Official vintage diving instruction?

[Eric Sedletzky]

It seems to me that vintage diving has become pretty popular and has attracted enough attention that maybe it's time to think about some way to create an official course or school that can show new people that want to get started in vintage the ins and outs of technique, equipment, etc.
Most of this knowledge has been long lost except for a few original divers out there that we rely on to pass along the old ways. (BTW, I thank each and every one of them for their wealth of knowledge and their very valuable contributions).

I thought a special course or school would be a great way to demistify a lot of the mystique and myths, and set people on the right track right from the start.

How about you, If you think the vintage scene is cool but have been on the fence for a long time because the thought of diving with no BC or using a double hose was more that you want to deal with on your own, would an official training course be something that would open up the door?

Thoughts?

Maybe a whole new separate agency dedicated to the vintage scene, or maybe a specialty course with one of the existing agencies?
Who do we talk to, how do we do this?

 

[Thalassamania]

Separate agency since most vintage diving equipment and techniques are anathema to most of today's training agencies.

With the very short half-life of new instructors in the diving industry the only "keepers of the flame" are either the few surviving old time instructors or the even fewer new instructor converts.

 

[herman]

I doubt that an official coarse could ever make it. It goes against too many of today’s main stream ideas. It would require giving up BCs, octos and learning lost skills like proper weighting and buddy breathing and most egregious of all, you must learn to service your own "life support equipment" even going so far as to use non OEM parts, we all know that is not safe.
While I was not around in the old days I have had the opportunity to learn from and to dive with some who were and to get to know a good many great divers who like keeping to old ways alive. The best thing that those of us who enjoy the old equipment and old ways can do is to dive with the best possible skills and to mentor any new diver who cares to learn the old ways and to be tolerant of the horses asses who think they know better than we do.....at least until we can cut their hoses with our big knives.....another lost skill we may should practice.

 

[Thalassamania]

I was snorkeling the other day with an old friend who was visiting. Since he works in the industry he was sporting the latest in Atomic Masks, etc. We realized, with some laughter, that the mask, fins and snorkel I normally use are all well over thirty years old. My "youngest" pieces of gear were my slapstrap and the MARES mesh bag that he gave me when he was a MARES rep back in the 1980s.

 

[LAP57]

Back in the day didn't people read a book, buy some gear and if they survived a few dives they were a diver?

 

[Thalassamania]

That is how my Dad and I learned.

 

[Akimbo]

Back in the day didn't people read a book, buy some gear and if they survived a few dives they were a diver?

My Scuba instructor pretty much learned from the 1952 US Navy Diving Manual after blowing an ear drum while freediving and wearing ear plugs. He was a mechanical engineer so the physics were old-hat, but he never really connected those dots before the vertigo damn near killed him.

 

[Scott L]

An interesting nostalgic piece on a local diving legend, Frank Hammet (Gorilla divers)...

The South Florida Dive Journal

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Be tolerant of the horses asses who think they know better than we do.....at least until we can cut their hoses with our big knives.....another lost skill we may should practice.

But seriously, I think there is a market now for organized instruction for vintage diving. I see a need for structure since mentors are far and few between and trying to figure it out on your own can be daunting.
I think the scene has progressed enough that it should be ligitimised or inevitably someone is going to get in over their heads and do something stupid. Not that people don't do stupid stuff already in diving, but the vintage scene doesn't need a stigma attached to it either.
As many of you know old school diving is a totally different animal then this modern stuff.

 

[SwimJim]

Well you could read Fred Roberts Basic scuba and check out the FAQ's on Vintage Double Hose and Vintage Scuba Supply. You could find a vintage diver in your area and go diving with that person. I'm in Southeast Wisconsin for instance. But, for $300.00 and a 2x3 inch photo, I'll do a couple pool dives with you and give you a laminated card. How's that? Does spending the money and getting a card make it official? Well then...... O K fine! LOL

Jim

PS If your really interested in vintage diving and want some pointers and someone to do real live DH diving with, and your willing to go to SE Wisconsin, I'll dive with you and get you squared away.....FOR FREE!