EDGE is pleased to announce an industry first: Manufacturer support for Technical Divers using EDGE’s Highly Optimized Gear (HOG) branded Technical Diving regulators.
While other organizations strive to increase instructors selling techniques, TDI moves to educate their instructors with real skills or the professional diving environment.
In conjunction with TDI (Technical Divers International), EDGE Dive Gear is offering certified technical divers (from any agency) the opportunity to attend HOG Regulator Repair Clinics, to buy parts and get service support from their local EDGE and HOG Dealer.
Chris Richardson of EDGE, a Technical Diving Instructor since 1995, explained the decision by saying: “Technical divers trust in their skills and ability; and the performance of their equipment in extremely demanding conditions. Yet many technical divers choose to service and maintain their own equipment. They buy parts through the grey market and teach themselves service techniques with a book bought online and internet forums.”
Richardson says that in today’s market, technical divers who want to maintain and repair their own equipment should be given the training and tools to do so, “in full understanding of the added responsibility this puts on their shoulders.”
He added that in his experience, a “significant number” of technical divers are not fully connected with their local dive store and this program is one way to reverse things. “The HOG Regulator Repair Clinics are aimed at pulling technical divers back into dive stores, and the purchase of the course can provide a strong incentive for the tech diver to reinvest in the store brand.”
Steve Lewis, Director Marketing and Corporate Communications for TDI, and an experienced instructor-trainer for TDI programs adds: “EDGE is certainly breaking with tradition. But in the real world, we have to face up to the solid fact that many tech divers are a special market segment and DO work on their own gear without training. What Richardson and EDGE propose is simply a program that will help our members maintain some control over the situation and turn a growing gray market into a profit center.”
The course will be available from EDGE Dealers starting in November 2009. Instructors can be searched for at www.edge-gear.com or www.tdisdi.com
At DEMA show 2009, on Saturday, November 7, from 9 until 11 am at the Clarion Inn & Suites, EDGE and TDI will hold the first Instructor course. To become an instructor for the HOG Regulator clinic you must:
* Have attended six manufacturer’s clinics over last 5 years from any life support maufacturer
* Be a TDI, SDI or ERDI instructor in good standing (Crossovers available at DEMA)
* Have been employed at least six months full time as a scuba repair technician during the past five years
For more details, contact Chris Richardson at edgediving@gmail.com or Cris Merz at TDI (cris.merz@tdisdi.com). Course fees for this special workshop are $125 including registration, card and wall diploma.
