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At TEKCamp, we pride ourselves on securing a fabulous line up of speakers that represent some of the most knowledgeable experts and explorers in the diving industry. Whatever your interest, TEKCamp offers a packed schedule of talks to inform, challenge and inspire...
At TEKCamp 2012, we were pleased to welcome a number of leading speakers to the event. Each and every day, TEKCamp attendees enjoyed a number of fascinating talks covering a diverse range of subjects ranging from decompression theory and kit configuration to deep wreck discovery and cutting-edge cave exploration. Read on to discover what you missed...
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TEKCAMP 2012 ARCHIVE:
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World Record Diving in Pozo Azul
Presented by John Volanthen
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World record-holding cave diver John Volanthen will detail the history of exploration of the Pozo Azul cave system, located in Northern Spain. John will provide an insight into the techniques and equipment that were developed as the exploration progressed and dives became longer and more committing year on year. Particular emphsis will be placed on the techniques used to ensure the safety of the lead divers given that rescue or recovery would be virtually impossible from the far reaches of the cave.
After his talk, John will hold an open questions session with all the equipment he used on the Pozo Azul push dives, giving TEKCamp 2012 attendees to opportunity to examine equipment and modifications in detail and understand how techniques developed by the Pozo Azul team can be applied to UK diving.
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ABOUT JOHN VOLANTHEN
For over 15 years, John Volanthen has been at the very cutting edge of dry and flooded cave exploration worldwide.
John jointly holds the British cave diving depth record (Wookey Hole) and was also a leading member of the team that holds the World record for the longest cave diving penetration - 5.5 miles underwater. When a notable French cave diver failed to surface from the Dragonierre de Gaud in Autumn 2010, John was one of two british divers flown to the Ardeche to attempt the rescue.
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TWENTY YEARS IN DIVING
Presented by Phil Short
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Ever-popular rebreather cave expert Phil Short will be headlining Tuesday evening. If Phil's previous talks are anything to go by, this one is sure to be packed with seat-of-your-pants anecdotes and humour!
Phil will give a presentation on 'The Good, The Bad and the Ugly', so to speak, of 22 years as a professional in the diving industry. With stories from expeditions across the various diving communities including cave, wreck and marine life dives, and experiences from dive projects in archeology and treasure recovery to filming projects for TV and even Hollywood movies. Phil will recount some of the wonderful experiences, near misses and comedy moments from his journey through a hobby that became a job that rapidly grew into a passion and a career for life.
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ABOUT PHIL SHORT
Phil Short has been a dive industry professional for over 20 years, during which time he has logged over 6000 dives with over 3000 hours on Closed Circuit Rebreathers.
As an educator Phil has trained scientific groups, including US National Parks Service, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the Archeologists of the Chinese National Museum in Beijing. Search and Rescue Teams, such as the UK Police Strathclyde Underwater Search team, and Media teams from the BBC.
Phil currently acts as a Dive Industry consultant for manufacturers such as VR Technology Ltd, Fourth Element, and is Training Director for IANTD UK.
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GUIDED TOUR OF WOOKEY HOLE
Presented by Dr Duncan Price
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The highlight of this year's evening events will be an exclusive 'out of hours' tour of the jaw-dropping Wookey Hole Show Caves with CDG diver Dr Duncan Price. Duncan will be taking TEKCamp 2012 attendees on a fascinating history of cave diving in Wookey as we explore these world-class show caves for ourselves. Prepare to be gob-smacked by the breath-taking beauty of these amazing caves - but watch out for the Wookey witch!
Note that the field trip to Wookey Hole caves requires attendees to travel down together to Wookey Hole near Cheddar in their own vehicles. Cost of entry to Wookey Hole is included in the price of your TEKCamp 2012 ticket. Maps will be handed out to ensure that everyone knows where to go!
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ABOUT DR DUNCAN PRICE
Duncan Price is the co-author of the award winning book 'Wookey Hole: 75 years of Cave Diving & Exploration' published by the Cave Diving Group in 2010. Duncan took his BSAC Snorkel Diver test in 1982 and started caving a year later whilst at university. The progression into cave diving followed quickly and has involved him in the discovery of new cave passage in the UK, Europe and the USA over the past 25 years.
Duncan took part in the 2004-5 Wookey Hole explorations that established a new British depth record during which he dived to 70m (in a wetsuit!). As well as writing about cave diving in numerous publications, Duncan is also an expert on the 26 different flavours of ice cream for sale at Wookey Hole Caves. When not cave diving or eating ice cream, Duncan pretends to be a Chemical Engineer.
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RMS Titanic: 2 1/2 Miles Down!
Presented by Kevin Gurr
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With 2012 marking the 100th Anniversary of the fateful sinking of the RMS Titanic 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, TEKCamp 2012 attendees will get to discover for themselves what it's really like to go on a dive to this historic wreck from someone who has really been there - pioneering technical diver and rebreather guru Kevin Gurr.
Recounting his experiences of visiting the world's most famous wreck, Kevin descended to a depth of 3784 metres onboard the Russian MIR submarine - the same submarine used by Hollywood Director James Cameron to film underwater sequences for the Oscar-winning movie. Setting out from Newfoundland onboard the Russian research vessel, Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, Kevin and fellow explorers Leigh Bishop and Carl Spencer spent almost seven hours exploring the wreck and conducting experiments for the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Featuring exclusive photographs of the wreck, Kevin's talk promises to provide a fascinating insight into what it feels like to experience 'the world's greatest wreck dive'.
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ABOUT KEVIN GURR
Kevin Gurr has been involved with Technical Diving since its' inception in Europe. As well as being the first technical diving instructor outside the USA, he has led and been a part of many expeditions; the first sport dives on the RMS Britannic (the sister ship of the Titanic) in 1997, treasure hunting in the Pacific (and several other locations Worldwide), film making and a dive on the Titanic in the MIR submarines to name a few.
As an engineer and diver, Kevin has developed several ground breaking products for the diving industry from trimix computers to cutting edge rebreathers. Kevin lives in Dorset, England with wife Mandy, daughters Leyla and Amberlee, Neo the black Labrador and various motorcycles.
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TEKCAMP PARTY
Kick back and enjoy the TEKCamp wrap party!
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Friday night is party night to mark the end of a full-on, fabulous week of diving at TEKCamp. The instructing team will be in attendance, giving you the perfect opportunity to rub shoulders and chat with some of the biggest names in diving. Got a burning question that you're itching to put to our diving gurus, want to chat about further training or perhaps you simply want to know which one of them has the most tattoos? This is your chance to put them on the spot in a less formal setting :-)
The theme for Friday night is definitely fun so let your hair down and enjoy the 'wrap party' for what promises to be another superb week of diving at TEKCamp.
TEKCAMP PRIZE DRAW
Following on from the success of last year's event, we'll also be giving away some seriously cool prizes to TEKCamp attendees! Every attendee will be automatically entered into the draw and additional tickets will be on sale if you fancy increasing your chances of winning.
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