Most Significant Living Divers

[Mike Veitch]

I can't believe this thread has gone six pages and no one has mentioned Ron and Valerie Taylor...
Do you all not recall the beautiful Valerie stuffing her chainmailed arm into various shark mouths during a saturday afternoon of watching tv and ABC's Wide World of Sports.
They were both very instrumental in proving to many (sadly not all) that sharks are not vicious and indiscriminate killers. Their documentaries focusing on sharks were one of my major influences (as well as old Mr Cousteau) of getting into diving in the first place.
Also, they were the underwater film team for such motion pictures as a little film called Jaws, Blue Lagoon and many others.
They are both still alive and doing well, they dive all the time and are both extremely helpful, talented, kind individuals who have had an enormous impact on the diving world.
The Taylors are one of the major forces in putting together protection status for Great Whites in Oz as well as the Grey Nurse and many other marine species.
And Valerie is the one who originally termed the name Potato Cod!

I have been working full time in the scuba industry for almost a decade and read all the magazines etc but i hate to tell you H2Andy, i have never heard of any of the people on your original list other than the Rebreather guy, in fact i have never heard of DIR until i started reading this board...

 

[Mike Veitch]

May i also add the name Stan Waterman! A true ambassador of the sport, he is 83 or 84 at the moment and is currently on board the Palau Aggressor this week doing dives such as Blue Corner which would humble 75% of the people on this board. I had the distinct pleasure of hosting Stan aboard the Tahiti Aggressor about a year and a half ago and he was right in there with us on the Apataki Express dive with 5-6 knots of current and a swarm of 150+ Grey Reef sharks, and of course he loved every minute of it.
He has got to be the most well respected elder statesman in our sport who has the most eloquent way of speaking and can capture the spirit of a crowd like no other.
And of course he was instrumental, along with the Taylors, through film and speaking tours etc. of debunking many a myth of the "dangerous world of diving with its sharks and killer pressures"
Truly a legend in our time.

 

[GoBlue!]

Lee Somers

 

[MikeC]

What about Gary Gentile? Where would tech diving be today without this pioneers accomplishments. Also what about the late Padi chief Cronin? We cant forget what Padi has done for diving in terms of marketing the sport to the world.

What did Mr. Gentile "pioneer"? Did he design new gear or come up with a new breathing mix? Nope. There were wreck divers before Gentile. True, he wrote some books on the subject, perhaps he got some into technical diving because of his books, but he is not in the same class as Billy Deans or Sheck Exley.

Andy, your list is like asking the same about motor sports and only focusing on NASCAR and not thinking of F1, CART or motorcycle racing.

 

[voop]

Speaking of people, who're still among us and who've influenced a LOT of divers, I'd be hard pressed to exclude dr. Deco from the list.

Other than being a high-profile deco-researcher and our resident oracle on scubaboard then, statistically speaking, most new divers learn to dive with tables that he has worked on validating, no?

Most significant of all? Perhaps not -- his area is very specific, but also very very important. Thus definitely significant enough to at least deserve a mention in this list...?

 

[MASS-Diver]

He wrote more than a few books - and I think it's impossible to understate the signifigence of his case to dive the Monitor. The stuff he did on the Doria is legendary.

What did Mr. Gentile "pioneer"? Did he design new gear or come up with a new breathing mix? Nope. There were wreck divers before Gentile. True, he wrote some books on the subject, perhaps he got some into technical diving because of his books, but he is not in the same class as Billy Deans or Sheck Exley.

Andy, your list is like asking the same about motor sports and only focusing on NASCAR and not thinking of F1, CART or motorcycle racing.

 

[Under H2O]

What did Mr. Gentile "pioneer"? Did he design new gear or come up with a new breathing mix? Nope. There were wreck divers before Gentile. True, he wrote some books on the subject, perhaps he got some into technical diving because of his books, but he is not in the same class as Billy Deans or Sheck Exley.

Andy, your list is like asking the same about motor sports and only focusing on NASCAR and not thinking of F1, CART or motorcycle racing.

Mike C....Mr. Gentile is indeed a TRUE pioneer in many respects....not just a "wreck diver who has written some books" as you so mundanely stated.

He has done extensive research on thousands of wrecks. He's probably discovered more wrecks than any of us will ever dive. Not to mention his instrumental role in merging mixed-gas diving technology with wreck diving in the early 1990's. Some of his explorations to deep wrecks like the Ostfriesland and the Lusitania sparked a major expansion in deep wreck exploration.

Gary Gentile doesn't have to be on your list of "significant living divers", but don't try to downplay his accomplishments and contributions to the sport of scuba diving to those of us who have been greatly impacted by his works.

--Gerry

 

[mart1]

BTW, Sheck Exley, while he made a large impact on diving in general and cave diving specifically, is no longer living.

Exley is no longer with us, but Jim Bowden?

 

[Vie]

John Bennett, an inspiration and teacher to many.

 

[padiscubapro]

ok... what would your list of truly significant living divers look like? I mean, those
divers who have changed the sport in some way and are still alive.

here's my short list:

Bill Stone
Jarrod Jablonski
George Irvine

Ed Betts and Dick rutkowski The people who started nitrox diving for the masses.. (not to mention giving many of the others listed their fisrt shots at being industry leaders)

I don't think JJ and George did much for the sport in the grand sceme of things.. They have made some great accomplishments but I wouldn;t say they had a great impact (at least yet)


BIll Stone did alot with Rebreathers but there are others still around that have done as much and are still producing new stuff...