Vintage diving...what was it like?

[captain]

I came in at the very end of what I regard as the "vintage" era - I had a single hose regulator, but no SPG and no BCD.

The main thing I remember (apart from the need to get your weighting right) was you dived pretty conservative profiles (except we didn't call them that). We didn't often go below 40 feet and you thought long and hard about going below 60 feet. There just a much more realistic risk you might be have to swim like buggery for the surface.

I remember reading about some guy diving on the Andrea Doria using a J-Valve in the 1960s, and he went to pull it and found it had already been pulled, so had to swim like a lunatic for the surface from 200 odd feet. I remember reading that and saying to myself that's why we stayed shallow.

Everyone brings up the old pulled J valve routine. I guess it's like the non motorcycle riders telling the motorcycle riders about the motorcycle accident they saw.

How ever many times you check your SPG should have been the same number of times you checked your J valve position. Plus to the educated ear you can tell by the sound of the air rushing through the valve if the J valve is or isn't in the reserve position.

Rhone Man, you don't look old enough to remember a J valve much less having depended on one.

 

[Rhone Man]

Rhone Man, you don't look old enough to remember a J valve much less having depended on one.

I started diving in 1981 - I think SPGs were becoming standard in the US at that time, but we are a little bit backwards down in the Caribbean. By 1984 (when I did my open water) my regulator had an SPG - my tank still had a J-valve, but it was left in the pulled position.

 

[captain]

I started diving in 1981 - I think SPGs were becoming standard in the US at that time, but we are a little bit backwards down in the Caribbean. By 1984 (when I did my open water) my regulator had an SPG - my tank still had a J-valve, but it was left in the pulled position.

Considering SPG's came out in the 1960's it must have been a slow boat taking them to the Caribbean.

 

[Luis H]

In 1971 everyone I can remember was already using an SPG in Puerto Rico and I thought it was fairly common when I traveled to the Virgin Islands also (but I didn't visit the VI as often as I wish I did). I sold a lot of regulators while working at Divers Service Center (in the San Juan area) and the SPG was always standard equipment (inflators became popular later, late 70’s and octopus even later).

One of the main reasons I didn’t always favor my Royal Aqua Master double hose in the early 70’s was because I couldn’t use an SPG. I never saw a banjo fitting back then.

 

[scubapro50]

When I started diving in the mid 60's Houston had only two dive shops ...... Blakers and Ken Lee's. In the 70's a 3th dive shop opened up 'BlueWater Divers' and the owner Joe Jordan became a friend of mind. Diving was more of a challenge back in the beginning. With doublehose regulators and no gagues you had to plan out you dive profile without the use of a computer. Everyone had a copy on the "New Science of Skin and Scuba" which was the bible of diving because it held the dive tables. We were using 71.2 steel tanks rated at 2200psi so our time down was short compared to todays standards. Many of us dove the oil rigs in bluejeans and sweatshirts because we couldn't afford a wetsuit. No BC not even a CO2 vest ..... just regulator, tank and a steel pack holding the rig together with a couple of straps. Our weight belt not only held our weights but usually a 7 to 9 inch knife to keep us company.

 

[Rhone Man]

Considering SPG's came out in the 1960's it must have been a slow boat taking them to the Caribbean.

Not sure how fast the boat was - I learned to dive on the equipment my Dad brought with him when he emigrated from East Africa in the 1970s.

 

[gndpdr]

remember diving in sneekers? i used a pair of chuck taylor hightops....

 

[Luis H]

remember diving in sneekers? i used a pair of chuck taylor hightops....

Many dry suit divers use them over the dry-suit socks instead of rock boots now-a-days... Some things have changed but some have stayed the same.

 

[David Wilson]

remember diving in sneekers? i used a pair of chuck taylor hightops....

Here's a picture from "Skin and Scuba Diver" by Borgeson and Speirs (1962):

I've often used this image to show "modern" divers and snorkellers that full-foot fins aren't always worn barefoot!

 

[gndpdr]

yeah brother...lmao..we also used "navy" dive socks the all wool pairs that seemed to weigh about 10 pounds when wet..