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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Feb 20, 2014 2:41:24 GMT -8
Club scuba diving circa 1960 in LondonBSAC Club scuba diving circa 1960 in Weymouth Two interesting links from the early days of the British Sub Aqua Club, one portraying a club meeting with a pool session in London, the other a sea dive in Weymouth. They're both wonderful period pieces, not least because of the "cut-glass" accent (or tortured vowels) of the narrator; Celia Johnson couldn't have done better when she performed in "Brief Encounter"! Very much the middle classes at play. This said, it's good to see diving at a simpler, gentler time when people just got on with what they were doing, having fun in their leisure time, enjoying one another's company rather than overobsessing about the technicalities of the activity. Yes, it all looks a bit "staged", both the raising of the anchor and the summons from "drinks in the bar" to "donning gear while submerged in the pool" (would that be allowed nowadays?), but times were very different back then. I know, because I became interested in underwater swimming during the early 1960s. On the gear side, I was particularly interested in the period drysuits worn in the second video. The female diver appears to be wearing a Dunlop Aquafort suit, whose women's version came in a rather attractive light blue. I've seen black and white ads for Dunlop Aquafort suits, but I think this is the first time I've seen the suit in its original colour. So much for the popular belief that diving gear before the 1980s was uniformly black. Finally, I'm delighted that the two videos are narrated by a woman, rubbishing the myth that the pioneers and publicists of early scuba were all male. I hope the two videos are of interest to others as they were to me.
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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Feb 20, 2014 3:14:37 GMT -8
BSAC's very first branch, London No.1, diving in 1956Here's another early video, this time from the mid-1950s. No soundtrack this time and the camera appears to linger overlong sometimes when recording trivial moments. Once again, the suits worn by the divers stimulated my interest, particularly the green zipped "shortie" suit, which is probably a Heinke Dolphin. The Dolphin wasn't a dry suit but a wetsuit made from natural rubber lined with stockinet. There were two different versions, a green one for males with a zipper up the front, a white one for females with a zipper up the back. No sign of neoprene, which was, back then, a new-fangled material favoured by our American cousins. The fins are of some interest too. The fixed open-heel Typhoon "Surfmasters" were pretty standard back then, while the full-foot Cressi Rondines would have been classed as luxury fins.
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Post by nikeajax on Feb 20, 2014 10:09:47 GMT -8
David, those are really swell! I was also digging on he car: wasn't that an Isetta? Jaybird
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Post by regulator68bj on Feb 20, 2014 10:16:48 GMT -8
Hello David
Thanks a million for posting these early films great quality footage from what I have seen before. your first two films are from the same film entitled "Horizons Below" have an article of the day which preview the film, sadly its too big to post here on the forum email me and will forward . Had not seen the second reel of BSAC No.1 branch but since they have had their 60th year its a good time to "you tube" it, again great quality footage.
john email litremeter@talktalk.net
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Post by regulator68bj on Feb 20, 2014 10:28:34 GMT -8
Hi nieajax,
is the other type the "Heinkel" john
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Post by nikeajax on Feb 20, 2014 11:53:37 GMT -8
"Is the other type the 'Heinkel'", What are you some kinda trouble maker Gosh, just how many cars looked like that?!?!?!? I understand one of the reasons for such tiny cars is that horse-power was taxed, as well as gas, um, I mean petrol was at a real premium... I was really diggin' on the swim facility too: very modern, very streamline... can I use the word "posh"? Jaybird
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Post by nikeajax on Feb 20, 2014 12:21:08 GMT -8
Okay lads, while watching these vids, I was thinking of this song! I know the song because Joe Meek, or rather the Tornados, did a cover of it. He's my all time favorite record-producer: for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Tornados, they did this MASSIVE hit in 1962:
Jaybird
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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Feb 20, 2014 12:21:56 GMT -8
Glad you liked the videos. Seeing scuba events from the 1950s and 1960s in colour makes a welcome change too.
John: I've emailed you about the article you mentioned.
Jaybird: I learned to drive in my thirties and I'm really ignorant about makes of cars, particularly vehicles from yesteryear. I bet, though, the people in that car with the door at the front thought they were driving a state of the art car, presaging all future designs in vehicle technology. As for that swimming facility, I would indeed call the whole premises "posh", and I would use the same adjective to describe the clientèle both in the pool and in the bar. And as for that narrator's accent, that's über-posh if there's such a word. Even Queen Elizabeth has toned down her vowels over recent decades when she addresses her Britannic subjects...
David
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Post by regulator68bj on Feb 20, 2014 13:15:39 GMT -8
That's what I like about this forums such diversity, Cars, Music, TV shows, interchanged with large helpings of "Vintage Diving" input.
john Attachments:
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 22, 2014 19:29:19 GMT -8
I enjoyed seeing the fins strapped to the back of that little, tiny car too! David, thank you for these films. I hope you don't mind, but on ScubaBoard we are having a discussion in the Advanced Diving discussions about the submersible pressure gauge, and when it finally took off in the USA. I posted the video and gave you credit for the 1956 film by BSAC, showing the double hose regulators with the SPGs. We in the USA did not start using them until the 1970s! www.scubaboard.com/forums/advanced-scuba-discussions/476204-submersible-pressure-gauge-spg-10.html#post7045133John
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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Feb 23, 2014 11:21:03 GMT -8
I'm delighted that the links were of further interest and use, John (SeaRat). Echoing what the other John (regulator68bj) said, "That's what I like about this forum: such diversity, Cars, Music, TV shows, interchanged with large helpings of "Vintage Diving" input." Those videos provided me with great info about vintage exposure suits, wile other people spotted different "period artefacts" featured in the same videos and helped us all relive a simpler age.
David
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Post by nikeajax on Feb 23, 2014 12:08:29 GMT -8
Concerning this image: I've never seen wetsuits like these: the zippers don't go all-up, like a normal, good-American suit(joke guys, just being a smarty pants!) So what kind are they, also one of those chaps appears to have on some sort of buoyancy-device, no, or is it for a camera? Jaybird
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Post by SeaRat on Feb 23, 2014 12:53:17 GMT -8
Jaybird, those are "pull-over tops" where the hood is attached to the jacket. We used them all the time in the Pacific Northwest, as they eliminated that trickle of cold, cold water down the back of the neck. They usually were used with "Farmer John" pants, which looked like bib overalls because they came up and protected the chest. I still have one wet suit, which I need to either add material to or loose some weight (preferred) to get into. I have a photo of me in that suit which I'll put in here later when I get to my other computer. One guy is wearing a Fenzy vest, if that's the BC you are talking about. John
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Post by sitkadiver on Mar 1, 2014 12:14:19 GMT -8
Concerning this image: I've never seen wetsuits like these: the zippers don't go all-up, like a normal, good-American suit(joke guys, just being a smarty pants!) So what kind are they, also one of those chaps appears to have on some sort of buoyancy-device, no, or is it for a camera? Jaybird I can only ID two of the Dh regs ans they're both ESSGEE(SG) Mistrals - certainly a British reg. Even though Siebe was German.
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Post by regulator68bj on Mar 1, 2014 16:44:30 GMT -8
Well spotted on the regulators ,the 4mm.wet suits are fitted with zippers that travelled downwards having first don the jacket over the head thus having the hood attached. The A.B.L.J. were just coming on stream but were expensive, During training all trainees were taught perfection in natural buoyancy from day one.
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