How old before vintage?

[jamiep3]

I think Capt. Crane allways wore a yellow wetsuit to battle the giant squid.

 

[Dale M]

If someone shows up with one of those giant shells on his back that Capt. Nemo had from Mysterious Island, I'll surely recognize it as vintage.

 

[Slonda828]

I think that it is important to recognize vintage diving as an attitude in addition to simply a gear configuration. We tend toward self-reliance and skill in lieu of tons of redundant gear and conventional training through an agency. If conventional divers are the guys who climb those plastic rock walls at the park with a belay man, then vintage divers are the guys who figured out how to climb real rocks without a bunch of training on exactly...how. I'm only 29 and I gravitated toward vintage diving because I found that the people whom I sought out for knowledge learned that way. Vintage "equipment", vintage in age, or vintage as a modality, it all means the same thing in our context. We swim down, swim around, and swim up (isn't that right Nem?). Some people call us chest pounders, but it takes a lot of skill to dive in just shorts with a pair of three pound fins, a double hose regulator, and no BC. You cannot fudge things like breath control, trim, and proper weighting. You also really have to know how to buddy breathe, and the phrase "keep your buddy within arms reach" really does mean something. It is also one of the most liberating feelings on earth. I was diving a tech setup in a drysuit in 43 degree water the other day and I really missed diving vintage. We just dive with so much crap in modern diving.

We were planning our trip to the Cayman Islands tonight and my girlfriend said, "Do you think we can get away without bringing BCs?"

God, I love my girlfriend.

 

[David Wilson]

Vintage diving is indeed a world of colour. Exactly fifty years ago, in 1959, US Divers brought out an all-yellow, safety line of gear:

Here in the UK, around the same time and for the same reasons, Dunlop introduced their yellow wetsuit, while the contemporaneous popular Skooba Totes drysuit was offered in yellow, red, brown and green, but never in black, during its lifetime:

Back in those days, solid colours tended to be the rule. Such restraint led to good design, carrying the principle that "less is more" into practice. The hotchpotch of mixed hues deployed within single items of modern gear, resulting in "panelled" wetsuits barely distinguishable from clown or court jester costumes, may leave people thinking "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should".

Modern vintage gear is still available in the solid colours of old, e.g.
Greek-made Balco fins

Mexican-made Escualo masks

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Some of you may qualify as only vintage "equipment" divers, but I'm afraid I qualify in both categories now Oh, and I think AMF Voit had colored wetsuits out even before there were nylon-lined wet suits, if my memory serves me (which it might not on this matter).

SeaRat

Black and blue became predominant colors with the introduction of Nylon II wet suit material. My understanding was that the blue dye used left the nylon more flexible and stetchable than other colors and black was a close second.

With the older unlined rubber and Nylon I fabrics it was a non issue as the flexibility was better anyway.

 

[WD8CDH]

Yep, it looks like pink is the dividing line.

 

[jbrians]

But I will add, welcome to vintage, there is plenty of vintage gear out there to select from and you don't have to be "vintage" yourself to be a vintage diver. We are vintage "equipment" divers, not vintage "old" divers. Welcome. N

Thanks for the disclaimer but some of us qualify under both headings...

 

[SwimJim]

We swim down, swim around, and swim up (isn't that right Nem?). Some people call us chest pounders, but it takes a lot of skill to dive in just shorts with a pair of three pound fins, a double hose regulator, and no BC.

Actually, I find this to be the freest and easiest type of diving that there is. If the water is warm enough so you don't need to bother with a wet suit, then you need zero weights. At least with a good ole' steel 72. I dove this way at SDV in the Florida springs and had a blast. Nem witnessed it even. He's probably still shivering from watching me. Growing up in Wisconsin and diving Lake Michigan tends to give you great cold resistance though. LOL. It's diving the way I dreamed it would be when I was a kid. Of course, when I was a kid that's the way a lot of diving was done. We're just missing out on the cool refreshing cigarette afterwards. LOL

Jim

 

[Slonda828]

We swim down, swim around, and swim up (isn't that right Nem?). Some people call us chest pounders, but it takes a lot of skill to dive in just shorts with a pair of three pound fins, a double hose regulator, and no BC.

Actually, I find this to be the freest and easiest type of diving that there is. If the water is warm enough so you don't need to bother with a wet suit, then you need zero weights. At least with a good ole' steel 72. I dove this way at SDV in the Florida springs and had a blast. Nem witnessed it even. He's probably still shivering from watching me. Growing up in Wisconsin and diving Lake Michigan tends to give you great cold resistance though. LOL. It's diving the way I dreamed it would be when I was a kid. Of course, when I was a kid that's the way a lot of diving was done. We're just missing out on the cool refreshing cigarette afterwards. LOL

Jim

I think what I mean is that if you grew up learning to dive modern, then going vintage is a skill jump. When I learned to dive I never learned how to buddy breathe, really precisely weight myself, or calculate buoyancy swing. I learned all that stuff from you guys, so in that regard it is a skills jump. You know I agree with you though Jim, diving vintage is like sleeping naked man, it's one of the ways I feel the most free

 

[SwimJim]

I think what I mean is that if you grew up learning to dive modern, then going vintage is a skill jump. When I learned to dive I never learned how to buddy breathe, really precisely weight myself, or calculate buoyancy swing. I learned all that stuff from you guys, so in that regard it is a skills jump. You know I agree with you though Jim, diving vintage is like sleeping naked man, it's one of the ways I feel the most free

Rock on Ron. You certainly understand it. I'm listening to a little Ted Nugent right now. Hibrenation on Double live Gonzo. Talk about feeling alive. That came out when I first got certified in '78!!!
I hope you show at SDVII in Florida. I'd love to meet you and go diving. I'll be attending the legend dive in Portage quarry Ohio this year. That's a haul for you. if you can make it, that would be great! A lot of divers way above my "skill" level make that one. LOL

Jim