If you’re like many divers, history is one of those things you find fascinating. While we spend quite a bit of time talking about the history of famous wrecks and other dive sites, we sometimes forget that the history of diving is nearly as interesting as our sport is, in and of itself. Here, we’ll take a brief look at how diver training evolved.
The Early Days
Before people in western civilizations knew about free diving, there was goggling – a kind of underwater exploration created by World War I aviator Guy Gilpatric, who was also a spearfishing pioneer. Using a pair of old aviation goggles sealed with putty, he developed a new technique for investigating the underwater world. He published an entire series of articles devoted to the subject, teaching others how to follow in his footsteps. Later, Jacques Cousteau nearly drowned developing the first SCUBA equipment, and once it was declared a success, he was ready to share his new knowledge – and his love of the silent world – with others.
One by one, people learned to use the first aqualungs, and they shared what they knew with friends and associates. In 1952, a fatal diving accident brought greater awareness to the need for standardized diver training, and by 1954, San Diego’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography began to offer a special course for dive instructors. In 1959, the YMCA began offering America’s first standardized instructor training program.
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) was formed in Chicago in 1966, and in 1973, the association moved its headquarters to southern California. Disputes, accidents, and of course, advances in SCUBA diving gear and SCUBA techniques continued to shape the diver training landscape. Interest continued to grow despite the dangers inherent to early dive equipment; students spent long hours in the classroom, polishing up physics and mathematics skills, not to mention equipment mechanics galore. Skills training was nerve-wracking, to say the least, with dive instructors conducting “harassment training” that involved turning off air, releasing buckles and straps, and flooding masks, all in the name of simulating some kind of apocalyptic underwater emergency. Stamina and physical prowess were required – and for good reason, as dive gear consisted of a regulator and tank, a mask, a pair of fins, and perhaps a depth gauge.
As new equipment, including buoyancy control devices and alternate air source regulators, came onto the scene, diving instruction began to change. Soon, irrelevant information was eliminated from Open Water classes, and a more relaxed, thoughtful, and fun way of approaching dive instruction became the standard.
So, if you’re like many new divers today, and you learned in a relaxed, fun way, either in your hometown, or while on a tropical vacation, you probably appreciate the knowledge you gained, the skills you learned, and the modern equipment you get to take advantage of. No matter what, though, you probably have the same respect and admiration for your diving instructors as divers in the old days had for theirs. After all, without their guidance and modeling, you’d be stuck at the surface, never knowing what mysteries lay just beneath, waiting for you to discover them.