I believe one of the reasons that the ethic of some cave divers leave a 
lot to be desired is the ease with which a diver can receive the training and 
the volume with which these folks are being churned out.  For many cave diving 
is just another C card much like their sport certifications.  These 
individuals think that they can learn all they need to know by being spoon fed 
 by an instructor and not make any effort to learn anything on their own.
   The reason for this state of affairs as Paul so aptly pointed out is the 
fact that Cave and Technical Diving has become big business and once big money 
is involved good luck putting the genie back in the bottle.  Many although not 
all Cave instructors actively advertise for students who can as easily decide 
to become cave divers as they did open water divers with no real effort or 
commitment on their parts. 
    Fortunately for us in the sumpdiving world things remain a small scale 
activity and our efforts and motives are not profit based.  We are more part 
of the dry caving community that does not cave for pay than the world of 
commercial diving.
    Case in point, a dry sport caver and open water diver  in my Grotto ask if 
she could join NEST and go sump diving with us.  She was offended when I told 
her It would require at least a year of training on her part and suggested 
that she begin by reading three basic references.  She wanted someone to give 
her a course like she had for open water.  Despite the fact that she has made 
no effort to prepare herself or even learn the basics of what is involved she 
still is offended that she can not participate.   
    As the number of marginally trained divers increases the amount of traffic 
and damage to our caves will also increase, many once prestine sites will 
become like the over dived reefs that have been trashed by the growth in sport 
diving.  
     I hate complaining about a problem without offering an answer that will 
work in the real world but I have no solution to this dilemma. 

                                                         JOSEPH KAFFL
                                                  SUMPDIVER@MS*.CO*

                                              

PAUL wrote ..........

----------
From:  Paul E. Pettennude
Sent:  Sunday, February 16, 1997 8:28 AM
To:  cavers@ge*.co*
Subject:  There are two kinds of cave divers....

Group,


I would like to post some observations related to the threads dealing with=
 certification agencies and abilities of cave diving instructors.  I have no=
 position either way since I agree with some of the points from each side.


As I see it cave divers fall into two categories--those who pay to go cave=
 diving and those who get paid to go cave diving.


On the subject of Dive Rite.  If I were asked to describe Bill Leonard and=
 Lamar Hires with one word, I would have to choose "rich".  We may not agree=
 with all of the things Dive Rite says and sells but you've got to agree=
 they're making a lot of money from those of us who pay to go cave diving=
 and/or consider themselves to be technical divers.  Cave and technical=
 instructors get price breaks if I'm not mistaken. They get paid for=
 endorsements and publicity for appearing in ads.  These are guys who put=
 out those posters showing wannabes wearing everything you can imagine and=
 laugh all the way to the bank.  My point is, we ought to stop laughing and=
 seriously consider what we can make so we can print a poster and get rich.


Diving certification agencies are businesses, just businesses.  They sell=
 books, shirts, tapes, instruction, stickers, and everything else at very=
 good profit margins.  You purists laugh at IANTD.  If they sold stock I=
 would buy it in a moment, because if they did whoever buys it is going to=
 make a lot of money.  IANTD, TDI, ANDI, PADI, NAUI are all about money. =
 The question is how much is someone willing to spend in exchange for the=
 stuff they sell?  They sell lessons.  From an accounting standpoint, they=
 don't sell lessons to lose money.  This means they've figured out just how=
 much training they need to give most divers so they have a pretty good=
 chance of not killing themselves right after class.  That's why PADI urges=
 newbies to take their Advanced Course right away.  They can increase the=
 profitability of their basic course and their advanced course by breaking=
 it into two segments.  The store has more opportunity to sell more gear. =
 PADI sells another ca-card, you know the story.


Back to IANTD.  Some of you laugh at Tom and Patti Mount.  Tom and Patti are=
 laughing too--all the way to the bank.  They took over a failing business=
 called IAND from Dick Rutkowski and turned it into a formidable competitor=
 in the dive instruction and dive affinity equipment business.  Tom's=
 courses are booked solidly and they don't come cheap.  Today you can find=
 Nitrox sold world wide thanks to IANTD.  They get around $15.00 for each=
 ca-card ordered, they sell tons of extra stuff so divers can go to their=
 local dive stores and spend $8.00 and up for a single tank fill.  This is=
 the only kind of fill that returns a good profit margin to a dive retailer.=
  They have a loyal dealer and instructor network.  Everybody is making=
 money and getting paid to go diving.  You can argue about the way they're=
 going about making their money, but you can't argue that they're not doing=
 it successfully.  Why do you think Brett Gilliam started TDI?  Technical=
 diving is the biggest, most profitable dive sales category.  It was a small=
 step from TDI to UWATEC to Johnson and the steps lead right to the bank.


Cave certification now comes in flavors too. It starts with intro, goes up a=
 level, heads into mixed gas and on upward to instructor.  Divers in this=
 category spend big bucks.  There's lots of profit to be made.  Thousands of=
 dollars in potential gear sales are at stake as well.


When I started diving some 40 years ago, I couldn't afford depth gauges,=
 SPGs, dive watches and the like.  Now divers are loaded to the gills with=
 every kind of expensive toy you can imagine and some you can't imagine. =
 The guys with the most toys call themselves technical divers. A lot of=
 people have asked me to define technical diving.  The answer is simple,=
 It's a guy who needs at least $4000.00 worth of dive gear to do a 200 foot=
 dive and felt he needed to spend at least $1000.00 on training.  Christ! It=
 doesn't take a rocket scientist long to figure out why Bill Gleason of Skin=
 Diver Magazine did such an about face on the subjects of Nitrox, Mixed Gas=
 and Technical Diving.  About five years ago he announced these subjects=
 would never appear in his rag (Skin Diver).  As soon as the good old boy=
 retailers figured out who was the pot of gold under the rainbow, Bill G.=
 was falling all over himself to extol the benefits of extended range=
 diving.  Shit, the only card you need today to be successful in this=
 category comes in two colors--platinum and gold.=20


I have a good friend Named Ellie MacPhearson.  You guys may have seen her in=
 Sports Illustrated Calendars.  Ellie is 6 feet tall and very easy to look=
 at and listen to (Australian accent).  Ellie really believes a guy is only=
 as tall as the wallet he stands on.


You purists out there can laugh at the strokes as you call them and laugh at=
 the cave diving instructors who are teaching them just enough to make the=
 effort worth while, but do some math while you're laughing.  Let's say a=
 cave student is worth $800 each for about 60 hours' of instruction.  An=
 instructor has 4 students in his class. That's $53.00 per hour (3200/60). =
 For a guy who may have just scraped by in school, that's good money and the=
 work is definitely not hard.


Say an instructor has only one student per week.  This means he is grossing=
 $41,600 a year for doing something he enjoys called cave diving.  Maybe he=
 pulls in another $5000 for referrals and testimonials.  That's $46,600 a=
 year.  Sure beats landscaping.=20


Every instructor who talks about philosophy is simply rationalizing.  The=
 bottom line is money, just money.


Paul=20

 ("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._        Paul E. Pettennude, Ph.D.=20

  `6_ 6  )   `-.  (    ).`-.__.`) Maya Underwater Research Center=20

  (_Y_.)'  ._   )  `._ `.``-..-'  pettennude@us*.ne*

 _..`--'_..-_/  /--'_.' ,'        Telephone (305) 554-1557=20

(il),-''  (li),'  ((!.-'          Fax Phone (305) 554-1616=20

<bold>

</bold>


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