Whatever happened to Hogarth?

[Hoag]

I am fine thank you.

Although I am not the Hogarth in question, I wonder if I am related to him.

 

[Ayisha]

For what it's worth

X-Ray Magazine Published an Interview with Bill "Hogarth" Main in July '16

I found it to be a informative and good read

It was a good read. I found it interesting though that Bill Main mentioned in this interview that Bill Gavin popularized the term "Hogarthian", which in the post that the Chairman linked to from 2003, Main was absolutely incensed that JJ had attributed it to Bill Gavin without mentioning that John Zumrick "invented" the term.

I found that he came across as quite humble in the above interview.

For my 1/2 cent worth, I had heard way back that Hogarthian was used jokingly by Bill Gavin originally because Main would show up with something different about his gear all the time over many years and dives, until he got it just right.

Bill "Hogarth" Main:
"John Zumrick invented the term "Hogarthian". It really started as a joke. I have always been stuck with that middle name, and then Gavin started using the term. We started minimalising—stripping out anything that we did not need. Every time I saw something good—as long as it meshed with the system—I would adopt it. I was one of the first to use the Goodman handle, putting the backup lights under the arms—lots of little things, most of them invented by other people."

 

[The Chairman]

When he made that post in 2003, the mods and I were amazed. Like wow. We weren't sure it wasn't a troll, so I PM'ed him and asked him to call me, which he did. I was humbled by his utter humility and his desire that no one should take credit for stuff they didn't invent. A man. A legend. A cool, cool, dude.

 

[Makhno]

I was introduced to him about 5 years ago in the parking lot at Ginnie Springs. Just as friendly and seemingly humble a guy as one could hope to meet. But I have casually met a number of other stars in the cave diving firmament ("Let me introduce you to Jill," "This is my buddy Lamar," etc etc) and I have found the same thing consistently: people who are pretty confident don't need any show of ego or pride. They're content just to be patient with and helpful to those of us who are newer to the sport. I think the internet tends to lack a lot of that in-person vibe

 

[Rvbcave]

I can personally attest that DIR is not “Hogarthian”. It evolved into its own thing. Bill and I get made fun of by DIR divers because of our simple gear. For example, we both use Mares MR12 first stages and very simple non adjustable 2nd stages. Bill still uses an old Chrome Conshelf as a backup and a Conshelf SEA4 on his long hose. He finally switched to a canister less primary light. I have his last several canister lights and still use them weekly. We both use Patrick Duffy’s Oxycheq Extreme Vertex wings. Both of us dive wet unless we absolutely have to. Everything is very streamlined. We went to the end of the line at Cow on Saturday morning on thirds on our doubles easily. Bill now dives LP 85’s exclusively. I am in the process of swapping out my 104’s and 95s for LP 85s as well (in case anyone wants to trade). Neither Bill nor I use an isolator Manifold. All of our doubles just have the standard crossover with no isolator.

In a restaurant after a dive if Zumrick or I wanted to rib Bill we would tell the server his middle name. We still do this to this day. I have only heard Bill say the word “Hogarthian” once in over 20 years. He said it jokingly.

I’m comfortable defining it as such:

The ruthless and endless application of logic to your equipment configuration.

(Notice I said “endless”. It changes... not always a lot, but it does change. We are constantly trying new little things here and there. Bill and I are both worshippers of logic.)

Safe diving all,
RB



P.S. I’m going to go up to spend the weekend with Zumrick soon. If some of you are interested, message me some questions and I will get him to answer them for you.

We have a lot to learn from these great and humble souls that have blazed the trail for us.

 

[Rvbcave]

I was introduced to him about 5 years ago in the parking lot at Ginnie Springs. Just as friendly and seemingly humble a guy as one could hope to meet. But I have casually met a number of other stars in the cave diving firmament ("Let me introduce you to Jill," "This is my buddy Lamar," etc etc) and I have found the same thing consistently: people who are pretty confident don't need any show of ego or pride. They're content just to be patient with and helpful to those of us who are newer to the sport. I think the internet tends to lack a lot of that in-person vibe

I could never put it better. Well said.