I agree completely. If the diving industry ever got a
leader and changed tack we could get some quality
instructors out there. That is only if they changed
the pricing structure around and added a lot of
professionalism to it. I knew of a dive shop in
Beverley Hills that was catering to the rich folk up
there. They charge $5,000 for lessons. You could put
as many people as you wanted in it. They had an
Instructor (not assistant, an instructor) for every
student.  They did only boat dives, dove DUI dry
suits, carried the gear, washed it for the people, and
made it as easy as possible.  You know what? They made
so much money that they closed the shop down because
they didn't need the overhead and now just teach
privately to the rich and famous. 

I talked to the guy that did it. He makes $60,000 -
$80,000 a year and works about 20 hours a week.  The
rest of the time he travels.  Diving could be a very
lucrative sport, we could up the professionalism,
increase the safety record, and sell more equipment if
we approached it with an once of professionalism and
weren't afraid to raise prices and have some people
commited to it.

TB

--- dmdalton <dmdalton@qu*.ne*> wrote:
> 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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