Convert Yoke to DIN

[Eric Sedletzky]

Possibly.

I am looking between the new AL Zuma and Scuba Pro Equator for my new poodle jacket. I am thinking they are both vintage because they have been on the market a few weeks and that is enough to qualify as vintage in this new touch feely everybody is OK lovey dovey new vintage definition. My thinking is that with the Scuba Pro Equator I would look spiffy with my new Scuba Pro R109s and Jets and Scuba Pro Framless for a full Scuba Pro outfit. But then with the AL Zuma I could sport the AL Titan LX, Atomic Framelss and Mares Avanti X3 fins?

Decisions, decisions. any thoughts?

I want weight integrated, I know that for sure, I hate stink'n weight belts and I saw this guy with a rope on his Mae West in 1967 that integrated weights so I think it is vintage right?

I like the "New" Vintage, may the "Old" vintage sleep peacefully, up with the NEW, down with The Man. The "Vintage Era" concept is too oppressive, I cannot fully express myself within such limited confines .

DIR, here I come :blinking:

N <---non vintage hippie, Flower Power

What about one of those new Zeagle thing-a-ma-bobs that has the distressed look with the "patina'd" brass D-rings and the aged look of vintage gear. Since it's made to look vintage shouldn't it be considered vintage, I mean what the hell. Then even PADI people can dive in the safety of their poodle jacket and look all "vintaged out".
Even Scubapro is getting into the act with their new retro metal look regulator with the fake metal face plate. So it's an extra hundred bucks, who cares, people at the hot popular dive site will see the new hot dude sporting all the latest hot new vintage bling. That's what everybody want's isn't it? Hey maybe some smokin' hot scuba babe will come up and want to hang out with you because you have all the trick stuff.

And another thing.
Why should a brand new diver have to actually learn how to dive the original way to be able to get in on this hot new vintage thing. I just don't think it's fair to expect the rest of the diving population to actually have to use old stuff and learn about it to be let into this "exclusive" little vintage society. That just seems very elitist to me.

Besides that, it's not safe. I was told by one expert diver/instructor right here on scubaboard (in a different forum)that a jacket BC was in fact a life saving device and could be used as a life jacket. I'm telling you, go to general discussions and ask over there if solo diving with out a BC using 50 year old equipment with no SPG and no computer is safe and just see what kind of answers you get.

 

[David Wilson]

I can certainly relate to the problem of finding a forum, or sub-forum, here matching my interests exactly. I'm certainly "vintage", in terms of age (62), experience (snorkelling since the late 1950s) and gear (only use rubber-skirted oval masks, all-rubber full-foot fins and waist-seal two-piece drysuit), but I don't fit the pattern completely for the vintage equipment forum because I don't do scuba, I only snorkel. That leaves me out of the many discussion threads about regulators. Furthermore, I'm not completely vintage in the strictest sense of the word in my choice of equipment, as I prefer snorkelling with gear of modern manufacture made in the style and with the materials used in the diving era up to the mid-1970s.

I also post on the snorkelling/freediving forum, but there too I find myself outnumbered and out-posted by the freedivers who seem to spend every spare moment at home doing armchair breath-hold practice and every spare moment in the water diving to unplumbed depths with long carbonfibre fins and wetsuits that can only be donned using plastic shopping bags on feet and hands for "lubrication". Sometimes I feel I've lived a little bit too long... My idea of snorkelling is a gentle swim in the North Sea with an occasional duck dive down a few feet to the sandy bottom. I feel terrific afterwards and I can't wait to start again this year when it gets just a little bit warmer and the sea a little bit calmer.

So I have to say that I for one don't feel completely at home in any one forum. Perhaps I should ask the Scubaboard management for a vintage snorkelling sub-forum, but the chances are that far from having found a happy solution to my "where do I belong?" problem, I'd be the only resident of that sub-forum. So I will continue to meander across many of Scubaboard's forums looking for a thread that sparks my interest. By doing so, I've been able to make a number of contributions that have been either welcomed, ignored or castigated, but more importantly, in the process, I've usually learned something that I didn't know before. As a semi-retired teacher, I think the day I stop learning is the day I know the grim reaper is at my door. And the good thing about posting and reading posts here is that learning is a social experience too, that the people behind the posts are real human beings with a lifetime of stories, knowledge and expertise to share. And that's what keeps people like me coming back for more, even if there aren't enough threads on our vintage equipment forum about gear other than regulators!

 

[aquaregia]

I'm not sure if this counts as off-topic since this thread's already derailed pretty far...

Where can I find more information on the techniques of diving without a BC, specifically in colder water. Most of the stuff I've read doesn't involve dealing 7mm wetsuits.

 

[herman]

I'm not sure if this counts as off-topic since this thread's already derailed pretty far...

Where can I find more information on the techniques of diving without a BC, specifically in colder water. Most of the stuff I've read doesn't involve dealing 7mm wetsuits.

They are OK, just in nitrogen withdrawal, a few dives and they will be OK again.

