The show goes on!

Dive 2011, Birmingham UK.
My dream drysuit – I’ve seen my dream drysuit!  At last someone has realised that black is boring.  And not very safe either, if you’re trying to keep track of your buddy in murky vis.  (Don’t get me started on cammo drysuits.  The invisible buddy – how are you going to keep an eye on him  if you can’t see him?!?)  Fish aren’t all black, so why should we be?

Nah.  This drysuit, by Hammond Drysuits of Dartford in Kent, had a different colour for each section.  Probably not a regular production number...  One arm was lemon yellow, another turquoise, the front of a leg was red, the back green –if I haven’t got exactly the right colour in the right place at least you get the drift.  Bright.  Cheerful.  VISIBLE.  Maybe a bit too visible for some – not everyone does the jester look well – but un-losable.  Better still, it might even keep you dry – a sore point with me at the moment...).

What else was on show at Dive 2011?  My prize for gizmo of the year goes to the TriDri, a handy telescopic tube with a fan at one end and an outlet the other, for drying drysuits.  I could really have used one last weekend – better still two, one in each boot!.  It’s triangular, so it rests on one edge and doesn’t roll around.  It folds quite small, so it’ll fit in your bag.  And it blows air forward into the toe of the boot, normally the hardest bit to dry. What’s more, it was so silent that the demonstrators had fitted strips of plastic to the top end so you could see there really was air blowing through it. 

In tests with a rinsed-out suit, indoors the leg with the TriDri dried in 2-3 hours while the other leg took 9 days; in the garage the figures were 3.5 hours and 14 days respectively.  It’s not yet in production, so if you know anyone who could make such a thing for a reasonable price (I’d happily pay up to £40 for one), get in touch with Dr. Howard Fortescue at howard@howard-f-fortescue.co.uk.

All the usual suspects were showing – Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean had “villages” of their own, PADI and BSAC were there in force.  The Photo Zone provided a colourful interlude, chats with Maria Munn’s enthusiastic staff, and a chance to vote on this year’s underwater photos of the year.  The rebreather market was well represented and the technical pool was constantly busy with divers putting kit to the test.

Competitions were rampant as travel companies tried to tempt divers to book now, right now, while the mood was on them; business is clearly still very tough for many, meaning bargains and emptier seas for divers. 

Among the speakers Andrea Marshall and Mack S House stood out for opposite reasons.  Mack House was speaking on Underwater Crime Scene Investigation, which should have been a fascinating topic.  Sadly he didn’t come alive (ironic, really) until he was answering questions at the end, by which time I’d lost interest in him and his subject. 

Andrea Marshall, who should have been talking about Manta rays, threw her brief out the window and gave an impassioned speech about conservation and how divers have a huge but time-limited opportunity to make a difference to the health of the watery 71%.  She apologised for being depressing but gave such a rousing call to action that no-one will have come out of that room untouched.

A busy weekend but a fascinating one, filled with friendly faces, glorious kit (I got the torch I needed at half-price, a spare undersuit for only £25, several books at reduced prices...), and so many opportunities. 

But the real revelation of the show was a new low in catering (cheese-on-toast-flavoured coffee, anyone?).

Starfish, masks and copywriters.

It's been a while since I last posted here - I've been setting up my new website (same address as before but a very different look: http://www.greatcopy.info/), which has its own blog which has kept me busy.  Also I've decided to devote this blog to diving, so if you want to follow my pearls of wisdom about copywriting, words and life please go to http://greatcopy.info/blog/.  Actually, I've brought diving into the latest post there, too, but only because a word I came across was so appropriate to wreck diving.  I will try and keep them separate.  I knew there was a reason I called this blog "Starfish"....
    The thing is, I've become a bit obsessed with diving and I'm wondering how I can turn that into a business plan.  I did wonder about marketing under a fancy name the stuff I use to keep my mask clear, without telling anyone it's really baby-shampoo-and-water, but I'm not sure I'd get away with that!  [If you're a diver and have trouble keeping your mask clear, try it - it really works and it doesn't sting your eyes; "no more tears" is absolutely right.  I know spit's supposed to work, but I can't get enough of it together to do the job...  I ran out of the shampoo mix on my final dive last weekend, and I couldn't keep my mask clear at all.]
    Then I thought that there must be diving supply companies out there that need a copywriter. I haven't yet found a "hook" to approach them with; I'll have to think about that one. 
    The advice of everyone in the business is "You've got to specialise, find a niche to market to," and that would certainly be a good niche market.  It's big enough, though the major companies like Suunto probably have their own in-house writers, and it's something I know a bit about. 
    What I obviously need to do is get to one or two of the dive shows and meet some of the people in the business, get known (and, as it's business-related, I can put it on expenses.  I'm beginning to like this idea!).  The next one's Dive 2010 in Birmingham in October and there's rumoured to be one in Scotland but I can't find any sign of it.  It'd be fun to see all the kit, even if I can't afford to buy it, and get more of a feel for the lingo (that's one thing about a niche, you really have to speak the lingo fluently or you stick out like a little finger on a porcelain tea-cup).
    It's a plan of sorts; now to put it into action, starting with a warm-up email to all the Birmingham exhibitors.

    Ah well - I tried to keep it diving-related, but copywriting will keep butting in.  That's life!