Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century Chile

[David Wilson]

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Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Chile had a population of 17.5 million as of the latest census in 2017 and has a territorial area of 756,102 square kilometres (291,933 sq mi), sharing borders with Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. The country also controls several Pacific islands, including Juan Fernández, Isla Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island, and claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica as the Chilean Antarctic Territory. The capital and largest city of Chile is Santiago, and the national language is Spanish.

Pictured below, skyline of Santiago.

 

[David Wilson]

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In 1956, Ramón Fuenzalida Rodríguez and other young Chilean enthusiasts of the time imported the first underwater swimming equipment from Italy to dive the depths of the Pacific Ocean. The sport began to attract more followers. Within a decade, the young pioneer divers from the resort of Las Cruces (below) were already competing in underwater fishing championships both in Chile and abroad.

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The Cabo sub diving equipment brand is named after a Chilean diving school headed for fifteen years by Rodrigo Fuenzalida. Cabo sub’s classic offerings include masks, snorkels and fins long discontinued by their European producers or imported from Far Eastern original equipment manufacturers, who make goods to be sold by other companies under their own name. The present thread focuses on such underwater swimming gear.

The Cabo Sub diving mask to be reviewed midweek.

 

[David Wilson]

Cabo Sub Alfa diving mask: Metal-rimmed.

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• High internal volume mask.
• Rounded rectangular lens with wide field of vision.
• Specially designed for professional divers.
• Stainless-steel rim, rubber skirt and adjustable split head strap.
• Compensation bosses on the inside and finger wells on the outside for nose pinching when clearing the ears.
• Cressi sub (Italy) design.

 

[David Wilson]

Cabo Sub Alfa diving mask: Rimless.

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• High internal volume mask.
• Rounded rectangular lens with wide field of vision.
• Rubber skirt and adjustable split head strap.
• Compensator bosses on inside and finger wells on outside for nose pinching when clearing ears.
• Specially designed for professional divers.
• Cressi sub (Italy) design.

More Cabo Sub diving masks at the weekend.