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League of Extraordinary Divers 001: Bob Croft

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lxd_bob_croft

Bob Croft – Father of American Freediving

In this podcast I chat with Bob Croft.  Bob Croft is a legendary Navy Diver and is known as the “Father of American Freediving”. He also happens to be the inspiration for this podcast series – thus his distinction as the first episode. Bob and I were roommates at the 2002 Pacific Cup of Freediving.  Each night over a Scotch or two, Bob would tell amazing stories about early scuba diving, military diving, and freediving.   That time with Bob was the inspiration of this podcast – to sit and hear stories from the diving legends themselves.

Bob Croft honed his freediving talents as an instructor at the Naval Submarine Base’s submarine escape tank in New London, Connecticut.  Daily he would reach depths of 118 feet and ultimately could hold his breath for over six minutes.  These talents led to Bob challenging world record divers Jacques Mayol and Enzo Maiorca by hitting the world record freediving depth of 240 feet in 1967.

His freediving accomplishments led to him being one of the first freediving research subjects in the world.  One of the greatest scientific discoveries that emerged from Bob Croft was the size of his lung volume after conducting “air packing” a technique he invented to add more air to the lungs – which competitive freedivers worldwide are using to this day.

Items in this Podcast

  • Learned how to dive twice
  • US Navy Submarine escape tank
  • Early days of freediving
  • Freediving research with Dr. Karl Shaefer
  • Invention of the air packing technique
  • Competition with Jacques Mayol
  • World Record Freedive to 240’
  • Advantages of freediving
  • CBS The Adventures TV Show
  • US Freediving Team
  • Sea Hunt
  • Physical vs. physiological freediving
  • Advice for divers
  • History of Diving Museum

Resources

Book Bob Croft: Navy Diver, Submariner and Father of American Freediving

Movie The Big Blue

Sponsor

Special thanks to our episode sponsor Aggressor Fleet

afl-logo-process-fin

Thanks for Listening!

Thank you for joining me again. Do you want to give a shout out to our guest on this podcast? Leave a note in the comments section below!

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Also, please leave an honest review for The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! And, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

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Scuba Exam App

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Scuba Exam App
Scuba Exam App

Do you want to easily pass your scuba class’ final scuba exam?
OR
Are you a diver who wants to brush up on your dive tables and other scuba knowledge?

If you answer “yes” to either of the questions above, then the new Scuba Exam App is for you! The Scuba Exam App is an app designed to help divers worldwide pass their open water diver scuba exams. It is also the perfect academic refresher for already certified divers. This app was first released in 2010. Since then, it has helped thousands of people on their way to getting their dive certification. The New York Times called it “An ideal helper for beginners who need to pass certification tests”.

Watch a demonstration of the Scuba Exam App:

I have partnered with the award-winning Swedish app development team Boboshi for this enhanced diving knowledge tool.  The app is loaded with features:

  • Scuba App Menu
    Scuba App Menu

    Settings – you can customize your quizzes by selecting whether you want it timed or not, unanswered questions only or repeat questions, questions you have flagged for follow-up, incorrectly answered questions, and how many questions you would like to be quizzed on.

  • Basic Content and Dive Tables Content – you can select your quizzes to be basic scuba knowledge questions or dive table questions.
  • Multiple Agencies – you can select your scuba agency of choice, either PADI, NAUI or SSI and the questions and answers for each agency’s dive tables will be used.
  • Metric or Imperial – you can select whether you would like your dive table questions to be in meters or feet.
  • Explanations – each question has an explanations tab so that you can get a detailed reason for the correct answer.
  • Theory Section – the app has an entire Diving Theory Guide with tons of extra content in 17 chapters.
  • Full Academic Content
    Full Academic Content

    Statistics – you can keep track of how you are progressing through detailed statistics.

Over 250 Quiz Questions
Over 250 Quiz Questions

Scuba Exam contains over 200 scuba theory questions and 50 dive table questions for PADI, NAUI and SSI dive tables. These questions are designed to help you pass your open water diver scuba quizzes and final exam, as well as being a great knowledge refresher if you have not been diving in a while.

