Well, it is Christmas eve and all is well.  I wanted to log in and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  I hope everyone is with family and friends and I hope that Santa is good to everyone.  I will not be making but a few more post for this year.  Like all of you, I am going to just relax and enjoy the season.  Thank you for all of your business, all of your comments to the blog postings, and again, a Very Merry Christmas to everyone!

 Phil Ellis

Lots of people will be spending some time in airports, shopping malls, and other public places during the Christmas and New Years season.  In all public places, you are apt to encounter uniformed members of the United States military.  Many of them will be traveling home for Christmas, taking a short break from duty stations, near and far, that keep them from their family, friends, and loved ones.  Many of them have pledged to give their very lives to protect and defend the things they believe in.

Regardless of what we think of the war, of the politicians that started it, of the progress of the effort, or the utility of war, we need to remember that we have brave soldiers, pilots, sailors, and marines who pledge to do a job so you and I don’t have to do it.  These Americans are bringing peace and dignity to people that are entitled to it.  They are protecting our country from a danger that all people in the free world recognize.  They are serving YOU and me.  Right or wrong, these guys and girls put their lives at risk to protect a concept, one that says that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It’s not just Americans that are so endowed; it is all people.

There is a really neat organization called  The Gratitude Campaign  that is showing us a way to say “thank you” for the efforts of these brave souls.  By giving a simple sign, you can say “thank you from the bottom of my heart” to those that really need to know that they don’t do what they do in vain.  When you give this sign, you aren’t agreeing with the policy, your aren’t approving of the activity.  You are simply acknowledging brave and self-less Americans, giving of themselves to serve you.

I encourage you to view the video below produced by The Gratitude Campaign and learn how you can say “thank you” without attracting attention, without feeling awkward, and without compromising your personal views.  When you give the sign, it is a good feeling for you and the recipient.  In this joyful season, give a real servant a smile by giving them a sign.

Phil Ellis

Discount Scuba Gear at DiveSports.com

Well, it is December 20 and only five more days before Christmas.  Wow, this year has really flown by!  It seems like just yesterday that we were starting the new dive season of 2007.  Now, we are looking forward to the season of 2008.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our friends and customers for the business, friendship, and good times in this past year.  We are lucky to have such a great group of area divers, always ready for the next dive, always ready to help the new divers, and always looking forward to better diving in the coming year.  With only a few days remaining, we want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  We hope everyone is with family and friends and we hope that Santa puts a little scuba in your stocking.

 We will close on Christmas eve and Christmas day to enjoy our time with our families.  Drop by between Christmas and New Years eve and tell us about all of the fun, food, family, friends and neat gifts.  Again, a very Merry Christmas from the Dive Sports crew!

Phil Ellis 

 Christmas Time at Dive Sports

I made a quick post a couple of days ago when we got the new DiveSports.com regulator and weight bags in from the manufacturer.  I thought I would make a post today and include a couple of pictures of the new bags and explain a little about why we had them designed the way we did.  The popular “square” regulator bags that we have always sold and that seem to be the design most imitated in the industry have two pretty gleaming problems;  the bags are a little too thin to accommodate a modern regulator set, and the “square” top makes it difficult to slide the zipper.  So, we decided to fix both of these problems.

 The DiveSports.com regulator bag is a full 4 inches deep.  The rounded top makes zipper movement extremely easy.  The handle of the bag is sewed with double row stitching for durability and the detachable should strap make shoulder carrying easy.  The back side of the bag has a 12″ wide pocket for log books, tables, or other flat accessories.   With a width of 12 inches and measuring 13′ from top to bottom, this is a bag that will hold any regulator set.  If you are looking for a regulator bag with the design features really needed for your regulator set, you can’t do better than the DiveSports.com bag.

