uwstlth
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The History of Duck Feet

Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:11 am

I stumbled across this article online and found it really well written, Sam Miller III helped contribute to it apparently.
https://swelllinesmag.com/2018/02/13/th ... rf-diving/

Speaking of Sam, here's a link to a really good interview about his diving history, they don't make guys like him any longer.

Every time I went diving it was a privilege for me to go into the water. I felt privileged that I was allowed to do this and experience this and communicate with the world that so many people do not know. There are so many people who have never experienced it, and they should — if nothing else, just stick their head in the water when they’re on vacation.

Read more here: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/living/ar ... rylink=cpy

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: The History of Duck Feet

Thu Mar 21, 2019 9:40 am

uwstlth wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:11 am

Speaking of Sam, here's a link to a really good interview about his diving history, they don't make guys like him any longer.

Read more here: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/living/ar ... rylink=cpy
Sam and I have been friends/dive buddies for over 40 years. I spent 5 years as his teaching assistant in NAUI Advanced courses back in the day. He is 87 now. He and I lectured on diving at the Sheriff's Search & Rescue seminar in Central California two weeks ago. As usual Sam put me up at his house in Pismo Beach for the weekend. Here is a pic of us at his kitchen table. I always have fun digging through his extensive diving library and poking around in countless boxes, bins and crates of double hose regulators. Mark

Image
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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SurfLung
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Re: The History of Duck Feet

Thu Mar 21, 2019 9:45 am

Great articles. Thanks for posting.
SurfLung
The Freedom and Simplicity of Vintage Equipment and
Vintage Diving Technique are Why I Got Back Into Diving.

SeaHuntJerry
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Re: The History of Duck Feet

Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:24 am

Nice Picture Thanks!

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: The History of Duck Feet

Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:52 am

SeaHuntJerry wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:24 am
Nice Picture Thanks!
How are you doing post-surgery Jerry? Heard it went well. Mark
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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Bronze06
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First Name: Russell
Location: Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

Re: The History of Duck Feet

Thu Mar 28, 2019 9:27 am

ScubaLawyer wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 9:40 am
uwstlth wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:11 am

Speaking of Sam, here's a link to a really good interview about his diving history, they don't make guys like him any longer.

Read more here: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/living/ar ... rylink=cpy
Sam and I have been friends/dive buddies for over 40 years. I spent 5 years as his teaching assistant in NAUI Advanced courses back in the day. He is 87 now. He and I lectured on diving at the Sheriff's Search & Rescue seminar in Central California two weeks ago. As usual Sam put me up at his house in Pismo Beach for the weekend. Here is a pic of us at his kitchen table. I always have fun digging through his extensive diving library and poking around in countless boxes, bins and crates of double hose regulators. Mark

Image
Awesome to see and hear. And Pismo beach was always nice. The coast of central California was where I got stationed back in 97 as an active duty advisor to to the Cali National guard. I even had a rental apartment in Morro Bay. Got my rescue diver cert at Slo Ocean Currents in San Luis Obispo. Saw my first great white out near Santa Rosa while bug diving.Good times back then.
We were doing security interdiction operations to test Vandenburg Airforce Base's security and advanced intruder awareness systems. We, about 8 of us, got our gear rucked up, put on some semi-water resistant clothing (LOL) and took four RB3s (rubber boat, 3 man) out and hugged the coast /drifted (cold ass Alaskan current) where we paddled with the current for about 8 hours from the north and ended up right in a little bay in front of the shuttle alternate launch pad and captured the launch site at 03:40 in the morning. The AF SP guys were cool about it , as they were expecting a landward egress and we all learned a lot. Even convinced the Base Commander of Vandenburg to let me and a medic buddy go diving in the small bay right out from the shuttle launch site. FYI, a LOT of missle cast off/dropped parts under water and many make for good bug homes.
That bay there that wasn't bug hunted for 50 years, or so they told me. There werer no launches scheduled, but the jist was, if we caught any bugs, that we share the majority with the CO and his SP teams. Me and Sgt. Bob Strachan ended up with about 7 , one meter monster bugs and believe me there were a whole bunch of normal legal limit critters in the bags to boot. We had to make four trips to shore to un-load the tasty chitneous cretins. We had a great BBQ., deee-licious! Those were the days. The ECO-Terrorists in Fish and Wildlife would probably get me hanged nowadays if I ever did that again. California in the mid 90s was cool.
My secret about VAFB, was that my father was the Fight Surgeon there back in 1976-78 and I and my buddies went all over that place as kids, so we new a lot about where to creep in at and would sneak into restricted AOs to watch missle launches. And that base hadn't really changed that much in the 90s. Man, it was cool !
"Where'd ya get that ol' thang, don't cha' know them thare things ill kill ya!"

