Official vintage diving instruction?

[Sam Miller III]

One of my favorites was the episode in which a woman diver was stuck under a heavy steel plate. Mike Nelson removed his tank etc and gave it to her at about 70 feet (if I remember correctly). He then proceeded to make a free ascent all the way to the surface without exhaling! He must have cast-iron lungs!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FYI
Common Occurrence in days of yesteryear

Commander Bond, USN made a 300 foot + Free Ascent of Key West

Ltjg USN Dick Bonin made a 200 foot + Free Ascent under the ice while testing regulators for USN.
(Dick was the co-founder of SCUBA Pro)

I made a 100 + Free Ascent when I was entangled in my lift bag (US Army Lister bag) off Catalina Island.

LA County Underwater Instructors Association Underwater Certification Course (UICC)requires:

D&R (D&D) from over 33 feet

A 100 Free Ascent (generally conducted at the Catalina week end)

LA county UW instructor title is earned not purchased with dollars.

SDM

 

[John C. Ratliff]

When I was finally in a scuba class (four years after I started diving) for our pool session, Roy France, LA County Ubderwater Instructor, throw a gill net over me and my buddy. We had to untangle ourselves, as a buddy team, and get out from under that net. It tangled in our valve, regulator, mask, fingers, etc. that was a great exercise, and Elaine McGinnis and I both had to remove our tanks to get out.

On our open water checkout, on the north side of Yaquina Bay under the ridge, near the pilings, we demonstrated buddy breathing before having to make an emergency swimming ascent from the bottom (35-40 feet), exhaling all the way (unlike Mike Nelson in the above post). This gave us a great background for our future diving.

Then, when I went through. The U.S. Naval School for Underwater Swimmers, we were required to complete a buoyant ascent from 33 feet, the "blow and go" scenario. This was standard, and was the means of escape from a disabled submarine. We went down to a bubble platform (a platform with a plexiglas bubble where our head and shoulders were in air), and when it was our turn, ducked under the edge, holding our breath. An instructor then inflated our vest, we bled our most of our air in our lungs, and released our grip on the side of the structure. Our ascent was very quick, and we were exhaling all. The way to the surface.

SeaRat

 

[george_austin]

Why would we want any modern training agency anywhere near us?
Do most of them running the agencies - have they ever dived "vintage"? Do any of their zero to hero DM's and instructors have the experience we do? Doubt it.
IMO and from my experience - and I dive locally several times a week - newly minted divers aren't even really divers nowadays - they're hobbyists that participate in a little underwater breathing and swimming around on rare occasions, snapping pictures of stuff and doing dives way, way beyond their skill level. Nothing personal, most of them are nice people but any resemblance to the diving that they do is a totally different animal than what I'm doing - especially the GUE thing - what is that anyway? - buy a dive shop and carry it all with you on 30 ft dives?
You can't ever go back home again. You either were there and learned to appreciate the freedom of scuba diving or you weren't -
I couldn't care less what 99% of "divers" do. The further away from me they are on a dive, the better.

 

[Bob DBF]

Commander Bond, USN made a 300 foot + Free Ascent of Key West

for more details:
http://benhellwarth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/SEALAB-excerpt.pdf

For his work with SeaLab read Papa Topside.

One of the heroes of the Submarine Service and NASA.

Why would we want any modern training agency anywhere near us?
Do most of them running the agencies - have they ever dived "vintage"? Do any of their zero to hero DM's and instructors have the experience we do? Doubt it.

I don't and the solution seems quite easy. Since some vintage does not use BC's, just removing their BC should solve that problem.

I couldn't care less what 99% of "divers" do. The further away from me they are on a dive, the better.

I never for a moment wonder why a lot of divers my age dive solo.