We also wanted a newer and better designed weight bag.  With soft weights now costing over $3 per pound, protecting and preserving your weight is important.  We looked at the design of some of the specialty weight bags on the market and found that they lacked a couple of important features.  Most are completely closed canvas bags, making it difficult to maintain an airflow through the bag that will promote drying.  In addition, most were not quite as heavy-duty as required for the task.  The DiveSports.com weight bags is much better made than most on the market.  We used heaver denier nylon canvas material, we used a YKK #10 zipper, and we increased the thread count on all handle and reinforcement strap stitching.  This results in a much studier weight bag.  The biggest improvement is the coated mesh bag top that promotes air circulation for drying.  All drain grommets on the DiveSports.com bag as stainless steel for durability and longer life.  The handle on the DiveSports.com weight bag is as heavy and well-padded as any we have ever seen.

Take a close look at these two new bags from DiveSports.com.  We hope you will agree with us that the quality is exactly as you should expect for your money.  We have loads of them and stock and we would be happy to see everyone take home one of each.

 Phil Ellis

Discount Scuba Diving Gear

I am amazed that we continue to hear dishonest and misleading statements designed to scare scuba divers away from purchasing scuba gear from Internet resellers.  This morning, I was reading one of my favorite scuba chat boards and ran across a link listed in one of the user’s signature lines.  Being curious, I followed the link and found the following quote from one of the pages on the target site.

SHOULD I BUY GEAR OVER THE INTERNET TO SAVE A LITTLE MONEY?

No… Many Internet gear retailers purchase the left over inventory of dive shops that have financially failed. In some cases the equipment has been on the shelf deteriorating for years. Most equipment designs don’t change for 5-7 years. Internet gear retailers are not recognized by diving equipment manufacturers. Gear purchased over the Internet is not covered by the manufacturers lifetime warranty. Many dive shops will not repair equipment purchased on the Internet. No dive shop will do warranty work on equipment purchased on the Internet. The equipment you use while diving provides life support. Why risk injury to save a few dollars.

Quote Taken From http://www.midwestscubadiving.com/Gear.aspx

I continue to be amazed at what some scuba stores, organizations, and individuals will claim as fact, without any evidence that it is true.  First, almost all of the scuba Internet retail sites, including DiveSports.com, are fully authorized dealers for the brands we resale.  Far from being discouraged by our brand manufacturers, most of us are considered very loyal and important customers.

While “getting left over inventory from stores that have financially failed” might have been used on occasion by a few Internet resellers, this would be a very poor merchandise procurement plan.  Customers come to the Internet to get the best and the latest gear available, stuff that is often not available at a small, local scuba store.  Furthermore, while there are a lot of scuba store failures, that particular method of merchandise procurement would NEVER supply the needs of an active and robust Internet reseller.

The quote states that “no dive shop will do warranty work on equipment purchased on the Internet”.  I think this is a pretty broad and greatly inaccurate statement.  If equipment is purchased from an auhtorized dealer, no matter where that is, I would think another dealer should very willingly do service work.  If equipment is purchased on the Internet from an Authorized Dealer, what grounds would another dealer have for refusing service?  Since they get considerable revenue from they service, why would they refuse in the first place?

This quote is simply wrong and makes no sense.  The largest majority of internet resellers are fully factory authorized dealers and we trade on the Internet mostly under the same name as our brick and mortar stores.  There is no subterfuge going on here.  We aren’t pulling one over on our suppliers.  We are honest retailers who use multiple ways to distribute our merchandise.

If you are going to try to scare your customers into buying from you or someone in your cartel, at least use the truth.  Lies and misstatements like those found in this quote only harm the writer and the industry.

Phil Ellis

Fully Factory Authorized Discount Scuba Gear

We typically provide a free regulator bag to any customer that purchases a complete regulator set.  Most of the regulator bags on the market seem to miss the mark on one or more areas.  About three months ago, we decided to design our own bag.

We just got a phone call from the trucking company telling us they were on the way to deliver the new DiveSports.com regulator bags.  We also have some very heavy duty weight bags in that order.  These regulator bags are well designed, round at the top for easy zipper movement, and a little deeper than most of the bags available.  The weight bags are very well constructed and will easily handle 40-50 pounds of weights without a problem.  Of course, both of these bags are embroidered with the new DiveSports.com logo.

We will try to post pictures of the new bags a little later this week.  We hope you all like them as much as we do.

