I remember reading an article about the submersible pressure gauge. Early pioneers were embarrassed about asking for an SPG the same way they might feel asking for a French tickler.
When Pierre Cousteau and I attended a DEMA focus group and were seated together, he shared with me that his father, the legendary Jacques Cousteau, thought the BCD ruined the sport. Our equipment load has doubled or tripled since the early days of diving. Our gadgets, safety equipment, and toys have exploded. Fortunately, the industry has caught up and continues to design innovative ways of storing our added gear.
Do we have too much gear? Possibly ... probably. The fact that equipment is related to 2 additional rules of accident analysis Jeff Bozanic put forth: Fatalities due to poor equipment maintenance and fatalities due to "too far too fast" in which relatively new divers can be on a rebreather and a scooter walling out caves in no time. Equipment stress or unfamiliarity with equipment has been proven to cause diving deaths and accidents. It's the Peltzman Effect.
Yeah. I'll admit. I'm a purist. While I do love my Hogarthian based configuration for the places it can take me, I'm envious of the men and women who were Generation One of our sport. They looked sexy and got to dive in truly minimal gear. Rather than go sidemount or rebreather, I may go vintage.
My biggest pet peeve piece of gear in diving is the scuba shaker, dive rattle, noise maker or whatever you call it. I wish sharks would hone in on the users and gulp them down in short order. Ah! To be spared the noise pollution of multiple buddy teams needing to do "something" with their hands to keep them from dog paddling since spearguns were taken away and cameras mounted on the heads.
Many threads talk about our favorite equipment. I thought it would be fun to share our opinions about gear that needs to go. What is your least favorite piece of diving gear?
When Pierre Cousteau and I attended a DEMA focus group and were seated together, he shared with me that his father, the legendary Jacques Cousteau, thought the BCD ruined the sport. Our equipment load has doubled or tripled since the early days of diving. Our gadgets, safety equipment, and toys have exploded. Fortunately, the industry has caught up and continues to design innovative ways of storing our added gear.
Do we have too much gear? Possibly ... probably. The fact that equipment is related to 2 additional rules of accident analysis Jeff Bozanic put forth: Fatalities due to poor equipment maintenance and fatalities due to "too far too fast" in which relatively new divers can be on a rebreather and a scooter walling out caves in no time. Equipment stress or unfamiliarity with equipment has been proven to cause diving deaths and accidents. It's the Peltzman Effect.
Yeah. I'll admit. I'm a purist. While I do love my Hogarthian based configuration for the places it can take me, I'm envious of the men and women who were Generation One of our sport. They looked sexy and got to dive in truly minimal gear. Rather than go sidemount or rebreather, I may go vintage.
My biggest pet peeve piece of gear in diving is the scuba shaker, dive rattle, noise maker or whatever you call it. I wish sharks would hone in on the users and gulp them down in short order. Ah! To be spared the noise pollution of multiple buddy teams needing to do "something" with their hands to keep them from dog paddling since spearguns were taken away and cameras mounted on the heads.
Many threads talk about our favorite equipment. I thought it would be fun to share our opinions about gear that needs to go. What is your least favorite piece of diving gear?
