Officially, unofficially.. who has the oldest, longest? probably the USN. How long has L.A. County Parks and Recreation been around? Seems they were well established prior to the invention of the aqua lung. I'm just glad it has evolved in to the sport my wife and I enjoy.
The modern diving era in North America traces its beginnings to 1948 when Jacques-Yves Cousteau convinced Rene Bussoz (of Rene’s Sporting Goods in Westwood, California) to import self-contained underwater breathing units he called Aqua-Lungs. Previously, aquatic adventurers were limited to breath-hold dives, although they too called themselves skin divers. It wasn’t until the late 1960s that the term “scuba diver” became the accepted name for Aqua-Lung users.
Breath-hold divers were drawn to the oceans primarily to hunt game fish and collect lobster and, on the US west coast, abalone. Spear fishing tournaments were fairly common, rewarding participants for the most and largest fish taken. In the years since, spear fishing has been in and out of favor as its environmental impact debated, but it is again growing in popularity and practiced responsibly both on scuba (where not restricted) and by skin (breath-hold) divers. Some of the early records still stand today. Some will stand without challenge, as taking certain fish has since been outlawed, and recordkeeping organizations like the International Underwater Spear Fishing Association (IUSA) will not accept or publish record claims for endangered species. Given the equipment available and the body of knowledge that existed for the early adventurers, some of these are truly remarkable conquests.
The Aqua-Lung would, for the first time, allow divers to stay under water much longer than they could on a single breath. Rene Bussoz imported only ten S.C.U.B.A. units, and once they were sold he believed he had saturated the market. However, several sporting goods stores across the country discovered a market for the Aqua-Lungs. The divers who bought them soon realized they didn’t need a breath-hold diver’s stamina, and they in turn convinced others to try this new, wonderful, extended, weightless experience. The number of scuba divers steadily increased and U.S. Divers Company was formed out of Rene’s Sporting Goods. During those beginning years, there were no certification requirements, and anyone who could afford it could purchase scuba equipment. That equipment pales in comparison to today’s designs.
The double-hose regulators were hard breathing, and some required specialized techniques to clear water from the hoses if they flooded during the dive. Still, the only training offered by the sellers was the warning not to hold one’s breath. Training was being conducted by the military (Underwater Demolition Teams, the forerunner of the well known SEAL teams in the U.S. Navy) and by the oceanographic institutes at Scripps in Southern California and Woods Hole in New England. Dive clubs were the only resource for training available to civilian recreational divers throughout the 1950s.
As the population of divers grew, the need to codify the training was also growing. Jim Auxie Jr and Chuck Blakeslee started a magazine called The Skin Diver (later renamed Skin Diver Magazine) in 1951. They asked Neal Hess (NAUI #3) to write and edit a column about teaching scuba called “The Instructors Corner.” It wasn’t long before Neal was reviewing course outlines submitted by others and certifying them as instructors. He started a new column called the “National Diving Patrol,” wherein he would publish the names of these new skin and scuba diving “instructors.”
Al Tillman, (soon to become NAUI Instructor #1) was the director of sports for Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation during this period and established a training program sponsored by L.A. County to certify skin and scuba divers. The impetus was the growing number of divers appearing at Los Angeles area beaches and concern for their safety. As Tillman said in a 1952 letter to Parks and Recreation director Paul Gruendyke, “A new sport—skin diving—is becoming popular in the area. Recently while diving in Palos Verdes, I ran into several divers in the water with me who didn’t know what they were doing. One had one of the new underwater breathing units that allows divers to stay under for long periods of time... I propose that my department get involved in this sport and provide training classes. I believe that diving will grow in the future and we have an obligation to make the sport as safe as possible.”
