Rebreather training - instructor profile

Location

OPERATION HANNIBAL ,April 2010, POLAND

We are running an expedition to Poland during April to dive the wrecks of the Willhelm Gustloff, Goya and General von Steuben. These wrecks were part of the biggest maritime evacuation in history, saving over 2,000,000 German soldiers and civilians from the Prussian Front during WWII in 1945. Unfortunately these 3 ships never made it and contribute to the greatest maritime disasters of all times, Willhelm Gustloff 10,000 lives, Goya 8,000 and General Von Steuben 5,000. In comparison the most famous disaster is that of the Titanic which lost 1,500 lives, yet so little is told of these wrecks.

We also have the opurtunity to dive Hitlers aircraft carrier that never saw service, the Graf Zeppelin, which went missing after the war and its fate remained a mystery for 60 years until it was discovered by Polish divers in 2006.

There are a few places left on this trip for further information e-mail info@rebreathertraining.net

INSTRUCTOR PROFILE

SIMON TOWNSEND
CCR, PASCR and SCR,Mod 1, 2, and 3 Instructor
Instructor Trainer

Simon has been diving rebreathers for many years and started off by using the Dräger Atlantis before moving onto the APD Inspiration, logging many hundreds of SCR and CCR hours underwater.

He has been teaching the Dräger unit since1999 and the Inspiration since 2000 - teaching trimix Inspiration since 2002 when he also gained Instructor Trainer status.

During the days spent working with the popular technical diving magazine, 9-90, he was actively involved in many projects including:
The North Channel Wrecks
The Audacious (65m)
Empire Heritage (70m)
Identifying the submarine H5 and consequently securing a protection order placed on her (68m)
HMS Dasher in the Clyde (131m - 170m)
The Bullring (Menorca) (55m - 75m)
Georgia K (Menorca) (103m,)and most recently his record breaking 25 hour dive in Menorca.

Simon was Project Manager for the support team on the Steve Trugullia British Freediving record in 2002 and Lloyd Scott’s underwater marathon in Loch Ness in October 2003

At the end of 2003 he decided to move to Menorca after the closure of
9-90 magazine and the original Underwater Centre, Fort William, but still maintains close links with the UK technical diving scene.

Simon decided to concentrate on rebreather training due to what seemed a poor attitude towards the level required to be a competent - and safe - rebreather diver.