Least Favorite Piece of Equipment

[endorfin]

Watch Thunderball. Spectre combat divers are all in full rubber with hoods, doubled up steel 72's, weightbelts, no BCD's and seem to be doing pretty good out there. Yes, they're constantly moving and that's another change in the sport - you have all kinds of people at various fitness levels nowadays where long ago it was kind of mostly the "two fisted, frogman" type that went down there and killed game fish that actually fought them for survival. Not saying now is any less than then - just different.

yea, I got certified in '68 never heard of a BCD, and amazing I didn't die! Ha, the big thing back then was twin '38's

t

 

[David Wilson]

tennis shoes

Here's an image from Borgeson and Speirs' 1962 title Skin and Scuba Diver showing how tennis shoes can even be worn with full-foot fins:

 

[Sam Miller III]

That little girl - now grown woman -as I recall her name was "Jody."

She was the daughter of either the late Don or George Bauer (Spelling?) who in the late 1950s owned a string of SoCal Ski/Dive shops appropriately named "Ski N Dive"

She could have had access to any and all diving equipment available at that time but chose tennis shoes as foot protection.

<< Don & George " the Bauer Brothers" were early giants local and national diving. They had a number of very successful shops across SoCal, an associated manufacturing company which produced wet suits, wind breaker jackets and associated dive related items, such as the first dive flag patch, as well as a number skiing items. In the late 1950s- perhaps early 1960s they were in the process of developing a very simple regulator which never was produced

They also produced a local 1/2 hour TV show titled "Territory Underwater." which was into syndication in several markets.

A very warm winter and very little snow for skiing was their down fall and soon they and their company was history,

SDM

 

[Birddog1911]

Ok, I'm still a newbie, so I'm a little confused. Why so much hatred for noisemakers? If my buddy gets to where I can't see him, or I need to get his attention, what should I use? I have one, but I maintain control of it and don't let it needlessly rattle.

 

[Storker]

Why so much hatred for noisemakers?

There's a reason J-Y Costeau called it "The silent world". A very good reason

And if your buddy disappears, at least one of you is doing a crappy job with that buddy contact thing.

 

[tilikum]

It's like going to the library and some kid is playing a kazoo.

 

[Joneill]

Ok, I'm still a newbie, so I'm a little confused. Why so much hatred for noisemakers? If my buddy gets to where I can't see him, or I need to get his attention, what should I use? I have one, but I maintain control of it and don't let it needlessly rattle.

Just some cranky, easily-bothered divers, I suppose... used sparingly, I don't get the problem.

For example, when we are diving with friends who spearfish for lionfish in Grand Cayman, it is agreed to use the tank bangers to alert to the arrival of any sharks.

 

[tilikum]

If I spent good money on a dive trip, I don't want some chuckleheads constantly banging on their underwater wind chimes.

 

[sbijou]

If an underwater diver to diver communication device did become available for the masses, it might become my least favorite piece of equipment.

 

[BoltSnap]

"The silent world"

Unless you are using a re-breather that doesn't make any noise, it isn't a "silent world" at all. Even if you are using noiseless equipment, the sound of crackling marine life is loud enough to make an "un-silent" world!