A Tribe Called K2 Buhl-oog!

Welcome back ROCKSTAR! Good to see you again and grateful for you being a member of the Tribe K2! Have you subscribed to our RSS feed?

We write this stuff/post this stuff for you. Tell us what you like! Ping me at admin (at) K2SCUBA.com and tell me what you would like to see here!

Selecting the best scuba diving wetsuits is tantamount to giving yourself that full-geared up confidence to take part in a worthwhile scuba diving experience. Wetsuits offer assorted degrees of thermal protection for the body while underwater with its man-made neoprene material that might be fitted out with spandex fibers to provide further flexibleness. Here are some beneficial subjects to help in your search and purchase for this scuba gear : Finding your Wetsuit Style.

Xcel Wetsuits are available in full-body, three quarters ( only half of the legs and arms are covered ), and two-piece styles. The three quarters or ‘shorty’ wetsuit is practical to be used in warm waters while the two-piece wetsuit will fit cold water dives. If you are an occasional, recreational diver, shorties will be a good selection. But if you want to make a job or occupation out of diving, getting a full body wetsuit will give you the power to don it in both cold water and warm water dives.

Wetsuit Fit: When selecting a wetsuit its fit and tailoring for your body shape is imperative. A poor wetsuit that fits your body shape is always going to perform better than a bad fitting high quality wetsuit. So fit is really vital. At K2 Scuba, you can look forward to a call and custom fitting you to the suit that it right for you, rather than just taking an order for some stock size and shipping it to you. Look for a snugg fit all over your body particularly your torso, good length on your legs and arms. When you try a wetsuit on do some stretches and squats to see how it follows the contour of your body.

SUITS IN THE 21ST CENTURY ARE NO LONGER UNCOMFORTABLE.  Don’t believe the hype that a wetsuit is only comfortable in the water!

If you notice significant room particularly on your lumbar region, in that arch between the pinnacle of your bum and your shoulder, then you don’t have a decent fit. Simply, if your wetsuit does not adhere closely to your body shape then water will flush in and you won’t stay warm.  You have spent a grip of money for an ill fitting suit.

Another crucial area to look for tight fit is round the neck, where you enter the wetsuit. Manifestly you will not need it to choke you but you do need it to be secure as can be to stop water flushing into your wetsuit when duck diving. There are a number of neck entry systems that different wetsuit brands will be offering, the regular back zip and velcro close over or the front zip offered by Xcel Diving Wetsuits or Pinnacle Wetsuits. The general public do need to try on some wetsuits to get one that fits them completely.

Naturally, there are retailers offering custom-made wetsuits for those with deeper pockets. When cut to your size, the wetsuit guarantees utmost comfort, better insulation and flexibility. Judge your Diving Desires . A wetsuit should snuggly fit your body to increase flexibleness as you move underwater and insulation to guard you from cold temperatures at the depths. Neoprene is the standard material for wetsuits and are available in thicknesses of 2mm to about 9mm. However , you check the thickness that you are most ok with. In most examples, wetsuits carrying a thickness beyond 5mm can get real massive underwater to put a dent on overall adaptability. When that occurs, the chance of efficient insulation loses its meaning if the material constricts movement. keeping up the Correct Condition of Your Wetsuit.

There are available cleaning agents and desalters to keep your wetsuit spic-and-span after each dive. This could rid the wetsuit of salt, forestall perspiration from sticking to the material, deodorize the garment and extend its useful life too. As much as humanly possible, dip your wetsuit in a tub crammed with an enzyme-based cleaner and hand wash it scrupulously ; especially avoid messing up the backstitching of a wetsuit. Do not forget to mist it while drying outside but watch out not to reveal it to direct sunlight. The stink of a wetsuit are the bacteria from your skin hiding in the nooks and crannies of the neoprene.  Wash your suit!

Likewise , hang the wetsuit in a cool, dry place and away from direct daylight when storing them..

Thanks for reading, leave your comments below. . . yes, now!

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

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

If what you read here is even .01% meaningful to you, please Digg us, Stumble us, or save us to Del.icio.us using the icons following each post. Be sure to subscribe to this blog’s RSS Feed and our newsletter too, if so inclined, deposit your email address by using the form to the right or click here! Thanks for visiting and dive safe out there, will you?

Please Tweet This Post

There are a boatload of small and large e-tailers as well local dive shops nationwide and internationally where you could spend your hard earned dollars. . . .

. . . and you picked us! It is a privilege to earn your business and you deserve to be treated like an honored guest. . . welcome to K2, where we will treat you like a friend first, and a customer second.If you are a new customer, prepare to be in awe!

Our ratings are running approx one review per 120 transactions, so you are looking at the love we have gotten from over a thousand giddy customers. How can we make you part of the K2 Family? We stand for good ol’ customer service, and stake our reputation on it!

