Competitive Diving - Save the Dive Industry

[offthewall1]

Competitive Diving...

Here are my thoughts on how diving could become competitive and breathe life back into the sport.

Someone with the money could transform the sport overnight into an international hit.

Here you go...

1. We all know about "The Amazing Race" television series... well, lets take it underwater. As divers from around the globe race to the finish. Televised progression, from basic open water, with competitive dives at that level, taken to advanced training with dives at that level and finally through to technical training with dives at that level... in the hunt to recover specific clues along the way... leading to an exciting final diving destination and a huge party the way divers party at the end. If it can work above ground - it can work below water. All along the way professional divers would be in the water for safety with underwater film crews.

This would introduce people to diving in an unprecedented style. Make it exciting - people love shark week (even non-divers) so TV commercials touting the divers in the water with sharks as they swim to their goals... can you imagine the excitement? I've got tons of ideas to make this work. We even turn it into a history lesson with dives in Chuuk, Scapa Flow etc...

2. Don't know how many of you are familiar with Adventure Races... but adding a SCUBA component to adventure racing (which right now typically includes mountain biking, rock climbing, swimming and other sports) would bolster numbers within the sport as we turn adventure racers into divers and add a level of competition to the dive industry. If properly marketed and if given TV time, adventure racing with a scuba component could bring the youth we are lacking into the sport... If I can sit and watch skateboarding on TV, or for that matter golf - I think televised adventure races with the component of scuba in them could have a dramatic positive effect on the sport.

While I fall short of being able to make either of these happen on my own, I would glady work assisting in the production of these ideas for nothing more than my name in the credits. I want to see this industry flourish... and it can under the right direction.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

It would attract a certain type of diver, I'm sure ... but I'm skeptical it would do anything to grow the industry.

Most divers I know dive for fun and relaxation ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[rstofer]

SCUBA was never about competition and there is no reason it should be. If you want to do competitive diving, the US Navy has opportunities. Of course, failure brings severe penalties.

What? You want to see how many fish a competitor can ID per unit time?

Do you think I want to get caught up in a DPV race underwater while I am trying to avoid Jet Skis on the surface? I go diving to get away from people, not to compete with them.

There are already too many divers and there are certainly too many instructors. The only possible benefit to increasing the number of divers would be to send more money to resorts in foreign countries. And maybe sell a little gear. Oh, wait, that's what this is all about.

It isn't about the sport of diving (more properly an activity than a sport). It's about selling more stuff! How do I, as a dumb diver, benefit from that? Price-volume curves don't apply to scuba.

If the sport needs promotion (and I'm saying it doesn't) then promote it for what it is. An opportunity to spend time in another environment and enjoy the sights. In that regard, there's nothing wrong with the idea of teaching the sport as though it really was a safe and cuddly thing to do. Even though it isn't...

Richard

 

[Scott L]

A television/movie/IMAX series or segment of any description of scuba diving would be greatly beneficial to the industry. Showcasing the sport from an adventure/nature standpoint would be my first choice...

 

[rstofer]

A television/movie/IMAX series or segment of any description of scuba diving would be greatly beneficial to the industry. Showcasing the sport from an adventure/nature standpoint would be my first choice...

There have been a couple of IMAX movies re: the ocean. Unfortunately, they tend to focus on sharks and this hardly benefits the 'activity'. Shark Week does nothing to help.

But that's ok. I gain absolutely nothing by an increase in the number of divers.

Richard

 

[simmonsjr]

1. We all know about "The Amazing Race" television series... well, lets take it underwater. As divers from around the globe race to the finish. Televised progression, from basic open water, with competitive dives at that level, taken to advanced training with dives at that level and finally through to technical training with dives at that level... in the hunt to recover specific clues along the way... leading to an exciting final diving destination and a huge party the way divers party at the end. If it can work above ground - it can work below water. All along the way professional divers would be in the water for safety with underwater film crews.

While I agree that increased visibility will play an important role in revitalizing the dive industry I hesitate to agree that a show that will encourage cutting corners and taking unnecessary risks (just like the original) is the best vehicle to do so. Having safety divers in the water might mitigate some of these risks, on the show, but what about all of the new divers who would be attracted to the sport under false pretenses. Scuba is not about competition, making it seems as if it were is disingenuous at best (which, going back to your other post is a major reason that divers are frequenting online retailers over LDSs - they eventually wise up after being fed a line and grow to resent it.).

