Northwest Dive Club

Came across this on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Eqd_tA0V8 Very cool vid. It looks as though the dive community was a little different back then. WARNING: Some images may be a little disturbing. But it is a look back on our Puget Sound history.

Timely ... last night our dive club had, as guest speaker, Vern Morgus ... who was one of those guys who dived Puget Sound back in the '50's. He had some pretty amazing stories.

It's interesting to see and hear how things were 50-60 years ago ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Really cool video. Amazing how things gave changed since then.

Wow. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be. I dived with one of those gum rubber dry suits for ten years before I could upgrade to a wet suit. In the early years, diving was primarily about groceries: fish, scallops, abalone, octopus. Even more than the change in technology, I think the change in ethos is greater. It's great that we can dive without having to kill something now. Also, notice that many of the divers were free diving. Spearing fish while wearing SCUBA was considered unsporting among the majority. Also, the waterskiing sequences are hilarious. When I watch my daughter-in-law do aerobatics with her wakeboard (loops, barrel rolls, etc.), it makes these early skiiers look lame.
-Curt

As many of you know, I absolutely love restoring and diving my vintage gear. The guys at 10:30 is diving a USD Jet Air, I don't have one yet, but I'll keep looking for one for a future project.

I honestly don't know how those people in the 50's and 60's took the cold. As much as like double hose regs and such, they're thermal protection was seriously lacking. I do appreciate my modern drysuit.

Here's a pic of my 1961(ish) Aqua Master I was diving when a few club members came up in Febraury:





Anyway, thanks for posting. Really enjoy learning about the history of diving.

Grateful Diver wrote:Timely ... last night our dive club had, as guest speaker, Vern Morgus ... who was one of those guys who dived Puget Sound back in the '50's. He had some pretty amazing stories

It's interesting to see and hear how things were 50-60 years ago ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Vern was my original instructor. he became my mentor in many things that encompassed much more than diving. He became my woodshop teacher, taught me how to sail, play guitar & harmonica (cant play a lick now). what a wonderful man and a great story teller. I've not seen him in several years... that needs to change asap.

[quote="sitkadiver"]

I honestly don't know how those people in the 50's and 60's took the cold. As much as like double hose regs and such, they're thermal protection was seriously lacking. I do appreciate my modern drysuit.

I wondered the same thing. I also wondered how hard it must of been to get any of the gear they had. I wouldn't imagine there was a lot or any scuba shops around at the time. I'm thinking a lot of "do it you self" had to have taken place

Before dive shops, we had dive clubs which would order gear for individuals. In Everett, one of the hardware/sports stores had an aisle dedicated to dive gear. There was a considerable amount of DIY, especially wet suits and weight belts. Popular Science magazine had plans for DIY SCUBA, regulator and all. I saw those rigs but never dived one. There was a lot of borrowing/loaning/pooling of gear. Owning a full kit was out of the question as a teenager.
-Curt

I've dove the Hydroglove reproductions of the old dry suits and compared to what we have today they are pretty miserable.

If you've never experienced one, here's how they work. You have this thin latex suit. It looks like something the gimp from Pulp Fiction would have worn. Super fetishistic and if you click on the "special features" section of their website you'll find that that's exactly what a good chunk of their business is.

Anyway, you have black latex pants and a black latex top with hood included. Where the two join you just roll them up together. There are no zippers and no valves. Basically you wear whatever undergarments you feel like and add a hat or hood as well.

Now actually diving them is where it gets interesting. You see, with a dry hood you will get ear squeeze along with your suit squeeze. It can be very painful! To add air to your suit you exhale into your mask like you were clearing it but allow the air to flow up into the hood which should overlap the top of your mask. This can be quite a process as first you sit kind of upright and fill the top of your hood, then you alternate so you're upended and the air flows into the rest of the suit. It's a LOT harder and more time consuming than using a modern drysuit.

To let the air out, you either crack a seal or position yourself upright and let the air leak out around the face seal of your hood. This also lets in some water, so plan on being wet when you're done and don't make a lot of depth changes.

They are also significantly more fragile than a modern suit and they absolutely need to be taken care of. If you just hang your suit up after rinsing it you'll find that it's shrunk to half it's size and turned rock hard a week later. You need to dry it and then roll it up and put it away in a sealed plastic bag.

On the plus side, they are quite cheap, (mine was less than $200), and they are extremely flexible. They're also pack up extremely small.

With a neck seal and some modern valves they would make a good lightweight backup suit. But of course that kind of blows the whole vintage idea.

Neat video, nice to see some local dive history