Sole Searchers Newsletters

Please join us in welcoming Szilvia Gogh this Monday night.
I had a change in schedules, and she was gracious enough to come out on short notice
(although she’s been on my hit list for some time).

Many of you may know her from her days in our local Burbank dive shop, her great photos, or her Miss Scuba group.
She will hopefully talk about exploring the Red Sea, or whatever she feels like!
Since 1989 Szilvia has been involved in International Competition Level Orientation Diving, and has logged close to 5000 dives, including training, competition, and recreational dives. She decided to travel around the world and make a living of scuba diving. She has lived and dived pretty much all around Europe, Australia, Thailand and Mexico. In 2003 she became a Course Director. She is proud to be the youngest female world-wide ever excepted to become a CD. She teaches dive instructor courses for the LAPD Dive Unit leaders, works as a safety and stunt diver in the motion picture industry. Recently she worked on Green Hornet, Piranha 3D, Flash Forward and Desperate Housewives.
She loves to travel off the beaten path to expose herself to anything new and unusual, as she believes this is how we learn more about local culture and people. She is a founder of Miss-Scuba, the online resource for female divers. www.miss-scuba.com. Miss Scuba is a culture of its own; an expression of free will, untamed souls, a rebellion against mediocrity and the yearning for finding adventure and excitement in life.
She is-
PADI Course Director
PADI Specialty Instructor Trainer
EFR Instructor Trainer
DAN Instructor Trainer
Dive Travel Specialist
SAG Member
Stunts and Water Safety

http://www.szilviagogh.com
http://www.miss-scuba.com
http://www.oceanadventuresdiveco.com/about_us_staff.asp

This Monday we have Kevin Sullivan of California Ships to Reefs returning to our club to update us on everything that’s been going on with their great organizattion.

California Ships to Reefs vision is to establish a regional system of reefed ships along the California coast for purposes of an international dive destination, to enhance the tourism industry centered on fishing and diving, and to improve and enhance the California fish populations.

California Ships to Reefs was originally a committee of San Diego Oceans Foundation (SDOF). In 2000, SDOF reefed HMCS Yukon, a former Canadian Navy frigate. Subsequent studies of Yukon have demonstrated that it is not only a premier dive site, but an economic success for the San Diego area.

Since 2000, the HMCS Yukon has proved to be even better for the local economy of San Diego that the RAND report projected. RAND 2001 projected that the costs of approximately $1.2MM would be recovered in approximately 12 years. In fact, Yukon has injected approximately $4.5MM per year into the local economy, with $450,000 going into the City of San Diego tax revenues.

In 2005, Dick Long and John Daley of SDOF decided to make California a statewide premier dive destination and took the Ships to Reefs message on the road.

Come on out & let’s support one of our best local groups!

http://www.californiashipstoreefs.org/

Monday, June 14, we have Kendall Raine and John Walker, of the UB88 organization. I mentioned it briefly at our last meeting, but here’s a short version of who they are from their website.

The UB88 Project began in early 2001 as a collaboration between Gary Fabian and Ray Arntz to locate the elusive WWI German submarine UB88. The story of that collaboration, through the discovery of the sub, the addition of deep divers Kendall Raine and John Walker, photo documentation of the sub and reproduction of rare photographs and wartime records, is recounted on their website http://www.ub88.org/.

What began as a search for one sunken vessel has evolved into a quest to locate other “lost” submerged wrecks. Sometimes this involves solving mysteries surrounding their crews and bringing closure to families, some of whom have wondered for decades as to the fate of their loved ones. These wrecks are both ships and aircraft. Each is afforded a section on the UB88.org website and they have compiled histories of the crews, the loss of the craft, history of the respective search efforts and photo documentation of the craft then and now.

From Gary and Ray’s work on the UB88 came a growing collaboration with aircraft archaeologist Pat Macha (aircraftwrecks.com). Pat’s work centers on finding lost aircraft, civilian and military, in the mountain and desert regions of California. Working with Pat, the Project is in its fifth year of trying to locate the remains of Gertrude Tompkins Silver and her North American P-51 Mustang which went missing in 1944 - presumably in Santa Monica Bay. During the search for the missing P-51D, the Project located, identified and documented the wreck site of a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star in Santa Monica Bay which went missing on a training flight in 1955. Pat also collaborated on the Project’s location and documentation of the Convair B-36 Peacemaker lost off San Diego, CA in 1952.

They maintain active search efforts for other submerged wrecks off the Southern California coast and publish our finds from time to time.

Kendall Raine

Kendall Raine is Executive Managing Director of Marshall & Stevens, Inc. where he leads the Financial Institutions Group. In his off hours, Kendall is an active technical diver with special interests in shipwreck and underwater cave exploration. Kendall was a lead diver on the discovery and salvage of gold coins from the Civil War era side wheel paddle steamer S.S. Brother Jonathan, the discovery and photo documentation of the German U-boat UB88, the discovery and photo documentation of a Convair B-36D in the ocean off San Diego, California and most recently of a lost Lockheed T-33 jet trainer off Santa Monica, California. He has also dived on deep wrecks including the Andrea Doria, Pan Penn, Norness, Triple Crown, Comet, Zillah, U. S. S. Wilkes Barre and U. S. S. Ozark. Kendall is also currently involved with on-going survey of several the largest known underwater cave systems, located near the village of Tulum, Mexico. In addition, Kendall has assisted the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Bureau in the recovery of drowning victims from deep water near Catalina Island and in Lake Castaic, CA.