Bev Morgan, a Los Angeles County lifeguard at the time, (he would later be well known among commercial and recreational divers alike for his equipment designs, including the Kirby-Morgan band mask) and Al Tillman studied with Conrad Limbaugh at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 1953. In April 1955 they held the first Underwater Instructor Certification Course, (1UICC) and created the world’s first civilian diver training agency. The L.A. County program soon began granting Provisional Certification to instructors across the country to respond to a growing number of requests.
ref: Naui text
http://www.lascuba.com/tillman.html
cudos to Al, LA#1 and NAUI#1
The modern diving era in North America traces its beginnings to 1948 when Jacques-Yves Cousteau convinced Rene Bussoz (of Rene’s Sporting Goods in Westwood, California) to import self-contained underwater breathing units he called Aqua-Lungs. Previously, aquatic adventurers were limited to breath-hold dives, although they too called themselves skin divers. It wasn’t until the late 1960s that the term “scuba diver” became the accepted name for Aqua-Lung users.
Breath-hold divers were drawn to the oceans primarily to hunt game fish and collect lobster and, on the US west coast, abalone. Spear fishing tournaments were fairly common, rewarding participants for the most and largest fish taken. In the years since, spear fishing has been in and out of favor as its environmental impact debated, but it is again growing in popularity and practiced responsibly both on scuba (where not restricted) and by skin (breath-hold) divers. Some of the early records still stand today. Some will stand without challenge, as taking certain fish has since been outlawed, and recordkeeping organizations like the International Underwater Spear Fishing Association (IUSA) will not accept or publish record claims for endangered species. Given the equipment available and the body of knowledge that existed for the early adventurers, some of these are truly remarkable conquests.
The Aqua-Lung would, for the first time, allow divers to stay under water much longer than they could on a single breath. Rene Bussoz imported only ten S.C.U.B.A. units, and once they were sold he believed he had saturated the market. However, several sporting goods stores across the country discovered a market for the Aqua-Lungs. The divers who bought them soon realized they didn’t need a breath-hold diver’s stamina, and they in turn convinced others to try this new, wonderful, extended, weightless experience. The number of scuba divers steadily increased and U.S. Divers Company was formed out of Rene’s Sporting Goods. During those beginning years, there were no certification requirements, and anyone who could afford it could purchase scuba equipment. That equipment pales in comparison to today’s designs.
The double-hose regulators were hard breathing, and some required specialized techniques to clear water from the hoses if they flooded during the dive. Still, the only training offered by the sellers was the warning not to hold one’s breath. Training was being conducted by the military (Underwater Demolition Teams, the forerunner of the well known SEAL teams in the U.S. Navy) and by the oceanographic institutes at Scripps in Southern California and Woods Hole in New England. Dive clubs were the only resource for training available to civilian recreational divers throughout the 1950s.
As the population of divers grew, the need to codify the training was also growing. Jim Auxie Jr and Chuck Blakeslee started a magazine called The Skin Diver (later renamed Skin Diver Magazine) in 1951. They asked Neal Hess (NAUI #3) to write and edit a column about teaching scuba called “The Instructors Corner.” It wasn’t long before Neal was reviewing course outlines submitted by others and certifying them as instructors. He started a new column called the “National Diving Patrol,” wherein he would publish the names of these new skin and scuba diving “instructors.”
Al Tillman, (soon to become NAUI Instructor #1) was the director of sports for Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation during this period and established a training program sponsored by L.A. County to certify skin and scuba divers. The impetus was the growing number of divers appearing at Los Angeles area beaches and concern for their safety. As Tillman said in a 1952 letter to Parks and Recreation director Paul Gruendyke, “A new sport—skin diving—is becoming popular in the area. Recently while diving in Palos Verdes, I ran into several divers in the water with me who didn’t know what they were doing. One had one of the new underwater breathing units that allows divers to stay under for long periods of time... I propose that my department get involved in this sport and provide training classes. I believe that diving will grow in the future and we have an obligation to make the sport as safe as possible.”
Bev Morgan, a Los Angeles County lifeguard at the time, (he would later be well known among commercial and recreational divers alike for his equipment designs, including the Kirby-Morgan band mask) and Al Tillman studied with Conrad Limbaugh at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 1953. In April 1955 they held the first Underwater Instructor Certification Course, (1UICC) and created the world’s first civilian diver training agency. The L.A. County program soon began granting Provisional Certification to instructors across the country to respond to a growing number of requests.
ref: Naui text
http://www.lascuba.com/tillman.html
cudos to Al, LA#1 and NAUI#1
