Visiting DUI

     Before Steven and Eline left the United States, we all took a little road trip down the coast to visit DUI in San Diego.  For those of you unfamiliar with the world of diving, this doesn't mean we're in any kind of trouble (Rolex Scholars are more responsible than that!).  DUI stands for Diving Unlimited International.  DUI started out as a wetsuit manufacturer and local dive store and is now one of the largest and most reputable drysuit manufacturers in the world.  The company specialises in drysuits for military, commercial and recreational diving and is an important supporter of the scholarship.

     After meeting with Susan Long, president of DUI, her father Dick and Faith Ortins took Steve, Eline and I on a tour of the DUI factory and then out for a delicious Mexican lunch.  Every suit is made by hand, and it was impressive to see how much work is put into making sure that every order is completely up to snuff.  We also got to see one of the special hot water suits DUI made for the US Navy divers involved in operation Ivy Bells in the 1970's.  This was a series of top secret missions where a number of nuclear submarines, including the USS Parche were modified to be used as saturation diving support vessels.  These submarines would 'land' on the floor of the Sea of Okhotsk and lock out Navy divers who planted wire taps on a secret Soviet communications cable.

     It was really fun to meet Dick and Susan Long and to see exactly what goes into every DUI suit, especially since I love mine so much!  The people who build these suits really believe that the effort and extra quality they put into them helps the divers that use their suits accomplish tremendous things, and they're right!

Aloha From Maui!

     Jeff and I have been in Hawai'i for the past four days working on a project that Jeff was hired as a consultant on.  When he asked me if I wanted to come with him last week I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but flights were dirt cheap and I couldn't say no.  At this point I can't really discuss the project in public due to an NDA but hopefully sometime in the future I'll be able to go into it further because it is incredibly cool.

     At any rate we arrived in Honolulu on the 15th and met one of our gracious hosts and Jeff's business partner, Harry Donenfeld.  Harry is an awesome guy and we had a blast hanging out with him during our stay in Hawai'i.  Not only did he put us up in his home on Maui and go to great lengths to share his favourite parts of Hawai'i with us but he's just a fantastic, high energy personality and a lot of fun to dive and hang out with.  We spent our first night on the North Shore of O'ahu with one of Jeff's former students, Nick.  Nick is a really nice guy and interesting character and I could probably write an entire bog entry or two on him alone.  He's definitely got a taste for adventure and is an avid helicopter pilot, kite boarder, big wave surfer, rebreather diver and amateur film maker among other things.  It would be an understatement to say that our accommodations were 'plush' and we had a very nice dinner that night at the Turtle Bay Resort with Harry and Katie Laing, the 1993 Rolex Scholar.

     The next morning Harry Jeff and I set off for Maui where we would be meeting up with Jeff's client and working with a local dive operation, North Shore Explorers.  Todd, Liz, Chris and the rest of the gang at North Shore Explorers have a sweet operation running, and took care of all of our diving needs during our stay.  The jewel in the crown of NSE is the Pailolo, a converted US Navy rigid hull inflatable powered by two 300 horsepower diesel jet drives. Although one of the engines was having maintenance issues during our visit the Pailolo is apparently a beast when she's up and running and this allows NSE to run trips to spots and under conditions that would usually be impossible for run-of-the-mill cattle boat operators to handle.

     The four days we spent in Maui were absolutely jam packed with amazing diving, people, food and exploration.  Harry, Todd, Chris, Liz, John and everyone else made sure that we kept busy and had an awesome time.  It was also a privilege (and a lot of fun) to get to help Jeff out with his work (we did do a little...).  After a quick last minute dive with some turtles on the leeward side of the island Jeff and I set off for O'ahu, where Jeff will be catching a flight back to California but I'll have a few more days to hang out and explore with Katie Laing.

The Bozanics

     Since the end of our rebreather course I've been staying with Jeff, Rebekah, Evan, John Aaron and Taleah Bozanic in Huntington Beach, CA.  They've been incredible hosts, and I've an amazing time diving, playing and generally acting like a member of the family.  They even took me out to dinner for my birthday and got me an awesome cake with a little scuba diver on it.  Jeff and I are leaving for Hawai'i tomorrow to work on a project with one of Jeff's partner's Harry Donenfeld.

     Harry and Jeff have been working on a few interesting projects of late that I might be able to write about in more detail a little bit later on, but I wanted to post a video they have on youtube that I think is pretty cool.  It starts Jeff's seven year old son, John Aaron.

