PADI and the world’s major CCR manufacturers came together at the DEMA Show in Las Vegas, USA on 17th November to hear PADI’s vision of where rebreather technology may head in the future and to receive an outline of PADI’s new CCR programs due for release in 2011. The Meeting was chaired by Mark Caney - Vice President of Rebreather Technologies (PADI Technical Diving Division). PADI was also represented by other PADI Technical Diving Division Executives including; Terry Cummins (Director Market Development), Karl Shreeves (Director of Decompression Diving) and James Morgan (Director of Advanced Wreck Diving). Pascal Dietrich Technical Consultant at PADI Europe and Jeff Nadler of PADI Americas were also in attendance.
Over 30 executives representing the cream of the world’s CCR manufacturers were present, including AP Diving, Diverite, Dräger, Hollis/Oceanic, KISS, Innerspace Systems, Micropore Inc, Poseidon, Shearwater, Silent Diving, Titan, Revo and VR Technology.
One of the most exciting outcomes of the meeting was the decision by the manufacturers to form the Rebreather Education and Safety Association (RESA) to set a higher degree of cooperation amongst CCR manufacturers. It is intended that this group will also address manufacturing standards and some of the issues that will make their products more appealing to a greater audience.
