Todd & List:

Todd wrote:
> got to see how hypocritical most divers were on a day
> to day basis. They would come in totally out of shape
> and tell me what big dives they did. My favorite was a
> 300 - 350 pound guy that had twin Genesis 120's. He
> told me he would air dive to 300 on a regular basis

One reason we have this situation in diving is because it is completly
different from most any other sport. What other sport can you be grossly
overweight, totally out of shape and still participate in that has the ego
gratification that diving has? Not many. In diving if you can make it to the
water and your regulator will provide enough air to fill your gasping
breaths, you can "participate" in the sport, at least until a "situation"
arises.

> My dad told me once that he saw a diving course in the
> 60's for $99 bucks and his first tank cost $75.

I guess I'm older than your dad! My first tank cost $40 (Voit blue & white
Safety Tank w/ K valve), regulator was $50 (Voit Polaris 50) and the brand
new Healthways contoured backpack was about $15. Lessons were $20 which was
refunded if you bought a "package" which totaled more than $120. (Summer
1962, Cincinnati, Oh, Ohio Skindivers Headquarters).

> look at the shops today and I still see $99 courses
> and $75 tanks forty years later. Meanwhile I pay a
> golf instructor $125 an hour to improve my swing.  The
> diving industry has been stagnant for years. It has
> not kept up with the times and the best people that
> are attracted to it initially, leave after a short
> time because it is run so poorly and you can't make
> any money at it or are put off by the people that it
> attracts.

My sons lessons 3 years ago cost $325 but the instuctor (a personal friend
of mine) only got $40 of that fee. When I taught (73-80) I used to get $40
per student out of a $200 course fee. This instructor, who works for me
under contract as an investigator @ $30 an hour said if he got that hourly
rate to teach diving he figured he would make close to $3,000 per class.
People spend $3,500 - $5,000 to learn to fly and would do the same to learn
to dive except for what I call "Dalton's Law of Stupid Supply" which states
"There is no end to the supply of stupid people willing to do something for
an ever decreasing amount of money, if the ego gratification is sufficient!"

Dave Dalton




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