In about 1972 when I was introduced to cave diving we were in the early days of that sport relatively speaking. Much of the equipment was homemade. The equipment my mentors used were largely independent steel 72s and a few other sizes with dual regulators. Reels, lights and all of that were homemade. There were no BCs and all sorts of intersting things were going on to try and keep the diver up off the bottom. Lights used nicad cells from aircraft batteries and landing lights from the same. We at least made penetrations we thought to be significant but compared to what divers do today they were barely scratching the surface. I did not see any double hose in the caves. The shop I worked for was throwing them away literally and I stupidly appluaded their action instead of doing what I should have--lol--dumpter diving!
Frankly I do not believe there was any such thing as tech in the vintage era. Certainly there were some amazing feats being accomplished one off here and there but divers were not broken into "tech" and open water, we were just scuba divers. That is what I remember but heck, I was just a kid tagging along so I don't know for certain. That does not mean there were not some divers doing what we would today consider tech dives,of course there were but say in 1966 there was not the array of equiment available we have today. There was no unified approach as we have today in DIR (bless their souls, lol). People were trying and doing all sorts of things dependent upon their interests and needs.
Fortunately my interests soon tired of long limestone tunnels and seeing what was around the next split or bend and returned to the ocean, thus my still being alive. There the double hose/twin hose regulator still reigns supreme as far as I am concerned. Gill wanted me to post this pic I guess:
If you were to go back to 1968 you would not see anything like the above because it did not exist and more than that, the need for it to exist had not been thought of yet. VERY few divers were using multiple regulators and there were no twin outlet manifolds I am aware of (I am sure Luis will dig some up--lol). Neither am I aware the term "vintage tech" was being used in 1993 or to what it might refer.
In a way, when we do "vintage tech" we are making up history to some extent. Of course, some of us just like to hook stuff up in strange ways and mostly to allow us to use our twin hosers despite all obstacles in our paths. I don't recall slung stages or any of that either. But I was a raw beginner so maybe I just did not see it. Ponys were used and they were mounted to the main tank(s).
I had other interests in 1972, not the least of which was girls and school and other such things:
That is my Bultaco Pursang 125. I still have it in some crates--lol. Believe it or not but diving has never been my number one pursuit. My wife and I about 1980 about to jump across to Bimini in our first little aeroplane:
Lots of things, marathons, triathlons, cycling, time trials, solo backpacking, water sking, boats etc all got my attention and still do so I am not a scuba expert by any means. I enjoy the purity of vintage diving and enjoy all of that but I am really a traditionalsit and minimalist diver.
A bunch of cool horsecollar BCs from the 70s, mostly post vintage, well, notice it is 1974, the end date for vintage era, these were the beginning of what was to come:
For real vintage manifolds. Still looking for suitable tanks:
.
Vintage tech, ok, I am there, whatever it is.
N <---when I go I am going to skid out of here in a cloud of dust, beat up, worn out and flat busted and with my boots on, uh, about 60 years from now.
Frankly I do not believe there was any such thing as tech in the vintage era. Certainly there were some amazing feats being accomplished one off here and there but divers were not broken into "tech" and open water, we were just scuba divers. That is what I remember but heck, I was just a kid tagging along so I don't know for certain. That does not mean there were not some divers doing what we would today consider tech dives,of course there were but say in 1966 there was not the array of equiment available we have today. There was no unified approach as we have today in DIR (bless their souls, lol). People were trying and doing all sorts of things dependent upon their interests and needs.
Fortunately my interests soon tired of long limestone tunnels and seeing what was around the next split or bend and returned to the ocean, thus my still being alive. There the double hose/twin hose regulator still reigns supreme as far as I am concerned. Gill wanted me to post this pic I guess:
If you were to go back to 1968 you would not see anything like the above because it did not exist and more than that, the need for it to exist had not been thought of yet. VERY few divers were using multiple regulators and there were no twin outlet manifolds I am aware of (I am sure Luis will dig some up--lol). Neither am I aware the term "vintage tech" was being used in 1993 or to what it might refer.
In a way, when we do "vintage tech" we are making up history to some extent. Of course, some of us just like to hook stuff up in strange ways and mostly to allow us to use our twin hosers despite all obstacles in our paths. I don't recall slung stages or any of that either. But I was a raw beginner so maybe I just did not see it. Ponys were used and they were mounted to the main tank(s).
I had other interests in 1972, not the least of which was girls and school and other such things:
That is my Bultaco Pursang 125. I still have it in some crates--lol. Believe it or not but diving has never been my number one pursuit. My wife and I about 1980 about to jump across to Bimini in our first little aeroplane:
Lots of things, marathons, triathlons, cycling, time trials, solo backpacking, water sking, boats etc all got my attention and still do so I am not a scuba expert by any means. I enjoy the purity of vintage diving and enjoy all of that but I am really a traditionalsit and minimalist diver.
A bunch of cool horsecollar BCs from the 70s, mostly post vintage, well, notice it is 1974, the end date for vintage era, these were the beginning of what was to come:
For real vintage manifolds. Still looking for suitable tanks:
Vintage tech, ok, I am there, whatever it is.
N <---when I go I am going to skid out of here in a cloud of dust, beat up, worn out and flat busted and with my boots on, uh, about 60 years from now.
