Posted by Dave on June 12, 2005 at 21:53:05:
In Reply to: Dark Ages dive training ;-) posted by FARMHAND on June 11, 2005 at 22:21:49:
I got certified when I was 13 years old and my borther took teh coruse with me at 15 years old at some scuba joint on the west side of Lincoln Blvd in Venice just north of Washinton Blvd. Agency was NASDS.
Amongst other things, we had to remove our tanks underwater, remove the first stage, and breathe off the tank valve. Now that skill ought to come in real handy......reminds me of the Master Shinobi knives by Cold Steel, where they advertize it can penetrate a car door......that ought to come in real handy.....I guess that way you can stab the gangbanger carjacker before he opens your door or cut yourself out of the fuselage of a commercial airline wreck....
We also had to swim two lengths of the pool underwater on two breaths, and retrieve something heavy from the bottom of theŽpool.
Greg Pratt was one of my NASDS instructors, but the main one was Bill Wilson, of Ca Wreck Divers fame. I still see Bill at the Long Beach shows and now and then shake his hand and thank him....he was a entertaining knowlegable guy to this then 13 year old.
I agree that you can't be taught common sense and good judgement.....but if you are in short supply of those, repeated skills/drills training can pattern you to act proper in the absence of common sense.
I think alot of these courses these days are a crackup.....like peak pereformance bouyancy and Manta Ray awareness .....we didn't need a drysuit class, we just put the things on and didn't fill them up when upside down.....if an inflator valve stuck in theŽopen position like it did on me once, common sense dictated that you disconneced it, reconnected it and continued diving.
Classes were also large then, about 12 people....most bought horse collars, most were manual/oral inflation. I bought one with a power inflator, then within a couple of years bought a back mounted wing....what a difference! Healthways and Dacor were actually relatively popular brands back then.
Interesting things is, prices for dive gear is about the same now as they were 30 years ago. I remember them trying to sell me a ScubaPro reg that honked when low on air, and steel tanks were $250 or so....wetsuits were $400, and my Parkways Jetsuit was $800 or so.
I still wanted a Beckman Electrolung CCR even then......