Life on the Leading Edge of Fin Design

We have for some time now been smitten with the almost-otherworldly fin technology gushing from the Force Fin labs in sunny Santa Barbara, Calif.

You may remember Neutral Dive Gear Founder & CEO Mark Glesne, along with then-intern Jan, spent an afternoon with Bob, Susanne, and Blair from Force Fin last year to received a first-hand look into life on the leading edge of fin design.

So when we come across a terrifically insightful interview/article like this, we can't help but pass around.

Much maligned and misunderstood, Force Fins and their iconoclastic creators, Bob Evans and Susanne Chess, have been leading a quiet revolution within the dive industry. Long shunned by the dive industry power brokers, the pair are the propagators of the polyurethane fins shaped to resemble the tail end of tuna or a dolphin. Inspired by the natural locomotion of aquatic creatures and with barnacle-like tenacity, the pair have led Force Fin from the sketch pad to major market player over twenty-four tumultuous years. Along the way, they've experienced broad acceptance from the swimming community, yet almost total disdain from the mainstream of the dive industry. They've weathered unscrupulous efforts to undermine their stature here in the U.S., yet been embraced by the foreign dive press and have even been put to use by the Russian Navy. Ignored by the American dive press, they've been overwhelmed by the mainstream news media and general public here in the States.

But whether hailed as visionaries or ridiculed by members of their own industry, Evans and Chess have sailed their ship well, generating droves of loyal followers in swimming, fishing, and now, finally, in diving. "The industry is finally ready to accept us, to look beyond what our fins look like," says Evans.

Here, in an exclusive interview conducted at their offices in Santa Barbara, CA, is an inside look at a great American success story...

That's just the intro. Be sure to read the entire interview to glean from Bob and Susanne's experience with not only fin design, but the dive industry as a whole.

Poseidon Diving Systems Announces New U.S. Headquarters

The Swedish diving technology company and creator of the world’s first recreation rebreather technology has a new U.S. headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas.

The company is also soon embarking on a 6-month demo tour to various cities around the U.S., conducting regulator and rebreather classes along the way. Stay tuned and we'll get you the cities and dates of that tour as soon as they're made available to us.

In the meantime, here's the headquarters press release from the good folks over at Poseidon:

Poseidon Diving Systems, creator of the world’s first recreation rebreather technology, has introduced a new headquarters in the US intended to service North American diving needs. This full-service facility will provide customers with Poseidon scuba products, as well as technical service for Poseidon gear and educational training.

Sweden Headquarters has designated Melanie Price, from Kickady Scuba, to be the Director of Operations, and Jerry Price to be Director of Service and Training at the new facility to provide faster, more efficient customer service to North American dealers and divers. The new facility holds a fully stocked warehouse containing only top of the line Poseidon technology, an oxygen clean room for servicing Poseidon products, and a classro om used for training instructors and divers.

Poseidon’s fully automatic rebreather technology is the first of its kind, and it is arguably the greatest breakthrough within the diving community for many decades. When compared to traditional recreational scuba equipment, the Poseidon Discovery provides a more tranquil, nearly silent, diving experience. This technology allows the diver to feel one with his or her surroundings, instead of an intrusion among the underwater world.

To kick off the introduction of the Poseidon Discovery rebreather in the North American market, Poseidon is sending a team across the country to showcase and demo the products. Divers and instructors will have the opportunity to be trained and to test this innovative technology first hand as well as the option to purchase gear on site.The Poseidon team will demonstrate this technology for instructors and the general public along with providing educational training at each site.

For more information about the United States Poseidon Headquarters or about Poseidon technology, please visit http://www.poseidon.com.

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Be sure to check out PoseidonUSA on Facebook and follow PoseidonUSA on Twitter.

Any thoughts on the concept idea of "recreational rebreather" technology?

Cayman Island Diving Industry Struggles to Stay Afloat

Competition, worldwide economic instability, and a series of natural and man-made disasters have contributed to a Cayman Islands dive industry that has found itself struggling to stay afloat.

It’s tough to stay on top.

Or to stay underneath - in the case of Cayman’s diving industry.

According to many who have been around the diving scene here on the Islands for decades, the game has changed. And Cayman hasn’t always been able to keep up.

“Our competitors in the Caribbean and worldwide have learned their lesson from our success and are going quite well,” said Ron Kipp, who owned Bob Soto’s Diving operation from 1980 to 2005.

Competition from other dive sites is just one of the many challenges facing the Cayman Islands dive tourism product as it moves into the second decade of the 21st Century. Many of these factors are outside the industry or even the country’s control.

Continue reading...

Any one been to the Cayman Islands recently? Have you noticed a difference in the dive scene?

