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Arrogance and Ego’s.

The diving fraternity appears to be littered with small minded people with huge ego’s and totally arrant. Why?

It is with some, not all, divers get to Dive Master or Instructor and they know it all. God’s gift to scuba diving.

Look around the diving lakes, you will see some example of it. At Divecrew we are the UK’s only Gold Star Dive Centre awarded for our work and commitment to Adaptive Teaching. Almost 12 years dedication to Deptherapy.

Divecrew prides itself on working with all divers in a respectful manner putting the client at centre focus. We see some horrendous attitudes.  Here is a few examples:-

Bi lateral amputee, above and below the knee becomes a Dive Master. Instructor comments on face book stating a breach of standards as the guy cannot do a Giant Stride.

Triple amputee learning to scuba dive, Instructor states, ‘I appreciate your situation’. No you don’t not when you are not a triple amputee and have all your limbs.

Three ocean diver students are in the water. Instructor sat on the back of his car with no kit on, shouting across the car park, at the three students to do a weight check.

A nervous open water student, is hesitating at attempting a giant stride entry into deep water. The instructor pushed the student into the water from behind. Needless to say the student was very upset.

Remember instructors know BEST.

Sometimes professionals actually forget what is was like when they first got into the water. It is all alien, it is challenging, certainly in the UK with dry suits, cold water and poor viz. Your student is a paying client and needs to be respected as a client but also for any adaptive needs.

Divecrew are specialists at Adaptive Teaching. Our pro’s are monitored and assessed. Any issue with a course is fully investigated with the pro team. Why? Because we want ever improving standards, we want divers to be comfortable and safe. We want our pro team being customer focused. We want our pro team to adapt to the needs of individual students.

If you want to know more about our Adaptive Teaching contact Divecrew on 01344 771113

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Should I Own My Own Dive Kit Or Just Hire?

This is a question that Divecrew often gets asked.  Some customers come into our shop and say “it’s cheaper to just hire”.

Do you know that initially they are right it is cheaper, but is that the only measure that you are working on?

Benefits of hiring dive kit

You have more room in your luggage.  If you are travelling long haul, most airlines give you ample luggage room, but some shorter haul destinations are a bit miserly.  But did you know if you say you are a diver some airlines give you extra free luggage allowance.  You also avoid any servicing charges on regulators. To keep your regulators in tip top form you do need to ensure they are fully serviced in line with manufacturers requirements.  In my opinion those are the key benefits for hiring kit.

 

Benefits of Purchasing your own kit

The most significant is the fact that your kit will fit you correctly, it’s always better to visit your local dive store to seek professional advice while trying equipment on.

All too often we see people who have purchased products which are inexpensive, ill-fitting, not fit for purpose online and have had to deal with the hassle of trying to re-coup costs, time and effort sending something back overseas.

Once you have your own kit you become familiar with it and instinctively know how to use it. Adjustment settings on regulators, location of octos, clips and gauges, subtle additions of air into your BCD and finally correct weighting with your equipment.

Another major benefit of taking your own, is that you cannot guarantee the quality of the kit you are going to hire overseas. We often we hear stories of poorly serviced hire kit causing divers an issue. Or they don’t have the size you need, so you must compromise.  Most certainly they will only have unisex kit. Female BCDS will fit women better in the right places, and hire centres are unlikely to be able to offer you these.

Examples of kit defects we have seen about include:

  • Rust from the inside of 15l cylinders being drawn into the regulators causing a rust deposit being produced inside, and probably in the lungs too.
  • A cracked first stage.
  • Burst high pressure hoses.
  • Leaking bladders in the BCD.
  • Faulty regs that are not allowing sufficient air at depth.
  • Spiders crawling out of a regulator Second stage because they are not stored properly
  • And of course you now have the issue of Covid. Do you really want to share a set of regulators that 10’s of people have had in their mouth prior to yours!!!

These are but a few of the issues we have heard of or physically seen.  Some of our clients would never hire again.

If you are a travel diver there is light weight kit out there, travel BCD, travel regulators, travel fins meaning that your weight limit with these gems in your luggage is kept to a minimum.

There are also amazing colours, so everything can match and blend- an important requirement particularly for us ladies.

Ultimately you are using life support kit.  You need to be 100% comfortable with the kit you are using, in what is an alien environment to us, can you guarantee this when you are using a 3rd parties equipment?

Our recommendation is purchase your own.  You will be surprised at some of the costs associated.  With some rentals it only takes 2-3 hires to have purchased the cost of a new set of dive kit.

We would also recommmend purchasing DIN regulators rather than relyiong on a compression fit of an o’ring of a Yoke or A Clamp. I have seen diver spend ages trying to find an insert on holiday with a descent o’ring and I have witnessed an o’ring blowing on a dive when over 10 metres down.

Have peace of mind and dive safe- Get your own.

Have a look at some of the Divecrew Packages available in store today.

https://shop.divecrew.smoothconcept.co.uk/shop/divecrew-2012/en/

 

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