Kirsty Andrews evades the winter weather by diving into the past, though the medium of vintage scuba magazines
KIRSTYANDREWS
In search of lost time
Kirsty Andrews evades the winter weather by diving into the past, though the medium of vintage scuba magazines
During some foul recent weather, I tried to satisfy my diving longing by perusing my bookshelves. I am a proud owner, for example, of a BSAC Diving Manual from the year of my birth- isn’ t everybody? Obviously as I am still such a spring chicken that wasn’ t awfully long ago, in the grand scheme … A few things have moved on, but it is still a mine of information, and at 571 pages, very thorough.
I confess, I am fond of hearing an old diving tale from yesteryear, whether it be from some of my longer-in-the-tooth buddies or any other sources I can find. I have a stash of old diving magazines in my office that are well worth a look. I rescued them from Fort Bovisand just before it was bulldozed, talking of a piece of diving history and a sad waste … but I must not digress.
My collection of middle-aged diving magazines is a little haphazard and encompasses various titles, from SubAqua Scene to DIVE, Scuba World, Sport Diver and Skin Diver, mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. I am quite content to not possess any copies of‘ Dive Girl’, a short-lived publication that was on the shelves when
“ What can we learn from these past literary gems?”
I bought my first drysuit, but didn’ t feel like my cup of tea. Now, before my editor accuses me of promoting the( albeit quite ancient) competition, I will note that the prize of my collection is a copy of Triton from 1977, which at the time was the BSAC magazine, our predecessor. In fact it’ s not even one of the earlier editions; I believe Triton was published from 1962 onwards [ BSAC’ s first magazine, Neptune, appeared in 1954 – Editor ]. If you’ re having a spring clean and wish to offload your old Triton copies, do get in touch!
What can we learn from these past literary gems? How have times changed, if at all, in the past almost 50 years? Unsurprisingly in the older magazines the photos are mostly above water, as underwater cameras weren’ t so ubiquitous. Cartoons and illustrations fill in the gaps. There are still some fantastic underwater photos, such as to illustrate a compelling piece on underwater rugby, or‘ Murderball’, by the late great Colin Doeg. On the subject of photos, it seems a truth universally acknowledged that a scantily clad female is the best way to sell scuba equipment.
It’ s best not to look at the prices- kit hasn’ t changed that much( Fenzys aside) but costs certainly have. I do enjoy reading the letters to the editor, to see what was exorcising the members of the time. There are helpful suggestions, such as how to make your own SMB line-holder out of a bit of 1 / 4” marine ply. Without today’ s multi-channel methods of communication, these letters to the magazine seem very informative for sharing ideas and views across the BSAC Community.
Believe it or not, there was a BSAC National Boat at the time,‘ British Diver’. Kendall McDonald [ past Chair, shipwreck expert ] bemoans issues which may be familiar, of expensive maintenance and the problem of making her operate cost-effectively and for the benefit of all members. In his medical column, the Diving Doctor Dr John Betts warns of the dangers of DCI denial in a piece that could have been written today, except that we are probably less likely these days to write off a potential symptom as being“ due to a tight knife strap”. We may not strap fearsome weapons to our calves so much anymore, but in other ways, these bits of history show that we divers haven’ t changed too much over the years. �
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