The SCUBA Police and the Vintage Diver

[WD8CDH]

I had an instructor tell me it was Illegal to dive with a doublehose regulator.:shocked2:

 

[james croft]

He is right. And he deputized me to go around and confiscate them from people.

 

[Cave Diver]

I had an instructor tell me it was Illegal to dive with a doublehose regulator.:shocked2:

He is right. And he deputized me to go around and confiscate them from people.

 

[Teamcasa]

It was a nice day at Grayson Lake to take a small class out for their check out dives. After carefully fitting all of my students with all the newest and coolest dive accessories available we launched our pontoon and headed over to a nice cove. After noticing another pontoon boat anchored there, I figured the site must be good. Ignoring the dive flag because I saw people on the boat, I motored over next to them and tossed the anchor into a stream of bubbles coming up from a spring.

While we were getting ready to splash in, I spot this old geezer getting on the other pontoon with some kind of strange gear that looked like he made it himself. Noticing that he was apparently diving without a buddy and wanting to insure my new students would not be influenced by this sight, I felt an overwhelming urge to challenge him on his very dangerous diving practices.

I politely asked him a few questions to which he just made some smart aleck remarks and mocked all of the diving rules I hold sacred. I then demanded to see his official diving license so I could report him to the Sr. Moderators here on ScubaBoard at which he violently erupted and threatened to disembowel me. What a SOB!

I finally decided to be the bigger man and just leave. I contacted the local police and was very rudely told to go mind my own business. The cop must have been his brother.

Bottom line? If you dive this ancient, dangerous gear, know this… we are watching and will report you!



sic

 

[Paladin]

Oh, that was rich!

 

[muddiver]

My thought is that he was worried that I would be a corrupting influence on his students and they might realize that they don't have to buy a trillion dollars worth of equipment from his shop in order to dive. The cost of my equipment:

US Divers DA Aquamaster (completely rebuilt by VDH)------------$250.00
Classic Oval Mask from Vintage Scuba Supply--------------------- 35.00
Deep Blue Gear Aquanaut Full Foot Fins-------------------------- 23.00
Vintage US Divers J snorkel (bought 40 years ago)---------------- 3.00
Healthways steel 72 w/J valve bought in 1976 for ---------------- 80.00
Stainless steel dive knife bought from Ebay for------------------- 10.00
Healthways capillary depth gauge bought 40 years ago for-------- 4.00
Healthways campack backpack bought in 1976 for---------------- 15.00
Scubapro weight belt bought 30 years ago for-------------------- 3.00
5 lbs weight---------------------------------------------------- 5.00

Total---------------------------------------------------------- $428.00


Compare that to the amount his dive shop might expect to get from the students by selling them all the "necessary" gear for SCUBA diving.

Even adding my new Sea Elite horsecollar BC-------------------- 150.00

the total is less than $600.00.

Your a menace to the scuba equipment inustry, and as such you should be hunted down to have you diving license revoked and thrown in jail for lowering the [-]premium[/-], oops I mean the retail cost of the standard scuba diving equipment ensamble.

 

[adurso]

Not to hijack...

but Infidelxx, what size tank have you found fit your Son well at this age?

Mine is 9 at the moment, and I have been collecting gear for him on the QT, as we get closer to that 10th birthday.

I had him in the neighbors pool a bunch of times this summer, wearing one of my extra 80's, because that's all I've got, but I have been thinking about picking up a used pony and rigging it up in a backpack for him. He's kinda on the small side, so I'd like to keep him as comfortable as possible.

Thanks

ps. OP, sorry about the run-in with Instructor Dusche. The cheese wiz sounds like a good trick I will need to remember for these Southeast fish!

Aluminum 63s work well for the smaller divers. My daughter used hers from 10 to 13 then moved up

 

[Cave Diver]

Paladin, I've been giving this some more thought. In retrospect, this is really all your fault. You really can't blame the poor instructor for being concerned at you wearing gear that is in all likelihood, older than he is.

The best way you can avoid this in the future is to wear this http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/pub/286559-three-wolves-howl-moon-t-shirt.html the next time you go diving. Once confronted with the awesomeness that is 3W1M, any of these young dive professionals will immediately recognize you as the Alpha and bow down in respect of you and your vintage gear.

 

[Nemrod]

If you wear that you will be banned from vintage and we will "yank" your card for sure.

N

 

[ScubaSteve]

FREEZE!!!!

You handled it perfectly in my opinion. I wish I could have watched

I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. I ran into the SCUBA Police this morning. My wife, my two sons and I went over to Grayson Lake in Kentucky. I took my 72, my Aquamaster, fins, (classic oval) mask, snorkel, capillary depth gauge and weight belt and we rented a pontoon boat for the day. We cruised around the lake for a while, then anchored in a little cove. After sticking up my dive flag, I put on my gear and dropped over the side with a can of Cheez-Whiz in my fist. The water was only about 20 feet deep and I settled to the bottom on my knees. I squirted a bit of cheez-Whiz and, in a few seconds, a crappie came along to gobble it up. In no time, I was surrounded by a cloud of fish of all species and sizes. My sons snorkeled on the surface and occasionally dropped down to say "Hi."

I heard another boat pull into the cove but I paid it no mind.

I stayed down until my J valve started honking at me. I reached back to pull the rod down and headed back to the boat. At the surface, I found another pontoon boat anchored next to mine. There was a dive flag flying from the awning and there were about a half dozen young people on board dressed in wet suits and just about every diving gadget and googaw you can imagine. One of them turned to look at me as I tread water wearing only tank, Aquamaster, weight belt, depth gauge, watch and snorkel gear. He looked as if he'd just seen the Loch Ness Monster itself. I popped my mask onto my forehead and shot him a cheerful "Hi!" I then climbed out of the water and onto my boat.

"Where is the rest of your gear?" he asked.

I shrugged and said "This is it. It's all I need."

He looked at he water and asked me where my dive buddy was. I patted the mouthpiece of my trusty Aquamaster and said "Right here." At this, he began to lecture me on my unsafe dive practices and told me I was in violation of safe diving rules. Unsafe antique regulator, no BC, no SPG, no computer, blah blah blah... I just shrugged again and waved him off. My son helped me out of my harness, then I took off the rest of my stuff.

Mister SCUBA Police then demanded that I hand over my C-card. I said "What?" He again demanded that I hand over my C-card.

"What for?" I asked.

"I'm yanking your certification. I'll send your card in to have it canceled for safety violations."

I just stared at him. "By whose authority?"

"Mine," he shot back. "I'm the instructor at #$*&^# Dive Shop."

I was starting to get a mite testy by this time. "That doesn't mean **** to me. You don't have the authority to pull anybody's card."

He leaned over the rail of his boat and glared at me. "Give me your ******* card!"

I laughed and said "I don't have one!"

He turned three shades of purple and gasped for air. "But...but... that's illegal! You can't dive like that!?

I smiled. "I just did."

"I'm gonna call the cops!"

I kept smiling at him. "Go right ahead. They could probably use a good laugh!" My son hauled in the anchor while I started the motor. We cruised slowly away, waving cheerfully at our new friends. We spent a couple of hours fishing at another cove before heading back to the dock.

I could have probably handled the situation with a bit more tact, but the kid got under my skin.