Diving techniques: New vs Old

[Eric Sedletzky]

I tried the crawl combined with finning and the result was increased speed of course with the pulling action of the hands, but the C02 buildup and the starvation for air was horrible. Extremely inefficient.
The only time I would use my hands now is if I'm getting drug around by really bad surge and I've got to get to something to grab on till the surge goes in my favor. Sometimes on the North Coast you have to use whatever works to get your butt back to the beach.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Great post. I had forgotten the push-ups with doubles 90s...

...Not to hijack the thread, but what did divers have to do in the USAF? There were Sailors, Marines, and Solders in my class but no Air Force, Coasties, or foreign military.

Well, we were tasked with rescue at sea from planes:

Parascuba jump off Okinawa, which is now a part of Japan

We had a NASA mission with Gemini (got one, GT8 off Okinawa, Japan), and got the first unmanned Apollo. I knew two of the PJs who made those jumps. One was the Sargent in charge of our training, Eldridge Neal, and the other was Billy R. Smith, who jumped on Apollo 1. The GT8 mission was very worthwhile, and was the last time a manned NASA flight did not come down within the very close radius of a Navy ship.


Apollo 1 was unmanned, and was intended to find out the "skipping" properties of re-entry, and they did. It landed about 250 miles downrange of where they expected it. According to Billy, they tried twice to get the Apollo, and missed it with their drops. The way that they stopped the Apollo capsule was to drop a kit with a sea anchor and a raft, a very long rope, and a second package of a raft and sea anchor. The rope floated, and the sea anchors held the rope in Apollo's path. The Apollo capsule would be blown by the winds toward the rope, which was cross-wind and theoretically across the path of the Apollo. The rope would go over the Apollo, and catch in the hooks on top of the Apollo (deployed along with the three balloons meant to right the capsule from Stable II--upside down--to Stable I position). But the kit did not catch the capsule, and there were three pararescue jumpers who jumped on the capsule. I don't recall which one actually got it, but he was the last one to jump--it may have been Billy R. Smith. But that was the only Apollo that the USAF recovered. The Navy got the rest, and then the Shuttle landed on a runway, and splashdowns were a thing of the past.

History - USAF PARARESCUE - That Others May Live

Pararescue also jumped on ships at sea to provide medical help to injured seamen (see the article above). We had one case where two PJs jumped into the Pacific to deliver aid to an injured seaman, and one was picked up by the ship with the injured seaman, while the other was picked up by a different ship. The first went to Hawaii, and the second ship went to Japan, so it was a while before they were back in the same unit again.

Anyway, that will give you an idea of why the USAF had personnel in the US Naval School for Underwater Swimmers. Now to get the thread back on-track, we sometimes used our arms for swimming too. I remember one PJ who jumped on a NASA Apollo capsule training exercise (NASA SIMEX, or simulated exercise), with NASA and USAF personnel watching, and on the way down found that he had forgotten his fins! He simply continued the job of putting the floatation collar onto the capsule sans fins. The DIR guys would have a field day if they didn't have fins at all

SeaRat

 

[duckbill]

Duckbill I can agree to disagree. Solo diving was always done but the negative reaction was a lot stronger when I started in '68 than today.

O.K. So your "back then" was the late '60s. I was referring more to the late '50s since that was the context (i.e. Sea Hunt).

 

[duckbill]

Sometimes on the North Coast you have to use whatever works to get your butt back to the beach.

Or rocks!

 

[Deputy821]

I remembered watching Sea Hunt when I was a teenager. I had been diving for a short time and had joined a local diving club here in Melbourne. It had been started 4 years earlier in 1955 and most of the members were fairly young. We all loved Sea Hunt, but we did not take it seriously. Mike Nelson broke all the rules and scolded those who did the same. He dived alone, his weight belt was under his harness, and his J rod was usually missing and the valve was down. His deep dives were filmed in 20 feet of fresh water. He entered the water with grey hoses, but the close-up was with green hoses (appeared as dark grey). Everyone had the same equipment and wet suit, even though they were from another countries navy. Pilot whales were cast as Orcas and harmless sharks posed a serious threat. We knew all of this, but it was just Hollywood fun. Assignment: Underwater and the Aquanauts (Malibu Run) were Hollywood too, and again, just for fun.