Live From the Red Sea,

Russ

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ScubaLawyer
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Re: The History of Duck Feet

Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:16 pm

That is really cool Russ! The one time we ventured too close to the line in our inflatable looking for a place to bug dive we were met with guns drawn by every agency with three or more letters on their jackets. M
"The diver who collects specimens of underwater life has fun and becomes a keen underwater observer. .. seek slow-moving or attached organisms such as corals, starfish, or shelled creatures." (Golden Guide to Scuba Diving, 1968) :D

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SurfLung
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Re: The History of Duck Feet

Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:08 am

Sportsways "NAVY" Duck Feet Copy
- I received a set of these in a vintage dive bag that came with a set of twin 72s my son found for me in Colorado of all places. He says it was $10 for the tanks and the stuff in the dive bag. Unfortunately, one of the fins has a broken strap. I found some amazing glue from the O-ring store that glued the strap perfectly, But when I tried to put the fins on, I realized it wasn't the straps fault... They are just too small for me. But, part of the "Duck Feet" history should probably include the companies that tried to copy it.
Image
SurfLung
The Freedom and Simplicity of Vintage Equipment and
Vintage Diving Technique are Why I Got Back Into Diving.

uwstlth
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Re: The History of Duck Feet

Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:56 am

I have a pretty solid collection of Duck Feet and use them often on "beach dayz" in Sandy Eggo. Recently my wife found a pair at a local 2nd hand store for 5 clams, a size small which is perfect for our niece. I did an interweboflife search and found Dick's Sporting Goods has them listed online for $29.95 (sale price) which I thought was a very fair price since Dr. Evil (read Jeff Bozos) has them listed starting at 40 clams on his world-domination website. So I headed down to the local store and nabbed another set (green/purple instead of the green/blue they have listed). I have searched all over the box for any manufacture markings as a clue to WHO actually owns Voit/ Duck Feet now and there is nothing at all; no website, name, address, phone, nada. Extremely poor marketing or intentional vagueness?

So back to the interweb on HAL 9000 to search a bit and what I found was interesting. It seems at some point AMF bought Voit as well as Mares but that didn't last, read the section "new products line" and "decline"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_ ... nd_Foundry

But then I also found a company still in operation down in MX called Voit who makes swim gear (goggles, silicone caps, fins) as well as rubber balls (tether, dodgeball, etc) but NO mention of Duck Feet. The wiki article on this company makes no mention of Duck feet that I could find which I think would be a prominent item, but it does mention the AMF acquisition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voit

Voit began in Los Angeles in 1922 as a tire retreading products factory.[1] In the late 1920s Voit developed and patented the first full-molded, all-rubber inflatable ball and the first needle-type air retention valves. They also developed highly accurate pocket and wrist watches during this period.

In 1931, Voit developed and patented the first all-rubber athletic balls, including the process of vulcanization which allowed a material to be fixed onto a separate rubber bladder. In the same year, it changed names from the W. J. Voit Corporation to Voit Rubber Corporation.[2]

Later in the 1930s, Voit developed the process of icosahedron winding, which allowed balls to be machine wound with nylon threads over the bladder, providing both strength and consistency in shape and permitting mass production by a machine processed.

Those Voit patents and products made possible greatly increased athletic and recreation activity in the school systems, and led to universal use of a new type of product that now dominates sales in its field.

In 1957, the company was purchased by AMF.[1]

Other developments and patents later in the 1950s and 1960s included:

The Swimaster line of professional dive equipment. Voit was one of the five original USA diving gear makers: US Divers, Healthways, Voit, Dacor, Swimaster. Voit scuba gear had been featured in the movies Underwater!(1955); the TV series Sea Hunt(1958-61);and movie and TV series versions of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (1961; and 1964-68 respectively)where it was included in the series' closing credits; and both got a tie-in in the James Bond movie Thunderball (film)[3]

The Equi Staff line of professional golf equipment (which included the innovation of the "Power Plugs" or screws to adjust the balance of golf clubs).
The first rubber-bodied water polo ball (which was adopted as the official ball of college, international and Olympic competitions).

Voit V-Shock digital watch

V-Shock, introduced in the late 1990s, was Voit's inexpensive alternative to the Casio G-Shock watches. They have since been discontinued.


So today I think they are made overseas in Malaysia using the molds (or copies) of the "custom" series which were found behind some tacoshop in TJ. I also have a pair of the Surf N Fins which are very similar and was manufactured in HI. The knock-offs, as was common in the scuba industry back then, even 2day, seems to have been prolific in the fin world.

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SurfLung
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Re: The History of Duck Feet

Thu Apr 18, 2019 2:22 pm

I think Mine Are "Original Design"...
Image
- These are modern manufactured Duck Feet fins I bought 3-4 years ago. I thought they were some sort of modern version but I've been looking at old ads and photos and am beginning to think these are what the originals were like. Here's what's available now:
1. Short versions for body surfers and swim training.
2. Copies of the Original Design (like mine).
3. UDT Models... Which are much longer than the original design.

Am I right about this?
SurfLung
The Freedom and Simplicity of Vintage Equipment and
Vintage Diving Technique are Why I Got Back Into Diving.

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