S.C.I.P.

(Southwest Council Instructor Program)

DIVERS AND INSTRUCTORS MANUAL

(All Editions)


Don Beer's Dive Manual

Don Beer's Manual - 1961

First Edition SCIP Divers Manual 

First Edition

Second Edition SCIP Divers Manual 

Second Edition

Third Edition SCIP Divers Manual

Third Edition - 1964-'65 

1968 Revised Cover Mark Up

Proposed 1968 Edition Cover 

1968 Revised Edition SCIP Divers Manual 

Revised - 1968 Edition

 First 1970 Edition SCIP Divers Manual

First 1970 Edition

(Fifth Revised Edition - Dec. 1969)

Second 1970 Edition SCIP Divers Manual 

Second 1970 Edition

1971 Edition SCIP Divers and Instructors Manual 

1971 Edition

 First 1972 Edition SCIP Divers and Instructors Manual

1972 Edition

 Second 1971 Edition SCIP Divers and Instructors Manual

1973 Edition

 


First 1973-1974 Edition SCIP Divers and Instructors Manual

Purple Edition

(1973 - 1974)

Non Dated Edition

Second 1973-1974 Edition SCIP Divers and Instructors Manual

Blue Edition

(1973 - 1974)

Non Dated Edition

Third 1973-1974 Edition SCIP Divers and Instructors Manual

Yellow - Gold - Last Edition

(1973 - 1974)

Non Dated Edition

Display of All Editions of the SCIP

Divers and Instructors Manual


Images of

Manuals & History Compiled

by

Dick Wilgus

Sandy Wilgus

Paul Johnston


History of the SCIP Manual

The Southwest Council Instructor Program (SCIP) was a Texas chartered non-profit educational corporation that was formed in 1963. It was conceived when far-sighted members of the Southwest Council of Diving Clubs recognized the potential growth of the infant sport of scuba diving and the consequent need for proper instruction of those who would join the growing ranks of sport SCUBA divers.

The first objectives of SCIP were to publish a manual that could be used by the instructor to teach from, as well as for the beginning student to use as a study guide and to organize or conduct an instructor's certification seminar. Along with instructional needs was a requirement for standards for this instruction, qualification of instructors, and certification of those who met these standards. For the next several years, members of the Southwest Council of Diving Clubs, Don Beers, Sonny Logan, Bill Flagg and Dick Wilgus laid the groundwork for an organization to fulfill this purpose, defined a set of training standards, and prepared the first edition of the SCIP manual. The manual was published in May of 1963. (history)

From 1963 to 1974, when SCIP ceased to exist after its initial merger with NAUI in 1972, twelve editions of the SCIP Divers and Instructors Manual were published. The SCIP manual was a concise compilation of material which was "the results of many hours of consultation, actual teaching experience, and utilization of the best material available nationally. In fact, this material represents the teaching experience and planning in accordance with the thinking of skin and scuba diving experts throughout the country." (1)


Sources for the material compiled and contained in the SCIP manual over the years were:
U.S. Navy Diving Manual, The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving and its authors, Dangerous Marine Animals by Dr. Bruce Halstead and The Red Cross. (2)


Persons responsible for compiling, contributing and editing material contained in the SCIP manual over the years were: Don E. Beer, Dick Wilgus, Frank Parrish, Dr. Glen Egstrom of UCLA, Dr. A. E. Blood of Texas Eastman, Bud Columbia, Tom Hanley and Dr. S. Harold Reuter, M.D.
(3)


The SCIP manual was intended to be a condensed convenient classroom aid taught by a qualified scuba instructor. The material was presented in a format such that the instructor could expand upon it as need be due to scuba legislation, technology, and equipment. "The prospective diver and certified diver were urged to seek expert instruction, upgrade themselves continuously with either periodic refresher courses or advanced levels of instruction."
(4)


With updating, even today, the
SCIP Divers and Instructors Manual could still be used to teach beginning scuba students how to safely scuba dive. It was an excellent dive manual for a student to learn from!


Highlight Sampler of SCIP Dive Manuals

by

Paul Johnston

Don E.Beer's 1961 Skin and Scuba Diving, a predecessor and layout model for future SCIP manuals. Some of the exact wording used in the Foreword was used from the first SCIP edition to the very last edition with its yellow-gold colored cover in 1974. Beer's manual contained 46 pages. On page one, there is a letter on letterhead from the Southwest Council of Diving Clubs listing officers and signed by Southwest Council's President, Sonny Logan. Sonny's letters talks of the history of diving and its appeal to man. What you don't know might kill you. The purpose of this course outlined in this manual is to allow someone to learn to dive safely.

Topics covered: snorkeling gear, diving physics, basic medical aspects, back pressure arm-lift method of artificial respiration,use of snorkeling equipment, open and closed circuit scuba equipment, Navy dive tables with 25 foot per minute ascent rate, hand signals, care of the equipment, doffing and donning the scuba equipment, interesting and important dive facts, glossary of dive terms and a suggested reading list.

There is no table of contents.

Manual cover is not printed on a slick paper. Back cover has advertising logos from Sportways Waterlung, Swimaster, U.S. Diver's "Aqualung," Chris Craft, Lone Star, Evinrude Outboard Motors and Beer's Marine Supply.


Third Edition - 1964 - '65 contained 70 pages of diving information. Notice that the primary spearfishing diver artwork is the same artwork appearing on Don Beer's manual and appears again on the second and third edition of the SCIP manual. Even the proposed 1968 cover art is the same. However, in the final revised 1968 cover, the spearfishing skin diver was dropped from the cover.

