Vintage?

[RickI]

Wow, I can imagine some issues flying through kelp. Did fronds catch on the forward airilons pulling it off to the side? Were you carrying any gear, cameras etc. on the nose adding further entanglements? I guess even the diver was an entanglement. Add in catching some in the prop/nozzle assembly, a memorable not real positive experience? We always flew in open water or close to reef. Imagine using a Remora in kelp? Wouldn't get very far and what a mess to untangle with the power umbilical.

We tried to use one of Dimitri's Pegasus vehicles for some photogrametric work at Lobos, it was a nightmare in the kelp forest.

 

[RickI]

What application were you considering for the Pegasus for the Beaver DDS program Sam? Dimitri was nothing if not, unusual, eccentric? I can recall his flying some colleagues to Marathon in the Keys years back. He was communicating with the tower, tower in English, Dimitri in French with a little English thrown in? Eventually the frazzled tower operator said if you're going to land "just say yes!" Dimitri promptly replied "oui." Recall may have almost collided with a stationary aircraft while taxing in. A favorite refrain was "stupid americans." Sigh. Neat UW gear but at a price.

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We also wanted to try Dimitri Ribikoff's Pegasus for the Beaver DDS program.

He came by for a meeting which was held in the lobby of the office...Seems he was too RED for that era of the cold war.

We didn't purchase one. He did present me with a Pegasus instruction manual which was about 3/4 (1.5 CM) thick--never took the time to read it.

sdm

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Thank you for your detailed insight on the Kramarenko mask David. It is very helpful as is the Italian reference too. I suspect he fixated on the use of bulbs on some Japanese goggles and concluded they were essential hardware on his mask prototype. I suspect he may not have considered that by exhaling through his nose they wouldn't be necessary. I believe you are right, such would make the unusual bulbs redundant.

I wonder if the developers of the competitive fin swimming snorkel went this far back for inspiration for the current an inline snorkel? Martin Stepanek, world record holder in a couple of free diving disciplines got his start at 16 in fin swimming in what was then Czechoslovakia. He credits the demanding regiment as providing a good start to competitive breathhold diving later on. F.I.I. Freediving Instructors International - from the beginner to the instructor I had never heard of fin swimming prior to this coming out in the interview a couple of years ago. Thanks for the update on the practice John including in the USA. I've noticed these type of snorkels show up in some swimming gear catalogues. Looks like they could still generate some substantial breathing resistance for full sized adults complicating an already demanding cardio regimen. I'll ask Martin about it.

Concerning the mask with bulbs, yes, the diver could use a nasal exhalation to equilize, but that would take away from his vital capacity. If diving deep, especially before the new low-volume masks were introduced, the bulbs could help conserve that precious amount of air in the lungs on deep dives.

Concerning the finswimming, and especially the snorkels, those were mostly home-made as nobody made one for streamlining. A straight tube of plastic was filled with dry sand and heated, then bent into shape. The original forehead holders were also home made of aluminum, with neoprene backing. In the 1980s, I was the Finswimming Director fon the Underwater Society of America. I used a snorkel that I had to get from Finnis in Europe, as they were not even marketed here. Here's an article that I wrote for the Underwater Society of America's Underwater Reporter in November of 1984:

Note that I am using one of those snorkels. It was not too bad to breath through, and I could swim pretty hard for 200 to 500 yards with it. The piece of equipment I really did not like much was the monofin, and tried to make my own with disastrous results (it broke during a competitive swim on the dive). But these snorkels actually work quite well, and the newer designs even better as they have a purge valve built into the front which is quite effective. This is because of the location, right in the front, lower area of the snorkel.

SeaRat

PS: Yes, that is me in finswimming gear in 1984.

 

[Thalassamania]

Wow, I can imagine some issues flying through kelp. Did fronds catch on the forward airilons pulling it off to the side? Were you carrying any gear, cameras etc. on the nose adding further entanglements? I guess even the diver was an entanglement. Add in catching some in the prop/nozzle assembly, a memorable not real positive experience? We always flew in open water or close to reef. Imagine using a Remora in kelp? Wouldn't get very far and what a mess to untangle with the power umbilical.

Cameras were looking down for Stereo Pairs, we had those protected with "whiskers" that worked fairly well. The airilons got fouled, the pilot got fouled, etc., etc., etc.

 

[Sam Miller III]

....What application were you considering for the Pegasus for the Beaver DDS program Sam...? QUOTE]
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DTVs

 

[RickI]

I had no idea fin swimming had been in the USA that long. You pioneered the sport here, well done. The secret to monofins for fin swimming I understand from Martin is to have way too small foot pockets. I guess he is used to the pain, not me, I went far larger. Couldn't handle the pain for several hours on the reef. Lose some efficiency in the kick as a result however. Still getting the hang of using a monofin, slowly.

That could have been part of the reasoning behind the bulbs. Thing is about air that you exhale into your mask on descent, you have the option of reinhaling part of that on ascent from deeper dives. Despite this, still vastly prefer low volume masks for free diving as the reciprocal exchange is far from perfect. If a diver's mask shows escaping bubbles on ascent, (as mine do frequently, whoops), it is said they are wasting air.

Thank you for posting the article.

Rick

Concerning the mask with bulbs, yes, the diver could use a nasal exhalation to equilize, but that would take away from his vital capacity. If diving deep, especially before the new low-volume masks were introduced, the bulbs could help conserve that precious amount of air in the lungs on deep dives.

Concerning the finswimming, and especially the snorkels, those were mostly home-made as nobody made one for streamlining. A straight tube of plastic was filled with dry sand and heated, then bent into shape. The original forehead holders were also home made of aluminum, with neoprene backing. In the 1980s, I was the Finswimming Director fon the Underwater Society of America. I used a snorkel that I had to get from Finnis in Europe, as they were not even marketed here. Here's an article that I wrote for the Underwater Society of America's Underwater Reporter in November of 1984:

Note that I am using one of those snorkels. It was not too bad to breath through, and I could swim pretty hard for 200 to 500 yards with it. The piece of equipment I really did not like much was the monofin, and tried to make my own with disastrous results (it broke during a competitive swim on the dive). But these snorkels actually work quite well, and the newer designs even better as they have a purge valve built into the front which is quite effective. This is because of the location, right in the front, lower area of the snorkel.

SeaRat

PS: Yes, that is me in finswimming gear in 1984.

 

[RickI]

Speaking of vintage things, I was hoping someone could help me out. Just visited Palancar Reef off Cozumel for the first time in 36 years over the weekend. Things have changed no surprise there, still it is a dramatic reef form.

Back in the day and before, the dive operations on Cozumel used wooden sailboats as dive boats. They ran these things on the diesel auxiliary all the time. Near as I can tell, the sole purpose of the mast was to support the boom which in turn supported the captain standing on one foot other leg steering the tiller. Does anyone have any pictures of these old dive sailboats? Didn't see any on my short visit. Did see part of the airforce, now a statue along the seaside road. When I flew in the first time, they had a squadron of five WWII propeller driven Mustangs in active service by the airstrip.

 

[RickI]

How did the stereo photography work out? Did you use the images in a manual comparator? What was your intent in doing the survey? We used to do a lot of photogrammetry but never focused on developing viable stereo pairs in the survey. Rough discovery about the kelp and the Pegasus.

Cameras were looking down for Stereo Pairs, we had those protected with "whiskers" that worked fairly well. The airilons got fouled, the pilot got fouled, etc., etc., etc.