Sea Hunt

[Footslogger]

The Sea Hunt series and the Cousteau specials were about all that I looked forward to on the TV back then. Of cours there were a couple good cowboy westerns too ...but really that was about it.

At about 6 I had a full face mask (green rubber) with 2 huge snorkel sticking out of the top like antennas. The snorkels had a curve at the top and on the end was a little rubber cage that housed a ping pong ball. The idea was that when you were under water the ping pong balls would rise in the cage and lodge against the open end of the snorkel, thus blocking water from rushing in. NEWS FLASH ...it didn't work and I typically got a full face of water inside the mask. Back then I didn't know how to "clear" my mask and often had to surface and rip off the mask to let it drain. I actually have 8mm movies of me in the "act" and hope some day to get them converted to DVD so that I relive those "wonder years".

Long story ...but all this Sea Hunt stuff has a tendency to dredge up old memories. Most everyone in my family back then called me "Jacques", in reference to Cousteau. Little did they (or I) know back then that I would some day actually get to dive with members of the Cousteau team as an adult.

Oh well ...off to work.

'Slogger

 

[D_B]

I too watched Sea Hunt while growing up, great times then, loved that show
Funny, unlike many here, I can not attribute my learning to dive to watching that show ... was an intro dive in Roatan that did me in

Thanks for the info on where to get Sea Hunt DVD's, I would love to see it again ... will definitely be getting some

I did get a re-recording of Lloyd Bridges on "How to Skin Dive" from the series "Hear How ..." Very Cool :14:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lloyd-Bridges-Sea-Hunt-RARE-Hear-How-To-Skin-Dive-CD_W0QQitemZ300045623379QQihZ020QQcategoryZ1300QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Requirements to become a Diver:
Class Time: 10 hours
Pool Time: 10 hours
Swimming Requirements:
Swim - 300 yards
Tread Water, Feet Only - 30 seconds
Tow Injured Diver - 40 yards
Float, No Aids - 15 minutes
Swim Under Water - 15 yards

...wow ...
"There's no need to worry about the bends if your diving is confined to shallow water no deeper than 50ft. At depths less than 50ft, your system will not absorb enough nitrogen to cause trouble and you can work at this depth for hours" :11:
... hmm, my table lists only 80 minutes at 50ft

"Learn to pull yourself from place to place with your hands, to avoid the exertion of swimming" :11:
... I can still see Mike Nelson doing this ... we don't do that now, do we?

"Not all sharks are dangerous ... but unless your positive of your identification,treat all sharks as enemies, If you see a shark, get out of the water as soon as possible" :11:

"So long now. Good luck, and Good diving"

 

[Nemrod]

The original and widly used Navy Tables gives 100 minutes for 50 feet, still not hours but what do you expect--lol--back then, he was afterall an actor!

I guess a shark is not an enemy only if he is not trying to eat you. While human attitudes change, I doubt that after 250 million years that a shark would change his dieatary intake based on PC human thinking. If a shark is big enough and hungry enough, he just might eat you, it happens from time to time. No reason to kill sharks though, they have to eat too.

Using the arms, I think back then fins were relatively underdeveloped and the natural inclination was to employ the arms as would a surface swimmer. For a surface crawl, up to 100% of forward thrust can come from the arms. Obviously a surface swimmer can do the arm recovery out of the water reducing work load, a diver cannot and slowly MOST people learned that but I still see a lot of people weighted to the bottom crawling along killing the bottom life and attempting to swim with their arms underwater, I call it the PadI Paddle (forgive me but I can hardly resist). N

 

[Bob3]

I saw a poll somewhere that indicated that more people got started diving thanks to SEA HUNT than to Jacques Cousteau.
I too, have the collection on DVD. 40 of the critters.
The Voit 50 Fathom regs breathed like sucking on a straw, or one of those 3' long snorkels that wound up getting cut in half after kids found out they didn't work to 3'. (We never had any decent physics classes in gradeschool.)
If ya want a double hose reg, a couple were still made into the 80s & 90s. Heck, Nemrod stopped making the SNARK III only a handful of years ago, as did the Royal Mistral by La Spirotechnique.
You won't go wrong with a good old Royal Aqua Master, either, though having a HP port comes in handy sometimes.

 

[Devil505]

I too got interested in diving due to Mike Nelson. The other day I saw a rerun of an old TV show (I forget what it was but it wasn't Sea Hunt) that must have also been produced by ZIV as it had Sea Hunt's "action" music! (Not the Sea Hunt theme but the background action music that always played when Mike was in danger or in a fight) Man.....Does that action music bring back fond memories!

 

[patymeboy]

I have a confession to make.
I went bad because of sea hunt. I like to hang out in Kelp beds and cut unsuspecting divers air hoses. I rip off peoples masks and then swim away.
Once I got some dinamite and blew a hole in a sea wall and then burrowed into a bank vault. There was no Mike Nelson to stop me so I just kept on going down hill.

 

[DiverBeth]

I watched Sea Hunt when I was little. I loved the show. My parents wouldn't let me take diving lessons. Grew up etc. etc. then one day I finally got into diving. But I do credit the show with first giving me the desire.

 

[pescador775]

The original and widly used Navy Tables gives 100 minutes for 50 feet, still not hours but what do you expect--lol--back then, he was afterall an actor!

Actually, 70 minutes. Seahunt was a gas, very enjoyable and sometimes the situations would give us a laugh.

 

[Nemrod]

"Actually, 70 minutes. Seahunt was a gas, very enjoyable and sometimes the situations would give us a laugh."

No, actually the no deco limits for 50 feet is 100 minutes, ref. Table 1-5, New Science of Skin and Scuba, U.S. Navy Standard Air Decompression Table and Table 1-6, No Decompression Limits. You will note that 50 feet for 100 minutes requires no deco and an ascent time of 0.8 minutes. (rev. 1958) Also ref. the PadI Dive tables (1978) and note that the no deco limit for 50 feet is alos 100 minutes with direct ascent to the surface. However, JFYI, the no deco limit for 70 feet is 50 minutes and that must be at the crux of your confusion. N

 

[Hammerhead]

We also used to run home from swim practice, still soaking wet and watching the great Mike Nelson in the time before color was bigger than life even on a 21 inch B&W TV.

N

Sweet reg, Nemrod!

Got a couple of new toys to bring my total double hose regs to 8

All I need now is a weekend off the start servicing them because they will get wet, oh yes, they will get wet!