Solo tech diving article

[Rick Murchison]

Sure there was diving before the BC

"J" valves are for wimps!
Wetsuits are for wimps!
Weightbelts are for fatties!
Pressure gauge? BC? What kind of pansy diver are you trying to make me?
Ahhhh, those were the good old days
Rick

 

[captndale]

Sure there was diving before the BC but if you had to wear a heavy wet suit you were negative at depth because of suit compression...meaning that if you wanted to stop moving forward you'd either have to point your fins at the bottom and kick or land on something. Gee, just like so many divers still do. but it makes a mess out of any place with a little silt (which is about everyplace I dive).

If properly weighted a diver was neutrally buoyant even before BC's. The protocol in those days was to weight oneself to be neutral on the bottom. That, of course, would mean that one was positively buoyant at the surface. You just had to kick hard to get down to depth. We did not make "safety stops" in those days and for deco dives we just had to hang onto a line. However, the wetsuits we used were not nearly a buoyant or compressible (or as warm) as the ones in use today. Checking some old logs, I was using 6 lbs of lead for a 100 foot dive with a 1/4" farmer john and a 72 CF steel tank. Oh, those were the days. NOT!

 

[MikeFerrara]

If properly weighted a diver was neutrally buoyant even before BC's. The protocol in those days was to weight oneself to be neutral on the bottom. That, of course, would mean that one was positively buoyant at the surface. You just had to kick hard to get down to depth. We did not make "safety stops" in those days and for deco dives we just had to hang onto a line. However, the wetsuits we used were not nearly a buoyant or compressible (or as warm) as the ones in use today. Checking some old logs, I was using 6 lbs of lead for a 100 foot dive with a 1/4" farmer john and a 72 CF steel tank. Oh, those were the days. NOT!

Holding onto a line for deco is fine if there happens to be one and cave divers used drop weights...no thanks. LOL

 

[ClevelandDiver]

If properly weighted a diver was neutrally buoyant even before BC's. The protocol in those days was to weight oneself to be neutral on the bottom. That, of course, would mean that one was positively buoyant at the surface. You just had to kick hard to get down to depth. We did not make "safety stops" in those days and for deco dives we just had to hang onto a line. However, the wetsuits we used were not nearly a buoyant or compressible (or as warm) as the ones in use today. Checking some old logs, I was using 6 lbs of lead for a 100 foot dive with a 1/4" farmer john and a 72 CF steel tank. Oh, those were the days. NOT!

My vintage diving set up for 30-70 feet is 1/4 sharkskin suit, double hose reg, steel 72 with j valve straped to an EZ Kam hard pack, rocket fins,black rubber oval mask, 4lbs of lead and big old knife strapped to my calf.

If I take the tank much below 500 psi I need to grab a "safety rock" to hold my 20 foot stop, but I can literally hover at 25-65 feet without a BC through out the whole dive.

The best part is when people see the double hose and ask if it is a rebreather.

 

[djbobbyzee]

Wow.
My Mac was down for the count after Hurricane Ophelia... so I had ALOT of reading to catch up on.
Again... WOW.

SO much info in this thread.. and so much of it useful. I'm not about to add my 2 bits... because there's already a million bucks worth of info.

But... it did remind me:
1. I need to shave my head tomorrow... waste of money paying a barber for what a bic razor can do.
2. Sold my Chevy for a Cobra. No real reason, but happy with it.
3. Tourist season's over here... so is my obligation to dive solo (work related). Time to dive for ME.
4. Jessica Alba... hmm... topless... any inside tips if we'll get a peek in the new movie?
5. Finally... in reference to the troll concept... DID THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR EVER REBUT? Haven't seen a single blurb from him. Looks like a troll, smells like a troll, 95 replies later?

Everyone have a safe weekend!
Bobby

 

[cmcloughlin]

I was aiming for Masterdiver. But I think I will change now to scubaforumGuru
With 9000+posts since 2002 how do you find the time to dive ?
Chris

 

[MikeFerrara]

I was aiming for Masterdiver. But I think I will change now to scubaforumGuru
With 9000+posts since 2002 how do you find the time to dive ?
Chris

Chris,
If you're addressing me, I'm not sure why you'd ask but I can answer anyway. My last job involved a whole lot of sitting at my desk with nothing to do while we worked (mostly waited) for the plant to close. That left me 8 hours a day to play here on scubaboard. Even some active divers spend 8 hours plus/day in an office. No?

If you look through my post dates and times you'll see that early on most posts were Mon through friday during business hours. Most evenings and weekends I was teaching and diving and in those days I didn't even have a computer at home (not that I was ever at home). Now days, you'll notice that most of my board activity is mornings with a few evenings thrown in which is because I no longer work around a desk or computer. Well, that is when I have work. You'll also notince that I am frequently absent for a few days at a time because I sometimes travel and rarely get to a computer when I'm on the road.