Scuba Exam is $4.99. Scuba Exam Lite is free.
Link to Scuba Exam: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scuba-exam/id401421397?mt=8
Link to Scuba Exam Lite: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scuba-exam-lite/id404149110?mt=8

The League of Extraordinary Divers Podcast

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LXD Podcast
The League of Extraordinary Divers: Salty stories from the diving legends themselves

Imagine sitting down to a coffee or cocktail with your favorite diving personality and hearing their stories. The League of Extraordinary Divers podcast brings legends in the diving industry to you.  Hosted by Tec Clark, this podcast features diving legends of the past and present sharing some of their best scuba diving stories such as their original scuba training, scariest diving stories, funniest diving stories, as well as tips for divers.

Individual episodes can be found here at ScubaGuru.com or you can subscribe to the podcast series at iTunes.

#1 “The Silent World” by Capt. Jacques Yves Cousteau

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The Silent World by Jacques Cousteau
The Silent World by Jacques Cousteau

There is no singular book more worthy of my number one recommendation than Jacques Cousteau’s timeless classic The Silent World.

The book is written by Capt. Jacques Cousteau.  It recounts his journey from Naval officer to inventor of the most groundbreaking invention for underwater exploration – the Aqua Lung (prototype of the modern SCUBA unit).  Set during World War II, Jacques Cousteau writes of his first attempts at designing the Aqua Lung, along with the ideas and inspirations from others such as his co-inventor Emile Gagnan.

Where the book really shines is in the accounts of the actual underwater exploration.  Capt. Cousteau describes the harrowing details of the first dives with the Aqua Lung, the first deep dives of his dive team, bends, nitrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity.  He also describes being the first humans to be  underwater in certain places.  How amazing the stories are as you get to read and feel what it was like to be with the first explorers underwater.

I am also fascinated by the photos.  The underwater photos are mysterious and eerie.  All are black and white, with a combination of topside and underwater – including the first underwater photo he ever took on the Aqua Lung unit.  Photos of the earliest divers in their equipment are just superb.

The first printing of the book was in 1954.  However, National Geographic has republished it for its 50th anniversary.  I can’t recommend this book enough for any diver of any level!

The History of Diving: CMAS

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CMAS

The History of Diving: CMAS

With the invention of the Aqua-Lung by Capt. Jacques Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnon in 1943, the sport of diving with the Aqua-Lung (later to be coined SCUBA) was becoming popular with water enthusiasts worldwide. An association of fishermen, underwater hunters and divers created the International Confederation of Sport Fishing which was founded on February 22, 1952. As diving became more popular in the 1950’s several members of the Sport Fishing Federation wanted to create an organization dedicated to underwater activities. So from January 9th to 11th, 1959 15 countries unanimously voted to form the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) – the English translation is the World Underwater Federation.

Capt. Jacques Yves Cousteau was elected as the first President of CMAS, and the organization formed standards for underwater sports, as well as scuba education and training. Thus making it the first international scuba training organization.
Capt. Jacques Yves Cousteau was elected as the first President of CMAS, and the organization formed standards for underwater sports, as well as scuba education and training. Thus making it the first international scuba training organization.

CMAS is represented in over 51 countries with over 3 million members. It consists of three committees – Sport, Technical and Scientific. These committees are overseen by a Board of Directors elected periodically at the annual General Assembly. The Sport and Scientific Committees oversee sub-committees known as commissions. Its headquarters are currently located in Rome.

 

CMAS is represented in the United States by two entities: 1. the Underwater Society of America for sports such as underwater hockey, underwater rugby, fin swimming, etc., and 2. Scuba Educators International for recreational scuba training.

 

CMAS utilizes a unique “star” system for diving certifications called the International Diver Training Certification System that consists of Diver, Speciality Diver, Technical Diver and Leadership Diver Training Standards. This system allows divers that have been trained in accordance with the prescribed International Diver Training Standards, to be recognized throughout the world in member countries.

 

For more information on CMAS click here

For more information on the history of scuba diving, I highly recommend the book Scuba America

Welcome Dive Professionals

Welcome to ScubaGuru.com!  The ScubaGuru brand is dedicated to giving dive professionals tools and techniques to be GREAT LEADERS – leaders in the classroom, leaders underwater, and leaders in their diving businesses.  With unique leadership skill-sets, the dive professional can create:

  • Better divers
  • Loyal customers
  • A thriving dive center
  • A flourishing dive industry

See what we mean by Go Beyond the Standard and enjoy the rewards of being truly great at what you do!

Sincerely,

Tec Clark

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