Warranty

K2 is an authorized Dealer for all products we carry so your amazing spank brand new  thingamwhiz comes with the full Manufacturer’s warranty. That means, if it breaks, we exchange it out for a new one, upgrade needed, we handle it for you, if there is a grey area, we will go to bat for you with the manufacturer. The other guys, welp,  the other unauthorized grey market guys with the spectacular low prices. . . g’luck!

Warning: Unauthorized Dealers May Cost You Money

Like your iPod, scuba gear is backed by manufacturer’s warranties. If you buy from K2, an authorized dealer, you will be notified in the event of a safety recall. The warranty is much more important with scuba gear, as this is life support equipment and Murphy ( of Murphy’s Law) is following you around at 130 feet of seawater. Every year the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) finds several scuba products that require recall. The Aqualung Titan was the latest recall September ‘O8. Please click the above link to read about it.

Our Ridiculously Customer Oriented 30/60/90/120 Return Policy

You may return all undamaged items purchased at K2 SCUBA Dive Center and K2Scuba.com within 30 days of the original delivery for a complete ‘no questions asked’ refund.
We will also accept your return up to 60/90/120 days from date of purchase. Here is how it works:
60 days and after you will receive a 75% K2 Scuba store credit towards future merchandise.
90 days and after you will receive a 50% K2 Scuba store credit towards future merchandise.
Up to 120 days-upon receiving your return product, you will receive a 25% store credit towards future merchandise.

Please read the complete terms and conditions here.

Bonus Gift

With every purchase, no matter how big or small, you will receive a gift from us  as a way of saying thank you for the privilege of serving you, our customer.

Zero Risk Proposition/ Guarantee

We guarantee you will LOVE your Oceanic, Pinnacle, and Xcel  diving equipment (and a host of other manufacturers) or we will buy it back from you. Dive it, play in the bath tub or pool for 30 days, WE WILL BUY IT BACK from you. . . or exchange it with no questions asked.

Perfect Fit Guarantee

Can’t decide which size wetsuit, mask, or BCD to purchase because you are b’tween sizes?
Afraid of buying stuff because it looks good on the model, but maybe not yourself?
You get the box home and excitedly open it only to discover that you HATE the color?
Well, we want to calm your fears. You have ZERO RISK and we endeavor to make you smile with the K2 Perfect Fit Guarantee! Give us a call, and we will send you out what will please you. We don’t rest until you are gleefully happy! Please read the complete terms and conditions here.

Delivery, Shipping and Handling

We have deep stock of the products we carry, so when you order, we ship within 24 hours, and you can count on a confirmation email with a tracking number.

If we don’t live up to this promise, call me, Tevis Verrett at 818 982 2652 and I will personally look into your order and call you back with the fix. I will also send you a special gift to say thanks.

We never add a handling charge, nor are there surcharges; that is fleecing the unsuspecting customer and it’s just wrong. What you pay up front is what you pay. . . and no hidden charges! (remember, treating you like a friend)

Setup & Installation of Gear

It is all about customer service! This is the K2 difference, and you don’t have to wonder what condition your product will arrive in when you receive it . We will either assemble it before it leaves the warehouse, or send it to a K2 instructor local to you, or. . . do nothing because you are an experienced diver. The Big Picture. . .you have options, and you have the SAY, and we ask YOU!

Deliverability and Availability

If the reason you came to us is because you want your item, you want it now, and you don’t want to wait for it… you came to the right place. We understand that you want it right now. Often, discounters have lower prices, but are” oh-so- sorry-we’re-out-of -it”, so they try to sell you something else. So please don’t be fooled by competitors who have deeply discounted prices, because their deliverability or availability of those products just might not be there.

Customer Support

It is what K2 is all about. we aren’t done until you are gleefully happy!

Technical support

Youbought the latest SuperBangWhiz Dive Computer from us, and have questions. You bought a pair of drygloves and need help installing them on your drysuit. We are here for you BEFORE and AFTER your purchase and we are privileged to be your local diveshop. . . this is what separates us from the discounters.

It is a promise that we will walk you through it.

Deep Selection of Products, Travel Locations and Services

 Part and parcel of the K2 Difference is that it is our sincere endeavor to make your shopping convenient, easy, and a fun experience to shop, travel, and learn with us. Don’t you deserve the luxury of fun in your experience of purchasing your dive gear?

This is our solemn promise to you!

My Friend, my Ally, my Master:

As your dreamskeeper, and the arbiter of your inventory of desires. . . it was my hope that all your heartfelt wishes for 2009 all come true.

That you find yourself surrounded by friends, laughter, and good times.. . .

That your cup runneth over financially, romantically, spiritually, and creatively. . . . 

That good health be your faithful companion, that peace be your guarded ally, and love your perpetual guide. . . .

When suddenly, it dawned on me that you my master. . . as an infinite, powerful, fun-loving gladiator of the Universe, with eternity before you and the power of your thoughts to help shape it. . . it is you. . . .

. . .  you are the dreamskeeper who will wield the power to grant your heartfelt wishes this year!

Master, your wish is my command. . . . What is your ask?

 The Universe