Customer Service First!

So far this year, I have had great weather on the Lake.  That all came to end this past weekend when the weather forced me to cancel three full trips.  Saturday it was raining like a monsoon.  Though we generally don’t cancel for rain (only high seas) it was raining so hard on my drive in that I thought it would be less than safe and though the afternoon was fine I couldn’t tell 6 people to wait around a few hours to see if the weather worked out.  It was just best to cancel and then go pump out my dingy as water was over flowing the transom.

Sunday’s trips on the otherhand were canceled due to waves.  When I got up at 0600 to check the weather I saw that the winds had shifted to the North (never good for diving) and the southern buoy was at 3FT.  The reports varied from 2-4′s to 3-5′s (it got over 7FT) but I thought 2-4′s were okay with the right group of divers.  I met Divemaster Mike and we jumped in the newly dewatered dingy and headed out to the R/V right around 0700.  We prepped the boat and headed out of the harbor for Wilmette to pickup our first of two charters.  As soon as we turned out of the harbor we hit fog.  I quickly fired up the radar and set the hailer to fog horn – underway.  Initially the fog was light and then it got thick.  I throttled back and then realized it was going to be a much longer trip to Wilmette.  You might ask, “How thick was the fog?”  and the answer is we had less than 100FT of viz.  When you are shocked by the sight of the flag poles at Navy Pier that are less than 90FT away, its thick!  Once we got past the play pen the fog opened up and then the seas built.  First 1-2′s than 2-3′s and then I called Myron and said, the buoy is at 3Ft, I am in 3′s now and it is supposed to build, what do the divers feel about this?  After a meeting he called back and said they would like to cancel.  Now I have been out with Myron in 4-5′s and he is comfortable with me and the boat so I know we are okay with waves and technically I could have pushed it and demand my money as I was ready, willing and able to perform, but we all need to remember this is suppose to be fun for you divers and it wasn’t going to be fun for anyone and the little bit of money I turned down was not going to make a difference to me and that at WCD it is Customer Service First.  The wrecks will still be there the next time we go out.