Over organised??

[yazzyfooty]

Just came back from a weekend diving with my club and it has brought home to me the difference between diving with YD people and diving with the club. So I thought I would get others views to this topic as I spent a lot of surface time angry and rebellious at the organiser at being told what to do and what time I could do it at. Can a diving weekend be over organised?
So my question is what do you expect from the organiser when you book to go on a diving weekend please say if it is club or YD diving?

My expectations are that the accommodation and dive charter is booked the rest should be for me to arrange. So what are yours? (I am wondering whether to post this same message on BSAC forum and see if the response is different).

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by yazzyfooty

Just came back from a weekend diving with my club and it has brought home to me the difference between diving with YD people and diving with the club. So I thought I would get others views to this topic as I spent a lot of surface time angry and rebellious at the organiser at being told what to do and what time I could do it at. Can a diving weekend be over organised?
So my question is what do you expect from the organiser when you book to go on a diving weekend please say if it is club or YD diving?

My expectations are that the accommodation and dive charter is booked the rest should be for me to arrange. So what are yours? (I am wondering whether to post this same message on BSAC forum and see if the response is different).

Come & dive with us Yazz. I've seen better organised things lying squished by the side of the road under a cloud of blowflies than some of our club trips, particularly when I'm the organiser.

I'll make a more sensible/constructive reply later on, when I've had me tea.

I suspect the phrase you are looking for is "over-regimented"?

Organised is good, it means you are where you want to be, when you need to be, with the gear you require to do the dive. Regimented is a little bit different to that. It's you are there when someone else wants you there etc etc.

[GaryC]

Can you be a bit more detailed??

I am in a club and we organise everything BUT the only thing I am aware of being cast in stone is the dive time. And accomodation if its a liveaboard. We do lots of weekends away and as long as folk turn up at the same time then that usually does it. I normally book accomodation in backpacker places but our group are free to go and book a 4 star hotel if they want to.

Club diving is about chilling out not causing resentment.

Gary

[David G]

Originally Posted by yazzyfooty

My expectations are that the accommodation and dive charter is booked the rest should be for me to arrange.

Hi,
Can you explain what you mean by "the rest"?

How many people were on the trip?
How many/what type of boats were you using....or was it shore diving?
Were there people on the trip less pro-active than yourself...people who would just stand there and wait to be told what to do?

Perhaps you did have an over-zealous Dive Manager.........

If you had been the Dive Manager, how would you have ensured that everyone got their diving done safely and sensibly?

Yep, I'm a BSAC-trained person

David.

[purple vonny]

After years of club diving, we did TRY to be organised and the dive marshall had a tough job. The organisation was necessary in order to launch and get the boat out of the water when the tide was right and also to hit slack on time if we were doing a wreck.

This meant that we started off with a timetable and plan and everyone was supposed to cooperate.

The reality was that everyone turned up at different times with various excuses from hangovers to over-sleeping, there was a massive queue of RIBs on the slip, people forgot things and faffed a lot and had to keep going back to their cars, we got to wrecks as the tide turned and had ripping currents and got back to the slip at low tide. That was a normal day out. But it was always fun and a good day out.

With a charter boat, it is much easier. The skipper dictates the time and the sites depending on the weather and you just fall in with what he tells you to do. But this is still dependent on people turning up and getting ready on time!!

I now prefer "semi-independent " diving with a bunch of friends from work or YD and would not go back to club diving.

(Except this weekend when I am diving with my old club from Brecon....eeeek!)

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by purple vonny

After years of club diving, we did TRY to be organised and the dive marshall had a tough job.

Dive MANAGER please. All change now....

My honest answer is that the organisation is as good (or bad) as the person(s) doing it...

Chris

[JamesW]

How does the organiser gets on if something goes wrong can that person be sued ????? Club or non club dives

[Scubee]

I organise a fair few dives for our club (which is not a BSAC club). it is really difficult to strike a balance. Some people want to have everything done for them, others just want to know what time the boat goes.

I did go for a week away a few years ago as part of a group where I felt I was ordered around left right and centre, and recieved a daily telling off for everything from being ready to dive to quickly to putting the kettle on and there was no consultation about which sites were to be dived. Surface time 'Trips' were organised and non attendance was frowned upon. I rebelled against it ad tried to do my own thing which didn't go down very well either.

Since then I have done my level best to ensure that people who go on any trip I organise get asked what their preference is for diving, They are told what time the boat will leave (depending on how well I know the group i might bring the adised time forward a bit to allow for the oversleepers and fettlers!) because that is a necessity. To accomodate the ' organise everythign for me please' people, i give them the option of asking questions. I am happy to offer suggestions, for example if people ask about a Saturday evening eatery or a B&B, That bit is very much on a 'I am probably doing this, feel free to join me or if anyone has another suggestion, bring it on' basis. No-one has said to me that I over organise or under organise although the proof of the pudding, as they say, will be at the AGM. Maybe this year someone else will stand and i won't have to make it 5 years!

[JasonP]

Originally Posted by purple vonny

With a charter boat, it is much easier. The skipper dictates the time and the sites depending on the weather and you just fall in with what he tells you to do. But this is still dependent on people turning up and getting ready on time!!

Not really. I just leave without them. On my trips, we go at the ropes off time whether we've got a full boat or not. Most people seem to learn quite quickly with one notable exception.

Jason

[MarkP]

Originally Posted by JasonP

Not really. I just leave without them. On my trips, we go at the ropes off time whether we've got a full boat or not.

That's a bit harsh. On MY trips, if somebody's late we simply delay the tide.