If you're concerned about my dive experience (for whatever reason) or are somehow suggesting that I talk diving more than I dive...For the last few months that may actually be true since my recent career changes have left me with less disposable income and less "security". Having to sell my compressor has also put a serious damper on things but Oh well. However from 1997 to 2004, I averaged over 200 dives per year which were a varrying mix of teaching dives and dives for my own recreation and training. As far as qualifications, I'm a former (inactive) PADI instructor and IANTD Advanced Nitrox instructor. My non pro qualifications are through Advanced trimix and full cave and my fun diving is mostly the caves of Florida and Missouri with some Great Lakes wrecks thrown in. I did have to spend some time in the water to get all that done.

I'm not doing 200+ dives per year now. besides the financial changes I have to admit to being bored with what we were doing. Spending hundreds of dollars to see a broken boat at the bottom of the Great Lakes has lost it's thrill and we can't do much more in Missouri without making a real project of it. I don't care to do much more of the 300 ft stuff (like Cannonball) and we can't do much more in Roubidoux without heat for our drysuits. Going there to do the same old dives just doesn't have the appeal it used to. I'm not a resort kind of person (really boring) so my diving will be more on and off and mostly (social) until I come across something that gets me interested again.

I do still have a great deal of insterest in training methods (or lack of them) in the industry and enjoy discussing related issues on the board. I hope that's ok with you.

So Chris, I hope that answeres you questions or concerns. Should you not be satisfied taking my word concerning my background and qualifications let me know and I'd be happy to provide references (including one or two folks who participated in this thread), LOL.

In the mean time, good luck with that master diver thing. I see from your profile and posts that you are recently nitrox and rescue trained. That's a good start and I have no doubt that you'll make it one day.

 

[ClevelandDiver]

Mike,

Ever thought about doing some vintage diving to cure the boredom? I'll bet you have some old stuff in a corner you could clean up and dive.

I'm trying to get my LDS to let me take out an old Dacor Nautilus for a test dive, mainly just to confuse other divers.

I've also been talking to some kayakers about things they've seen along the lake Erie coast that have me interested in trying kayak diving. I can't afford a power boat, but I sure could afford to lose a few pounds paddling around looking for stuff.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Mike,

Ever thought about doing some vintage diving to cure the boredom? I'll bet you have some old stuff in a corner you could clean up and dive.

I'm trying to get my LDS to let me take out an old Dacor Nautilus for a test dive, mainly just to confuse other divers.

I've also been talking to some kayakers about things they've seen along the lake Erie coast that have me interested in trying kayak diving. I can't afford a power boat, but I sure could afford to lose a few pounds paddling around looking for stuff.

As a matter of fact I do have a couple old plastic backpacks and harnesses on some steel 72's with j-valves and rods still on them. I have a horse collar but who needs it. LOL. I don't have any double hose regs though. I've been half heartedly keeping my eyes open for one but all the ones I've seen have been kind of expensive. But it wouldn't take much arm twisting to get me out to do that.

My wifes been wanting to paddle down the local river with some light gear looking for stuff. Most of the river is about 3 ft deep most of the year but I've free dived a couple of 7 to ten ft holes. Around bridges and other places there's been lots of stuff dumped over the years that some folks find interesting. We've gone fosil hunting in Florida rivers with the kids in between cave dives. My wife says she finds fosils but they look like rocks to me. She found one rock that she says is a camel tooth. Don't tell her but I still say it just looks like a rock.

 

[ClevelandDiver]

As a matter of fact I do have a couple old plastic backpacks and harnesses on some steel 72's with j-valves and rods still on them. I have a horse collar but who needs it. LOL. I don't have any double hose regs though. I've been half heartedly keeping my eyes open for one but all the ones I've seen have been kind of expensive. But it wouldn't take much arm twisting to get me out to do that.

My wifes been wanting to paddle down the local river with some light gear looking for stuff. Most of the river is about 3 ft deep most of the year but I've free dived a couple of 7 to ten ft holes. Around bridges and other places there's been lots of stuff dumped over the years that some folks find interesting. We've gone fosil hunting in Florida rivers with the kids in between cave dives. My wife says she finds fosils but they look like rocks to me. She found one rock that she says is a camel tooth. Don't tell her but I still say it just looks like a rock.

Just be careful when you start buying up the vintage gear. I now have 4 sharkskin wetsuits, 5 backpacks, 4 double hose regs (one in working condition), 3 vintage single hose regs, 3 black rubber masks, 2 steel 72s, a pair of Rocket fins, an SOS deco meter, a princeton bottom timer and an old school dive machette.

If I can stop spending money on Ebay long enough, I plan on buying a dive kayak and using the minimalist vintage gear for cruising along Lake Erie, just off shore, seeing what I can find. It has got to be more exciting than diving the same local wrecks again for $85+ per trip or driving 180 mile round trip to the closest quarry.