Best Ever Diver....who do you think?

[ElectricZombie]

Deciding on who is the best diver ever is should be based on skills only. I don't really think it's fair to include those who have really only had an impact on the promotion/development of SCUBA.

As for who the best diver is, I really don't know...I'm not sure we will ever know. But, if I had to guess, it's probably some cave diver in Florida. There are some guys down there who are really great and it would be very difficult to sinlge out one individual.

 

[Texass]

He taught me how to dive and I'll owe him for the rest of my life.

 

[PhotoTJ]

ElectricZombie once bubbled...
Deciding on who is the best diver ever is should be based on skills only. I don't really think it's fair to include those who have really only had an impact on the promotion/development of SCUBA.

You have got to be kidding me.

Fair enough. If that's the case...

Then I am!

 

[sheck33]

One of the all time great diving pioneers is Sheck Exley IMHO.
He just was diving on a whole different level, his death is very unfortunate, it is too bad we dont know for sure what went wrong on his record breaking attempt to reach 1000 feet.
But i do not think there is ONE greatest diver, there are more divers that have accomplished some very note worthy stuff.

 

[ElectricZombie]

PhotoTJ once bubbled...


You have got to be kidding me.

Fair enough. If that's the case...

Then I am!

It is possible to have a guy who has done a lot for the promotion/advancement of SCUBA but is still a horrible diver. This is why I say only focus on skills.

 

[O-ring]

ElectricZombie once bubbled...



It is possible to have a guy who has done a lot for the promotion/advancement of SCUBA but is still a horrible diver. This is why I say only focus on skills.

...but I have heard Exley had amazing skills in the water. Dunno about Haas or Cousteau or any of the others mentioned..

 

[kingprawn]

This question needs to be broken down.

“Who has done the most for diving?”
vs.
“Who has/had the most skill?”

Whether they came back or not is irrelevant. Baron Von Richthofen was shot down. We are all human and we all make mistakes. We try to allow for them and make provisions, but they still happen.

Clearly many of the early divers have had their individual impacts on diving. Some by popularizing it, advancing the equipment, or advancing/popularizing the techniques and training. Most of the people in these lists fall into these categories (GI & JJ included). While I have never dived with them, I’m sure there skills were beyond question.

The original question was “who do you think is or was the best ever diver in the world”? Note the acronym SCUBA does not appear in this question. Therefore I suggest that the best diver in the world is probably lives in some third world country, and dives every day to feed his family. He probably free dives, and probably gets more bottom time on one lungful than most of us would get on our pony bottle. As far as SCUBA is concerned, it is probably one of the many travel dive guides that jump in the water 6-7 days a week to keep us from hurting ourselves, so that we can sit back in our chairs and ask each other questions like this.

If we are forced to choose a name, I choose O-Ring.

 

[PhotoTJ]

ElectricZombie once bubbled...



It is possible to have a guy who has done a lot for the promotion/advancement of SCUBA but is still a horrible diver. This is why I say only focus on skills.

I see your point. But as everyone is going to value different skills, the judgement would be rather subjective, at best. And, the guys like Cousteau and Hass took diving as far as it could go during their lifetimes. Exley was an amazing tech guy, but how would he compare to people today? Has anyone surpasssed his abilities?

It's like Olympic level athletes. Jim Thorpe's records get broken every year. Yet he is still widely regarded as the greatest athlete of all time.

The judgment should be made on who raised the bar the highest, not who can jump over it one time.

Cousteau invented the bar. That's why he gets my nod.

 

[rmediver2002]

Swede Momsen http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/blowballast/momsen/


George Bond
http://www.underwater.com/archives/arch/uw-fa95.31.htm


Edward C. Raymer
http://classicdivebooks.customer.netspace.net.au/oeclassics-potential.html


Bev Morgan
http://www.kirbymorgan.com/hist.html


Ben Miller
http://www.millerdiving.com/ben.html


Edward Ellsberg
http://www.edwardellsberg.com/


Morgan Wells
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s1065.htm

 

[Braunbehrens]

kingprawn once bubbled...
As far as SCUBA is concerned, it is probably one of the many travel dive guides that jump in the water 6-7 days a week to keep us from hurting ourselves, so that we can sit back in our chairs and ask each other questions like this.

I'm not so sure about that. I've seen a few of these guys in action, and none come close to the skill displayed by Andrew Georgitsis, or even some of my dive buddies. I haven't dived with JJ or GI, so I don't know first hand how they look in the water, but I know a few people who pride themselves on "presentation quality" skills. That means that not only do they get everything done, there are also no unnecessary gestures or movements, and the diver is obviously completely in control of buoyancy and trim.

Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice.