Local Dive Clubs Membership (y/n)?

[rusky4u]

Hi buddies!

According to a pool in scubayellowpages.com (2841 votes) on the subject of Local Dive Clubs membership, 78% of the voters are NOT members and only 22% are members of a LDC.

Surfing the web I saw a lot of dive clubs in the US and some of them look very good, camaraderie, activities, pizza, diving, seminars, barbecue, the basic stance of most clubs sounds good!
Well… hhhuummm… that’s how the web looks…

It looks like an awesome way to dive whilst having a lot of fun in the surface intervals and during the week!

I haven’t seen this club format here in spain (mainly diving schools and dive shops, no dive clubs!), and if I`ve found one around here I would be a member.

So, is there any special reason why only 22% are members? I thought the % would be higher!

Are there any Local Dive Club members / owners or not-members in the board that could send some thoughts on this subject?

Thank youuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!

Dive Safe! Bubbles up!

rusky

 

[Walter]

I belong to the Caloosa Dive Club. This club was formed in 1970 and there are still some of the original members who come to meetings/events. I looked into joining back in '86, but while I enjoy spearfishing, I do have other interests. In '86, it appeared to me as if it were strickly a spearfishing club. I moved on and continued to dive on my own. In March of 2001, I met some current members who encouraged me to attend some meetings. The club character had changed, it is now a more diverse group and I became a member in April. I'm well into my second year as a member and I suspect I'll remain in the club for years to come.

Caloosa Dive Club

 

[rusky4u]

hi walter!

thanks 4 your input and link!
i wish i would have a club like yours nearby!

have fun! rusky

 

[herman]

There are several active dive clubs close by me. I am an active member of 1 and drop in from time to time at one of the others. It's a good way to meet active divers in your area and to have a lot of fun. The club I am active in started with maybe a dozen members 6 or 7 years ago and we are now looking for our 3rd place to meet, we outgrew the other 2. Not sure how many members we have but it has to be somewhere in the 200 range as a normal meeting has 50 to 75 in attendence.
I have no idea why the members/non-member poll came out the way it did but it may be where it was asked. Take a poll in a bar and you will get one outcome, take it in a church and you will most likely get a totally different outcome. Most of the clubs in our area are outgrowths of local dive shops. No doubt that the main reason they support/sponsor the clubs is to bring business to the shop but they are still fun to be members of. If there are no clubs in your area, you can always go to your LSD and offer to help set one up.

 

[rusky4u]

thanks herman!

i guess you are right and some thing went wrong with the pool !
do you have any sugestions on any books about starting a club and how to keep it alive?
starting with the local dive shops sounds like a good place to start!

thnk u !!!!

rusky

 

[DivePartner1]

I am a member of a dive club and probably join another next season for greater dive opportunites.

 

[JDostal]

I'm a member of a club and love it...as far as running one goes, it's not too difficult.

Get a little webspace..somehow. Just enough for you to post some basic club information.

Schedule dives - start organizing dives as often as possible. We have one a week. When you start giving out set dates and times for dives, divers will come. Half the time people don't dive it's because they have no one to go with, or don't know where, or, or...schedule a time and a place to dive and people will show up. Post a notice at your LDS.

Have a few special events during the year. We do an underwater pumpking carving contest in october. We schedule a dive up to the great lakes to go shipwreck diving (this is only really possible after you have a decent member base). We're taking a trip to a big hyperbaric chamber in chicago later in the year.

Hrmm...have fun! Don't load it down with meetings and procedure and officers...bleh. Makes it booooooring. People want to dive and have fun! Make meetings short. Just have them to see when people can dive...have them at a restaurant so people have something else to do.

Clubs are great - I dive at least once a week if not more, all because of my club. I've gotten to know a lot of divers (including my girlfriend) through my club. And I've gained a lot of knowledge because of it.

Keep it fun, keep it simple...the rest will come naturally.

 

[mndolphin]

I too belong to an LDC
People probably don't belong because they don't know about it or they don't exist in alot of areas.
I would get a website (places like yahoo and aol will give you one for free) and put some ideas on it, places you want to dive etc. Have a message board for people to look for dive buddies and start from there. My state has one of these boards and there is always a group of people wanting to dive every weekend.
You could advertise at your LDS

You could also watch these boards, pm anyone from your part of the world and see if they are interested in diving. Or start a thread looking for dive buddies.

I'll stop because I am talking too long!!!

 

[socaldiver]

I joined to clubs while in Socal, one was from the LDS and the other was a club that a few of my associates belong to. I had attended every meeting from the LDS's club until my move. I found it rewarding to sit around and talk "shop" and to plan different dives with everyone. Plus they normally had a good guest discussing and showing videos on topics and dive trips that were of interest to me.

the second club was just a bunch of diving fanatics that was formed to hopefully preserve the underwater environment from being overfished so that we could pass on to future lovers of the sea the best possible conditions.

Once NDI is official, I plan on joining it as I am sure a lot of other posters on this board will do. As for now, I suppose you can say I am an unofficial member of the Ky NDI chapter (and proud of it I might add).

Join a club, meet new friends and go diving - ahh, what a life.

 

[otter-cat]

I am a member of a local dive club and I love it. I don't have a regular dive buddy, but I go to all of the club dives, and there are always others looking for a buddy and we have a great time.

As for reasons that many divers do NOT join dive clubs, I can think of two (somewhat similar) reasons right off the bat:

1. Divers who are primarily "vacation divers" and only dive when visiting warm-water areas may not have much interest in a local dive club if local diving conditions are cold/murky etc.

2. Some supposedly "local" dive clubs primarily involve expensive trips to other locations, and divers who actually dive in the local waters and can't afford to travel won't have much interest in that kind of club.

And then there might be a lot of divers who just don't know about the clubs in their area, especially if they don't spend much time visiting the LDS.