I was thinking about how to grow our organization. I know that people inherently resist change, especially when some are "set in their ways". I thought I would just throw a few things out there, as I have logged about 15 vintage dives this month, and I have noticed a few issues based upon questions that people have asked me, and my responses to them.
1.) Sometimes the whole concept of "vintage correct" that we all throw around makes me laugh a little bit. I have never seen a Navy diver who gave a flying rat's behind what his gear looked like, as long as it worked. Besides, everyone has to know that divers modfied their gear. It's not like someone bought a RAM back in the day and only ever used it like how it appeared in the catalog. That's why I don't care about things like band clamps, tinnermans vs. hose clamps, etc. If I would have bought one in 1965 I would have put a band clamp on it, as C clips are the worst idea ever. Tinnermans, although valuable, are so annoying that I never take my broxton apart. I wonder if sometimes we scare off people who are interested with all this talk about what looks "correct" and what does not. Maybe we should abandon this idea with the exception of those who are actually looking to duplicate a specific catalog model or year. I think we should stop using "period correct" or "vintage correct". This scares people off. People have actually asked me if we are "allowed" to dive certain stuff. That is ludicrous. We should have the option to do anything we choose.
-There's only 200 of us and we talk about vintage and eclectic diving, and what does or does not look right. We aren't re-enacting, we are diving. Maybe we should abandon this and just look to include everyone, it may make it easier to add more members to our ranks. I think we should abandon some terms. Eclectic diving is confusing and pointless. Vintage "equipment" diver and vintage diver should be used interchangeably. If you want to split hairs, in 25 years no vintage diver will be diving, and then all the vintage "equipment" divers will be vintage divers. Does this sound pointless to anyone else?
-Dive computers. Many of us use them, and a few of us do not. I know that I personally have come under fire from some of you for not using them during various meets. Using one, then bashing others for using tables, makes you look like a giant vintage diving hypocrit. We should advocate a tables or computers policy, and not care who does or does not use one, the other, or both. We should make this a policy. Everyone I have talked to thinks that we dive tables anyway, as it does not make a whole lot os sense to many people to use something from the 50's and then pair it with a dive computer. I am not opposed to dive computers, but we should espouse a stance favoring both.