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A 2-day dive show held at the National Exhibition Centre, near
Birmingham, England on 15th/16th October held considerable interest for 'tech'
minded divers. Below are highlighted some items that I found significant.
They
are in no special order. My apologies to anyone/anything omitted. Perhaps
someone else can 'fill in the gaps'.
- A series of talks and slideshows were presented including
#1 Mike Menduno, "Emerging deep diving Technology"
#2 Stuart Clough + Peter Readey, "Closed circuit and semi-closed circuit
breathing apparatus"
#3 Dick Long, "Thermal barriers - keeping warm at depth"
#4 Rob Palmer, "Safe limits in technical diving"
- An exhibition dive tank was used to display Peter Readey's "Prism"
semi-closed rebreather and Richard Nortstrom/Kevin Gurr's "Cis-Lunar Mk IV"
closed circuit rebreather (just back from a 4+1/2 month long Mexican cave
diving
expedition)
- Rob Palmer's new book "An Introduction to Technical Diving" was
launched (ISBN 0 946020 23X). I haven't had time to do more than browse
through the book, but it looks like a 'gold mine' of up to date information
and
is packed with high quality colour photographs of tech-diving equipment and
techniques. A 'must' for everyone reading thie BBS (IMHO). Perhaps someone
else would give it the proper review it deserves.
- Both Peter Readey and Kevin Gurr/Jim Booth are offering 1-day tryout
rebreather courses in Britain, based around the "Prism" and "Cis-Lunar"
respectively. Cost = #85/day. Extended courses are also on offer, together
with
courses on Basic/Advanced/Technical Nitrox, Deep Air, Trimix and Gas Mixing. I
have already been to one of the "Prism" 1-day courses and found it to be very
professionally run. The whole range of rebreathers soon to be available were
reviewed, together with rebreather theory. A 30 minute dive using the "Prism"
ended the day perfectly.
- Ocean Management Systems have begun a dealership in Britain and
displayed a product range of cylinder valves and manifolds. In addition a well
thought out set of bouyancy "wings" new this side of the Atlantic. This
incorporated a hard plastic or stainless steel backplate and a rugged outer
wings bag containing two independent bladders with their own direct feeds +
mouthpieces. The problem of the wings moving around when deflated was solved
by
a series of external elastic straps tha tcompresses the wings into a small
volume when deflated. Selective removal of these straps would enable head-up
or
head-down trim adjustment for partially inflated wings.
- A small personal locator radio EPIRB beacon was displayed in a 70m
water-resistant case about the size of a cigarette packet. In the event of a
surfacing diver losing contact with the support boat, the beacon can be
activated. the signal will transmit up to 70 miles to International Search and
Rescue Services. A price tag of #99 ($US 150) was quoted.
- The new Posiedon regulator was on display. As previously described,
it resembles a small cube on top of a base swivel, connected to the lp hose.
Brightly coloured side vents deflect exhaust air from in front of the mask.
This regulato is aimed at the 'popular' market and is said to have a 50m
performance similar to the Cyklon 5000. It is not intended to replace the
higher performance Posiedon regulators used my many tech-divers.
- Vandagraph Ltd displayed a neat, splash-proof oxygen analyser selling
at #195 ($US 300), in a rugged carry case. The sensor lifetime of 4 years is
expected in air. A trimix analyser is being developed, but I have no idea how
this might work. Try giving a call if you are interested Tel. 0535-634900,
fax 0535-635582. (For international calls, remove the 1st zero and replace
with
44)
- Trimix and Nitrox dive charters are now being offered in Scapa Flow,
Scotland (tel/fax 0856-874761)
- New dive computers to Britain included
Suunto 'Eon' air-integrated computer
Sea & Sea 'Profile-1000'
Dive-Rite 'Bridge' nitrox computer
- No sign over here yet of
US Divers/Aqualung 'Monitor 3' air-integrated computer
Uwatec 'Air-X' " " "
Sherwoood 'Sentry' " " "
Oceanic 'Data-Trans' " " "
nor of Nemesis 'Nitrox'
or Orca 'Phoenix/Nitrox' computers
We are lagging behind the USA in getting access to new gear.
- Other items of interest to tech- divers, but seen before included:
Zeagle dive 'wings'
DUI 'Technical Diver' compressed neoprene drysuit
- Northern Diver have come out with their own compessed neoprene
drysuit. I suspect the material is not the same as DUI's and not as rugged.
Anyone else know about this ?
Note: I have no commercial interest in any of the above and have written
this report for interest/information purposes only. All opinions expressd are
my own. My apologies to anyone/anything omitted. Write in with supplementary
info if you feel strongly enough, but please don't 'flame' me. My apologies
also to those tech-divers more in touch than me who have heard all this before.
If you don't want this sort of stuff on the BBS, let me know (in private) and I
won't bother again.
Final note :For me it was an EXCELLENT show. Thanks to those putting in
the effort to make it happen. I hope others enjoyed it as much. To those in
Britain who missed it, I would recommend it next time.
Regards, Steve M.
*******************************************************************************
* * *
* Dr. S. G. Millard * E-Mail : ec96@li*.ac*.uk*
*
* Department of Civil Engineering, * *
* University of Liverpool, * Tel : 051 794 5224 (UK) *
* PO Box 147, * 44 51 794 5224 *
* Liverpool L69 3BX, * (International) *
* UK. * *
* * Fax : 051 794 5218 (UK) *
* * 44 51 795 5218 *
* * (International) *
* * *
*******************************************************************************
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