Phil Ellis

Discount Scuba Gear at DiveSports.com

Yesterday, I made a post on this blog about the exciting efforts of Team Scuba for the upcoming NASCAR Bush East season.  In that post, I credited DEMA as being a supporter of this effort.  Several communications from people involved with Team Scuba have voiced the opposite.  Not only does DEMA not financially support the Team Scuba NASCAR effort, they are apparently hostile to the effort.

Ray Black Sr. is the owner of Commercial Diving Academy in Jacksonville, Florida.  He is also team owner of Team Scuba.  Jed Livingstone is Vice President of NAUI, one of the major sponsors of Team Scuba.  From reports I have been able to get today, and from comments from these involved individuals, it appears that DEMA was offered an opportunity to participate in this effort.  They refused.  In fact,  they demonstrated some level of hostility by CHARGING Team Scuba for the right to exhibit the race car at the recent DEMA show in Orlando, Florida.  I am simply forced to ask myself why. 

The scuba diving industry grew up in California.  Most of the major scuba manufacturing companies are located in California.  The largest scuba certification agency in the world, PADI, is headquartered in California.  Some Californians view NASCAR as simply a “southern” thing.  They fail to realize that this sport is the fastest growing spectator sport in the United States.  They don’t see that NASCAR fans are among the most brand loyal fans of any sport, that the typical NASCAR fan has a family income considerably larger than the average income in the United States, and that NASCAR fans recognize the drivers as being real athletes.  A quote from the James Madison University Center for Sports Sponsorship says it perfectly.

Maybe a simple lack of knowledge about the marketing power of NASCAR is the reason that DEMA would not offer support to Team Scuba.  Maybe DEMA is spending all of their available funds on the Be a Diver campaign.  Regardless of the reason, we hope it will change. 

I have no doubt that a successful season for Team Scuba will likely do nothing to impact the number of new scuba diver certifications in California; but there is scuba diving far east of California.  Those of us in the south eastern part of the United States would LOVE to have the NASCAR crowd in our scuba stores.  We know they love their sport, they believe their sponsors, and they support the brands and organizations that sponsor NASCAR.  Even a moderately successful season for Team Scuba will make a gigantic difference to scuba diving east of California.

I would like to suggest that DEMA change their attitude toward the NASCAR effort being advanced by Team Scuba.  This is a team with a good plan, a great young diver, and they are participating in a rapidly growing part of automobile racing, the NASCAR Bush East series.  Maybe DEMA could begin to shift their support by returning any money Team Scuba paid to DEMA for the rights to display at the show.   Let Team Scuba spend it putting this fast kid and his fast car in front of a brand new group of potential divers.   After all, what THEY are doing will actually improve the economic picture for the DEMA members.

I am sorry for mistakenly giving DEMA credit when credit was not deserved.  I hope that DEMA, and all of the other large potential industry sponsors, will realize that what we need in the scuba diving industry is more scuba divers…..even if they also happen to love NASCAR racing.

Phil Ellis

Note to Ray:  Bring your demonstration car to my store in Alabama and I will show you a crowd of people that love scuba diving and NASCAR.

You Can Race to Discount Scuba Gear at Dive Sports

As I have mentioned in previous posts on this blog, it appears that the money interests in this sport of scuba diving have finally determined that we need to do something different to stimulate interest in scuba diving.  Yesterday, I blogged about the DEMA Be a Diver campaign and my hopes that this will be a successful effort.  Today, I want to talk about another effort supported by DEMA to achieve this same objective.

Diver Down Motor Sports, with the support of DEMA and a number of principal manufacturers and other industry stakeholders, will field a scuba diving themed race car in the increasingly popular NASCAR Bush East Grand National series.  Led by young driver Ray Black, Jr., Team Scuba will bring scuba diving to the millions of fans of NASCAR racing.  NASCAR has demonstrated the ability to provide clean, effective sponsorship opportunities to some of the largest corporations and most prominent organizations in the country.  The brand loyalty and product recognition among NASCAR fans is among the highest for any advertising or promotional opportunity, and the number of potential consumers reached by a winning NASCAR team is simply mind-boggling.

