(DiverWire) - The continued growth of technical diving and the demand for details about this growing trend was clear last weekend in Southern California. PADI hosted the second in a series of PADI Americas Tec Xplor Days. Presented at the company’s regional headquarters in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. the event had nearly 100 divers lining up in anticipation of the day’s activities.
With the opportunity to explore technical diving from all angles, divers tested dive equipment, attend informative seminars and interacted with the 18 dive equipment manufacturers on hand for the day.
Following opening remarks from PADI Worldwide President and Chief Operating Officer Dr. Drew Richardson, attendees split their time between inwater experiences and informative seminars. Karl Shreeves, PADI Technical Diving Division Director of Decompression Diving, presented the latest developments in PADI Recreational Rebreather and Technical CCR courses while professional technical diving instructor and PADI Americas Tec Consultant, Jeff Loflin shared two presentations — The Evolution of Sidemount diving and Transitioning from Recreational to Technical Diving.
PADI Course Director and award-winning cameraman, Luke Inman, entertained attendees with
his stunning videos and photographs of shark tagging and tracking down elusive Humboldt squid while on a closed-circuit rebreather unit. Dr. Richardson then shared his frosty account of test diving regulators in Antarctica, one of the world’s harshest environments. Divers Alert Network (DAN) President Dan Orr rounded out the seminars with a presentation on real dive emergencies and how divers can learn from previous mistakes to help them remain safe both in recreational and technical diving.
On the pool deck, representatives from Analox Sensor Technology, Apeks, Big Blue Lights, Dolphin Tech, DUI, Fourth Element, Hollis Gear, Liquivision, OMS, Poseidon, rEvo, ScubaPro, Silent Diving, Suunto, Titan Dive Gear, TUSA, UEMIS and VR Technology answered questions from divers and conducted both inwater demonstrations and test dives throughout the day. From 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM, the PADI Americas pool was home to nonstop action as divers tested sidemount, closed-circuit rebreather and dry suit equipment. The PADI Americas staff extends a big thank you to these manufacturers for the generous donation of their time, resources and many amazing prizes for attendees.
The next PADI Americas Tec Xplor Day will be held on Sunday, 6 November 2011 following DEMA Show 2011 in Orlando, Florida, USA and is open all certified divers. For more information, or to register, visit padi.com/TecXplor. For more information about the PADI Tec Revolution and upcoming PADI technical diving courses, visit the PADI TecRec blog.