Bob

 

[JamesBon92007]

[QUOTE="Bob DBF, post: 7639639, member: 138622"
I never for a moment wonder why a lot of divers my age dive solo.
Bob[/QUOTE]

I got tired of baby-sitting and rescuing and started diving solo around 30 years ago. However, when I am on dive boats I do not dive alone--I try to at least stay within view of the "group" so they won't forget to pick me up at the end of the drift dive

Getting back to the subject, is the Vintage Diver course going to teach people how to dive with just a steel 72 and a J-Valve (or even just a K-Valve?), a tank backpack, no BC, no SPG, no computer, no octopus, and with a $15 dive watch with moving bezel? Some of you guys even pre-date that much equipment, but that's how I started out (but with no J-Valve). I dove without a depth gauge for many years but always stayed within the no decompression limits. I still dive this way (but the $15 watch is now digital) and usually use the SPG and depth gauge console. I'm pretty sure that most divers nowadays would freak out and start going on about safety issues and improved equipment etc and yet many of us have thousands of dives and are alive and well. I recently told a guy on a dive boat who was thwacking his computer that I consulted the dive tables and we had no residual nitrogen. "Dive Tables!" he said. "Nobody uses dive tables any more!" Meanwhile he was at a complete loss because his computer failed.

 

[tursiops]

Man, it is hard to read this thread through the testosterone haze and the fuzzy memories of what it was like..
Nostalgia is not what it used to be, right?
I'm 74, put my first regulator in my mouth over 50 years ago, worked briefly for Sam Davidson (DACOR), a friend of mine invented the wetsuit, and I MUCH prefer today's gear and diving. It is easier, safer, more comfortable, works better, and is more reliable. And given inflation, it is probably cheaper.
You want a course on vintage diving? Fine, write the damn instructor guide and teach it. SDI would probably certify it is a distinctive specialty. Be sure to include standing on the coral in your duckfins, and all the other stupid and thoroughly discredited things you are so easily forgetting.
Hey, I agree, some of the old gear is cool and fun, but it is not worth wallowing in.
Rant over.

 

[JamesBon92007]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FYI
Common Occurrence in days of yesteryear

Commander Bond, USN made a 300 foot + Free Ascent of Key West

Ltjg USN Dick Bonin made a 200 foot + Free Ascent under the ice while testing regulators for USN.
(Dick was the co-founder of SCUBA Pro)

I made a 100 + Free Ascent when I was entangled in my lift bag (US Army Lister bag) off Catalina Island.

LA County Underwater Instructors Association Underwater Certification Course (UICC)requires:

D&R (D&D) from over 33 feet

A 100 Free Ascent (generally conducted at the Catalina week end)

LA county UW instructor title is earned not purchased with dollars.

SDM

Are you saying these free ascents were made without exhaling? I was taught that that would lead to an air embolism or possibly a ruptured lung.

 

[Sam Miller III]

1) The wet suit was not invented it was serendipitously discovered by Bradner and Bascome in San Diego,
Hugh Bradner capilized on the discovery and introduced the wet suit to the diving world in early 1950s via his company called Edco

2) Quote "Are you saying these free ascents were made without exhaling? I was taught that that would lead to an air embolism or possibly a ruptured lung."

Beyond belief and at a loss for a response--other than they dive among us

SDM
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[Sam Miller III]

For Mr. Bond

A story which I published about 25 years ago in my newspaper column "Dive Bubbles" about Divers Cove and the changes that time has wrought

YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN…”
By
Dr. Samuel Miller

Several summers ago I visited with some relatives and old friends to reconnect with my roots down in southern California, in “smogsville,” as the smog shrouded area of Los Angeles and Orange County is known by most Californians who reside in other areas of the state.

This visit certainly verified the message in the Thomas Wolfe book “You can't go home again” which I found so difficult to comprehend as a young college student. Yes, Thomas Wolfe was correct! Indeed - You can't go home again.

I spent a very early Saturday morning at Diver’s Cove in Laguna Beach, the fountainhead of American sport diving. It has been a popular diving location since recreational diving began along the California coast in the early 1930s. “The cove” as local divers refer to it, was catapulted from obscurity into international diving fame when it was chosen as the location for the world’s first competitive spear fishing meet in June 1950. The Compton, California “Dolphins Spear Fishing club”, won the meet with a three man team consisting of Ken Kummerfeild, Pat O’Malley and Paul Hoss (of the Bottom Scratcher/Hoss Spear gun fame)

The cove was immortalized for divers through out the world on the cover of the December 1951, issue of Skin Diver Magazine Volume 1, number 1 with a picture of Dr. Nelson "Matty" Mathenson of the Long Beach Nepunes ( LA Co Underwater Instructor) proudly displaying a presentable White Sea Bass he had just speared at the at "the Cove."

