she had a hand in it. You should be really happy about that too. She's great. Here she is with a notebook filled with all the serial numbers of the BCs she's built:
She started with a tape measure and a white grease pencil. She laid out the LTZ (more on this in a different post) and marked two places and was immediately at work. She was deft and accurate in her work, making short work of threading and folding the stiff 2" webbing. I was envious of her skill and dexterity. Then it was the first try-on. I realized when the first Save the Manatee People kept pushing me back into the water, that I was a big guy. They had to remake part of the harness to make it big enough. Now I'm really happy that I showed up to get this right! Brandy figured out the right size and got her son to make some longer straps. Perfecto! We even called in John McCain for his appraisal and he thought everything was where it should be. It was def comfortable on me.
Then it was time for Brandy to pack up the BC. As she grabbed the big zip lock, she took a paper punch and made a hole to let the air out. There were so many little things like this that she did, that I finally commented on it. That's when she said "If it's not right, it doesn't leave this room!" That really encapsulated her entire attitude for me. She went on a bit how she trained others to be able to do her job if she happened to be sick. I got the feeling that they had best do it HER WAY or suffer the consequences.
No, this wasn't my first time to visit Dive Rite in Lake City. I've always enjoyed my visits there, but they were short and only a few minutes at a time. I love that they have a sign at the very front desk suggesting that they have to work, but live to dive. I also love that the entire facility is filled with great pictures, mementos and dive gear. You can tell that their love of diving is what drives the whole process. To accent this was the fact that the Hires were away in Bonaire diving. They were doing the final tests on the Nomad LTZ. As you know, you just can't be sure about this kind of thing in a N Florida cave.
I've known Lamar and Jared for some time. I've always been impressed with their personal resolve to innovation and perfection. I must admit to stealing ideas from Lamar in particular and refining those to work for me. Today, I was impressed with how this attitude has infected his staff. It was amazing that everyone I met at Dive Rite in Lake City was driven by a quest for quality. No one displayed this attitude better than Brandy. She's the one who does the final assembly and inspection of Dive Rite BCs. If you use a Dive Rite BC, chances are, she had a hand in it. You should be really happy about that too. She's great. Here she is with a notebook filled with all the serial numbers of the BCs she's built:
She started with a tape measure and a white grease pencil. She laid out the LTZ (more on this in a different post) and marked two places and was immediately at work. She was deft and accurate in her work, making short work of threading and folding the stiff 2" webbing. I was envious of her skill and dexterity. Then it was the first try-on. I realized when the first Save the Manatee People kept pushing me back into the water, that I was a big guy. They had to remake part of the harness to make it big enough. Now I'm really happy that I showed up to get this right! Brandy figured out the right size and got her son to make some longer straps. Perfecto! We even called in John McCain for his appraisal and he thought everything was where it should be. It was def comfortable on me.
Then it was time for Brandy to pack up the BC. As she grabbed the big zip lock, she took a paper punch and made a hole to let the air out. There were so many little things like this that she did, that I finally commented on it. That's when she said "If it's not right, it doesn't leave this room!" That really encapsulated her entire attitude for me. She went on a bit how she trained others to be able to do her job if she happened to be sick. I got the feeling that they had best do it HER WAY or suffer the consequences.
