Rec Diving Then vs. Now

[fnfalman]

Some of us have had experience with both periods rather than making ignorant statements like yours. My initial training with the LA County Underwater Unit in 1970 was far superior to my PADI OW training in 1997. Both served their purpose but the former was much more intensive and rigorous than the latter. Either way, I'm confident that I would have become a skilled diver given the variety of experience I've been lucky enough to have.

Good diving, Craig

So you telling me that the current divers can't get access to the same extensive trainings?

I can sign up for LA County training right now if I want to. Nobody stops me from doing so.

Talking about ignorant statements.

 

[danvolker]

So you telling me that the current divers can't get access to the same extensive trainings?

I can sign up for LA County training right now if I want to. Nobody stops me from doing so.

Talking about ignorant statements.

This is about the way large numbers of people will get certified today WITHOUT being able to perform the skills, and without the fitness a diver should have--and this is in direct contrast to how things were in the 70's.

You are making yourself hot and getting all wrapped up, over something we are not even talking about ...does your user name derive from Falafel ?

Of course there are instructors and courses that are tough and demanding today--they are just not the norm.....in the 70's, that WAS the norm.

Today's immediate gratification culture will statistically favor the quickie course with little in the way of skills development....If they can't get it fast, they don't want it.

 

[Kern]

Dan, what do the RD profiles emulate, what sort of information were they based on.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Walter,

I really intended people to write personally about how they themselves approach rec diving now versus when they rec dove ~20 years ago. Though I expected the replies to include some discussion about gear changes, I am really interested in individual approaches--you know, whether a person's individual approach has changed. I was surprised to realize that my individual approach has not changed much, and I wondered if this is common among divers who have been rec diving the last 20 years.

Thanks,

Ronald

To answer this I would reply I have more of a tendency to dive with a minimal plan since I pretty much rely on a computer. Back in the day (1978 for me) I needed to plan each dive for depth and time with the tables. I also did fewer dives per day often 1 or 2 shore dives, max 3 on a boat.

Now my planning is minimized. I have long since memorized rock bottom gas, but once in the water I may change my depth depending on conditions and where I find the interesting critters. My tables/plans no longer dictate where I go, within reason I have a lot more freedom.

I also do more dives per day when the conditions are nice. Again, having the computer allows be to be more aggressive than if I was attempting to plan square profiles on tables. Nitrox also helps.

Other than the computer, I pretty much dive the same gear. My plastic AT pack with a giant wing morphed into a slimmer BP and a small donut wing. My weight belt morphing onto a harness (easy on the aging back) and my mask sprouted magnifiers so I can see my gauges. Good basic gear remains good basic gear. Most of the new gizmos came and went for me, just extra clutter.

 

[scubadada]

So you telling me that the current divers can't get access to the same extensive trainings?

I can sign up for LA County training right now if I want to. Nobody stops me from doing so.

Talking about ignorant statements.

Fnfalman,

Unlike you, I was speaking from personal experience and commenting on significant differences between my Basic Scuba Diver certification from LA County in 1970 versus my PADI Open Water certification from 1997. The contrast was quite striking.

On the other hand, you are correct regarding training from LA County. If one lives in Southern California and actively seeks out one of a relatively small number of LA County instructors (there are 9 currently listed on their website, Welcome to LA County Scuba! - Home of the Underwater Instructor Certification Course!), one can enroll in a Basic Scuba Diver program and could receive training that may be simiilar or identical to the intense and rigorous program I participated in. Of course, LA County training is not widely available and, as danvolker points out, the majority of new divers take a different path with one of the large, widely distributed, training organizations.

Following initial certification, there are many paths to additional education and experience. Though both of us have taken that path, the majority of divers probably do not.

Good diving, Craig

 

[rx7diver]

Thanks, everyone, for your responses so far. I've just reread all of the posts so far in this thread. There's a lot of learning and history contained in these sometimes outstanding posts. Only some of these posts specifically addressed my original post, though, which I restated more clearly in post #25 (my fault for not being clearer at the outset), but there are some common themes that seem to be emerging, I think:

Almost all of us who were rec diving 20 years ago, are carrying a computer on our rec dives now--even though some of us use our computer in gauge mode. (If I recall, the Orca Edge arrived in the late 1980's and thus helped usher in this computer diving era, so relatively few of us even saw a dive computer 20 years ago.) And some of us who use our computers in full computer mode (rather than in gauge mode), dive a more dynamic/fluid/spontaneous/looser dive plan.

Almost all of us are now prepared to (expecting to?) address an OOA emergency by using two regulators (however they're configured) rather than using a single regulator (buddy breathe).

Many of us have reduced our ascent rate (from the 60 fpm rate used with the US Navy Standard Air Tables, or the "smallest bubble" limit) to <= 30 fpm.

Regarding locations, some of us are doing more dive travel, while others are continuing to enjoy diving the local venues we dove 20 years ago. And regarding profiles, many of us seem to be diving shallower (though not necessarily shallow) than we dived 20 years ago.

Some of us are using recreational Nitrox, though some of us who do are using it with air schedules (whether with tables or with computers).