Topics covered: history of diving, medical examination, snorkeling equipment, fundamentals of scuba diving, methods of artificial respiration ( back pressure arm lift method, resusitube, just mentions mouth to mouth method & divers resusitube of snorkel), treatment of shock, swimming test, using basic gear,entries, floating, divers flag, mask clearing, diving physics, types of scuba, air components, decompression (ascent rate is 60 feet per minute), equipment care, underwater communication, marine life, tides and currents, general first aid, ditching and recovery of scuba, glossary and suggested reading.

Front and back covers are not printed on a slick paper. Both covers have a yellow primary color.


Revised - 1968 Edition - contained 81 pages of diving information. The print type in this manual is large and the illustrations are large. After the table of contents is a page listing illustrations and page number included in manual. There are 57 illustrations in this edition

Mouth to mouth resuscitation procedure is covered in detail for the first time and lists it as the best method of artificial respiration.

Front and back cover are printed on a heavy slick paper. Interior pages are printed on a heavy non-slick paper.

Cover color is white with large blue Southwest Council of Diving Clubs logo on front cover. The center of the front cover has a large red/white divers flag with the wording "S.C.I.P. DIVERS MANUAL" printed over flag. The lower right front cover has a drawing of a scuba diver holding a speargun swimming along through sea weed.

The cover design in this edition departs radically from the earlier cover designs. The original spearfishing skindiver has been dropped from the cover. The proposed cover for the revised 1968 edition shows the initial evolution of the cover art.


First 1970 Edition - contained 50 pages of information. The size of print type is smaller than what appeared in previous editions. The content is greater than previous issues and but the size of print type is smaller, hence fewer pages. This was the first of two editions printed for the 1970 editions. The price of the manual was $2.95. Four large emblems of the Southwest Council of Diving Clubs showing four level of certification available from SCIP. They were: Certified Diver, Senior Diver, Assistant Instructor and Certified Instructor.

New topics covered: actual photographs of various pieces of diving gear, the original SOS decompression meter made in Italy is discussed, Gulf of Mexico Diving - rock, reef, wreck, jetty and rig diving is discussed. This section on Gulf of Mexico diving is very unique to dive manuals of its day and very pertinent to the divers in the Southwestern part of the United States. Other new topics included knot tying, basic underwater photography, underwater photography in the Gulf of Mexico. This manual is the first to list recompression chamber locations and contact information in Texas. This Texas recompression chamber list was included in every subsequent edition of the SCIP manual.

Front and back covers are printed on a heavy slick paper. Interior pages also printed on a slick paper. This is the only manual that does not have the wording "Southwest Council of Diving Clubs" printed across the top of the front cover. This edition is the first edition to have a photograph on the front cover.


Second 1970 Edition - contains 52 pages of smaller print than earliest editions of manual. The main difference between the First 1970 Edition and this second edition for 1970 is this edition contains underwater photographs on the inside front cover, inside back cover and photographs of Gulf oil rig diving on last page, page 52 of manual. Also, the size of the certification logos of SCIP is smaller than on the First 1970 Edition cover. The price of the manual was $2.95.

On page 50, an expression of appreciation is given to Palette Printing Company for their assistance in compiling this manual.

Front and back covers are printed on a heavy slick paper. Interior pages are printed on a textured paper.


1971 Edition - contained 52 pages of information. Additional pages of photographs are included on the front and back covers, inside the front and back covers and a total of 15 photographs on pages 50 and 52 with heavy emphasis on spearfishing. On page 49 photographic credits are given to individuals and to four diving equipment manufacturers.

Front and back covers are printed on a heavy textured paper. Interior pages are also printed on a textured paper. The predominant cover color is a light blue.


1972 Edition - contained 64 pages of information. Additional pages of diving oriented photographs are included on the front and back covers, inside the front and back covers and a total of 25 photographs on pages 59 through 63. The most significant addition made in this edition was the addition of the "No Calculation Dive Tables" by S. Harold Reuter, M.D. from Houston, Texas. These tables were the Navy dive tables that had been reorganized in a simplified linear system for repetitive scuba dives. These tables came to be known as the Reuter Dive Tables and were a revolutionary step in simplifying the use of the dive tables.

The bibliography of suggest reading had now increased to a total of two full pages. The 1972 edition included for the first time "The Story of the Southwest Council Instructor Program" on page 2.


Front and back covers are printed on a heavy textured paper. Interior pages also printed on a textured paper. The predominant cover color is a light blue. The front cover showed a price of $3.50 and in the lower right hand corner a "SCIP dive flag" with the wording "Southwest Council" above the flag and "Instructor Program" below the dive flag.


Non Dated Editions - contained 64 pages of information and were all identical to the 1972 edition except for:

1. The inside front and back covers had photographs different than what was on the 1972 edition.

2. The lower right hand corner of all the non dated editions had a "SCIP dive flag" without the Southwest Council Instructor Program printed above and below the flag.

3. The colors of front and back cover were different than the 1972 cover color.

4. The pricing of the non dated editions reflected the increase in printing costs and the order in which these manuals were printed. (Purple Edition - $3.50; Blue Edition - $4.50; Yellow-Gold Edition - $5.50)

5. Small variations of paper used in manuals were different in the non dated editions versus the 1972 edition.


References

(history) Southwest Council Instructors Program By-Laws, Revised October, 1969; From Original By-Laws of 1963; History.

(1)SCIP Divers Manual, Third Edition, Foreword. This wording was used consistently in the Foreword from the Don E.Beer's 1961 Skin and Scuba Diving, a predecessor and model for the SCIP manual, to the very last edition with a yellow-gold colored cover in 1974.

(2), (3)Information on compiling, sources and editing acknowledgments at the front of SCIP manuals from the first to last editions.


(4)SCIP Divers Manual, 1972 Edition, page 1.


Copyright - 2004 - Dick Wilgus, Sandy Wilgus & Paul Johnston

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