My original idea when I came up with Freedive-A-Palooza was to have something at the opposite end of a competition. Originally this was because we had no finances, or judges, to run any kind of a competition in the middle of the mid-west- let alone insurance to cover this kind of activity.
It was meant to be just a fun gathering of divers to swap stories, try new gear, go camping, and drink some beer(s).
Every year it gets bigger and bigger- it should be pretty huge if everyone comes who has emailed me and I can only imagine what next year will be like for the fifth annual event?
What I am finding now is that since divers are starting families that the event will have to make accommodations for that- to appease my own family if nothing else. Since there is a relaxed camp out/party atmosphere to the whole thing I think it is much easier to include families into it rather than a high(er) stressed situation like a competition. It would be kind of hard to concentrate on a top-time when you spouse needs you to change a diaper while they chase down your dog who just ran off with someones fin- stranger things have happened
I know that I have a few families coming this year, but by next year I want this to be a completely family friendly event. This may include a bit more shallow water snorkeling in the mix, but if the size of the group keeps growing like it has, there should be more than enough for every skill level to do.
It also helps to have a great location- which isn't always possible. The lake I have picked out has a nice kids swimming beach that has it's own separate lagoon that only goes down 3'. Add tot hat fish cribs at 5'-20' and you have interesting things for the novice to look at- or try out their speargun on. For the deep freaks the lake goes down to 320'. Hitting depth isn't a very long swim on certain sides of the lake, while there is plenty of shallow water along the opposite shore.
Another thing to put all of this into context is the sad shape that the diving industry is in these days. In our country all the baby boomer's are getting to old- or dying off as happened to a friend of mine last month, and the younger people aren't picking up the sport with as much enthusiasm as in the past- this is scuba I am talking about. Snorkeling/freediving is much cheaper and has a quicker learning curve so seems to be more accessible to divers and their families.
After running hundreds of school kids through discover scuba's over the years I've changed my mind and think that running them through a snorkeling program, where they could actually AFFORD to buy the gear, would be a better emphasis to promote the aquatic environment. This might be more specific to some of the higher poverty places in which I have taught, but I think it could be pretty universally applied- just don't tell PADI.
Sorry for the long post, but this is something that I have given a bit of thought too.
Jon
