Most consequential 2 years in Diving History

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

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.
Maybe they could make a modern version that turns into a hard side suitcase with roller wheels and a handle that extends so all the dive gear could go inside and then could roll it through the airport. It will be needed to be made of Kevlar as I am pretty sure the luggage handlers purposely try to tear up heavy suitcases.

Instruction and training nearly always lags the technology and acceptance in the market. Just think about how long it took for Nitrox to become a standard training course when hardly a few years ago it was referred to as voodoo gas and considered suicidal. And then there is Solo certification with some still claiming you will get stomach cramps and die without a buddy. I do not even think there is such a thing.
 
Maybe they could make a modern version that turns into a hard side suitcase with roller wheels and a handle that extends so all the dive gear could go inside and then could roll it through the airport.
This goes back to the mid/late 80's, we had a sporting goods store in ft Lauderdale, I forget the name, but a big store, sold everything, including dive gear. I forget the manufacturer, but it may have been the offshoot of either Healthways or White Stag, renamed. Anyway, they had a product that looked similar to the ScubaPro Scubasystem, hard shell with wing and the tank fitted into it, but it also had wheels! I've never seen one outside of that store nor every being sold used anywhere.
 
As I was not born in 1976, I see a lot of differences between 2010 and now. Especially in the DIR edge. From no computers and deco by head the moved into computers.
Also gradient factors changed and vpm is now almost not used anymore. Even Suunto now moved into Buhlmann instead of 'fused' RGBM.
The DIR community also adopted CCR's and sidemount. And from black all colors were allowed again. Also the name 'DIR' was turned into 'team diving'. I still have a Halcyon wing with 'DIR equipment' on it. But now this has also been changed.
And you see all agencies getting closer and closer to each other with the way of teaching and diving in technical diving.

Another big step forward are the LED lights. They use less power and have a very big output in lumens. The cannisters don't need to be that big anymore to get 10 hours or more of light. Also handheld lights can now burn hours instead of just less than 1 hour.
 
As I was not born in 1976, I see a lot of differences between 2010 and now. Especially in the DIR edge. From no computers and deco by head the moved into computers.
Also gradient factors changed and vpm is now almost not used anymore. Even Suunto now moved into Buhlmann instead of 'fused' RGBM.
The DIR community also adopted CCR's and sidemount. And from black all colors were allowed again. Also the name 'DIR' was turned into 'team diving'. I still have a Halcyon wing with 'DIR equipment' on it. But now this has also been changed.
And you see all agencies getting closer and closer to each other with the way of teaching and diving in technical diving.

Another big step forward are the LED lights. They use less power and have a very big output in lumens. The cannisters don't need to be that big anymore to get 10 hours or more of light. Also handheld lights can now burn hours instead of just less than 1 hour.
Yes lights have improved hugely over the last 10 - 15 years.
As far as DIR, yes they need to adapt. If they could bring their team diving philosophy and skills to regular recreational diving with regular industry standard dive gear they would do very well. The gear choices people make would eventually take care of itself.
 
I thought the most consequential was 1958. That was the premier of Sea Hunt.

We only got one station and it did not come in all the time and we had a little 17 inch B&W TV with rabbit ears. Never saw much of SeaHunt. Saw the episode where he was swimming through some pipe. It was so awfully boring and monotoned I think I turned it off and went out and rode my English Racer, kids used to do that.
 
Another item that came out in 1976, spring straps for fins. On the Fara-Fin 2 by Farallon. Talk about WAY ahead of its time! Farallon even put them on a pair of their knock-off Jets just before, or right around the time they merged with Oceanic.

I still have an original pair of spring straps from the Fara-Fin on a pair of my daughters jet fins. And on mine I have a pair of the Oceanic spring straps that sold to retrofit on jets.
 

They can be found on this page
 
The mid-1970s saw the introduction of new materials by western diving equipment manufacturers into basic gear, plastics in the case of fin blades and silicone in the case of mask skirts. Technology and the dismal science of economics eventually led to the abandonment of traditional mask and fin materials by these same manufacturers.
 

Back
Top Bottom