Was Sheck Exley the first to introduce the "octopus?"

[Gilldiver]

Walt Hendricks was Butch’s father, and was deeply involved with SCUBA teaching from the late 50’s/early 60’s until he passed. Walt also ran the chamber in Porto Rico for many years in the 60’s and 70’s. I knew him in the 80’s and took a few courses to were the original Diver Rescue ones before the large agencies started doing them.

As Walt was originally based in CT, and spent his last few decades in Willimantic area, I don’t doubt that he might have some input into the Viking Norsemen as that was designed by the original owner of Underwater Swimmers that was in West Haven CT from the early 60’s up to about 5 years ago.

All this points to is that I don’t know who was the first to develop the octopus, but I’ll bet that the idea was in practice for at least a few years before one of the manufacturers picked it up. Let’s just say that it had many fathers.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I got certified in 1983 and it was never mentioned in training. A rather long delay in implementaion by the training agencies I would say...

I started my PDIC OW class in 1981 and we used additional second stages. My friend Mark and I met in 1983 in school when we were both 15 years old and he used additional second stages in his PADI and NAUI courses he had taken that summer before we became friends in high school. Maybe Pennsylvania was ahead of the rest of the world?

 

[Scott L]

I started my PDIC OW class in 1981 and we used additional second stages. My friend Mark and I met in 1983 in school when we were both 15 years old and he used additional second stages in his PADI and NAUI courses he had taken that summer before we became friends in high school. Maybe Pennsylvania was ahead of the rest of the world?

To be honest, I may be incorrect. I will have to ask my best friend who was in the same class and is an engineer who has a better memory for such things...I guess it's also entirely posiable that the LDS violated agency (PADI) protocol..

 

[BlueWaterDiving]

I think it was Hal Watts that started using the octo. And was one of the founder of the NACD.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I started my PDIC OW class in 1981 and we used additional second stages. My friend Mark and I met in 1983 in school when we were both 15 years old and he used additional second stages in his PADI and NAUI courses he had taken that summer before we became friends in high school. Maybe Pennsylvania was ahead of the rest of the world?

Could be that various shops implemented the the use of octo's over time.

I was certified in 1976: No octos for our class, and VERY few divers had them...in fact, very few divers used BC's at that point; we used "safety vests". When one of my friends DID get a backup 2nd stage, it was indeed called an "octopus". He was very high-tech... he also had a horse collar BC

Best wishes.

 

[drbill]

Trace... you're just too funny with the octopus comment!

I can't remember when I first started using a backup second stage on my rig... but then I've never been into the equipment, just use it to get where I need to go to study the critters. Certainly don't remember using an octopus" (or a BCD) in the 60s or 70s, so it may have been in the 80s. I know I first used a BCD in 1989... no other inflatable product used prior to that, just good weighting.

 

[Nemrod]

No, he did not, while not common, divers did use an extra second stage for dark water diving in the 60s.

The octo second was not really found in common use for open water divers until the late 70s and by the early 80s it was considered a requirement.

I know these things, because I was there.

N

 

[Gilldiver]

OK, I spoke with one buddy who was doing the caves back in the early 70’s, here is what he remembers about diving them in 1972. At the time he was diving through “Underwater Designers.”

Sheck was diving solo just about all the time.

Tanks were steel 72’s with double disks and pumped to 3,000. So I guess this was the first cave fills.

Manifolds were either cheater bars or a few had the USD or later Sherwood single and double post manifolds.

BC’s were the original NIMROD vests with a home made power inflator working off of the 1st stage and controlled by a “faucet valve.” He says that these vests would try to get you heads up so they tied off the neck of the BC to maintain a horizontal position.

Regs were US Divers and SCUBAPRO single hose with home made Octopus regs attached as there were no commercially octopus rig available. My guy says it was Charley Sturdivant who came up with the octopus rig. If you didn’t have enough ports on the 1st stage to run the octopus and BC fill, you used a T off of what ever hose made the best streamlining for your rig, even if this was the hose to the main 2nd stage.

 

[LiteHedded]

No, he did not, while not common, divers did use an extra second stage for dark water diving in the 60s.

The octo second was not really found in common use for open water divers until the late 70s and by the early 80s it was considered a requirement.

I know these things, because I was there.

N

well aren't you awesome

L

 

[T. Bix]

LOL I was there too and to this day NOBODY is "making" me have any gear configuration. I dive what I dive because it makes sense and is practical and necessary for my dive profiles.