TU UA TU Q S A D I B V U IN G CL Diving the California Coast since 1955 June 2017 Since 1958... a publication from the Aqua Tutus Diving Club, a non-profit organization established to promote Water Safety and to further the sport of SCUBA Diving. MEETING SCHEDULE General Club Meeting: First Thursday of Every Month at 7:30 p.m. (except December) Board of Directors Meeting: Third Thursday of Every Month at 7:00 p.m. (except December) Location: Round Table Pizza 20920 Redwood Road Castro Valley, CA 94546 UPCOMING CLUB ACTIVITIES July 6: ATDC Social July 12: General Club Meeting July 20: BOD Meeting (New Location) JULY MEETING ENTERTAINMENT Club Dive: POC Kat Smith July 29: Larry Muth: Wakatobi Aqua Tutus member Larry Muth will show video he took at the multiple award- For a complete listing of club activities winning Wakatobi Dive Resort in SE Sulawesi, Indonesia. Marine life at this eco- visit Meetup or ATDC Event Calendar. friendly and luxurious resort are known for stunning colors and diversity. IN THIS ISSUE Due to the 4th of July holiday, the July General Meeting has been changed to Wednesday, July 12, 2017. Entertainment Report ................ 2 National Spearfishing Championship ... 3 AUGUST MEETING ENTERTAINMENT General Meeting Minutes ............. 3 Constitution & Bylaws ................ 4 Member’s Night Our Annual Members’ Night is a chance to share your photos and videos with BOD Meeting Minutes ................ 5 your fellow club members! Each member is allowed up to 7 minutes to make Useful Links ......................... 6 a presentation. Please assemble all your photos into a single folder so the presentation does not have to be interrupted to locate more photos. Also, carefully ACKNOWLEDGMENTS edit and select your best photos and do not include duplicates. Bring your flash Thank you presenters and newsletter drive to Gayle Hudson before the meeting starts so we can determine the number contributors for making this Aqua Tooter of members who wish to present. If you’d like some advice on how to best present possible: Jim Steele, Larry Ankuda, Helga your photos or video, please ask Jono Dove for guidance. Mahlmann, Alan Throop, Kari Klaboe and Gayle Hudson. If you would like to present photos or video during Member’s Night, please contact Gayle at [email protected] one week in advance of the August meeting. Thanks to Steele’s Discount Scuba for sending member candidates to Aqua Tutus Diving Club. Steele’s is located at 5987 Telegraph Avenue CONGRATULATION NEW BOARD MEMBERS-AT-LARGE Oakland, CA 94609 BMAL elected for the 2017-2018 term are Kat Smith, Jeff Doney and Larry (510) 655-4344 Dimitri. Contact them at [email protected]. ENTERTAINMENT REPORT By Gayle Hudson Jim Steele: Dive History and the Evolution of Dive Equipment – Part 2 In January, Jim Steele gave members a history of SCUBA diving, the Bay Area’s unique contributions to the sport of recreational diving and showed us some early SCUBA equipment. Jim started part two of his presentation with a history of the BCD. He showed us a U.S. Divers backpack from 1961-62, a horse collar BC and an inflation vest like the type used on airplanes. Jim claims ‘they’ (or just Jim?) used to steal them off airplanes to use for diving! Next up was the Nemrod BC bailout system, created about 1963-64, with an attached bottle of compressed air. If a diver got low on air, he could reach down, rotate the bottle, fill up the BC and breathe out of the BC. It sold for $125.00 and was considered a high-end unit. Jim also showed us a barebones BC with an oral inflator, which Dennis said a diver had to be proficient with oral inflation to use correctly. It sold for $16.00. Jim said, at the time, everything was happening in California in terms of dive equipment innovation. The Nemrod bailout system was found to be a hard sell, at a time when a diver could be completely outfitted for $300.00. Ed Brawley, who owned several stores in the Bay Area, asked Nemrod to remove the bottle and add an inflation valve. Ed named it a ‘buoyancy compensated device’ and the BCD was born. He paid Nemrod $18.00 per unit and sold them for $60.00. After two years, the technology was opened up to other companies. More innovation followed with companies like Scubapro, SeaTec, SeaQuet, and Hollis adding their own ideas to the BCD design. Jim mentioned Bob Hollis has sold his companies (Hollis, Oceanic, Underwater Products) to a company in Salt Lake City called Hirsch Sports. Hirsch has been buying up sport equipment manufacturers like Bare, Zeagle, and Atomic. Bob Hollis sold his Oceanic computer line to Lquid Air and has retired to Monterey. Jim told us a new technology for dive computers is coming out that will look like a smartphone