Evolution of BCD

[boulderjohn]

o in 1967 a year before the students recollection some "BCDs';did have dump valves and some didn't; I suspect the one he was exposed to as a 12 year old didn't have one or his recollection was some what faded with the passage of time

This nicely illustrates a problem you see in many threads on many topics, both dealing with the history of scuba and with current situations. People assume their limited experiences are consistent with all experiences and make judgments accordingly. "My BCD did not have a rear dump back then, therefore BCDs did not have rear dumps back then." This belief that your memory of an experience equals universal truth appears in many forms.

When I was teaching dive planning procedures and strategies in OW classes, on more than a few occasions I had students tell me that their experienced friends told them they only had to do dive planning in the OW class. "In the real world" of diving, all of that planning is done by your divemaster.

I have to admit to a similar experience myself as a new diver. I did al my first dives for a couple of years in Cozumel. The first time I dived in Florida,. we were nearly at the dive site before it became clear to me that nobody was going to come over and set up my gear for me. (Let's see, how does this work again?)

You see it in most frequently in comparison of instructional practices. "I was certified in 19XX, and my instructor did ABC, so therefore all classes in 19XX had that methodology. I recently saw a class in which the instructor did XYZ, so therefore all classes now do XYZ." I was certified a couple of decades ago in a resort class that I later learned skipped a whole bunch of requirements in order to get us certified quickly. Every class I ever saw after that did not skip any standards, and so it was much, much more thorough. I don't therefore conclude that all classes today are several orders of magnitude more thorough than they were back then. I instead compare the actual standards and assume any differences are due to the individual instructor's practices.

It is great that Sam has such a huge collection of material and the willingness to sort through it all for accurate data--few such resources exist. I like to cite this History of NAUI because the authors not only have personal experience, they have experience that is far more global than the perhaps faulty memories of individual divers doing individual dives.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I'll risk looking stupid after the wise post by @boulderjohn :

My Sherwood BC, purchased in the summer of 1985, lacked a dump valve. You could deflate through the corrugated filler hose yourself, or the overpressure relief valve on the right shouilder would do it for you in an emergency.

Funny story, because I survived: I got caught in a really strong upwelling at 30 feet.(10 m) or so. I was on a wall so there wasn't much option but an elevator ride to the surface. I couldn't dump air as fast as it was expanding. That's probably the only time the relief valve on that BC ever did its intended job....

 

[Akimbo]

My UK diving buddies in 1968 had Fenzys and I was much envious.

To put tursiops comment into perspective, the cost of the Fenzy was perceived as very expensive at the time for two reasons: 1) $125 in inflation adjusted dollars is $903 today and 2) more important is it was a new category of equipment where most divers spent from zero to about $20 for a Mae West style vest for surface use only.

That was a lot to spend for something that divers got along without just fine before. Most divers figured out it made more sense to drop their weightbelt then use a Mae West. They could be inflated orally or with a one-shot marginally reliable CO2 cartridge.

For the most part, divers like professional underwater photographers and magazine editors doing more aggressive dives led the move towards using Fenzys. That also helped popularize them in the eyes of observers.