Vintage snorkeling gear

[nikeajax]

Here is some of the gear I found at a block sale last weekend:



I believe these are from the late 1960's and early 1970's: Stevco BC(Mae West), Coral fins, Voit Swimaster knife, Stabilizator mask, believe made by Marin in France, sold by Healthways, and a Dacor snorkel. The CO2 cartridge is still live on the BC, very cool!

Not that I have anywhere to snorkel around here, it's still pretty neat gear though, because the water around the San Francisco Bay Area is cold and murky and the waves are pretty big, excellent for surfing though, not that I'd know personally!

Okay David, here's your chance to shine, lets talk snorkeling!
Jaybird

[duckbill]

How come everyone else finds cool stuff? Maybe it's because I'm in the valley? Or maybe it's because I don't stop at garage sales much? O.K. It's my own fault! Congratulations!

[SeaRat]

Jaybird,

Thanks for posting the photos. I will describe my first (to my best recollection) set of snorkeling gear in the 1959s.

If you've seen the Voit Churchill fins, they looked similar (my Dad actually had a set of the green ones for years, and I never kept them). But these were blue, with the Voit lettering on top, and the Churchill patent information just underneath, all of it highlighted because of the embossing in the mold. Mine were a bit longer than the original Churchill fins, and had two ribs on each fin. These Churchill's were pretty unique because they had an adjustable strap instead of the molded strap around the back of my foot. That strap was molded on one side with a large rubber piece with a notch in it to keep it from sliding through the molded-in opening on each side of the fin. That opening was a long rectangular slot which allowed the strap to pass through. The foot pocket was flat on the bottom with a one-inch diameter hole with raised edges. The original Churchill patent stated this hole was to provide suction on surf boards, but I never used them surfing. There was a left and right, with the outside extending further than the inside of the fin blade, which is a famous Churchill design. They struck me as "pretty" fins; they looked nice.

My mask was a round Champion-style mask (although I don't remember the manufacturer, but I think it was U.S. Divers Company--did they make orange masks?). It also was orange in color, which was also unique. I have a photo of me with it on a high school dive club dive in the 1960s, with my Champion Deluxe speargun by U.S. Divers Company too. We were on a scuba dive at Hood Canal.

On that mask was my favorite snorkel, a Voit flexible snorkel. I used many different snorkels in my years, and some were better than others. But I liked that blue flexible area on the snorkel because it was reinforced wire under the plastic right up to the mouthpiece. Most other snorkels were molded rubber; I have been diving in river current my entire life (outside my Air Force days), and these molded flexible snorkels were great in still water. But the snorkel performed badly in the river current, bending down around the chin, and chocking off my breathing.

I had these before I got a wet suit, and practiced my surface dives and underwater swimming in the pool. I was also on the swim team, so I got to the Salem, Oregon YMCA a lot. One time, my Mom chewed me out for clearing my snorkel while my swimming instructor was bending over the edge of the pool to look at me. Apparently I blasted water right into Mrs. Andrea Lengel's face. She was my assistant swim team coach, and an instructor at the "Y". She was also an ex-Olympic swimmer from Hungary, having earned the Silver Medal (I believe) in an earlier Olympics. I tried to explain to my Mom that I could not tell when someone was leaning over the edge of the pool, but that went no where. I was on Mom's list for the rest of the night. The dialog went something like this:

I surfaced, blew my snorkel clear, and looked up. Mom signaled with her hand that she wanted to talk to me, so I stood up (we were in the shallow end), spit out my blue snorkel mouthpiece, and said "What?"

Mom looked down at me and said, "You blew water into Mrs. Lengel's face!"

"I did?" I said.

"Yes, and you shouldn't do that again" said Mom.

"But how do I know if someone is looking down at me?" I asked.

Mom replied, "Surface only in the center of the pool."

Well, that was that, and to this day I look up while at the pool and surface while snorkeling, even amongst kayaks, in the center of the pool.

John

[duckbill]

Aug 26, 2011 19:09:22 GMT -8 SeaRat said:

But the snorkel performed badly in the river current, bending down around the chin, and chocking off my breathing.

+1!

I use a vintage Coral snorkel which has the flexible bellows. If I don't make sure the thing is twisted in just the right position in the keeper before a dive, I may find the bellows kink the airflow off when I have it bent up to my mouth. Not good when I need the snorkel in a hurry!

Interesting brand on that vest, nikeajax. Stevco- never heard of them before.

[DavidRitchieWilson]

Aug 26, 2011 12:06:42 GMT -8 nikeajax said:

I believe these are from the late 1960's and early 1970's: Stevco BC(Mae West), Coral fins, Voit Swimaster knife, Stabilizator mask, believe made by Marin in France, sold by Healthways, and a Dacor snorkel. The CO2 cartridge is still live on the BC, very cool!

Not that I have anywhere to snorkel around here, it's still pretty neat gear though, because the water around the San Francisco Bay Area is cold and murky and the waves are pretty big, excellent for surfing though, not that I'd know personally!

Okay David, here's your chance to shine, lets talk snorkeling!
Jaybird

I had a Stabilizator mask in the late 1960s, my first compensator mask. My Lillywhites catalogue from 1964 tells me that the mask cost £2 1s 6d back then, including 5/1 (5 shillings, one penny) purchase tax. I had Cressi Rondine full-foot fins and a simple "J"-shaped snorkel, both manufactured by Britain's oldest skin diving gear manufacturer and still in business, Typhoon.

