Dive Clubs

[Kirk]

I actually started diving locally in part because of a local dive club.  One day, about 6 or 7 years ago I was out snorkeling in Little Long Lake west of Mound, MN.  Some folks showed up to dive, I spoke with them a while, and learned they were part of the Twin Cities Dive Club.  It wasn’t (or isn’t, not so sure they are still around) much of a club, but more of a message board on the internet, that if you want to go diving, you posted on the forum when and where, and you got some dive buddies lined up.  That website had dwindled, and I think it is now gone.  I think in part because this web site serves that same function.

Since I mostly dive alone these days, I don’t really see a need for such a club personally, but others can obviously benefit from such a resource (whether it be called a club, or just an online forum to find a buddy for the day).   Ironically, as a non joiner, today I actually belong to a couple dive clubs.  Not so much for the companionship, but for what the clubs do.  These clubs use my and other peoples’ membership fees to negotiate landlord relationships to provide access to great dive sites, and in some cases buy that access.  The clubs are National Association for Cave Diving or the “NACD” and the National Speleological Society, Cave Diving Section or the “NSS CDS”.  The later actually has a great sales pitch to increase their membership, “so, you want to dive the most beautiful dive site in the world, well Cow Sink is free, so long as you join the club.”  There is another local club around here called the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society, the “GLSPS”.  I’m not a member of that one, but I think they do good work.

Local dive shops also fill a big part of this need.  They get you certified, sell you a bunch of gear you need, arrange evening dives at sites such as Perch, Square, and Little Long, and weekends out at Wazee, Crosby, and the Madeira.  The goal of course is that certification leads to a life time relationship.  They used to make money selling gear, though the world has gotten a lot smaller recently.  Customer says, “I need this item”.  Dive shop owner says, “I don’t have that item, but I can order it”.  Customer responds, “I can order it too”. 

Dive shops aren’t making much money on trips either.  With the iffy weather on Lake Superior, customers are only willing to pay so much to dive the shipwrecks on Isle Royale.  And with the high cost of gasoline, those dive operators aren’t pulling in a whole lot of money (though with the RLT Diver down to one engine, hopefully Ralph was able to save a bit on gasoline, though I suspect if he wants to keep operating, he might wish to do a bit of maintenance on his boat).

Eventually I suspect local dive shops in the Twin Cities will go the way of local video stores (unless of course they adapt to the times).  Sadly, I see them closing one by one.  I used to work for a Community Development Corporation.  Regardless of the mission statement, the mantra was always “develop or die”.  In the local dive shop scene, it should be, “certify or die.”  The local shops are going to get their income from divers taking classes, and from brand new divers buying gear at full retail price prior to and immediately after getting certified. 

I suppose fills could always be a role for dive clubs in the future.  Right now there are a bunch of dive shops in the Twin Cities with compressors, and some which provide other gases such as Oxygen, Helium, and Argon.  But most of them don’t make much money pumping gas.  Some charge a huge premium to pump anything but air (nor do I blame them necessarily, time is money, and it takes time to mix gas).  Some of the shops down in North Florida actually can make some money doing fills, all at 7 cents at a time (the cost of a cubic foot of 32% Nitrox). 

Today, I don’t see a dive club having much use to me.  In the future, if and when all the local dive shops close their doors, it would be nice to have a group of people together collectively owning an air compressor or two, a bunch of bank bottles, a couple Haskells (or better yet, some Masterlines), an account with the local gas supplier, and some fill whips.  I foresee filling parties, with beer and sandwiches.  Sure it still takes time, but one’s time is no longer at a premium if you are doing something you enjoy.  - Kirk