Most consequential 2 years in Diving History

[jadairiii]

Note that the Scubapro advertisement mentions using the rig to "surf" in on. Yeah, I tried that once.

I would swim on both my SP BCP and At-Pac, but never "surf it" in. But a guy that worked in the dive shop I got certified in in '75, had an At-Pac that twice, he and it, got caught in the surf in CA. Bent the yoke both times on his SP Mk7.

 

[lexvil]

It has always been and shall remain “the next two years”.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

When was elevator diving invented?
About the same time as some of these huge air cells came around or was that an infection caused by the invention of the poodle jacket?
Because you know, before there were any kind of air bags, divers had to know how to properly weight themselves otherwise it wouldn’t work.

 

[Nemrod]

I do agree with the OP that the 74 to 76 era saw huge changes and those changes in equipment forced changes in training to accommodate the new equipment and was completed by the early 80s. Everything was available by 1976 to dive much as we do today save for a reliable computer (the Scubapro Bendomatic was not reliable).

 

[USdiver1]

I believe you could still buy a Nemrod DH into the mid 80's?

Nemrod continued to produce the Snark III Silver until they went bankrupt in 1998. I am unsure of Nemrod's US product line, I purchased my Snark III new in 1987 [Honduras] and can recall seeing them new in a dive shop in Tarragona, Spain in 1997.

 

[jadairiii]

When was elevator diving invented?

"Elevator diving" was pretty much "invented" by Watergill with the introduction of the At-Pac in 1972. Their ad campaign was "push button diving". From there it was adapted by Sportsway with their back bc/power inflator and Farallon, in 76/77, had a horse collar BC that I think they called the "Elevator". Every company was selling that by 76, whole concept of the Dacor Nautilus.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

"Elevator diving" was pretty much "invented" by Watergill with the introduction of the At-Pac in 1972. Their ad campaign was "push button diving". From there it was adapted by Sportsway with their back bc/power inflator and Farallon, in 76/77, had a horse collar BC that I think they called the "Elevator". Every company was selling that by 76, whole concept of the Dacor Nautilus.

This is where it went from an extension of skin diving where the gear was part of you, to SCUBA units taking on a life of their own where you basically just climbed in and piloted this monstrosity around working buttons for elevation.
And now days with some of these really big and expensive units that are fully weight integrated, you just climb into it in a plain wetsuit and essentially just “drive” this thing around.
It’s changed everything, and not necessarily for the better IMO. A lot of reef damage has been caused by overweighted and abusive divers that have not been properly educated about buoyancy control and dangling bits, or they just don’t give a damn.
No longer is streamlining and body positioning important, divers can waddle around, bicycle kick, and rototill the ocean floor to their hearts content.
This is all the legacy of elevator diving.
Manufacturers will disagree about “not for the better”. To them they get to sell more expensive units to more people getting into diving because now it’s easy and anybody can do it.

 

[USdiver1]

I started diving in 1977, and like Dickens wrote, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times". Use of BCs was pretty much a given from the instructional standpoint, but depending on whether of not you were trained by a former military instructor [I was] the controversy concerned horse collar [an unconscious diver floats face up at the surface] vs. jacket/back [an unconscious diver floats face down at the surface] - so I went the HC route, incidentally only manually inflated with a CO2 backup, again military mentality.
Our instructor had a wonderful bag full of regulators: a few USD and Voit DHs to try in the pool, but mostly SP Mk2 / R108 for the students, while the Instructor and DMs had SP MkV or MKVII / R109 and even a Pilot [one of my grail regs]. After getting my certification, I purchased a used Healthways Scubair J [a latter non-tilt valve unit] that was akin to the first SP regulator. Inhalation was acceptable, but exhalation was a bitch, hence its very high WOB. We were instructed in proper weighting for the planned depth of the dive, as skin divers, not elevator divers. Buddy Breathing, use of a SPG were all part of the class, and octos were given the green light over a power inflator, provided your first stage was properly outfitted with a second LP port.

 

[Nemrod]

All of the hard case rigs like At-Pac and what not were an evolutionary dead end. Dead in the water just like the current rendition of them, the Avelo thing. Airlines are becoming like a Boa Constrictor, squeezing me on space and $ and weight. At least the At-Pac did not have electronics and pumps and need recharging. All of this, then and now, was and is to reach out to a larger audience. Well, to be real, today, to keep the Boomers diving into their 80s and 90s.

There is at least one dive op in the WPB area that has a statement on their book-a-dive page that horse collars are not acceptable. They probably mean snorkel vests and not a true scuba horse collar but again, there could be reasons they say that. I know I get tired of watching divers drag their fins across the bottom. And a hose collar BC does exactly that if more than a puff or two. But so do divers in wings, jackets and whatnot because they are overweighted and then overinflated or vice versa.

 

[jadairiii]

All of the hard case rigs like At-Pac and what not were an evolutionary dead end.

They are so much drag, but dang do you feel cool diving them! I retrofitted one of my At-Pac shells to work with an alum 80, a new 40lb wing (from an RB) and my back plate. I take it beach diving once and awhile.