I wonder whether your Coral fins were made in Europe or in Malaysia. During the later 1970s and the 1980s, much of European rubber fin production went eastwards, some to Turkey, where Mares' Sea King and Concorde moulds appear to be still in use, others to the Far East. I have an article from 1981 describing how the Italian General Gomma company had outsourced rubber fin production to a factory in Malaysia, where several models and fins and masks were manufactured. So far as I can ascertain, there are now several Malaysian companies in the rubber fin trade, including "Principal Win", "C Y Handee" and "A Free Spirit", but rubber-skirted masks don't seem to be made in that country.

Good for you, assembling such a vintage snorkelling package! The waters here in the North Sea can also be choppy and cold. However, when conditions are calm, I think there's nowhere better to do some gentle snorkelling, clad in my Hydroglove drysuit and my vintage-style fins, mask and snorkel.

[nikeajax]

Yesterday, Saturday, we went to Bean Hollow State Beach just south of Halfmoon Bay (California) to shoot some pix. My wife was taking the pictures, and we thought it would be fun to get some images of my old gear, even the swim trunks are vintage, somehow I forgot my knife, DOH! I'm an artist/writer and hoped we might get something good for a painting/illustration. My wife made up a "he-man" diver name for me: Clutch Nelson (Clutch Cargo and Mike Nelson). Yeah, it was as cold as it looks! Here are a few, enjoy!
Jaybird

[SeaRat]

Jaybird,

I especially like the third one, with the surf in the background.

John

[nikeajax]

Thanks John, my wife and I rather liked that image too, it has a good sense of drama. I like your story about purging the snorkel; I told my wife about it and it made her laugh!

David, the Coral fins are made in Malaysia: where were they originally manufactured?

DB, yeah, I'd never heard of the Stevco brand either? I couldn't find any mention of them on-line. Hmmm, I've never used a snorkel with a flexible bellows, is there any advantage, other than cutting your air off at the most inopportune times? I have a new Body Glove snorkel with a purge valve that I got with a mask. I like the mask, but that purge valve stinks; it always leaks. I prefer the old fashioned "J" type. I have an old Seaview (Seeview?) brand snorkel I like, very simple and gets the job done, I think I got it for 96-cents at a thrift store in Grover Beach. BTW if anyone is ever driving along the California Central Coast on their way to points south, stop by some of the thrift stores in GB, Ventura too, that's where I've gotten some of my best stuff for almost nothing!

Jaybird

[duckbill]

Aug 29, 2011 9:00:48 GMT -8 nikeajax said:

I've never used a snorkel with a flexible bellows, is there any advantage, other than cutting your air off at the most inopportune times?

The bellows are so the mouthpiece hangs down out of the way when on scuba. The mouthpiece of the typical 'J' style sometimes gets in the way when not in use.

Great photos! Maybe you can convert them to black-and-white for effect!

[nikeajax]

Hmmmm, I'm too cheap to get Flicker pro, and I've used up all my allotted memory this month to do anymore images, but yes I agree they would look very cool as B/W. I also think they'd look cool as Kodachromes, but try as I might they never look right when I fake it in Photoshop!

In case anyone is interested here are some closeups of the Stevco BC labels:


Stevco BC (buoyancy compensator) or Mae West front label from 1960-70's. I'm guessing the age by the Talon brand zipper made of cotton fabric and brass teeth. In lower right you can see the pull cord to activate the CO2 cartridge! Also in image, upper left, you can see Voit Swimaster divers knife.



Jaybird

[duckbill]

Actually, you read my mind. I was interested to see the logo on the vest. Cool find.

I dove for years using a standard 'J' snorkel, but once I tried the flexible type it was hard to go back, kinks and all. If you're used to the 'J' and like it, then don't try a flex-snorkel . The basic neoprene 'J' snorkels are older old-school anyway according to what I've seen in old catalogs and photos.

[nikeajax]

Okay, so I lied, it was just yahoo being goofy, hows this:







Jaybird

[duckbill]

They look good! Funny how, even though we didn't see things in black-and-white with our eyes back in the day, B&W images still trigger memories of yesteryear.

[DavidRitchieWilson]

Aug 29, 2011 9:00:48 GMT -8 nikeajax said:

David, the Coral fins are made in Malaysia: where were they originally manufactured? Jaybird

I thought as much. As I said, the Italian rubber company General Gomma set up a joint enterprise in Malaysia at the turn of the eighties as manufacturing outsourced to the Far East. Malaysia began not only producing natural rubber but also manufacturing articles made from the material for export at that time. I suspect that the fin presses of certain Italian diving equipment manufacturers ended up in Malaysia. As I mentioned before, Mares' surfaced in Turkey, while Cressi's Rondine moulds went to Brazil.

Your Malaysian-made Coral fins may have originally been Dolfino Marinas, which used to be made in Italy. Fins emblazoned with the brand name "Dolfino Marina" were exported to the USA from Malaysia for many years, certainly well into the new millennium. The original General Gomma Malaysian-based company began with just three fin models, which appear to be still in production:

1. DF100 Adriatic


2. DF200 Aqualine


3. DF300 Tanga


Your Coral fins are likely to be of the "Aqualine" generic type. You can establish whether this is true from the underside of the fin. If the the heel pattern is 12 herringbone bars:




then it's an Aqualine. If there are six round nubs, then it's a Tanga.

[puff]

Nice items and nice pictures Jaybird!