Organising dive trips...

[stevechesh]

Some good feedback so far.

First off, there's no club , so no club funds, and there's certainly no local club that cater for the type of diving that myself and a few mates like to do. The problems i/we face for the deep trips are that fewer and fewer people seem willing to have a go at something, and spaces are increasingly harder to fill.

Why is this? I assume because it's generally one dive a day, so quite expensive on a "per dive" basis.

Some costs example:

If a boat costs £500 for the day and you book the boat as the organiser, lets assume you have entered into a legal contract and have to pay that amount regardless.

You advertise for 10 divers, so split between 10 people = £50 each..... Now lets assume you can only get 5 divers. It's a catch 22 situation. You can't mess the skipper around as you've entered into a contract, and equally, it seems unreasonable for everyones costs to now double to offset the spare places. So who pays then? It seems like it's down to the organiser to foot the bill, and this is one of the hazards of being an organiser, and why a lot of us are thinking of jacking it all in (not the diving, just the organising)....

I'm trying to get to a mark next year now to try and ID a wreck. It's only been dived once before which was nearly 15 years ago (i hoped to go this year, but it's not going to happen). The wreck wasn't looked at in depth because the conditions were bad. No vis and current running like a train etc. It's 40 miles from the nearest port that operates dive boats, but 25 miles from the nearest "non-diving port".

So an almost virgin wreck in about 70 metres - Costs would be enormous, and i estimate you'd be looking at least £600 for the boat alone using todays prices. I dread to think how much it would cost next year!.Now you try filling a boat with people that want to go and have a look and take a chance.

I know of only 3 people that are up for this at the moment. . . . .Looks like i need to start saving!

[copperband]

You're such a tight tw@t Chesh

[stevechesh]

you signing up for it then nugget boy

[warmwaterdiver]

you already know most of my thoughts Steve

the known or unknown wreck diving is always going to be tricky one to solve for organisers

sort a trip out to the Murree and it'll be full, sort a trip 30 mile out on an unknown and you'll struggle

costs/charges are another problem!

[stevechesh]

Originally Posted by warmwaterdiver

you already know most of my thoughts Steve

the known or unknown wreck diving is always going to be tricky one to solve for organisers

sort a trip out to the Murree and it'll be full, sort a trip 30 mile out on an unknown and you'll struggle

costs/charges are another problem!

absolutely mate. . . . It would appear that offshore diving is definately on the decline, and yet some people complain about not being able to see virtually un-dived wrecks It would appear the halcyon days of wreck diving are well and truly over . . .

[GLOC]

Steve, if I put my name down I expect to pay a share of the boat even if not everyone pitched up; late cancellers can ram it and I expect them to pay. I would like to do some undived stuff but when on OC and deep it becomes an expensive game.

I think people are coming under more pressure, both time and money. This is the same for the skippers with the cost of diesel going through the roof.

Spending £80 worth of gas for 25mins on the bottom at 60m on what could be a pile of rocks isn't great, especially if it was a mid-week gig when you had to take time off work (not that I work that often before you say anything Steve!!)

£80 for gas, £50-70 for a boat, diesel/petrol to the mooring, hotels. It becomes a big thing to try and justify to yourself and family (if you have one) when costs for one day are the same as a nice weekend away with the missus/someone else's missus/a bird you are trying to impress

Regards

PS Thanks for getting the end of May sorted. Still trying to get some contacts sorted!!

[warmwaterdiver]

unfortunately, deep diving (offshore stuff is generally deep) is expensive

if you can only afford a limited amount of deep dives within the season, then the vast majority would rather have a guarentted known wreck, than a maybe wreck, maybe sand/rock/scrapheap

[Mark Chase]

Originally Posted by stevechesh

absolutely mate. . . . It would appear that offshore diving is definately on the decline, and yet some people complain about not being able to see virtually un-dived wrecks It would appear the halcyon days of wreck diving are well and truly over . . .

I am aware of at least three groups diving out of Littlehampton who push out to hopfully undived wrecks. I am in one of them.

Its perfictly doable but heavy on comitment and money.

The boat is booked solid for the year with people waiting in reserve. Same goes of at least one of the other groups.

All the close in stuff has been done so now to get on new wrecks out of established ports you need to go either a long way out or very deep.
On the other hand there are parts of the UK where you can get on good new wrecks close in and shalow water but these areas are not well supported for dive boats and often suffer bad viz and or bad sea conditions.

ATB

Mark

[warmwaterdiver]

Originally Posted by GLOC

Spending £80 worth of gas for 25mins on the bottom at 60m

you should get yourself to Gledders gas shop, she was saying last year this kind of dive costed her around £30/40 IIRC

[stevechesh]

To Gloc and Warmwater:

I suspect that cost rather than depth is what it boils down to these days. It's certainly not a cheap day out whatever way you look at it . . .

At least i'll have plenty of room on the boat next year for my trip. Looks like i'll be the only one onboard. If you see my missus and she asks you, it still only costs £20 for the whole boat, ok