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CAVEAT EMPTOR........... jc ----- Original Message ----- From: Joe W <arizonajeep@ho*.co*> To: <techdiver@aquanaut.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2001 8:55 PM Subject: PADI TecRec... Has ANYONE ever heard of their "Experts"??? (LONG) > Okay, > > In the past three years, I post to this group an average of... hmmmm... > about once per year. Usually, it is to defend PADI's place in the world of > diving... not because I believe in everything they do; but rather, because I > (as an instructor) can use their methods and materials to produce > recreational divers who will stay alive. I mostly do not post to this group > because I read the posts (after filtering out the garbage) to learn... I > have nothing of value to add to the technical diving community, so I keep my > mouth shut and I learn. After three years; I'm still learning. When I > think I've got enough dives and experience under my belt; I'll go to Florida > and take GUE courses... I'm an engineer, and from my standpoint a great deal > of DIR is logical. Ah... but I digress; on to the real point of this post. > > First, before I start, let me identify myself so that I'm not hiding behind > mama's apron: My name is Joe West, and I am a PADI IDC Staff Instructor > (IDCS164452). > > So I stroll out to my mailbox yesterday to find the PADI sponsored magazine > "The Undersea Journal" sitting in it. I pull it out and right on the front > cover is a diver with three tanks scattered about and the words TecRec all > over the front cover. > (I'm one of the PADI people who think that PADI has no business in the > technical world, so I've been dreading this moment). > > After reading a few articles inside... a few things are clear to me, and > others are still somewhat vague. I'll see if I can present what I believe > to be what is going on at PADI and TecRec. It seems that PADI has created > (perhaps for liability reasons) a separate corporation named Diving Science > and Technology (DSaT) to handle and govern the "Technical" side of the > business. If PADI didn't create this corporation (Division, Institute or > whatever it is), they are certainly imbedded in it's operation (and from > this you can gather that DSaT is doing what PADI tells it to do). DSat > administers the PADI technical program. > > Now, finally, for the true intent of my post; listed below are the Technical > diving professionals who make up the "Technical Diving Experts" who form > DSat and therefore will be setting the agenda for training technical divers: > > Drew Richardson, Senior Vice President PADI Training, Education, Environment > and Memberships. Listed qualifications; 4000 logged dives, experience in > tec deep and cave diving, recompression chamber operation, mixed gas and > enriched air diving and commercial diver training. Member of UHMS, SPUMS, > DAN, EUBS and AAUs. Oh yes, and last but not least he received the 1992 DAN > Rolex Diver of the Year award. > > Jon Coon, Regional Manager, PADI Americas. Diving since 1962, Qualified on > mixed gas closed circuit recirculators in the early 70s, chamber operator, > explosives technician, Enriched Air Diver Instructor, full cave diver, Medic > first aid instructor trainer and PADI Course Director.... oh yes, and he's > authored several articles for The Undersea Journal and written two novels, > Thief of the Deep and Black Wolf. > > Stush Doviat, Regional Manager. Open water instructor, certified full cave > diver and emeritus cavern instructor (what???) He also holds the Abe Davis > Safe Cave Diving Award for 100 (yes! One Hundred) safe cave dives... oh and > he is one of tec diving's first deep divers. > > John Kinsella, Director, Training and Quality Management. Started diving in > the mid 70s and has deep EXTENSIVE deep air experience (oh...my...god... > this IS as bad as I thought it was going to be). Last but not least, he > runs a successful 5 star Instructor Development Center. > > Steve Mortell, educational Consultant. Diving for more than 25 years, a > PADI Course Director, rebreather diver and full cave instructor with more > than 10 years cave diving experience in North Florida. > > Jean-Claude Monachon, CEO. Began his diving career in Switzerland's dark, > low visibility, Lac de Joux in 1974. Ice dives at 6100 feet and half of his > dive experience involves lakes, rivers and cave diving. He likes wreck > dives. > > Yasushi Inoue, manager training and membership. In the dive industry more > than 15 years, PADI Course Director since 1991, former electrical engineer > with Honda, has a special interest in rebreather technology. > > Jan Moller Busch, Regional manager. 10 years dive experience in Scandinavia > and around the world. PADI Enriched Air Instructor Trainer, Course Director > and Instructor Examiner. > > Hans Olsson, Manager, Training. Course Director. Diving since 1980. > > Irmeli Wallin, General Manager. One of Europe's most experienced divers. > Background ranges from instruction and technical diving to fishery economy, > biology and hydrology. PADI Course Director and IE. Diving since early > 70's. Oh yes, and she's fluent in 5 languages. > > Mark Caney, Director, Training, Education, Environment and Memberships. > PADI Course Director, enriched air instructor and he is a pioneering trimix > instructor who helped introduce mixed gas diving techniques in several > countries. Designs gas blending systems and rebreathers. > > Mark Lazenby. PADI Master Instructor. Certified in deep technical diving > and trimix. Technical diving instructor. > > Karl Shreeves, Vice President, Technical Development. Diving for 30 years, > technical diving almost 10 years. Participated in the Farb Monitor > Expeditions, Project Nohoch, an tthers. He holds the Wakulla Award for 100 > safe cave dives (GEORGE???). > > Dr. Des Gorman, Navy Master Diver and submariner. Written lots of books and > papers but technical diving experience not listed. > > Grant Graves, PADI Course Director. 20 years diving experience, 15 years > technical diving. Regional safety officer for a cave diving organization > (they don't say which one). He's a videographer and director for the > television series Aquanauts. > > Jill Heinerth, PADI Master Instructor and technical diving instructor. > Teaches closed circuit rebreathers, trimix and cave diving. She was one of > the exploratory divers for the Wakulla2 (GEORGE???) exploration. 2000 > Canadian technical diver of the year and a member of the women divers hall > of fame. > > Paul Heinerth, (same exact certs as his wife above including 2000 Canadian > technical diver of the year, but not the women divers hall of fame). > > Terrence Tysall, Diving since he was 8 (hmmmm... wonder if PADI certified > him? <grin>) Director of the Florida US Deep Diving Team. Most notable > dive was to the Edmund Fitzgerald at 500ft depth. > > And last but not least; > Bill Turbeville JD, one of the dive industries key defense attorneys. > Instructor, trimix certified. Avid technical diver. > (I suspect that Bill will be getting more than his fair share of work from > the disasters that are about to arise from PADI's entrance to the world of > technical diving). > > > Okay folks, there it is; pretty much straight from the mouth of PADI. These > are the diving experts who are leading PADI's entrance into technical > diving. For goodness sake; can ANYONE on this list add a bit of credibility > to the people listed here? I don't recognize any of the names and the > technical experience that PADI has listed seems to be... ummm...err.... in > most cases pretty insignificant. I'm hoping that someone on this list can > enlighten me. Good, bad, indifferent; has anyone heard of ANY of these PADI > "Experts". If I come off sounding a bit angry... I am. I am tied to PADI, > and while I don't expect to ever think their entrance into technical diving > is a good thing; I hope I can convince myself that they won't be killing > divers in huge numbers... > > By the way; I typed this email while reading the article in PADI's magazine. > There may be some typos and I've truncated some of the verbiage, but didn't > change the qualifications. I tried to faithfully list the qualifications > contained in the article without listing every last paper written or dive > completed. > > > > Kindest Regards, > > Joe West > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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