You would do well to take a long term view of this, scuba is about relationships and community; find ways to foster those traits and you will see things begin to turn around.

Jason

 

[Protist]

I dont care to much. I dive for the view, So i dont think i would personally be all that interested in joining such event. However...If I thought I had a chance of winning, and the winning prize was a decent amount of money or perhaps a whole new set of diving equipment, I MIGHT do it. But it does kinda seem to be a lot of work for a relaxing sport.

 

[DaleC]

Competitive Diving...

Here are my thoughts on how diving could become competitive and breathe life back into the sport.

Someone with the money could transform the sport overnight into an international hit.

Here you go...

1. We all know about "The Amazing Race" television series... well, lets take it underwater. As divers from around the globe race to the finish. Televised progression, from basic open water, with competitive dives at that level, taken to advanced training with dives at that level and finally through to technical training with dives at that level... in the hunt to recover specific clues along the way... leading to an exciting final diving destination and a huge party the way divers party at the end. If it can work above ground - it can work below water. All along the way professional divers would be in the water for safety with underwater film crews.

This would introduce people to diving in an unprecedented style. Make it exciting - people love shark week (even non-divers) so TV commercials touting the divers in the water with sharks as they swim to their goals... can you imagine the excitement? I've got tons of ideas to make this work. We even turn it into a history lesson with dives in Chuuk, Scapa Flow etc...

2. Don't know how many of you are familiar with Adventure Races... but adding a SCUBA component to adventure racing (which right now typically includes mountain biking, rock climbing, swimming and other sports) would bolster numbers within the sport as we turn adventure racers into divers and add a level of competition to the dive industry. If properly marketed and if given TV time, adventure racing with a scuba component could bring the youth we are lacking into the sport... If I can sit and watch skateboarding on TV, or for that matter golf - I think televised adventure races with the component of scuba in them could have a dramatic positive effect on the sport.

While I fall short of being able to make either of these happen on my own, I would glady work assisting in the production of these ideas for nothing more than my name in the credits. I want to see this industry flourish... and it can under the right direction.

Perhaps, not to knock your efforts but the real model for competitive diving starts at the indoor scuba gym. Give divers a controlled, convenient place that challenges their skills (a well thought out and adjustable obsticle course(s). Offer instruction and personal training to improve those skills (fin kicks, bouyancy). On it's own competition will result - you control the revenue streams.

Here's a thought though. What is an often heard complaint re scuba? Out of shape divers with poor skills damaging the reef and creating havoc. What if competitive diving spawned a whole new generation of extremely fit divers with superb bouyancy and fin control. Would that benefit current diving enough for you? That's exactly what occured in climbing with the onset of sport climbing. The skill level of climbing as a whole skyrocketed.

This topic came up in a thread where it was suggested as a means to innovate or open new markets for scuba. It was never intended to be dropped on top of the current scuba model or to target the current marketplace.

This idea will probably get slammed here just as sport climbing got slammed in conventional climbing circles at its onset. Sport climbing was seen as a waste of time, bothersome and unseemly. The new generation did not care what the trads thought and went on to flash all their routes, put up new ones of infinitely more complexity and today there are no serious traditional climbers who don't utilize some of sport climbings training techniques.

Having lived through the experience I am now not so quick to say it could never happen to scuba or that it would be a detriment. Anyone at all familiar with the climbing model will know how traditional and sport climbing can exist side by side and actually enhance each other. Having both just increased the marketplace and diversifies the revenue streams.

If they can have climbing walls on cruise ships why can't they have scuba gyms inland?

 

[Scott L]

How about PADI or DEMA building a few of these scattered around the country. Tiny Belgium can commit more resources than the USA when it comes to promotion of the sport.


The Worlds deepest indoor pool (Nemo 33)

 

[Blackwood]

Unfortunately, they tend to focus on sharks and this hardly benefits the 'activity'. Shark Week does nothing to help.

I don't want to dive with people who believe Jaws was a realistic movie anyway