How to tell the DM you're not a disaster underwater?

[johndiver999]

@Diving Dubai

"Debatable. Actually BSAC was formed a few months earlier and ScotSAC was formed a little before BSAC so to say they (LA COunty) were the first in the world is technically disingenuous. In the USA certainly

However what is interesting that in an era where the main communication was stil via letters etc, groups of people 6000 miles distant all had a similar idea.

But I digress. Apart from the mainstream agencies, how can you expect a DM in say French Polynesia to recognise each and every agency and their certs?

I only heard about LA CO. and NASE or SEI etc from SB If someone showed me one of those cards I'd still have to look up the equivalencies as you would with a BSAC or CMAS cert "

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It is universally recognized that the BSAC was club based-- Club membership required

In the US, especially in SoCal where it is generally sunny, warm with an inviting ocean full of fish the worlds first DIVE CLUB the San Diego Bottom Scratchers was formed in 1931 -88 years ago.

It was followed by the forming of the Neptune DIVE CLUBS in the 1930s by the inventor of the recreational dry suit, Bill Barada (LA Co UW Instructor & NAUI Instructor A-1) After WW11 in the 1940s dive clubs proliferated through out SoCal and to a lessor extent in other areas of the US. Every DIVE CLUB had a training component - a "Dive Instructor " or a "Dive training Officer" All before BSAC ...
Of course you knew all this...

In 1948 -71 years ago - (I and) the US was introduced to the world of "Swim Diving" via Dr. Hans Hass B&W movie "Under the red sea" Late the same year the American author James Dougan published "The first of the men fish" and Cousteau divers and "Cousteau diving" had arrived
Of course you saw the movie and read Dougan's article

The dive clubs increased in size and members. In 1950, just two years after the arrival of the bubble machine the LA Council of Divers held the world's first International Spear fishing meet, won by the Compton Dolphins (Kummerfeild . Hoss & O Malley) The International Spear fishing meet was held every year for about 15 years
Of course you were a participant at the meets

The he late Connie Limbaugh and Dr. Andy Rechnitzer of Scripps Institute of Oceanography aka SIO developed the first recognized diving program in the very late 1940s - early 1950s almost immediately after the arrival of the bubble maker

In 1954 the late Bevlee Morgan & Dr. Al Tillman of the LA county life guard/ recreation department along with LA Life guard Ramsey Parks traveled to San Diego and were instructed by the SIO staff on the principles of diving. They returned to LA and created the LA County Underwater instructors program, published the LA Co training manual Underwater Safety. later changed to Underwater Recreation, to teach selected divers to become LA Co Certified Underwater Instructors via Underwater Instructors Certification Course - UICC (the acronym SCUBA was not in common usage) . It was designed and developed as a prestigious and demanding local program in which many have applied for the program, a select few are accepted, only the best will graduate .It is still a very strong local program next Saturday LA Co UIA will be celebrating their 66 UICC graduation.

The USN did not have a underwater (SCUBA) Training program until October 16. 1956 with the publication of NAVSHIPS 250-538, several years after SIO and 2 -1/2 years after UIA was developed. There are many similarities in the training policies and procedures which are based on previously developed SIO and LA UICC.

Therefore the first effective certified dive training can be traced back to SIO to LA CO and finally USN...

The club system of dive training can be traced to the SD Bottom Scratchers in 1931 or after the introduction of Lung aka "SCUBA" to SIO then LA Co. which was the father and mother of all the worlds "Diving Certification' programs,

In August 1960 under the direction of Al Tillman a number of LA Co UW instructors traveled to Houston Texas the Underwater Society of America (USA) international dive conference to present the first NAUI certification course

In the late 1970s PADI was created in Chicago and moved west with John Cronin. The first director of PADI was LA Co UW instructor Nic Icorn. A few years later the first PADI Manual was authored by Paul Hill. LA CO UW Instructor and Dennis Graver NAUI Instructor

Apparently all recreational dive clubs can be traced to the SD Bottom Scratchers and all civilian dive training programs have a genealogy that traces directly back to SIO and LA Co .

I am always reminded of the time my wife and I visited the famous NM Blue hole. We wandered around the parking lot as tourist occasionally engaging in conversation with the "divers." One local who apparently was an instructor was very engaging and informed us that there was absolutely no diving before PADI - No magazines , No books, No manuals No training !

He evidently drank the same cool aid as you have been drinking

I will eagerly await your most knowledge I think, I believe, i suppose , I was told response

Sam Miller, 111

CC
@The Chairman
@Akimbo
@Scuba Lawyer

PADI was created well before the late 70’s, perhaps I might misunderstand your comments, Perhaps a typo and you mean the 60’s?????

 

[swimlikethefish]

I want to be put on the boat with the more experienced divers - whether it's going somewhere deep or not.

