Diver Attrition

[pterantula]

Our OW class (on Maui) had 6 students, comprised of a father and 3 sons, then my husband and I. [...] We ran into them toward the end of our vacation and asked if they had done anymore diving. The father told us that none of the boys were interested since there were better things to do.

... which I think is funny, as I didn't see anything special about Maui except the diving. Honestly. Were I one of those kids on family vacation there I would have been bored to tears. (I come from the San Fernando Valley, and have been living in San Francisco for about 10 years, so yes I am totally spoiled in that regard, and very hard to impress to begin with; all the land-based stuff in Maui is totally a case of "been there..." - more diving for me then...)

 

[pterantula]

If the initial experience of diving, either confined water class or ow check outs, is not the best experience the student ever had they will not become "hooked".

I can certainly see this being an issue here in NorCal, and farther north - the water is so cold, the surf zones tend to be on the rough side, and vis is anywhere from not so good to completely awful. I froze to complete numbness on my checkouts and almost couldn't make it back to the beach on my last dive.... I guess I'm the standout from my classes since I've wanted to dive - no, live with the fish - since I was very young (but took a long time to get around to it... long story).

 

[captain]

This is the problem I see around here with the people I talk to. People get certified for a trip they are going on and they go to the local quarry to do the check outs. The quarry isn't the most interesting diving in the world but to us hard core folks wet is better than dry. The people that get certified for the one trip don't take well to the local quarry and they get out of the routine so they don't really get around to scheduling that next trip.

If they don't get into the local diving they don't tend to stay with diving unless they have the funds to travel a looooot.

Chad

I have to agree that the above is probably the number one reason for the high drop out rate. Most of the local shops here do check out 300 miles away. They don't even try to encourage local diving, they don't do local charters to the gulf oil rigs which are only 90 miles away. All they do is sell certs and tropical trips.

 

[ArcticDiver]

...They don't even try to encourage local diving,...

Lots of places are like this. My experience is that most shops outside the tropical destinations like Hawaii, Cozumel, etc do their best to discourage any but a small number of local divers. That small number must meet certain diving style and obesiance criteria. No one else is welcome.

On each of my Tag-Along trips in the last few years to places around the States I've tried to get local dive shops to at least rent me gear. All but three or four have ignored my emails. All but a couple haven't even returned my phone calls. As a matter of fact my upcoming trip to RI promises to be the first trip where I'll actually get to dive.

They don't seem to understand that for their business to be healthy and grow they must sell diving. Anyone who comes in the door and is willing to spend an honest dollar should be welcome. Every customer needs to be respected and treated well. If more shops did that the drop out rate would fall and there would be a better, more fun environment for us all.

Off my soapbox now. Thanks for the listen.

 

[rjpv]

I was talking with one of the divemasters at my last OW checkout dive; he gives out his e-mail or phone number to all the students he DMs for to let him know if they want to go diving (for free... with a DM who knows they are new and is patient).

Out of DMing for 10 years, he has had a grand total of 3 (including me) students take him up on the offer!!

 

[jbd]

I was talking with one of the divemasters at my last OW checkout dive; he gives out his e-mail or phone number to all the students he DMs for to let him know if they want to go diving (for free... with a DM who knows they are new and is patient).

Out of DMing for 10 years, he has had a grand total of 3 (including me) students take him up on the offer!!

The thing is that most people are initially attracted to diving with visions of tropical paradises dancing in their heads, with gin clear waters and water so warm you could dive naked.

The reality for much of the inland lakes and quarries is that it is murky dark cold water which requires you to wear more clothing than an Eskimo on a bad winter day and you are lucky to see a very few feet and what you see isn't really interesting i.e in the words of MikeFerrara, "another wet rock"

Big mismatch between expectations and reality for the new diver.

 

[MikeFerrara]

The thing is that most people are initially attracted to diving with visions of tropical paradises dancing in their heads, with gin clear waters and water so warm you could dive naked.

The reality for much of the inland lakes and quarries is that it is murky dark cold water which requires you to wear more clothing than an Eskimo on a bad winter day and you are lucky to see a very few feet and what you see isn't really interesting i.e in the words of MikeFerrara, "another wet rock"

Big mismatch between expectations and reality for the new diver.

That's not exactly true Jim. I like diving fresh water and I prefer viewing fresh water fish. They look like fish. some of the ocean fish are just funny looking...proof that God has a sense of humor. In most freshwater you run out of oxygen in the water before you get very deep so most of the life is shallow and other than a lawyer fish here and there and some zebra muscles most of our good wrecks (deep) are pretty devoid of life.

There are as many reasons for divers to leave diving as there are for them to start. Some start with the intsntion of only diving on a single vacation. Some find they don't have the confidence in their skills they need to dive on their own and give it up. Some just move on to other things.

As much as I like diving fresh water, our choice of sites around here is pretty limited and I lose interest in diving the same BEAT TO DEATH quarries over and over. Even some of those are too far and too expensive for me to get interested in given that I've seen it all a million times. I get burned out on traveling to Missouri or Florida.

Maybe some day, I'll live near a coast or something. It must be nice.

 

[nolatom]

In general, those who buy gear right after OW will keep diving, those who don't, won't. The predominant advice I see on these boards to inquiring new divers to "rent a lot first, see what you like, then buy later" is well-meaning, but for the average Joe/Jane newdiver (rather than the "perfect gear-hound"), wrong.

Those divers will mean to rent, and dive, but won't, and then "life happens" and diving goes to the bottom of the big inbox. Divers who bought "Chevy" gear right off the bat (like me) are still diving, even if only 20 dives a year--my OW classmates, who were oohing and ahhing over "Cadillac" gear they never bought, all attrited out.

Waiting for 100% "perfect" gear you can't afford will attrit you out of the sport. The 85% perfect stuff (basic, inexpensive, but safe) will work fine, and will get you out diving, and will encourage you to keep diving, initially to "get your money's worth", and then you'll stay with it.

There's a small cadre (too small) of dedicated divers, many on boards like these. What the sport needs is more of a "middle class", like the 10-20 dives a year types, to help keep the infrastructure of the sport (shops, boats, manufacturers, etc) from backsliding and disappearing.

 

[jbd]

As much as I like diving fresh water, our choice of sites around here is pretty limited and I lose interest in diving the same BEAT TO DEATH quarries over and over. Even some of those are too far and too expensive for me to get .

This is essentially the point I was making, from a conversation you and had a few years ago. In the end it usually becomes a small hardcore group that will dive a fair amount in local inland waters. These groups operate along the lines of Arctic Diver's comments from what I have seen. Some are a little more open or approachable but many are pretty much closed to new comers.

 

[MikeFerrara]

There's a small cadre (too small) of dedicated divers, many on boards like these. What the sport needs is more of a "middle class", like the 10-20 dives a year types, to help keep the infrastructure of the sport (shops, boats, manufacturers, etc) from backsliding and disappearing.

I don't agree. The infrastructure exists to support the divers, not the other way around. Some of the shops, manufacturers ext, need to disappear to wake up the others.

A diver can dive as often as they want but the 10 - 20 dive/year divers just tear up the dive sites and make them unattractive for every one else.

In order to dive out local sites and enjoy it you pretty much have to take time off of work to dive them during the week. They might clear up by Wednessday or so. All you see on the weekend is big bellowing silt clouds. Of course some sites are only open on the weekends so unless your really despirate to get in the water, they aren't worth messing with at all.

I don't think we need more of that. If that's what the dive shops are going to do, we need less of them, not more.