A Classic old school Oval U.S Diver Aqua-lung mask

[chrissy]

Hi

I have 2 items that I think are vintage and would like some information on these 2.

A pair of Hydromatic champion closed-heal flippers (yellow) and A Classic old school Oval U.S Diver Aqua-lung mask. Not sure How to post pictures. thank you

[DavidRitchieWilson]

Yellow Champion Hydrodynamic closed-heel fins:

It was a firm favourite with female divers:


Here it is in a 1960 Champion-Cavalero catalogue:

Definitely vintage because the fins were available before 1975 and at least as long ago as 1960. I have a pair of these fins, which have wonderfully soft and comfortable heels. They are unusual, but not unique, in having closed toes, which detract from their comfort but keep feet warmer when in use as cold water can't stream through. Another Marseilles company, Beuchat, also made closed-heel and closed toed fins in the early 1960s.

The manufacturer, Cavalero, was headquartered in the French Mediterranean port of Marseilles, although some of its products were embossed "Made in Italy". Cavalero used the brand name "Champion". The company was named after René Cavalero. According to his Wikipedia article, "René Cavalero (20 November 1917 – 27 November 2008) was a French swimmer who won a silver medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 1938 European Aquatics Championships. He finished fourth in the same event at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He also played water polo with the team Cercle des Nageurs de Marseille. In 1941, he invented the Champion underwater speargun, which soon became popular and was produced by his company Cavalero; its U. S. Cavalero Corp. branch was registered in 1975 in California. After several decades of competition the company was absorbed by Beuchat in 1992."

Hope this helps. To post pictures on this forum, you have to find an image hosting website to post your picture and obtain a web address for your file. I use Postimage.org, but there are other such picture hosting sites.

DRW