Life, Dacor, and other observations

[PaulVS]

Disclaimer: Somewhat pointless/sentimental ramble to follow. Read under those conditions.

While I am a ‘newbie’, (just got cert’d last week) I think it’s safe to assume that when I first took a YMCA scuba class in 1975 some of you weren’t even born.

Living in Chicago… there wasn’t a lot of necessity or urgency to become an ‘official’ diver. I could do it later. So that year I missed the Pearl Lake OW certification.

Then came college. Then marriage. Then a fabulous daughter who was not only a great kid, but also ‘gifted’ in intelligence, looks, and athletic ability. (Add humble & benevolent to the list.)

Needless to say… time quickly slipped away and I found myself at age 43 and on my 2nd marriage to a fabulous woman who was willing to do PADI ‘discovery dives’ with me on our frequent trips to the Caribbean… Cozumel, Jamaica, Cancun, etc. She got hooked and I got re-hooked.

Yesterday I was at a family cookout and got to talking with a friend of my wife’s uncle (a fireman) who was about my age. He also started diving in the 70’s. We both agreed that ‘back in the day’… Dacor was the equipment of choice for nearly everyone. They had it all down pat. They were the shiznet. It turned out that every year both he & I made sure to get the new Dacor equipment catalogs to drool over.

So now I’m 46. My wife & are are certified divers, and I bought her almost all Dacor gear to use. I even found two new Dacor wetsuits for her.

Diving and watching the best diving buddy a guy could ask for… gliding effortlessly underwater… and wearing all the Dacor gear that *I* wanted as a kid… it makes me wonder if that’s the way it was supposed to be from the beginning.

Last year we took my 19 year old daughter with us on vacation and got her to dive with us. Yesterday at the family cookout I brought my scuba gear and my 9 year old step-daughter breathed through a regulator for the first time in the pool.

I just hope that the four of us will someday be able experience this all together.

/ramble

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Paul, welcome back! Congrats on your newly rediscovered love for this incredible hobby/sport/obsession/flat-out addiction!! Good fortune to you and yours.

-Frank

 

[SparticleBrane]

That is correct. In fact I wasn't born for another 10 years.

 

[1amphibian]

Ah yes, those were the days... oh wait, I was only 4....

But it is a great feeling when you get the significant other and then the kids involved. I did both this year too, we have our 3 yougest wanting to get certified, oh yeah and one of the older ones too.

Chris

 

[DeepSeaDan]

...being certified in 74' & one year your senior, I feel qualified to comment on the "Dacorness" of those times; essentially, I don't remember it quite that way.

My first cylinder was a 72 ft3 steel "Healthways" product; my first reg. was a honking, wheezing "Calypso IV" by U.S. Divers ( arguably as popular as Dacor's line in those days ) & no octo.. I had a compensating-less "May West Vest" - you know, the glorified surface flotation device with the nifty 1/4" i.d. inflation tube + emergency inflation co2 cartridge. A good quality "seaview" pressure gauge with an orange face ( much the same as Dirk Pitt's famed "Doxa" dive watch - the similarities between myself & Dirk, regretably, end there! ).

I did have a Dacor mask & snorkel though. Being a cash-poor 14 year old diver, I jumped at the chance to buy a nylon 2 sided custom made wetsuit being sold on consignment from my LDS - problem was, it was made for a guy 40 lbs. heavier than me! My May 2-4 weekend checkout in Georgian Bay was a real introduction to the effects of hypothermia!

I seem to remember "Scubapro" as being the be all & end all of high quality gear, though with my budget, it was way out of reach.

Just an aside - I earned my first set of gear by working for a redneck yahoo who wanted a diver to sling huge logs ( supposedly "Birdseye Maple" ) from the bottom of a lake where he owned a campground for yahoo campers; so there I was, 15 years old, diving solo, working 10 hours a day ( using 10 tanks of air / day! ), slinging logs in 30' - 40' of water while small runabouts dragged the logs to shore...

Now, those were the days my friend.... ( yeeesh! ).

Best,
DSD

 

[PaulVS]

Keep in mind that my perception at that time was partially influenced by the fact that Dacor's headquarters were about 1/2 hour from where I lived.... and also was that of a 16 year old. ;-)

 

[Port Tack]

1975--My first time to dive!! First year of college and one of my buddies was a diver. He showed how to use his gear in a pool and a bunch of us took off for Morrison Springs in Florida. NO WET SUITS on the morning dive--Talk about sucking a tank of air! Off to rent wet suits, Scott, the only certified diver got the tanks re-filled and back for an afternoon dive. The crazy things we do when we are young and bullet-proof.
Finally got certified in 1984, lost my dive buddy when he got married and stopped diving. The urge came back a few months ago and I just finished my SSI OW course. I guess my PADI card was still technically live, but I thought I needed the training if I was going to dive again. My classes were great, the OW dives were fun and I even had an up-close visit with a playful dolphin. Sorry I missed all those years, but hopefully fun diving times are back. I found my old dive log and I think I will go back and dive those places again. Maybe a trip to Key West would be fun too. Good memories and good times.

Mike

 

[Doc]

Keep in mind that my perception at that time was partially influenced by the fact that Dacor's headquarters were about 1/2 hour from where I lived.... and also was that of a 16 year old. ;-)

I see you met Pat at SCUBA Emporium.

So you married one of your daughter's pals?

I'm from Lake County, Illinois. I certed in a pool (back when you could really do that). I spent all my money on dive gear, with good result. Had, variously a double hose reg and the 3x30cu.ft. pack from USD, the whole nine yards. Fenzi BC after we made 'em from stolen airline float vests.

We dove the big deep water in Racine at the quarry.

And you (back then) ?

 

[roakey]

We both agreed that ‘back in the day’… Dacor was the equipment of choice for nearly everyone. They had it all down pat. They were the shiznet.

Ah yes, my first reg was an Olympic 800...

Roak

 

[PaulVS]

We dove the big deep water in Racine at the quarry.

And you (back then) ?

Back then my (former) brother-in-law was the only certified diver I knew who could get tanks. I remember diving Lake Michigan twice with him in a RUBBER wetsuit (major PITA to wear) and visibility that was almost non-existent. I'm surprised I still had the bug after those experiences.

Also dove once in some lake far NW of Chicago in the 80's... but I don't remember which one. (About 1 hour north of Naperville where I lived at the time.)

Rest of the time was just goofing around in pools.

I do remember the first time I dove I forgot to breathe while ascending... until I felt a little 'lung expansion reminder' at about 15'. :11:

My older brother also did the course in the 70's... and like me never got certified. I'm trying to talk him into it now.