OzTek'07 - Day 1
Here is a quick report from the 1st day of the OzTek'07 show.
It all began with Frits (Sydney Project) falling in love with the "giant SCUBA tanks" they had outside the building ...
F**k rebreathers. This baby gives me 2 weeks of bottom time anywhere
The show is very well received - all the major vendors of technical diving equipment are there.
A very busy day indeed! Lots to see, people to talk to gadgets and gear to check out. My day starts with a long chat with Martin Parker of APD fame. Nicki and Martin are at the Southern Cross Divers booth with Barry Hallett of SXD (You send them, we bent them :-) Martin will give a talk tomorrow and there will be news about the long awaited BOV. Nothing new to see at the booth, there is just one Evolution for display.
Later during the day I meet Lamar Hires from DiveRite. Tony Davies (DiveRite Australia) is showing the new FX. The unit shows a few improvements over the original O2ptima. Looks like a great package for travelling. The inside is quite neat compared to its predecessor. Unfortunately, there are no plans to come out with a conventional scrubber. The Micropore will be the only option. But Lamar is optimistic that the supply network is improving.
Lamar Hires (DiveRite) visits the Rebreather World/Sydney Project booth
Southern Cross Divers are showing the rEVO. What a neat package, extremely low profile. I'll have to go back and check out the unit tomorrow. I think I also saw Paul Maekers at the stand, but haven't had a chance to talk to him.
The Eagle is there in a CMF mCCR version and the eCCR version. I'll have to spend some time with the guys tomorrow. There are just not enough hours in the day, because I have to take care of the Sydney Project/Rebreather World booth as well.
The Rebreather World T-shirts are selling rather well! People do appreciate the information and help they get from the site and like the idea of contributing to the running of the board. I'll run out of T-shorts soon and may have to make a list and run a second batch of shirts if I continue selling them at the current rate! We'll see. We also had quite a few visitors: Mike Gadd, John Chatterton, Ron Micjan, Dr. Simon Mitchell, Mark Spencer, Jason McHatten, Lamar Hires, Pete Mesley, Scuttlebud, Jason Blackwell and many more came to visit the Sydney Project/RBW booth. It is great to be able to put faces to some of the people who post frequently on the board. Great stuff! Some pics ...
John Chatterton (Deep Sea Detectives, Shadow Divers, ...) at the Rebreather World/Sydney Project booth
John Chatterton, Samir Alhafith (Leader of the Sydney Project), Frits Breuseker (Sydney Project) and Sven Paepke (Sydney Project, RebreatherWorld)
Ron Micjan and Donal Walsh after their 510 Meg dive (accumulated total depth for the Meg team in feet
) visited the Rebreather World/Sydney Project booth
Dr Simon Mitchell, Paul Garske, Steve Loneragan, Sven Paepke (all Sydney Project) meet with Mike Gadd at the Rebreather World/Sydney Project booth.
Besides all the new gear, the guys from the Historical Diving Society have put on quite a show. I'll have some pics tomorrow.
All in all - a great day of diving, without getting wet and cold :-))) I look forward to Sunday.