In my summary above, I've used qualifiers such as "many" and "most" and "almost all", but the reality is there have only been only relatively few germane posts in this thread, so those qualifiers seem to be a bit premature. I hope others will contribute to this thread to yield a more informed and complete picture of whether and how those of us who were rec diving ~20 years ago have changed our approach to rec diving today.

Thanks,

Ronald

 

[scubadada]

Following my distraction with fnfalman, thought I'd reply to the original post but extend the time period to the 40 years I've been diving.

I learned to dive in 1970 using a single regulator on a steel 72 with a J-valve. The tank was worn on a simple backpack and the BC consisted of a manually inflated horse-collar with an emergency CO2 cartridge (that I'm glad I never used). I never used the J-valve either but did find it in the down position after more than one dive. No SPG, no depth guage, dive times based on knowledge of the site's depth, Navy tables, and a dive watch. Of course, there was only air to breathe. Buddy breathing was taught and the only way to share air, never had to do this either amazingly enough.

I bought my first equipment in 1972, state of the art Scubapro. I had a MK5 with a 109 Adj, still no octo. Tank was still on a backpack but my separate BC had an autoinflator. I also had an SPG and a capillary depth guage. I dived this configuration for 8 years and had a blast in Southern California. I had a big knife, no shears or line cutters then. I don't think I ever had a light but did not dive at night either. I still have all this equipment today.

I entered modern times in 1997 and the rest is history. So now I dive an air integrated hoseless computer, breathe nitrox most of the time, own lights, cameras..........action

Good diving, Craig

 

[W8less]

IMHO the biggest change has been the availability of information re: the net. It is so much easier to get educated and to pursue advanced dive academics.

In the old school days (67/FSDA) divers weren't necessarily tougher than divers of today but the minimalist gear of the time kinda forced divers to be be more physical, better swimmers, able deep free divers. The vetting process had to be more stringent than it is today.

My approach to diving over the years ( I have witnessed quite a few mishaps) has changed in that I equip myself to be more of a reliable care giver in the event of an emergency than to save my own bacon. One example, I always dive with a 19pony, not because I manage gas poorly it's to have an adequate back up for a "what if"

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

A post in a recent thread in this forum suggested that rec diving has changed in the last 15 years. This made me wonder, and I replied:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...-back-water-after-15-years-2.html#post5692307

I would like to pursue this in this thread. What I would like to know is whether and to what degree your approach to rec diving has changed over the last 20, say, years. Please describe.

As usual here on SB, not many can confine themselves to answering the OP.

I became a "certified" diver 5/23/92, when I was living in Kapa'a, Kauai. Nearly 19 years later, I am a Maui dive instructor/guide.

From the "student" perspective of my OW class compared to the OW classes I teach today, not much has changed. From the perspective of plain old recreational diving, the personal dive computer is the main difference, with a slower 30' per minute ascent rate the only actual physical change in diving, afais.

After Hurricane Iniki (9/11/92), I bought the last set of Poipu Divers old rental gear in their post Iniki going out of business sale ($300); ScubaPro Classic BC, ScubaPro reg set, Henderson long sleeve shorty and a mesh dive bag long enough for my Cressi Rondine Gara free dive fins (bought used from Snorkel Bob's for $75).

I am currently using an old rental SeaQuest jacket BC, purchased off eBay; $120 shipped to Maui, about the same $ as the old SP Classic cost me. My current fins are Cressi Gara2000's, purchased used off eBay; $72 shipped to Maui, again about the same $.

Both of those gears are better designed but very similar to the gears I used for the first 10 years of my certified diving.

As a working instructor I get significant discounts on new gear (sometimes key man , sometimes ~ lds cost + S&H).

Two summers ago I upgraded to a Pinnacle Merino-Elastiprene 5 mm wet suit, which even discounted was nearly as much $ as that first "set" of gear; worth every penny though.

I also upgraded to Oceanic's EOS/FDX10, which even discounted was a little more than my that first "set" of gear; unfortunately, I consider my '04 Oceanic Delta 4/CDX5 to be a better designed 2nd/1st and it was only half the $ of my first set. I have Oceanic Swivel's for alternates, which cost me $85 each instead of the $135 msrp, and my 3-gauge consoles were probably ~$75 each worth of eBay booty.

That wet suit and both those regs are significantly better than the old gears, but the cost for new gear is outrageous (even at instructor discounts) so the wet suit just went to the seamstress and I will likely sell the FDX10 and buy another CDX5, used off eBay. Even discounted/eBay my newest full reg set w/o computer cost me over $500. :shocked2:

In our first 5 dives after certification my classmates and I did a 90' wreck dive, a few cavern dives and a night dive, all without a guide. I now get paid to guide new divers on 100' wreck dives, cavern dives and night dives.

Other than cost, the only real difference is my Suunto Viper that has been hp hose mounted since ~ '03.

I hope others will contribute to this thread to yield a more informed and complete picture of whether and how those of us who were rec diving ~20 years ago have changed our approach to rec diving today.

Thanks,

Ronald

 

[scubadada]

Diving these days does not appear to require either general fitness nor any degree of watermanship. Not attempting to be judgmental, just saying. I'd just as soon have a relatively fit buddy with passable swimming skills.

Good diving, Craig