Mike Bear goes Tech at PADI headquarters. Photo by Nick Watson.
PADI [Professional Association of Diving Instructors] concluded a successful Tec Xplorer Days event at their headquarters in Rancho Santa Margarita on Monday, June 6, which featured numerous re-breather and dive gear manufacturers, as well as featured speakers on various subjects. The event allowed invited dive professionals to listen to talks and then go out to the pool to try out the dive equipment.
Presentations from guest speakers included discussions on sidemount, rebreather technologies, new tec courses PADI will have available, actual recounts of extreme tec expeditions, and various first person accounts, as well as an opportunity to dive with the latest technical diving equipment in the on site pool. The gear ranged from the latest technical diving computers to closed circuit rebreathers.
I had the opporunity to try out two rebreathers from VR Technologies and rEvo, respectively. Closed-circut technology is very different from open-ciruit SCUBA and requires specialized knowledge and training to use. PADI plans to offer courses in both recreational and technical diving appplications with rebreathers later this year.
Speakers included Dr. Drew Richardson, Karl Shreeves, Jeff Loflin, Dan Orr (President of Diver’s Alert Network) and Luke Inman of ‘Adopt a Shark.’
Door prizes and raffles were held throughout the day, and a surprisingly tasty lunch was provided.
Participating Manufacturers at PADI’s Tec Xplorer Day included:
Analox Sensor Technology
Apeks & Suunto
DUI
Fourth Element
Hollis Gear
IST Sports
Liquivision
OMS/Big Blue/UEMIS
Poseidon
rEvo
ScubaPro
Silent Diving
Titan Dive Gear
TUSA
VR Technology
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Special thanks to Mike Bear for this contribution.
Read more about the PADI Event in the upcoming July/August issue of California Diver Magazine!