Rebreather Seminar & Demo Under Water Connections

[gfmayhew]

I'm a little puzzled, too.

As someone who is not a CCR diver yet, and someone who is interested in purchasing one in the next year, demo classes are a great idea. It's a lot of money to put down on equipment, and demoing gives me a chance to try several different models. I test drive a lot of cars before I settle on one to buy....

But, Ron, you contradict yourself above by stating that participants will only be 'out' an hour of Ghost Ships. Your class schedule is 9-11 and your pool sessions 12-1 and 1-2. This means participants are at the shop all day. After clean up and travel back to the festival, the folks in your second pool wont get back to Ghost Ships until 3. And the festival is over at 4.

Now, I don't like to make waves. It's not my style. But I'm confused, and I need to work this out mentally and decide which event to attend now.

On one hand...

I need to demo some more CCRs. I think I have the model I want picked out, but it never hurts to try some more. So a demo is really good for me. I take umbrage at the 'free' part, since it's actually $40. A gift certificate for $40 will buy me half a mask at UWC. It's not really a big incentive.

And on the other hand...

Ghost Ships is perhaps the most important event of the year in support of our pursuit of shipwreck diving on Lake Michigan. It's the gateway to the new season, a chance to see old friends and swap stories, to meet new friends and evangelize newcomers to our activities. (I've bee involved in training new divers at UW Madison for six years...I've brought dozens of new divers to the festival to get them hooked on shipwreck diving.) The festival is also about meeting shop owners, getting some breaks on equipment, and connecting with charter captains and starting to flesh out our dive plans for the year. It's also great to see the discoveries of the past year and listen to talks from presenters new and old. This festival is crucial to the survival of our sport in this area. It's about DIVERS and our activities, not about shops and profits. Though the festival gives shops the chance to connect with potential customers, without the divers, the festival really has no purpose.

By scheduling an event to overlap with Ghost Ships, you have the potential to take away people who contribute to the economy and the community of diving in Wisconsin. People like me who are potential rebreather customers willing to put down cash to buy the equivalent of a small automobile for my back. Big numbers like that are very distracting and it's easy to forget the real purpose of Ghost Ships: community. We need those advanced divers to show newcomers we are a real community and we are about having a good time.

I'm sorry, and I do not mean to be insulting to someone who has been instrumental to the growth of our sport in Wisconsin and Minnesota.  I just hope you are still trying to support us in a way that continues to promote diving for the entire region.

I think I've made my choice on which event to attend... Sorry, I'm going to the festival.

It's only money. It comes, it goes. But the ships are still there. And we like to visit them with our friends and talk about them. I ask that you please consider changing your event, possibly to Sunday, to take advantage of the divers coming from out of state for Ghost Ships.

Thanks for your time,
George