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The following is stolen from my dear friend Duane Johnson of Precision Diving.net

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are his, and K2 Scuba Online, Tevis Verrett, and the staff all endorse without qualification Duane Johnson as he has the balls to speak the truth rather than following lock step the dogma of a failing scuba industry, manufacturers and certifiying organizations all. . .

Early this week, I was talking with a friend who happened to mention that a dive store wasn’t doing very well and was trying to sell off a part of their business. We started discussing our current national economic situation and the impact on the scuba diving industry. How can dive centers survive in this very tough economy? How can scuba equipment manufacturers help the dive stores?

One thing I think I would eliminate would be MAP or MSRP. For those of you who do not know what MAP or MSRP is. MAP stands for Manufacturer Advertised Price. Basically, the manufacturer tells the dive store the minimum price that their products must be advertised at. MSRP stands for Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price. MSRP is basically what the manufacturer tells the dive centers what they can sell their products at. Why is this hurting the dive industry? Because when consumers research what products they want to buy, they see it listed on eBay, Leisure Pro or what ever. Then they go into their local dive store and see the same product listed for a higher price. Guess where they are going to buy it? By lifting MAP, MSRP, or online selling restrictions, dive stores can start to compete equally in a free market environment. There are many ways scuba manufacturers can protect their brand/reputation without forcing dive stores to sell at higher prices. By trying to scare consumers with terms like black market products, or no free regulator parts.

Dive stores can take advantage of traditional advertising. Print advertising is dirt cheap right now. Think about alternative customer bases and advertise towards that market niche. Perfect example. I talked to a local dive store owner about advertising in a popular gay and lesbian magazine. He had a look of horror on his face. He didn’t feel that that was the clientele he wanted to target. I doubt he was homophobic, but was nervous what others may think. I thought this was ridiculous. After all, the money used by the gay community is the same color used by us heteros. But you can see how getting your name out to other population niches can help you survive this tough economy. By utilizing the cheap advertising rates for traditional media can help you bring in new customers.

Are these just my opinions? Yes. However, I do have a MBA, have consulted for small businesses, and teach business classes at the college level. So I do have a little bit of credibility.

These were just a couple ways that dive stores can use to help survive till the economy starts to turn around. I welcome your suggestions and comments.

Dive Safe,
Duane Johnson
Precision Diving

My .o2 from the dive operations perspective.  MAP is both good and bad, Duane has explicated the bad.  In defence, K2 is an authorized dealer of all the product we carry.  Leisure Pro and Scuba dot com are not necessarily our competition as Walmart is not competition for Neiman Marcus or Nordstroms.

As a relatively new player, MAP allows a more level playing field for the dive shop as well as K2 as an internet presence.  If we were to go to battle with the massive war chest of the market makers mentioned above, they could keep dropping prices until they put the competition out of business.

At K2 we sell at the same price position of LP and S.com and add a 365 day return guarantee, a perfect fit guarantee, exemplary customer service to differenentiate ourselves from the discount houses.  MAP gives us a more level playing field. . .

. . . so new subject. . . the stupidity of Aqua Lung and ScubaPro to NOT sell their product online, when are they going to step into the new millenium?

Your thoughts?  Im putting my flame pants on. . .thanks again to Duane, my friend, compadre, and mentor in certain ways. . .

Tevis

The OC1 is an all-in-one dive computer featuring a precision digital compass, dot matrix display, wireless Buddy Pressure Check and so much more. SmartGlo backlighting and audible alarms keep you current when every second counts.

• Precision Digital Compass including North, reference modes and declination adjustment

(See a much better picture of the Oceanic OC1 Dive Computer and sign up for our pre launch newsletter here)

• Titanium Housing

• Dot Matrix Display provides superior readability and intuitive user interface

• Digital Watch, Air, Nitrox, Gauge and Free Dive Modes

• Switch between up to 3 independent wireless transmitters, tracking 3 Nitrox mixes or buddy’s tank pressure with Buddy Pressure CheckTM

• Audible Alarms with User Acknowledgment

• SmartGlo® Backlighting

• Includes OceanLog® PC Download and Settings Upload Software and USB cable

Sport Divers Magazine - Editor’s Pick – March 2009

COOL FACTOR
Enough functionality to make 007′s gadget man, Q, raise an eyebrow in approval.

KEY FEATURES
This do-everything machine includes a digital compass, dot-matrix display and functionality to switch among three wireless transmitters. The latter allows for a buddy pressure-check function. Four dive modes handle air, nitrox, gauge and free-dive duties, and the dot-matrix display is crisp and easy on the eyes. All of this comes wrapped in a strong, lightweight titanium housing. SmartGlo backlighting works great in low-light conditions and at night, and the system includes Oceanic’s software along with a USB cable for integration with a PC.

Any other retailer that is offering this for presale is selling “vaporware.” Oceanic will be well stocked and inside word is that there is no definitive launch date set.  Maybe the end of March, maybe the middle of April. . but rest assured that EVERY authorized Oceanic Dealer will have ample stock to sell, so dont believe the hype!