with icons. These computers will have a dive log where the user can add photos and program the computer using their cellphone and Bluetooth. The units are expected to retail around $300. The presentation continued with a discussion of the first wetsuits, which were made from gas expanded G231 neoprene. On Wednesday nights, ATDC members would gather at Steele’s dive shop and hold a custom wetsuit-making night, where they would lay out rubber, cut to size and glue the pieces together. These suits had no zippers and used an attached hood. Divers would powder up, slide in and stay warm because there was no nylon lining the suit. This allowed very little water to enter into the suit, especially at 90 feet. Jim said for warmth, look for neoprene with low compression; test it by squeezing it between your fingers. Jim said only two manufacturers make 98% of the suits, so suits are cheaper when you buy them without recognized logos. Jim went on to talk about fins, regulators and masks. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the evolution of dive equipment and California’s unique contribution of innovation and technology to the sport of diving. 2 | The Aqua Tooter GENERAL MEETING MINUTES By Helga Mahlmann Date: June 1, 2017 Meeting called to order by President Jono Dove at Round Table Pizza in Castro Valley, CA at 7:32 pm. Speaker: Jim Steele – The History of Diving & Evolution of Dive Equipment Part 2 Guests: Chuck Lucas (new member) Entertainment (Gayle Hudson) 2017 Jul: Wakatobi Resort, Indonesia – Larry Muth Aug: Member’s Night Sep or Oct: Clay Wiseman 2017 US NATIONALS • If you would like to present photos or video during Members Night, please contact Gayle at entertainment@ SCHEDULE OF EVENTS aquatutus.org one week in advance of the August meeting. • If you have any requests or suggestions for future Tuesday August 1, 2017 – Competitors Meeting @ 6pm entertainment, let us know! MANDATORY FOR ALL DIVERS – NO EXCEPTIONS – Meeting shall be hosted at the Little River Inn Treasurer’s Report (Helga Mahlmann) • Account Balance: $5,099.93 Little River Inn 7751 CA-1 Membership (Debbie Muth-Driggers) Little River, CA 95456 • 70 members, including associates and lifetime members. • Roster emailed to club members Wednesday August 2, 2017 – Off Day Training (Dennis Hocker) • New Advanced Open Water divers – come diving! THE TOURNAMENT ZONE IS CLOSED • On monthly club dives it’s suggested we practice a dive skill. The POC can lead a discussion on the skill to be Thursday August 3, 2017 – US Spearfishing Nationals practiced prior to the dive. 7:30 am to 8:30 am - Sign in, Get Ready & Kayak Check on For more information on training contact Dennis Hocker (510) Beach 792-5606 [email protected] or Neil Benjamin (510) 673- 8:30 am – Competitors Briefing (After briefing, divers may 0073 [email protected] stage at the designated staging area) Newsletter (Lola Johnston) 9:00 am – Travel Time Starts (Official Time is GPS Time) • Lots of content and pictures in the Tooter. 9:30 am – Tournament Starts (All divers may enter water) • If you are not receiving a copy, check your spam or junk folder first and then contact Lola at newsletter@aquatutus. 3:30 pm – Tournament Ends & Travel Time Starts (All divers org for assistance. must be out of water) Web Goddess (Lola Johnston) 4:00 pm – All divers must be back “Inside” the staging area • Looking for a club member who has programming 4:00 pm – Tournament Weigh In begins experience to help develop forms for our website. We would like to integrate payment of club dues on our website, instead of sending members to Square. Please Friday August 4, 2017 – US Spearfishing Nationals contact Lola at [email protected] if you can help. Banquet & Awards Ceremony @ 5pm • A link to Amazon Smile is located on the bottom right of Little River Inn our website. If you click that link and use the Amazon Smile page for AT to make your Amazon purchases, the club will 7751 CA-1 receive a percentage of the purchase as a donation. Little River, CA 95456 Social Media (Gayle Hudson) • Facebook: Participation is open to the public. » Complete details and rules can be found on the CenCal • Meetup: 88 members. Participation is limited to club Spearfishing website. members. • YouTube: We are looking for more video uploads and June 2017 | 3 recommend the video length be five to eight minutes. dive club – contact Alan Throop September 29-October 1: Salt Point – POC Nancy Gearty Old Business November 11-18: Roatan Island, Honduras – contact Nancy Constitution & Bylaws: Gearty • A member noted that Sections 3 & 4 in the revised December 21-January 6: Cozumel, Mexico trip – contact Patti documents were inconsistent and a quorum was not Shannon defined.