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Discussion of diving methods and equipment available prior to the development of BCDs beyond the horse collar. This forum is dedicated to the pre-1970 diving.
subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 12:50 pm

Hello Everyone, first of all, thanks for the kindhearted welcome, and also thank you to the forum monitors for their patience as I wasn't really sure how the process works and got off message topic regarding the Northill reg conversation.. I guess it's easy to get going on first gen open circuit stuff..
To Fred and Mark...look forward to chatting of course, and yes Mark all you mentioned regarding Catalina strikes a chord for me as one might expect.
I knew, and spent many hours with the late John Hardy..it was John who got me to come to the island in the first place..I was operating a small research sub in New Orleans in 1994 as part of a program through SubSea international Oilfield Corp... it coincided with the annual DEMA and Underwater Intervention conventions which just happened to be in New Orleans that year..naturally Hardy was attending DEMA along with his then partner Loraine Sadler.. a well known diver in her own right.. We all met through that crossing of paths and John and Loraine came out and I put each of them in the sub in a massive test tank facility where they had an opportunity to learn the basics of ADS operations through my quick training session.. John was so impressed that he strongly urged me to consider bringing the sub to Catalina... at that time for me being a Seattle native I knew zero about Socal or the channel islands..all my diving had been done in the Pac NW, San Juan islands and puget sound...and of course while conducting research work for the EPA and NOAA in the arctic in Alaska... long story short, we ended up bringing the sub to Catalina that spring on May 1st and we ran submersible ops just west of Hamilton Cove until the end of Sept.. at that point I transported the sub to Key largo where I'd already established a contract with Marine Resources Development Foundation in conjunction with NASA and astronaut/Aquanaut Scott Carpenter to train astronauts who were prepping to fill spots in the ISS... the lion's share of the training took place in-water because of the similarities in weightlessness and bulky equipment and how those skill sets are parallel to working in space... after that year contract completed, I returned to Seattle and resumed commuting to alaska for ongoing data collection..which involved submersible piloting.. but after being away for 18 months and returning to sub zero temps..and diving in them..I made plans to return to Socal and the only place which made sense was Catalina island... I still travel globally for oceanographic expedition projects but call Avalon home.. the really beneficial part for me in all of this is that I've been able to work with some of the leaders in the diving and oceanographic industries and have incredible 1-on-1 stories with all of them.. I pinch myself regularly!!

subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 1:20 pm

Maybe we should organize a vintage dive at the Casino Dive park? Lots of Historical Diving Society folks who would love to come..I could check with Zale to get her to attend..she comes to visit every April anyway..could coincide with that?

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ScubaLawyer
Master Diver
Posts: 1649
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:25 am
First Name: Mark
Location: Laguna Beach, CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:33 pm

subpilotjon wrote:Maybe we should organize a vintage dive at the Casino Dive park? Lots of Historical Diving Society folks who would love to come..I could check with Zale to get her to attend..she comes to visit every April anyway..could coincide with that?
THAT IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA ! I've toyed around with that very concept for some time now but never got off my ass to do anything about it. Let's set it up. Happy to work with you on it. 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

subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 3:21 pm

we could play with this kinda stuff
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subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 3:22 pm

or this...
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subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 3:23 pm

these are fun
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subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 3:25 pm

fun at the dive park
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subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 3:52 pm

at rest sitting at home
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subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 3:54 pm

northill-Garrett
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subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 3:58 pm

special executive counter terrorism revenge extortion... gotta love Dr No, From Russia with Love and of course, Thunderball!!
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subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:00 pm

SPECTRE front view
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subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:00 pm

oops this is front
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simonbeans
VDH Moderator
Posts: 1035
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:00 pm
First Name: Allan
Location: Rochester NY

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:08 pm

subpilotjon wrote:fun at the dive park
Not to rain on your parade, but your regulator is riding WAY TOO HIGH. Between the shoulder blades is optimum. It will breathe much better. :D
Check out my website: www.vintagescubastuff.com

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ScubaLawyer
Master Diver
Posts: 1649
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:25 am
First Name: Mark
Location: Laguna Beach, CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:15 pm

Totally freakin' awesome knarly rad equipment Dude! :D

Family and I might be over at the Casino Ballroom for the New Year's Eve party. In planning stages anyway.

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

subpilotjon
Skin Diver
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:00 pm
First Name: Jon
Location: Avalon CA

Re: Northill Hijackers

Thu Oct 27, 2016 6:43 pm

Thanks simon,... I don't dive that rig really..to be honest, I set these up, try em out, then polish up and display..the rigs I actually dive regularly are down and dirty daily divers... steel tanks, no glitz, don't care if I ding em on the rocks etc... the ones i restore for display are all functional, and super clean..but not daily divers.. when I work dive it's typically rebreathers or at least 120 doubles with full face mask, or KM superlite hat, comms, etc..or when piloting, single atmosphere sitting down staring through 6-1/2 inches of acrylic.... the only connection with external you get is visual and a little force feed back on the manipulator controller.. I think all of us who appreciate vintage diving do so because its almost like driving similar era sports cars,,super basic, pure, simplistic and raw... there's something very appealing about stripping away all the bells and whistles of hi tech, computer HUD display masks, endless add on features and getting back to fundamentals and just enjoying what it was like 60+ years ago exploring the depths...we're lucky guys all of us!!
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