Vintage Divers of America

[SurfLung]

Vintage Divers of America - "VDA" for Short...

I got a goofy idea the other day and thought I'd run it past our vintage loving forum members...

Since my Midwest buddies and I seem to be the only group that regularly schedules Vintage Dive Events, why don't we take the bull by the horns and form an official governing body to do the same thing nationwide? It's not as complicated as it seems to just choose some dates from the calendar. But I think the communication to all of the divers needs a different method. Social Media stuff just scrolls away into oblivion and with all of the censorship, very few of us even look at FB anymore. On the other hand, the forums have lost participants lately... Even though they continue to store loads of valuable information.

What we need is
1. A place to post and store our schedule for easy access and that won't scroll away. (Forums can work great for this)
2. A simple direct mailing method to pro-actively notify members of additions or changes to the schedule. I propose simple text messaging via our phones.

Keep It Simple
1. Leave motel reservations, group dining, entertainment,... whatever,... To the divers who show up. That's what WE do and we've been having a great time getting together to dive vintage SEVERAL times each year.
2. No formal incorporation, election of officers, etc. We just post our VDA schedule as usual on the vintage forums and anyone who wants to participate can send in their own scheduled dive dates and share their mobile phone number (privately) for updates.

Thoughts/Comments?

[ScubaLawyer]

Hi Eb,

I like the concept but we have a "Vintage Dive Trips or Gatherings" tab here. Other vintage sites have something similar. The trick is driving traffic to that particular thread among many threads. Maybe a standalone website that also links here?

No clue, but worthy of a discussion.

M

[SurfLung]

To Clarify the Difference (from what we do now that doesn't work)

I'm suggesting ONE POST with the schedule for all dives everywhere... Including the Florida event and others, not just our Midwest schedule. That top post schedule is added to, modified, etc.

And, I'm suggesting we connect with each other via text messaging. So that, reminder and changes can be announced real time.

And here's an app to text to our participants...
https://textfree.us/

[eskimo3883]

I like the idea. Would like to see something in Monterey Bay, CA.

[SurfLung]

I like the idea. Would like to see something in Monterey Bay, CA.

Hi Eskimo... It starts with one guy (that could be YOU)... Pick a date when you and a buddy are going to dive somewhere. We'll post it. And when others know there will be an event, they will maybe join you.

[swimjim]

I dove Monterey Bay and Point Sur back in 1980. There's some really cool diving there!

[SurfLung]

I just posted a couple more local Vintage Dive Events on the 2025 Dive Schedule... Check it out...