What was diving industry like 40 years ago?

[Bonairetrip]

But even more than the watch, my BC was the pièce de résistance: a Fenzy.

I lacked the funds for the Fenzy but they were what all the cool kids wore in the pacific northwest. Every now and then, I contemplate buying one and taking it out for a spin. Should work just fine with my backplate (sans wing). One of the few material things in life that I find just as appealing at age 50 as I did at age 15....

 

[herman]

I was not around back then but do enjoy some of the gear today, the looks you get are well worth the dive plus to be honest I actually prefer a good DH reg over a single hose. In any case, one of the things that attracts me to the era is the creativity and varity of "different" gear. One fun thing to do is to go over to Vintage Double Hose board, go to the manuals and catalogs section and download the old catalogs from the late 50 up until the early 70s. You can see for yourself the different gear that was offered over the years and how it evolved.

 

[Diver0001]

the colored ribbon depth gauge

Got a picture of one of those?

We had a hell night. We we had to dump all of your gear into 16ft and gear up on the bottom.

We did this in our OW course in 1984 as well. I don't think it was in the standards, just something "fun" we did. We also did giant strides from a 2m diving board because we had one available.

R..

 

[Mitchell Teeters]

Got a picture of one of those?



We did this in our OW course in 1984 as well. I don't think it was in the standards, just something "fun" we did. We also did giant strides from a 2m diving board because we had one available.

R..

We also did the combat swimming thing. Last man submerged won. What could you expect from a bunch of young paratroopers? I did my cert in 1982

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Very interesting. Some questions come to mind:

1). A whole lot of people filled tanks from the gas station. Why cant we do it now? If a whole generation of divers has done that and lived, is the risk of bad air so much great? Or is it another marketing stunt by the "industry."

2). Were there a lot of women divers? Or was diving only for macho types who dove with Rambo style diving knives just to look tough?

3). Have the dive sites around Florida and California changed a lot since then?

Does anyone have photographs from that age? Of gear, destinations whatever.

Thanks.

 

[Doc]

... Some questions come to mind:

2). Were there a lot of women divers? Or was diving only for macho types who dove with Rambo style diving knives just to look tough?

2) Getting women into diving is yet another thing you can blame on PADI. Here is a great example of the what power an agency has in the diving world, damn well changed it forever what with all those goofy girls. This caused them to drop the "underwater harassment" (where the Instructor would sneak up behind you and turn off your air or rip off your mask).

Push-ups in full gear and wetsuit was one thing, but you ever seen it "girlie style" from the knees? This kind-of backfired on them as this marketing move, alone, caused the birth of most of PADI's competition.

In example, the PADI OW written test asks for the 17 uses for a dive knife. Not one of them is "fending off Sharks" or "cutting the exhaust hoses of SMERSH agent's double hose regulators". This finally gave NAUI a real foot in the door. On the sixth day, PADI created DEMA and on the seventh day everybody went diving and it was good... for a while.

A few years later, after banging the "safety gong" to allay everyone's fears that they were NOT going to surely die, PADI once again re-shaped the marketing for the sport when they realized that this fear is precisely what was attractive to new recruits. Much like the analysis of marketing for smoking cigarettes and drinking hard liquor, PADI realized through market research that new students were attracted by this flaunting of the grim reaper. The marking went from "Take a Friend Diving- have fun!" to the much more effective, "Dive into Adventure". The first version was ripped from the Ski Industry, the second version was traceable to Jaws.

And another thing....:rtfm:

We used to have flippers. And I had never heard of MOF "rules".

 

[captain]

My first gear in 1957 consisted of a Squala mask, Churchhill fins, a Voit VR 2 regulator and a Voit 72 cu/ft tank with web harness and a US Divers pressure proof watch case. Fill were at an army surplus store that sold diving equipment. C cards were not yet in existence nor were SPGs or BCs.


My nephew returning from a dive in 1968.

Suiting up in 1968.

My first rig, still have and use it.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I would hazard to guess that those gas stations had surplus military breathing air compressors that could pump more than 200 psi or they had some of the Walter Kiddee type personal scuba compressors set up. You can't use the air they put in tires and for the lift.
I'd also guess one reason you can't do it now is the damn lawyers that move in and screw up most fun stuff.

 

[SSpiffy]

I was certified by NAUI through the USS Enterprise dive club in July '76. I have a two-hose regulator still - it's the only thing from my rig then (OK, the tank too) that didn't get stolen in the mid '80s.

Training was actually rigorous, IIRC it was about 6 weeks, one or two evenings a week classroom and lots of pool time. Being able to use the gas laws to do calculations. Hour-long games of underwater hockey to increase breath control and swimming stamina. Two or three free dive sessions in open water then three two tank days to get certified.

Learning to push the bottom skirt of your mask against your nostrils to equalize. Last check before submerging was to check that your J-valve lever was up. Horse collar BC, manual inflate only. Tube depth gauge and clunky dive watch controlled the bottom time. And just like now, I used Turtle fins - they were a different company and came in one size (huge) with inserts to make the foot pocket fit you.

The ship had a dedicated scuba compressed air supply with more filters than what the pilots used - we had to be careful with pressure, it was off a 4500 psig supply. I was fortunate enough to dive all over the Pacific rim and off Africa; probably 200-300 dives in all (who kept logs unless one was going for an instructor's ticket?). Then I moved back to Phoenix, did a few lake dives and made some money doing pool repairs.

 

[SeaCobra]

As I have only been diving for 28 years, I can't shed much light, but I do remember seeing my friend Evelyn's receipt for her first trip to the Doria. It was for $65! That same trip today goes for about $1,000+