The problem with vintage diving.

[Eric Sedletzky]

One of the problems I see with the whole vintage scene since I got into it is that there are tons of way cool people with tons of knowledge that they are more than free with but they (we) live all spread out from one end of the country to the other.
Trying to meet up with other vintage officionados is proving to be quite a challenge.
There are a few around where I live (Fish&Beer, Duckbill, Douchbag, Infidelxx, and a few others), but even here since it's such a big state it's really hard to get a group together to have a shindig.
I know the east coast guys do their Sand Dog meet but there needs to be something for the west coast. The vintage scene is just too cool to let an opportunity of some kind get away.

It's kind of like the car show scene (which I'm into being a pinstriper) with shows like the Grand National Roadster Show and other regional shows. Those guys are tight and everybody knows everybody. They've all got their 30's and 40's street rods and others get into the 50's cars , then you have the people that are into 60's and 70's muscle cars. It's a whole way of life.
They have their internet forums and this guy will help that guy with a part or something they need for a really rare car.

I see vintage diving and gear the same way.
It's just too bad that we are so spread out and so thin. I would like to see more big multi day vintage meets and events coast to coast where we can actually meet in person and talk shop and do some diving.
The vintage community is the greatest!

Which bring me to the other thing that is a potential problem with vintage diving,
The gear addiction that sets in.
Any ideas about how to deal with the magnetic pull of aquiring more vintage gear that you probably don't really need but really want?

 

[herman]

Let me slide a couple of regs out of the way so I can answer you.
I hear ya, wish there was some way we could all get together on a more frequent basis. The biggest problems are, as you have pointed out, the geographical distances between us and our small numbers. While I would love to see meets happening, I just don't see it happening. There is just too few of us, maybe 2 or 3 hunders active vintage divers in the US and Canada, not enough to hold meet of more than maybe 4 or 5 of us at a given time. Then there is cost, most are going to have to travel a good ways and stay several nights, that ends up being $500-1000 per person. I drove 11 hrs from NC to Ohio for the Protage event. I gotta say I really enjoyed seeing the guys and ladies but really have to ask myself if it was worth 2 days on the road to do a few quarry dives. All in all, the best way I woud think is for us all to keep in touch and as we plan dive trip to make an effort to combine them with each other when we can.
Just deal with the addiction, there is no use fighting it. I still have no idea what I am going to do with that set of triples I got over Christmas.....but I had to have them. If you ever are in NC drop me a PM, at least we can share a beer.........or maybe trade some gear...what you have 2 of that I don't have ?????

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The one west coast location I could see that would really work and would give people from far away locations a great vacation besides would be Monterey CA.
Monterey is really a destination location and a true diver town. Not only does it have several shore diving spots but it also has a whole fleet of dive boats that go to some of the countries best cold water diving spots.
The town itself is totally tourist oriented and there would be plenty to do for several days for non diving spouses and kids. The town sits right on the waterfront and there are all sorts of shops, restaurants, art galleries, boutiques, and then there's also the Aquarium which takes a whole day. There's also Fisherman's Wharf and all the shops and restaurants there.

There are several dive shops in the town for suit rentals and air fills. There are also enough locals with steel 72's that using vintage tanks for everybody wouldn't be a problem. There might even be a place that rents them.
Then while people are here they could rent a car and check out the rest of the region too. There is some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world down the Big Sur coast, and wine country isn't far away either.
Somebody from afar could easily make a week or two regular vacation out of it (complete with a vintage meet) and never run out of exciting stuff to do.

For the vintage meet I would do it at the breakwater grassy area and set up a barbecue and do some shore dives right there at the San Crlos Beach and the metridium fields.

So Monterey would be my suggestion.

Here are some links. I'll add them as I find them.
http://www.seemonterey.com/monterey-california/cannery-row
http://www.scubamonterey.com/infobbreakwater.html
http://www.loneoaklodge.com/index1.php

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

That's sounds like a blast and worth the trip from Nova scotia. Just gotta convince the wife.
ZDD

 

[SwimJim]

Monterey California is a great place to dive. I spent some time there about 30 years ago. Cold water diving? Blaaa, ha ha ha. Not thats pretty funny. It hardly qualifies for the temperate zone. Darn near the sub tropics! If you don't have to cut through it, it ain't cold water! I remember the locals complaining about the 55 degree bottom temps being cold. For me thats summer in the shallows. The deep wrecks around here rarely see above about 40F. There is a West coast vintage get together in the works. Check out the Vintage Scuba Supply website for the details. I'd like to go, but I already have too many irons in the fire.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Is that the one at Albion in September?

 

[elmer fudd]

To some extent, I think the gear addiction is one of the nice things about vintage diving. It's fun to find old gear for little or nothing and take it out and dive it. Except for double hose regs, most of the vintage gear is a fraction of the price of modern gear and most of it's way cooler too.

One thing that I notice though, the colder the water gets, the less practical vintage diving seems. I've done about 5 dives this month, some with almost all vintage gear, some with all modern gear and one where I mixed the two up. Unfortunately, when it comes to diving with a buddy with a drysuit, I find the modern gear is more convenient and easier to use. It kept me dryer and was easier to vent and fill than the Hydroglove.

That's just the opposite of my experience diving wet last summer and fall. Then I was getting off on the freedom and simplicity of a minimalist, vintage setup. Now it seems like if I have to wear a drysuit, the undergarments and all the lead needed to sink it, I may as well use the BPW and an HP119.

It'll be nice come around May when the water warms up enough to dive wet again.

 

[Gilldiver]

I use my PRAM with my dry suit and I should have my triple 40's set up by the end of the weekend. So, look out cold east coast watewr, I'm Back!

 

[DaleC]

I use my DAAM with my drysuit (horsecollar in the ocean) and am doubling up some 72's to do the wrecks around here.

I hear ya ZKY,
Now imagine living in Canada! It's been a few years now and I have not seen another person ever dive vintage here. There are a few guys in my neck of the woods but ???
I will have to check out the VSS thread to see what's waht with Albion. It would be a road trip but I might talk myself into doing it.
One thought I had, as the Tacoma show draws closer (in April I believe), is having a vintage meet up during the show and maybe doing the sunday golfball dive together.
Just a thought.

 

[elmer fudd]

I wasn't implying that you can't use a double hose with a drysuit just fine in cold water, but my experience so far is that modern drysuit valves greatly simplify things.

Sure, you can use a PRAM or run LP hoses off the hookah fitting and dive with a modern drysuit. You can even fit modern fill and exhaust valves to a vintage style suit, but at that point, you're not really vintage diving anymore. You're diving modern gear using a double hose reg.