Vintage Double Hose

As a modern diver who wonders about the use of a double hose, IMO a slow transition from your modern system which, I am sure you are very comfortable, should be under taken. There are ways to use a double hose with modern gear, some items work, some do not. Eventually you will "regress" or reverse evolve to the world of diving as it was done during the years of what we call vintage. Welcome to a newly discovered freedom.

This is how the group DEVO described themselves...Thanks for kicking off the new section for us Allan!

Viva la evolution!!!

swimjim wrote:Viva la evolution!!!

Viva De-evolution! I like it! Allan is right, it started with a Phoenix, then I wanted to take it further....and I started to shed things, one or two at a time. First it was the octo & console, then computer, quackers, assorted retractors, snorkels, widgets, snaps, clips, buckles and anything else I thought I need to be a good diver. Turns out, all I needed was me and less gear.

Who Knew? Um, you guys did.

Anyone else notice at the end of the de-evolution is Rob......some how he just seems like the right person for the job.

This photo does however, prove that double hose diving is a disease and worse it seems to be contagious. The lady in the middle was an unfortunate victim who had the misfortune to be on the same boat as we were in Coz. Being in such close proximity to so many double hoses, she obviously caught the bug.

- For me it was a Political Correctness issue. We all believe we want to be rugged individuals but we also don't want to be ridiculed for being foolish or unsafe. The VDH forum has been a great confidence builder for me. I know there are some really smart, experienced divers here... And the comments they've made gave me confidence. And I think that confidence has won over some divers and even the dive shop owner in town.
- Probably the purest diving fun I've had in my whole life was the last week in June. For several sunny days, I dived in the lake with nothing but tank, DH reg, fins and mask... Total freedom and extreme fun! I had worked on my fitness and swimming skills... Wasn't fazed by clearing my mouth piece or mask... And controlled my exertion to keep my air consumption low... I think this Vintage stuff has made me a better diver.

SurfLung wrote:- ... I think this Vintage stuff has made me a better diver.

Absolutely!

I have long believed that diving students should begin with and develop their critical skills with the bare minimum amount of simple equipment. It would be great to spend the first pool session with nothing but a tank, a pac and a bare regulator. Heck, that's all we used anyway through the very early 70's, and most of us actually survived!

Well, since this new section's here, I'll call a spade a spade and admit that this is relatively still where I am (being relatively new to DH diving at least).

Was in the pool the other day in my full wetsuit because I was fooling around with my twin tanks (after sitting for a year forlornly in the corner...), and I decided to bring PRAM #1 and a LP72 to test out some other modifications I did to my single-wing (as opposed to the micro wing from before). I think I've managed to integrate the DH nicely with the other components in my kit - and they actually play nicely together (if you look carefully in the video, you'll see my twinset and al40 now sitting forlornly on the ledge above - at least now they're wet!)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eqlYxMNkrw[/youtube]

...admittedly though, my pool session with the double-tanks and single-hose was just FUBAR. Plus all those bubbles around my face! Yep, going back to the DH was like coming home. Quieter. Smoother. And breathed a lot better too! Definitely all my single tank diving will be done this way. And why can't there just be more LP72s in the world?! Those tanks are the best!

Im glad to have a forum like this, for the last few years my oldest piece of kit has been my ABLJ which is late 80's or my fins which are late 90's. On one hand I walk out the sea and people ask me if my dive time was "40 years" but at the same time im not really "vintage".

Ive been steadily working my way back in time ever since I watched "the silent world" and saw a totally different style of diving to what i was used to. I was attracted by the freedom with which they moved through the water and the sense of adventure that all their dives seemed to have.

Being a student I couldn't afford to actually buy kit but I asked for a twin hose for a birthday present and spent alot of time in the hut of the local dive club refurbishing old kit that had lain waste for years and picking the minds of some of the older club members.

I feel like ive achieved the freedom that i saw in the cousteau divers. I remember doing salvage work in a river and watching the other divers struggling around in their huge dry-suits with equipment hanging off them everywhere while i zipped around in my wetsuit with nothing but a harness, twin hose, tank, mask and fins on. No bubbles in my face, not much sound and no need to think about adjusting buoyancy it felt just like I wasn't wearing any equipment at all.

Now i just need to build up my collection of proper equipment, viva la evolution!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devolution_%28biology%29


There's already a biological term here that applies perfectly...devolution.