Surprisingly Diver's Cove did not receive it's name from recreational diving but from the local youth's habit of diving into the shallow blow hole from the rocks below where the apartments now stand. The apartments were constructed in 1960 which physically separated the cove and Fishermen cove to the north. Prior to the construction and into the 1970s Fisherman's cove was the docking and storage cove for a number of small local recreational sport fishing boats

Lots of other changes have occurred in and around Divers Cove with the passage of sixty -five years.

In the 1950s the rolling hills surrounding Diver’s Cove were devoid of housing and covered with dry chaparral, which emitted the classic California golden glow always associated with the “Golden state.” Now when viewed from the cove the hills appear almost surrealistic emerald green, blanketed by modern multi- million dollar homes on well-manicured lawns interconnected labyrinth of roads.

It is no longer possible to drive up to the edge of the cliff at Diver’s Cove and park haphazardly. Parking places are now regulated. They are neatly identified with white stripes on the concrete and crowned with a row of coin eating parking meters; silent sentinels waiting for the next quarter for fifteen minutes of violation free parking.

Also absent is the steel cable that provided beach goers and divers to access to the beach. It was a much-appreciated gift from some unknown beach lover who spent their time; money and effort to securely bury one end of the cable in cement and dangle the rest of the cable over the cliff to create a Tarzan style hand over hand beach access. Now modern stairs complete with handrails and a drinking fountain welcomes the divers to the beach

The beach scene I remember so well from my youth is now only a distant memory, but they are memories of gold as were the hills surrounding the cove.

In the genesis of recreational diving the beach was populated with young athletic sun tanned male youths clad in the diving costume of the era, baggy long underwear, tucked in to equally baggy swim trunks, round diving masks on their faces, short green fins on their feet and the weapon of choice a “Jab Stick” (a pole spear powered by the trust of the arm) unceremoniously stuck in the ground.

Like ancient tribes returning from a successful hunt they stood in small groups, wrapped in surplus WWII olive drab army or navy blue blankets, shivering and blue lipped from the cold of the water and the chill in the air. Roaring bonfires fed by WWII surplus tires added much needed warmth as it belched fourth thick heavy black smoke into the clean crisp smog free Orange County air.

Now Divers Cove has become a popular diving destination for dive training classes. It is populated every Saturday and Sunday morning by young fuzzy faced certified diving instructors who have arrived before 7:00 to conduct the final ocean check out dive for their classes of aspiring divers. Under the ever-watchful eye of their SCUBA instructor, young and old, male and female don the costume of modern diving. Bright colored wet suits have replaced the long underwear for thermal protection; clear form fitting twin lens masks of clear silicone replaced the black round rubber masks; multi hued long lightweight split plastic fins now adorn their feet replacing the short green Churchill fins. Not a spear fishing weapon is insight, since this area has been a game reserve for over a generation.

Yes, there have been a lot of changes in the last sixty five plus years.



Tomas Wolfe’s message has been verified. You can't go home again, but you can relive fond memories from the distant past and dream and hope for the future of recreational diving.

Only the sea, the eternal sea, has relentlessly remained the same

Dr. Sam Miller,111





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[tursiops]

1) The wet suit was not invented it was serendipitously discovered by Bradner and Bascome in San Diego,
Hugh Bradner capilized on the discovery and introduced the wet suit to the diving world in early 1950s via his company called Edco
​

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Brad's story to me was about how his wife Marge sewed one up for him out of some war surplus rolls of neoprene sheeting he had. The most interesting aspect is that he never patented the wetsuit. Big mistake! That is hardly capitalizing on his idea!

Isn't "serendipitously discovered" a tautology?
I call it an invention, you call it a discovery. It did not exist before, so it is an invention. If it had already existed, but was not known about, it would have been a discovery.