40 years later...

[Stoo]

So for those of you that are new to diving, I wanted to share this milestone with you.

This Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of my first open-water dive. As you can see from my log, it was a total of 11 minutes long, but it was the beginning of what has turned out to be a grand adventure. Some 5000 dives later, "diving" is without a doubt, the most important "thing" in my life, and continues to be to this day. It's through diving that I have met almost all of my closest friends, consumed vast amounts of money, let me travel all over the place, and at times, allowed me to earn my living.

There are a bunch of people on this Board that have been diving much longer than I have been, and I interviewed a guy yesterday for a presentation I'm doing, who started diving in 1955, on a home-made 02 rebreather. His first dry-suit cost him... wait for it... $22.95! The changes in equipment over these years have been astonishing. I remember my Instructor holding up a tiny little inflatable vest, and with considerable disdain in his voice, said, "This is a safety vest. Some people wear them.", clearly implying that "real men" didn't. No SPGs, no computers, and no "silent bubbles"...

So be warned... some of you are likely to become addicted to this horrible sport. It's expensive, cold, potentially dangerous and might cost you a marriage (or several in some friends' cases...), but there's nothing else like it!

 

[AfterDark]

I love it! Congratulations! Isn't great to have the memories of all those dives and all those friends?! I can't think of any other sports that take place in an alien environment hostile to human life that grabs ya the way diving does us lucky ones. Wish I still had my log books from back then, lost them somehow, somewhere during a move. It's been a quite a ride for me too! I've slowed down some but haven't stopped, it'll forty five years for me next year!

 

[Bob DBF]

Congratulations, I'll hoist a cold one in your honor this evening.

And if you hadn't seen this...

Originally Posted by AfterDark
I'm in a very elite class of divers. OBDs - Old Bold Divers.

There aren't many of us which is why we're elite. We started diving when it was in some parts of the country a self taught sport. We used double hose regs no BCDs, SPGs, or PDCs. Our wet suits had no lining, we used talc to get into them. We checked our tank with a pressure gauge before we mounted our reg and made sure our J valves were in the up position. We weighted ourselves to our target depths and sometimes had a hell'va time swimming to the bottom. We used Navy dive tables for air because nothing else was available, and we used air because that's all there was to breath no matter what depth the dive. We saw our friends die from mistakes we didn't know could be made until their deaths showed us what not to do. We are in a class by ourselves. No cert or plastic card, only time, diving and luck gets you there.

Bob
----------------------------
I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.

 

[nimoh]

Congratulations!

I am curious though, as Canada was converting to metric during this time, at what point (if any) did you start logging dives in metric?

 

[AfterDark]

Bob I'm flattered you would quote me.

 

[iamrushman]

Congratulations! what a great milestone........i remember those days...the steel 72s with 2250psi with the horse collar Bc... great stuff.

 

[TSandM]

Congratulations! My husband has you beat on inception date (1967) but he suffered an enormous surface interval due to the wrong choice of spouse (not me!) and has nowhere near your lifetime dives.

It's a sport that grabs you. Even if it lets go for a while, it reels you back in.

 

[uncfnp]

Congratulations and here's to the next 40! :beer::beer:

 

[j yaeger]

congrats!!!!!
i'll hoist a beer for you too!!!!
great sport for sure-and great company
have fun
yaeg

 

[Dhboner]

Well done Stoo...I was certified in 1971 but left the sport for quite a while before rediscovering it when my two sons took it up. Here's to 40 more years!