While the connection between scuba diving and NASCAR racing may seem a little strange at first glance, this race car sponsorship idea may well make some sense.  Ray Black Jr. came onto the stock car racing scene with an amazing performance right out of the gate.  Even at his young age, he has apparently demonstrated all of the qualities necessary for a successful race car driving career.  The follow except was taken from the Team Scuba website:

 With talent and determination, 16-year-old Ray Black Jr. took the FMCRA Junior All Star series by storm. At the age of 15 he not only finished in the top five in every race, bit collected seven wins. The team secured the Championship for the FMCRA Junior All Stars, making him, FMCRA’s “Rookie of the Year for 2006.” Ray Black Jr. and Diver Down Motorsports’ “Team Scuba’ have built a reputation of solid and honest racing style.

If Team Scuba and Ray are able to lead only one or two races in the Bush East series next year, the television exposure on cable channels that exactly target the diving demographic will be invaluable.  Scuba diving should realize the same benefits seen by the largest corporations in the country through NASCAR sponsorship.

This industry sponsorship of a NASCAR team is exactly the out-of-the-box thinking that is essential to the growth of this industry and this sport.   I know I will be personally taking a little more interest in Bush racing next year and everyone involved in the industry, either consumer or supplier, should wish Ray Black, Jr and Team Scuba good luck.

Phil Ellis

Your Local Scuba Store…No Matter Where You Live!

It is common knowledge that new scuba diver certifications are at a stalemate and that the industry is barely able to maintain the number of “active” divers from one year to the next.  While this heavily impact everyone in the scuba diving industry, none feel it as brutally as the local scuba retail store.  For several years, local scuba stores have been wondering when someone was going to do something about this very low certification rate.  It seems as if no one takes responsibility for the overall health of the industry.

Several days ago, I made a post about the Be a Diver campaign that will be launched by the Dive Equipment Marketers Association (DEMA) early in 2008.  The campaign includes cross-sport advertising in magazines and periodicals, Internet promotion on the www.beadiver.com website, and television commercials in select major markets.  This campaign offers some great potential to let non-divers know just how easy and fun it is to become a scuba diver.

Today, DEMA announced that the Divers Alert Network and most of the major scuba diving certification agencies have signed on to this program and will provide support in dollars, promotional efforts, andhuman resources to make sure that this program is a success.

San Diego, Calif. – (December 3, 2007) – The Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) today announces the endorsement of their soon-to-be-launched Diver Acquisition Campaign – Be A Diver – by some of the Industry’s training organizations: Divers Alert Network (DAN), Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), Scuba Diving International (SDI/TDI) and Scuba Schools International (SSI). The endorsement comes following the announcement of the Be A Diver campaign and the preview of the national television and print advertising last month at DEMA Show 2007 in Orlando, Florida.

Quote taken from DiveNewsWire Press Release

I certainly hope this campaign by DEMA is successful.  The entire industry needs to pull in the same direction, for a change, and realize that the ONLY way to grow this industry and grow this sport is to make sure that the widest possible audience is aware of the benefits of this sport.  Maybe 2008 will be the year that finally gets the good message out about scuba diving.  I hope we see a surge in new diver certifications next year.  Good luck DEMA.

Phil Ellis

Learn to Scuba Dive at Dive Sports!

A number of new scuba divers in the Decatur area are going to have brand new Oceanic scuba packages under the tree on Christmas morning.  At our Saturday sale and in the days since, we have made several lucky buyers some great deals on these packages.  These packages are priced so low, we cannot possibly advertise the price on the Internet.  Oceanic offers buoyancy vests like the Hera for ladies, the Excursion back inflation vest, and the Probe LX jacket style buoyancy vest.  Combined with a brand new Delta 4 swivel regulator or at new GT3 regulator, the packages start coming into focus.  We can then add your choice of dive computers ranging from the Oceanic VEO100 air computer to the Oceanic Pro Plus 2 NavCon console.  And, if your tastes run a little richer, you could include the VT3 hoseless wrist computer or the cool new Atom 2 wrist-top computer watch.  No matter what your taste, DiveSports.com can build you an Oceanic package to suit your needs and budget.  Do yourself a favor; don’t buy anywhere until you phone Dive Sports.  You may save a lot of money.

 Phil Ellis

Buy Oceanic Gear Packages from DiveSports.com