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John Crea asked me to forward this (he should be joining us on the techdiver list RSN, too)... --tab ----------------------------------------------------------------- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MAY 1, 1994 NEW TRAINING AGENCY FORMED A group of industry notables has formed TECHNICAL DIVING INTERNATIONAL as the third training agency specializing in nitrox, mixed gas, deep air and other applications of diving technology beyond the traditional recreational window. TDI will be headquartered in Key Largo, Florida, processing certifications and materials effective May 1st. Included as founding members are Dr. Bill Hamilton, Ph.D. and John Crea, prominent physiologists and gurus of custom dive table generation. Both men are widely respected authors and lecturers as well as longtime contributors to AquaCorps. Bret Gilliam, President of Ocean Tech and Chairman of the Board for NAUI, comes into TDI with 23 years of experience in the diving industry including the last three years as Vice President of IANTD. He is well known for scores of articles and several books on technical diving and is actively involved in training programs at all levels. "We wanted to form TDI as a professional agency that would focus on developing the best educational support materials at affordable prices and transfer more of the reveneues to the instructor and store facilities. By getting such a diversified group of founders together we can bring a wealth of experience and talent to concentrate on each facet of technical training. This will provide a superior process for reviewing all of our programs to ensure technical accuracy, content, and overall quality," says Gilliam. "Our initial emphasis will be in several areas: a new entry level nitrox text in easy to read language aimed at sport divers, a comprehensive wreck diving manual, a well formulated gas blending program for stores coordinated by Glenn Butler and John Comly, and completely new trimix training module by John Crea. We're also having Bill Hamilton oversee creation of course standards to best reflect safety and risk management." Hamilton will be in charge of review and technical editor for all books and training materials. Watersport Publishing will be printing TDI's materials and be bringing them to market at dramatically reduced retail prices compared to other agency texts. A full catalog of products will be available by summer. All instructors credentialled for ANDI or IANTD are welcomed as cross-over TDI members for a nominal fee of $10. A one million dollar instructor liability insurance policy is available for $420. Other founding stockholders include John M. Comly of Blue Abyss Dive Center in New Jersey, Mitch Skaggs of H2O Scuba in Miami, and Steve Pearson of Adventure Diving in Seattle. Divid Sipperly will be the Headquarters Manger with Peter Hess, well known legal activist for diver's rights, retained as corporate counsel. "We felt there was room for another agency to fill in some of the gaps and our initial repsonse has been overwhelming," says Gilliam. "We've had people phoning up begging to invest; I guess that maybe the true measure of interest in TDI. All the stock has been issued, but we're welcoming stores and instructors in by cross-over so anyone can still get in on the ground floor. It's going to be exciting!" Technical Diving International 621 Cuda Lane Key Largo, Florida 33037 phone: 305-853-0996 fax: 305-852-3908
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