We also watched Hans Hass, who did not have a stunt double and actually taught us new things. His show, Diving to Adventure was a learning experience and a real adventure. I could watch beautiful Lotte swim in her M-138 Drager all day.

When I started to teach, we began with spear fishermen wanting to go deeper. Later we had to teach basic skills to those who had not dived at all. Our instruction was pre-PADI, YMCA et al. and perhaps not as good as some today. We wanted students to swim, but a lot of good divers can't swim very well and we knew it. We taught with the gear that was available. We didn't worry about BCDs because none existed. If they existed we would have used them.

When I read on this thread, about instructors who said they would knock your mask off your head, I think of a very unprofessional person. If you knocked off someone's mask you might be looking for your teeth in the pool. Masks were often on the head because, when you surfaced, double hose regulators would free flow. The hoses floated and the regulator was underwater. We put our mask up, and kept the mouth piece in, to prevent the loss of air. We could then look around and breathe through the nose. We always had a snorkel attached to the left side of the mask. Some divers slipped them into their belt, but they had them. Moving from entry point to dive location was on the surface as air was expensive and hard to get. The tanks often only held 1800 psi. Early tanks had "Use Compressed Air Only" on them. Oxygen was at every gas station, but only a few air compressors were available and few of us could afford spare tanks. I also had an oxygen rebreather, because I could get oxygen much easier than air. Rebreathers could be found in military surplus stores.

The single hose regulator was invented here in Australia. It was sold off the shelf in 1952 and 53, and I saw those before I saw Mike Nelson saving the world. The Australian Porpoise breathed better than the French designed double hose regulators. I bought a British Heinke Mk III, because I was a kid and had to have a double hose like Mike Nelson. Heinkes were expensive, but breathed better than almost any other double hose regulator. Single hose regulators really were single hose. There were no BCD fillers or second demand valves. Dry suits could not be inflated underwater. The single hose regulators were not called that, but known as a mouthpiece regulators. The term Aqua Lung was known to be trade marked, but it was commonly used for any open circuit scuba. Tanks were carried with the valves down, so you could decant or reach your reserve if you only had a single tank.

Diving has changed since then. People gathered on the beach to watch us come out of the water. It was for the adventurous only. Now it is for everyone and that is a good thing. Steve

 

[AfterDark]

O.K. So your "back then" was the late '60s. I was referring more to the late '50s since that was the context (i.e. Sea Hunt).

The context of my comment was why reruns (in the NE anyway) were/are rare. The reruns would have came later. so the attitudes could have changed. I was 4 years old when Sea Hunt 1st aired, it took 6 more years for me to start free diving and another 4 or 5 more years to get a tank on my back. So no, I don't know what the attitudes were back in the late 50's on solo but I'm willing to bet it wasn't as accepting as it is today. Anyone know for sure?

 

[Nemrod]

The context of my comment was why reruns (in the NE anyway) were/are rare. The reruns would have came later. so the attitudes could have changed. I was 4 years old when Sea Hunt 1st aired, it took 6 more years for me to start free diving and another 4 or 5 more years to get a tank on my back. So no, I don't know what the attitudes were back in the late 50's on solo but I'm willing to bet it wasn't as accepting as it is today. Anyone know for sure?

I, having been an active diver since 1966, think just the opposite, I believe that the condemnation of solo is much stronger now thanks to the Padi Nannification of the dive industry, my opinion based upon my observations as a long time solo diver. The skill levels, fitness and equipment dependency continue to increase in direct proportion to the Padi Nannification Quotient.

N

 

[Zieg]

I agree with Nemrod on this. I was diving for about two years before I got certified in the early '70's and the vast majority of those dives were solo. No one had a problem with that. Back then a large number of the dive community where I lived weren't certified at all and no one required a card to get air. But it also seemed to me, at that time, in that locale, a Padi certification meant something.

 

[Akimbo]

Well, we were tasked with rescue at sea from planes:
… We had a NASA mission with Gemini…

That had to be a kick. Those are sea stories that deserve their own thread, thanks.

 

[AfterDark]

All I can guess is different locals different attitudes. Back then almost every time I solo'd some other diver/person was bustin my hump about diving alone. When I solo these days I don't get a second look never mind a bunch of BS.