I don't really know of any good books on the subject and even so, how much can you really write about proper weighing and wetsuit selection. IMO a lot of it is based on feel. In other words, you have to get a feel for what is right for you, depending on what you are wearing and where you are diving. My best suggestion is to find some people who dive that way and learn from them. ZKY is in Ca (I know it's a big state) but maybe you could get with some of his buddies and learn the ways of the neutral force....sorry, watched Starwars this weekend... I really hate to put on a BC if I don't have to, it really does make a lot of difference.

 

[shackle]

Off topic or not this is the most entertaining thread I've read in a long time

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm not sure if this counts as off-topic since this thread's already derailed pretty far...

Where can I find more information on the techniques of diving without a BC, specifically in colder water. Most of the stuff I've read doesn't involve dealing 7mm wetsuits.

I see you're in Santa Cruz, I'm up in Santa Rosa north of the city.
We should stay in PM contact. Next time I get down to Monterey on Plate business I'll give you a holler a few days before and I can show you the ropes of BC-less diving. It really helps to have someone show you how to do it instead of trying to figure it out yourself. There are no more classes or teaching in this style by any agencies, so it's considered a lost art.
Using a 7mm suit can be done, we don't have a choice up here. Weighting is ever more critical with a thicker suit, but there are some advantages especially on the surface.

There aren't any other minimalists up here besides me that I know of so I'm it.
However, down in Socal there are some serious BC-less divers. They are hard core bug hunters and spear fishers that call themselves California Back Pack Divers. They can be seen on some of the more extreme outer island hunting trips. The boats let them dive however they want all day long and don't bat an eye.

Meanwhile, the prerequisite is doing some freediving/skindiving mostly for technique and comfort. The same style of descending and swimming around underwater while freediving will be applied to minimalist scuba diving.
There is also a weighting check motive behind freediving in preparation for sans BC. Weight yourself so you can break even about 15 - 20 feet on a freedive then note your weighting and suit. From this we will know how much to reduce to allow for the tank/reg/air weight.

We also do www.northcoastdivers.org dives once a month up on the Sonoma or Mendocino coasts if you are into driving up here. There's a lot less people and on a nice day the ocean can be just as flat as Monterey. I'm the only looney in the club that dives with no BC and the rest of the club just rolls their eyes at me. There's not a lot they can do about it because I started the club.
You could make a weekend out of it. There's some great campgrounds to stay at and many members come from afar to dive here and many of them camp for the weekend.

 

[Nemrod]

I'm not sure if this counts as off-topic since this thread's already derailed pretty far...

Where can I find more information on the techniques of diving without a BC, specifically in colder water. Most of the stuff I've read doesn't involve dealing 7mm wetsuits.

Shhhhh, the secret is a suit made from genuine Rubatex G231.

N

 

[Nemrod]

New Vintage = Today's date minus 6 weeks. It is touchy, feely, non judgmental and all inclusive, poodle divers welcome.

Old Vintage Era = rugged, mean, lean, minimal, more or less 1973 and earlier and using equipment, styles, methods and techniques unique to the era, pre-BC. No BC is Old Vintage. Old Vintage closely follows historical documentation such as the NSOSS and other old scuba texts for methodology.

See, this is the issue, everybody has some favorite piece of diving gear they want to classify as vintage, for me it is Tekna regulators which were first made about, what, 1976ish, the T2100 I am using in the pic I bought in 1979. I also love my old SeaTec wings and 1984 clear Dacor mask. Why cannot that be vintage? We can call vintage anything that is not discussed in current forums. That way all of us who love equipment and still dive equipment we bought in the 1980s and 90s can call it vintage and dive it at vintage meets, great. I love this. I love my Tekna T2100. Best breathing regulator ever made. It will hike it's leg on a RAM and p---- all over it and laugh in it's face. I cannot even keep it in the same room as my double hose crap for fear it will just get up on them, well, it would be ugly. And, just as my old SeaTec wing crumbled, someone, up and sent me a brand spanking new one--for free, like WTH. Now I got a new 1984 wing, great Tekna regulator working again and and it is time to disco down.

Besides, we need a place to discuss things ignored in the other forums and ignored in vintage up until now, all that gear and history from the 70s, 80s and 90s. This is Scubaboard. Scubaboard does not have to follow, it can lead into a bright and new inclusive vintage future where those of us with orphan equipment from Tekna and Bob's Dive Emporium and Head Shop can find a home. Poodle jackets galore. Wings, back plates, even DIR and fungus, this is great. All of my scuba gear is now officially vintage. Wow, I freaking love it.

What is the best way to grow a mullet, from the top down or the bottom up, just curious.

N

 

[Texfrazer]

What is the best way to grow a mullet, from the top down or the bottom up, just curious.

If you grow it from the bottom up, you'll cause an even greater stir when you're diving in warm water where everyone can see it......

 

[vintagediver]

Has anyone checked Nemrods meds today?