Florida Cave Diving is Lucrative

That's according to the results of study recently published in a fancy schmancy academic journal.

The writers and researchers of the article — O. Ashton Morgan and William Huth of Appalachian State University in North Carolina and University of West Florida, respectively — developed a single-site travel cost model to show the economic value associated with recreational cave diving.

The end results, published recently in “Resource and Energy Economics,” amazed even the researchers. The article states that under the spring’s existing conditions, the economic impact of each diver was estimated to be approximately $146 to $167 per person, per trip. Based on the number of expected trips this translates into approximately $1,075 in annual per-person economic impact, or $575,000 a year.
However, Huth explained that since publishing the article, he has since talked to Blue Springs personnel who say the number of divers has since doubled.

“So basically we are not looking at $575,000 in annual surplus, we’re talking more like a $1 million,” Huth said. “Blue Springs could easily, beyond the jails, be the biggest incoming revenue source for Jackson County, with it bringing in about a $1 million a year.”

However, the study revealed more than just the economic impact of springs diving. It also gave insight to the cave’s potential demand among divers, if improvement to access were made.

Huth and Morgan described in their article that the cave has two potential ways to grow in consumer demand.

The first is to improve access to Twin Caves Spring and Hole in the Rock Spring, which are currently only accessible by boat.

Second, if divers were granted access to a newly discovered passage, this too would have an impact.

Continue reading...

India: The Next Booming Dive Industry?

According to some industry sources, it just might be.

"We believe the time has come for India to become a major force in the world of scuba diving. It has the potential of becoming a billion dollar industry over the next five years," said Rohaan Sulaiman, President Bangalore Dive Club, which will be launched on June 14.

Worldwide, the scuba diving industry, including the hospitality factor was estimated to be USD 47 billion, said Madhava Reddy, Founder Director of Planet Scuba India, a scuba diving inland centre, with a PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) five star diving centre.

"Today the contribution of scuba diving may be miniscule, but in five years, with the plans under implementation, this adventure will be a significant contributor to sea-based tourism," he said. Information received also suggest that some prominent names were evincing keen interest in developing it.

Lack of resources and infrastructure could have been the reasons why the sport had not picked up ealier in India despite having a vast coastline, huge population and an economy that was growing, Reddy said.

India which had less less than five dive centres five years ago today boasts of 22 dive centres. "The number is expected to go upto 50 in three to five years" Reddy said.

Academy of Scuba Opens Training Facility

Late last week the Academy of Scuba officially announced the opening of a training facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Academy of Scuba’s Training Facility is unlike most Scuba shops. The focus is solely on training and the facility caters to unparallel classroom training and the administrative offices support our dive staff to ensure timely certification and materials delivery. The Academy of Scuba uses state of the art technology including eLearning, digital displays, the latest training multimedia, surround sound and GoToMeeting™ to assist in its training.

The new training facility will support the Academy of Scuba’s Complete Diver Program. The Complete Diver Program is the most comprehensive training program in the Scuba industry. For $360, participants can get certified in Advanced and Rescue Courses, over 40 different specialties and attend a series of workshops and clinics to help them become great recreational divers. These programs are offered in conjunction with SDI/TDI, PADI, NAUI, Divers Alert Network, Emergency First Response, and SeaSigns programs. For more information on the Complete Diver Program go to http://www.completediver.com

Continue reading...

Sport Diver Purchases Scuba Diving Magazine

If you have yet to hear, earlier this month Bonnier Corporation -- which publishes Sport Diver -- announced its purchase of Scuba Diving magazine from F+W Media Inc. As the article points out, the acquisition positions Bonnier as the dominant media company in the dive industry.

The deal includes a significant new online presence for Bonnier. ScubaDiving.com hosts one of the largest online communities in the dive industry and will complement Sport Diver's ongoing digital initiatives.

"Scuba Diving is a perfect strategic fit for us," says Bonnier Corp. CEO Terry Snow. "We serve the enthusiast market better than anyone in the business, so adding Scuba Diving to our existing Sport Diver title will only enhance our relationship with the dive industry and its passionate audience."

"F+W Media has made a strategic shift from traditional print publisher to integrated media company," said David Nussbaum, Chairman & CEO of F+W Media. "Our future success will grow from our community model and by giving full focus to our core categories – those with the most opportunity for growth and profit potential through events, competitions, books, magazines and online. Only after a considerable portfolio review did we determine to exit the scuba diving marketplace. We are pleased to be able to place the title with Bonnier, a better strategic fit for the magazine and the category overall."

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Scuba Diving and Sport Diver will now be aligned with The Undersea Journal, a publication Bonnier produces for PADI, the sport's largest certification agency, creating the new Bonnier Dive Group, which will fall under the Enthusiast Group.