At that time too, the clubs Started. There are still clubs around and there is
nothing wrong with clubs. But at that time, there were some 500 to 1,500 diving
clubs throughout the states. Think about it, 1,000 clubs in 1962. The clubs
became highly organized. One had to belong to a club to be part of a spear fishing
competition and so on. A few clubs turned to the serious business of search and
recovery for police, sheriff's, and fire departments. Civil Defense Diver Units were
organized throughout the country.
After a while, people in clubs quit diving. All they did was have big social
events, but politically they were very involved in diving. Probably the single most
important function was to work for legislation favorable to divers and combine to
prevent the passage of unfavorable legislation. As part of their effort in this
direction, clubs have helped to bring, what we now know as, the true situation to
the attention of the public. They got together and formed the Underwater Society
of America, which is still in existence in a very small part today. They had big
meetings and every state had their own "Council of skin and scuba-diving clubs."
They sent representatives to the national convention once a year, wherever it was
going to be.
These conventions would normally be in association with the National
Sporting Goods Association Show where the diving manufacturers would show
their wares. Today they do not do that. The manufacturers show their wares at the
Diving Equipment Manufacturers Association, (DEMA) shows. DEMA, founded in
1976, consists of nothing but people who are involved in diving.
The clubs had quite a bit to say about what was going on in diving. Some
clubs worked hard on exposing false advertising and thus protecting members from
purchasing inferior equipment, as the Sons of the Beaches Club in Long Beach,
California. Other clubs organize courses of instruction in other aspects of diving.
Due to the work requirement, or possibly other media like the Discovery
Channel on TV and the availability of professional class video information through
these media, the club idea gradually slackened off and the individual councils in
each state disappeared. The diving clubs kind of ceased to exist, as a result of that,
or at least ceased to have a very influential part of diving.
There was one magazine in particular, Skin Diver, owned and operated by
Jim Auxire and his partner Chuck Blakeslee since 1951. They regularly published a
list of diving clubs. It was quite influential and strictly for scuba diving. It became
the bible for scuba. Skin Diver Magazine still enjoys the greatest circulation of any
dive magazine, although it is now written more for dive travel. During the early
years, the articles would hit on every facet of diving.
Some diving stores still have "their own" diving clubs, which can be
financially dangerous for the store. Those stores that have them, may just not
realize how dangerous these clubs can be for the dive store. From a liability
standpoint that is. But it really is. The legal society of today will find a way. The
attitude is called "Find the deepest pocket."
Case in point. There was a diving store in Wisconsin where a situation
occurred. The only thing the store owner did was to handle the club money and
kept account of it. When the club needed money the store gave it to them. If the
club was out of money, the store owner would find some. In this case, the
president of the club, who was an Open Water Diver and another member of the
club and a third member who also was an experienced diver. These three went
diving in a lake in Wisconsin. The three got separated in the murky water of the
lake. Probably as murky as lakes come. One diver came up to the surface and was
about 50 feet away from the dive flag, which the other guys had on a line and
were pulling around with them. They had agreed to meet at the shore if they
became separated. Nobody had a compass. This was in early April. Not much boat
traffic on lakes at that time, if any, especially in Wisconsin. A power boat came
along and this guy dove down. The diver's foot got cut off by the boat propeller.
The boats man pulled the diver on board with his foot, got him across the lake to
shore and to a hospital. Soon thereafter the diver Started legal proceedings. The
boats man did not have any money, so the diver sued the president of the club, the
"Divemaster" and the dive store. The two divers settled out of court with the
injured person, but the dive store refused to settle. The case went to court, where
the dive store spent about $10,000.00 to get the claim dishonored. It ended up
that the diver was within 100 feet distance (the legal distance where boats are not
allowed in Wisconsin) of the dive flag. Therefore, it became a wrongful claim.
Rightfully so, but $10,000.00 back then was a whole lot of money. So, again from
a liability standpoint, it may not be a dive store's best interest to be directly
involved with a club.
