OBITUARY
Reg Vallintine
A tribute to the diving pioneer and historian , by Simon Rogerson
Few individuals encapsulated the golden age of diving as completely as Reg Vallintine , first Director of BSAC and founder of the Historical Diving Society , who has died aged 92 . A first generation UK diving pioneer and early member of BSAC , he went on be a resort manager ; instructor to the rich and famous ; dive school owner ; explorer , author and historian .
His formative swimming experiences were in the warm waters of Jamaica , where his father had been stationed before the Second World War . Family legend has it that Reg and his brothers were ‘ chased in by barracudas ’ while swimming with their mother , who had herself been a competitive swimmer in her youth .
During National Service , he fell in with spear-fishers while stationed with the RAF in Gibraltar , and he quickly developed into an assured breath-hold diver . Fascinated by the underwater world , he became member no . 74 of the British Sub-Aqua Club , shortly after it was convened in 1953 .
A career with the Land Forces beckoned ; Reg was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and posted to Hamm in Western Germany . However , the lure of the newly invented aqua-lung proved too enticing ; Reg took a train to Dartmouth , where he was taught to dive at The British Underwater Centre , run by RAF test pilot Captain Trevor Hampton .
The three-day course consisted of lectures and hands-on diving tuition , though the instructor didn ’ t accompany the students underwater . Instead , Captain Hampton would take them out on his boat and send them into the water with a safety line . Reg , wearing a rugby shirt for insulation , qualified as ‘ British Manfish No 143 ’.
Working abroad
Enthused by the possibilities of diving tourism , Reg applied for positions with holiday organisations , and was tentatively offered a job with a dive centre based on the Costa Brava . The only hitch was that he had been selected to replace the existing manager , whose disciplinarian manner was ill-suited to
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