 

Rebreathers!

     The most exciting opportunity to arise at DEMA was an invitation for all three scholars to join a rebreather class being taught by Jeff Bozanic.  Jeff has an incredibly varied and interesting background in science and in diving, and a talk he gave at the LA County Natural History Museum that I attended while a junior at USC was a major factor in inspiring me to take up diving.  Jeff has been a strong supporter of the scholarship for a very long time, and quite a few former scholars have said that this course was the highlight of their scholarship year.

Jeff

     Jeff's courses are also known for their intensity and thoroughness.  With less than a day to recover from DEMA madness, Magne (one of Jeff's students from Norway), Steve, Eline and I arrived at Jeff's house excited and a little nervous to begin what would be the most challenging week of diving any of us had ever gone through.  After picking up the units we would be using from the course from Richard Graff of Xtreme Scuba, the first few days were focused completely on lectures regarding the history, physics, physiology, design and practice of diving rebreathers.

The three scholars hard at work

     All of us would be learning to use an Evolution, Inspiration Classic and an Inspiration Vision, all three of which are electronically controlled close circuit rebreathers (eCCRs).  This means that they have a fully closed breathing loop, complete with a suite of sensors that monitor the oxygen levels inside the loop.  If the controller detects low levels of oxygen within the loop, a solenoid will fire, injecting oxygen into the loop.  This type of rebreather is usually flown 'fully automatic' meaning that the diver allows the computer to control the partial pressure of oxygen.  However, we would be learning to fly the rebreathers completely manually, using the electronics purely as a backup.  If any of that is unclear, and you want a little help understanding it, read this.  If you really want to know how a rebreather works, you should read Jeff's book, Mastering Rebreathers.  If you are at all interested in diving technology or rebreathers it's a must-read.  If you can't be bothered to read either, know that a rebreather differs from SCUBA in that it recycles the air the diver breathes by removing CO2 via a chemical 'scrubber' and periodically replacing the oxygen that the diver metabolizes.  When used properly it can offer vast benefits in decompression obligation and gas consumption.  In technical diving rebreathers can sometimes be used to complete dives that would be impossible on open circuit due to gas consumption.

Cookie-check, Rolex-check, problem sets-check

     After completing the first few days of our training, we were really excited to be getting in the water and trying out our units.  On Thursday we met our assistant instructor, Ian Martin, and spent most of the day in Jeff's pool, working on emergency drills, managing our PO2 and our buoyancy.  On  Friday we headed down to San Pedro and boarded the Psalty V, captained by Gary Jackson and his dog, KO.  We were also joined by Jeff's friend and partner, Elaine Jobin, who was there to photograph the trip and join in on the fun.  Jeff, Ian, Magne, Eline, Steve, Gary, Elaine and I would spend the next three days on the Psalty V completing the class and diving all over Catalina.

Karl checking up on us

     Learning to dive rebreathers can be difficult and dangerous at best, especially when your students are a trio of young divers who have just enough experience under their belts that they're beginning to think they know what they're doing underwater, so Ian and Jeff approached every open water dive with extreme caution and careful planning.  Rebreather diving is very different than open circuit; it requires extreme focus and concentration at all times.  The dives were really exciting and fun, but very challenging.  Ian and Jeff didn't hesitate to throw every emergency or problem imaginable at us at any time, often several simultaneously.  On top of all of this we were expected to constantly monitor and maintain our set points without any assistance from our electronics.  It was frustrating at times, but Jeff and Ian are fantastic teachers, and by the last few dives of the course we were beginning to feel like real divers again.

Bailing out

     After the week was over, I definitely understood why so many scholars had spoken so glowingly about Jeff and his courses.  Jeff and his family were wonderful to us during our stay at his house.  They truly made us feel like members of the family.  Gary and KO were also terrific hosts, the food, diving and accommodations on the Psalty V were absolutely top-notch. One of the coolest parts of the week was going to spots I'd dove on dozens of times before and seeing them in a completely new light thanks to the lack of noisy bubbles from our rebreathers.  We also had a chance to see some old friends on the island including T-bird and Karl and check out the Two Harbors' haunted house!  Best of all, each of us encountered and overcame some significant obstacles during our training, and I know that we all really improved as divers.  If anyone is feeling extra generous around Christmas-time, a rebreather is now definitely holding down the top spot on my list.