I agree and disagree at the same time. Early on in my diving career if it had not been for the experience of those on the boat with me I would not be at the level of diving I am now. It helped having better divers on my boat when I was new to the sport. So that I could gain aspirations of what I wanted my diving to be. Without them there, I might have gave up diving 10 years ago. Which would have been a shame.

While it is nice to be left to do what I please on charters. THere are times I will take a boat with only those with equal to or greater experience. So I may have a break. But, I still thoroughly enjoy spending time with newer divers. Maybe my presence has helped a diver or two better themselves, maybe not. But I feel it necessary to help those new to the sport, so that one day they will help the next generation.

 

[RockiesFan]

It is up to more experienced divers to bring up the less experienced and it isn't. It should be personal choice and not imposed on them.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

. @Seaweed Doc
stated:

I'd add to Sam's history that YMCA began trial training programs in 1954/1955 and certified its first divers in 1959 I believe.
I suspect (and Sam, please correct me if I'm wrong) that this was the first certification available nation-wide in the USA.
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Doc
you are correct ! YMCA began a program after LA Co -- However it was a JOKE !

Initially no polices or procedures, no training manuals no uniformity of instruction -The instructors taught under the director of the local YMCA who was the certifying agent

That is until 1957 when The Science of Skin and SCUBA Diving was published and became the standard for YMCA diving course and the Y tightened its program requrements

The Science of Skin and SCUBA was published for two years and totally revised under the able leadership of Bernie Empleton and others as the NEW Science of Skin and SCUBA Diving,
NEW Science of Skin and SCUBA Diving,was revised often and became the standard for the entire dive community, When publication ceased after about 20 years over 2 million copes were sold-- not certain how many were read

So you are so correct we and I, who began my long instruction career at the LB YMCA, owe the "Y" so much...It was my inadvertent omission ! I thank you for the reminder

Sam Miller, 111




​

The reminder is purely self-motivated: My initial openwater certification was YMCA, and the instructor himself trained in Chicago at what I think was the "mother ship" for YMCA diving. There was a lot to be commended about the program, and commonalities that I think are probably shared with LA County, at least by 1985 when I was certified.

 

[gypsyjim]

The reminder is purely self-motivated: My initial openwater certification was YMCA, and the instructor himself trained in Chicago at what I think was the "mother ship" for YMCA diving. There was a lot to be commended about the program, and commonalities that I think are probably shared with LA County, at least by 1985 when I was certified.

Thanks.
It is fun to hear history of the Y program.
All I knew when I decided I wanted to learn to scuba dive in 69/70 was that in our area, the Y was the only game in town.

I am sure that I have long since forgotten much of what we learned in that 7 week class, but it was a thurough program, looking back.
As the years (decides now) have passed I realized the need to continue to build on that training. Gear changes. (A very painful leason, that)
Knowledge base evolution, equipment evolution and experience have meant that developing new skills is continually required to stay "on top of your game".

Not meaning to derail, but I enjoyed reading the comments on early YMCA Scuba training.

 

[charlier]

I was about to ask this. Do they have dive boats that do separate dives (going to different site) on the same dive drop?

On some of our crossing trips, we might go to different dive sites. One site might be relatively shallower than the other site or one site might have stronger currents than the other site. Full disclosure, we are diving at remote sites in Indonesia.

 

[Sam Miller III]

@Seaweed Doc

The reminder is purely self-motivated: My initial openwater certification was YMCA, and the instructor himself trained in Chicago at what I think was the "mother ship" for YMCA diving. There was a lot to be commended about the program, and commonalities that I think are probably shared with LA County, at least by 1985 when I was certified.
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Chicago was a very strong YMCA area. I believe you are correct the YMCA dive program was HQed or very strong there.
Chicago, has always had a very strong diver involvement .

"As I recall" in 1985 the late Harry "Skip" Dawson, LA CO UW Instructor,. NAUI Instructor and YMCA SCUBA Instructor had or was in process of becoming director of the National YMCA SCUBA program .

Harry was a very knowledgeable experienced diver and a incredible specimen of a human -- huge body builder chest and shoulders -- as he often stated "Junior gorilla: shoulders.

Sam

 

[Saniflush]

What's really the difference between an "experienced" and "inexperienced" group when it comes to quality of the diving? In actuality, the quality of the dive is often inversely proportional to the depth. There's an initial fascination with depth that overlooks this reality. Many new divers buy into talk by a few bloviating wannabes trying to look badass that "real" divers go deep. Avoid the macho trap and never catch a ride on the ego bus. Really seasoned divers are just as happy, and some times more so, doing a 30 ft dive over a 130 ft dive. It's brighter, usually more fish, we get to relax in regard to gas usage as well as deco obligation and so forth.

@The Chairman is spot on here. To date my best dive I have had in regards to animal life and diversity was in 10' of water. It is amazing what you can see when you slow down and really look. It took a very seasoned diver on a boat I was on telling me "go half as fast, see twice as much" before it resonated with me.