This is a slick ol computer tho’ and Oceanic’s Research and Development has set the standard. . .and spanked the competition. . .again!

So rather than paying somebody for the privilege to hold your money, sign up for our newsletter here, or subscribe to our RSS feed here.

. . . and when they are released we will share with you!

. . . and since we guarantee deliverablility with the K2 Difference, you WILL still be the koolest kid on the block  when the launch happens.

No hype, just guaranteed quality service, and treatment as if you were a friend.  Welcome to K2, welcome home!

This Post was written by, and seeded from Duane Johnson  of Precision Diving On February – 26 – 2009

I recently had a conversation with a potential student about how I teach team diving techniques compared to what is taught in traditional diving classes. It occurred to me that many divers do not know the difference between team diving and buddy diving. They feel that if they stay with their buddy and can air share in an emergency, that is team diving. It is not, team diving is much more than sticking with your buddy and helping out in an emergency.

First, let’s define buddy diving as it is taught in traditional diving classes. When people go through these classes, they are taught to stick with your buddy, do air shares, and some basic buddy rescue skills. While these skills are important, it does not take the place of working as a team. Buddy diving, is simply looking after each other. The buddy is just there. It doesn’t do much for the safety of the team nor the objectives of the dive. One of the biggest areas where buddy diving fails is in the pre-dive planning stage. In traditional PADI diving classes, students are normally taught BWRAF as their pre-dive plan. That is an acronym for: BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, Final OK. There is no discussion as to how they will descend, swim around, communicate, when to thumb the dive and ascend. This is where buddy diving breaks down.

So, what is team diving? Let’s use the analogy of a football team. US football, not soccer that is. In football, the team works together to work their way down the field to score a touchdown. Everyone on the field has a job to do in order to ensure success. If one area of the team fails, then the quarterback gets sacked, the running back fumbles the ball, or the team must punt away the ball. If an offensive lineman does not do his job effectively, then the quarterback or running back can, potentially, get hurt. The same is true for team diving. The team must work together to ensure the safety of all members of the team. Next time you watch a NFL game, watch the offensive linemen. They are always pointing to something, shouting at each other, etc. The quarterback reads the defense and may change the play at the line of scrimmage (i.e. call an audible). This is an excellent demonstration of constant team communication. Each member of the team knows where other teammates are at at all times. Just as in diving, we must be able to effectively communicate to let the team know where we are at, what to look out for, etc. We do this with passive and active light communication.

It all Starts in the Beginning

To ensure team success, the entire team must be on the same page. Not just in knowing what is expected, but in skill and experience level. Inexperienced divers can learn a great deal from experienced divers, but they must learn it at their current experience level before moving on to something more aggressive and out of their level. This is one aspect of diving where people get into trouble. They simply try to do dives, or take classes, that are above what they are really capable of handling. The problem is they don’t know when to put the brakes on their diving and say, I need to get better before moving on. They don’t do a honest assessment of their diving skills. I had to learn this the hard way, see here.

As part of the pre-dive plan, the team must get together and determine how the dive will get done. They must determine what the goal of the dive will be, who will lead, what the gas plan is, etc. For shallow reef dives, this can be very simple and take only a few minutes. For complex decompression dives, it can take days.

The Team that Descends Together, Stays Together

The majority of diving problems occur during the initial descent of the dive. As a team, it is important to stay together during the descent. There are multiple team descent techniques that can be employed, depending on the water conditions. This is where you need to have learned team diving from a good instructor to knows team diving protocols, not reading off the internet.

A good number of diving accidents have occurred when diving alone. Now, that doesn’t only mean solo diving. It includes when buddies lose contact and separate from one another. If the team descends together and gets to the target depth, then the leader can communicate to the team the direction to swim. This helps keep the team together and swimming off in the right direction. In other words, everybody starts the dive together.

Lending a Helping Hand, or Two, or Three

When the proverbial crap hits the fan, I want my team members there to help me out. This shouldn’t be confused with being self-sufficient. If I’m having a problem with a gas leak, my teammates can see my valves where I cannot. They can tell me which one to shut down, or just do it for me if I am dealing with another problem. They are there to provide me gas, if for some reason I need it. In other words, my teammates must be on the same page as me so that we can prevent small issues/problems from becoming larger (i.e. the incident pit). When diving as a team, all resources become team resources. This includes equipment, gas, etc. But it also includes that person’s experience. This is where solo diving courses fail because the diver solely relies on their own, possibly limited, experience. When I’m diving with less experienced divers, I’m able to prevent or foresee potential problems they may have based on my past diving experiences. A diver’s education and experience level is a big resource one can bring to the table in the team environment.

The bottom line is that divers shouldn’t be fooled by instructors/dive stores who are claiming to teach team diving. Nine times out of ten, they are only talking about buddy diving and not team diving. Do your homework and ask the all important question, “How?”. An instructor who truly teaches team diving will be able to teach more than just the “buddy system” and teach how the team can achieve it’s goals, including teams with more than 2 or 3 people.

I welcome your questions or comments.

Dive Safe,
Duane Johnson
Precision Diving

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