I joined a vintage scuba message board a couple weeks ago so that I could contribute to a discussion about the concept of a formal vintage scuba class. Presumably, the idea would be to train divers on the safe use of double hose regulators, etc. In truth, I don’t believe there is enough of a market to support such a class commercially, but I kept that to myself.
Nevertheless… At one point, someone stated that “PADI teaches divers to overweight themselves.” Others in the forum immediately chimed in with similar comments. In reply, I suggested that this is simply not true, and that PADI ardently supports proper buoyancy control. What followed was a round of attacks directed at me personally, suggesting that: “I am a fool,” “I don’t understand physics,” “I am guilty of ‘logical fallacy’,” and on and on…
Here’s the thing. One jerk just wouldn’t let it go and went off on me repeatedly about wetsuit compression and the properties of various brands/types of neoprene and their compressibility. His theory is that this is THE most important thing students need to learn to dive with vintage scuba equipment. He also seemed to have some people convinced that newer, softer neoprenes are universally poor in quality. One guy even said the new wetsuits are only good for about six dives!
Look. New materials are amazing, and a more flexible wetsuit is likely to fit better, which means it will be warmer even if it compresses slightly more at depth. Wetsuits compress. Period. They did in the 50’s and 60’s, and they do today.
I love diving with vintage double hose regulators, and J-valves, and all the rest. But, you can’t erase decades of advancement just because you want to believe old gear is better than new gear. Furthermore, wetsuit compression is way down the list compared to topics like lung expansion, that I can’t believe it was such a hot issue. Anyway, this guy is spreading opinion as fact, which happens a lot on the web, and does nothing to help grow the sport.
I’m intrigued by your photo illustration of the prototype wetsuit. I first saw this photo in the archives of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, in La Jolla, where I worked as an writer/editor on numerous pulbications chronicling the history of Scripps (SIO) and scientific diving at that institution. I believe this photo is property of the University of California, is it not? If so, you’d be well advised to provided the proper credit line for it. Cheers! Joe
Thanks for the heads up. I used that image because it was indicated as being public domain. Since that appears not to be true, I’ve removed it. Thanks! – Joe