Posted by AADIVER on August 10, 2001 at 07:57:03:
In Reply to: Numbers??????? posted by Ken Kurtis on August 10, 2001 at 06:13:15:
So the cert aqencies claim an accelerating number of new divers year by year and retail sales figures show a diminishing number of active divers. Cost is definitely a factor. When a quality gear manufacturer charges 32 bucks for a crotch strap that can be home made for under 5 and of equal quality, that's but one example. No wonder the only growing segment of our sport is the discount and mail order, minimum quality gear businesses.
There's another numbers game that's equally faulty: fatalities. Postings on this board blame almost all of them on poor basic instruction and that's just not true. Easily over two thirds of them can be traced to poor judgement and/or over confidence that in no way relates to basic certification. This in no way excuses the instances of poor instruction that does exist, but put in proper perspective, there is no increase in scuba fatalities that can be blamed on shoddy basic instruction, per se. Adding those numbers up, a scuba fatality is the rare exception rather than than the alarming rule.