At 11:49 PM 4/12/2000 -0400, dmdalton 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

Yeah but wait til the curent is ripping , the shit hits the fan , cant get
back to the anchor line , if your not up to thedive , you are at an
immediate disadvanteg right of the bat. No too doubts about that.

I know , I have dove at both extreams , No doubt about it , the better
shape you are in , the better the divve , and the higher the chances of
getting out of bad shit. Especialy when the adrenilin starts flowing.

Yeah for the shallow no current dives you might get away with it , but
start pushing towards the envolope you want to get your self together. 


>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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