John Walker

John Walker is an IUEC Elevator Constructor and has been a certified diver since 1978. His occupation is what helps him pursue his true passion, exploring our world, underwater. His exploration is diverse, extending from beaches and lakes to shipwrecks and caves. John was an underwater educator from 1984 to 2004, specializing in mix gas diving and overhead environments such as caves and shipwrecks. He had taught through accredited agencies such as NAUI, IANTD and GUE. He is an accomplished cave cartographer and wreck explorer, diving hundreds of shipwrecks such as the USS Monitor, USS Wilkes Barre, UB88 as well as many aircraft casualties. But nothing intrigues him more than finding the skeletal remains of ancient human and prehistoric animals or Mayan pottery thousands of feet inside of a water filled cave. Since John’s retirement from teaching scuba, there is a better chance of finding him behind a video camera underwater than a chalk board in the class room.
Ken’s very passionate about this, so it should be very cool! He’s bringing stuff not found on the website, and will also talk about the process of wreck archaeology, location, and identification. He will touch on tech diving theory and practice, as well as show some really cool cave diving videos.

Is is just me, or does this sound amazing?
Please join us in giving our very best Sole Searchers welcome!

Please join us next Monday, April 12 when we have Bob Meistrell, co-founder of Bodyglove,
makers of the first neoprene wetsuit. Bob’s brother Bill has passed on, but Bob still loves to get out
and talk about his love for the ocean and diving. As I understand it, he did a dive on his 81st bday to 162 feet!
That’s a foot for every year of he and his brother’s life. Nice.

Bill and Bob Meistrell

In 1953 twin brothers Bill and Bob Meistrell co-founded Body Glove when they designed the first practical wetsuit. Fifty-six years later Body Glove is one of the last family owned surf brand in the world. And it all began in a pool in Booneville, Missouri…..

Twin brothers Bill and Bob were fascinated with the water. When they were 14 years old they fashion their own diving helmet out of a vegetable can and a tire pump. They explored the bottom of a pool reading bad magazines while the other manned the air pump on the surface.

The Meistrell family packed up and moved to Manhattan Beach in 1944. They immediately fell in love with the ocean. Bill and Bob soon began surfing as balsa boards started to catch on and were among the first to glass the nose of their foam-filled plywood boards. During their time at El Segundo High School the boys bought a dive helmet for $25, it was so cheap because the previous owner died while using it. The two boys marched all over the breakwater and it opened up a whole new world for Bill and Bob.

The Meistrell’s became full-time lifeguards after graduating El Segundo High. Shortly after the brothers were drafted into the Army, Bill was sent to Korea while Bob was transferred to Monterey. Bill earned a Bronze Star during his time in Korea and Bob spent his nights surfing Santa Cruz by car light.

In 1953, Bill’s friend Bev Morgan made Bill an offer to buy into his local sports shop, Dive N’ Surf. Bev owned the shop with Hap Jacobs, who later pioneered the modern surfboard, but Jacobs wanted out, Bill accepted the offer on one condition, that his brother Bob be brought in as a partner as well. Bev agreed, Bob and Bill borrowed $1800 from their mother and each bought one third of the business. To keep themselves afloat the twins continued lifeguarding on a part-time basis.

Bob and Bill needed to find a way to combat California’s cold water. They tried everything from electrically heated flyers’ suits from the war to wool sweaters that lasted only as long as they were dry. Finally in 1953, they discovered an insulating material used in the back of refrigerators. This material was called neoprene and with it the Meistrell brothers fashioned the first practical wetsuits. Their new innovation helped them buy out their remaining partner in 1957 and Dive N’ Surf became the home of Body Glove Wetsuits. Body Glove’s success was not lost on Hollywood. Hired to consult, they provided equipment and custom wetsuits for “Sea Hunt,” the TV show that made Lloyd Bridges a star. The custom wetsuit sported by Bridges was integral to his character. They have been involved in dozens of movies since. Bill and Bob taught the entire Bridges family to dive as well as Gary Cooper, Hugh O’Brien, Charlton Heston, Jill St. John, and Richard Harris. Bill and his son, Billy even made a custom wetsuit for LA Laker legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Bill also retrieved millions in gold coins from shipwreck Brother Jonathan off the Northern California coast.

It is this history of innovation and love of the ocean that challenges Body Glove to make products to fit the needs of every waterman. Body Glove is proud to be one of the last family owned surf businesses and pledges to continually build products that enhance and protect both above and below the ocean’s surface.

May won’t be nearly as exciting, so let’s make this fun for Bob!

http://www.bodyglove.com/

Captain Greg Grivetto & Elizabeth Cook at our March madness meeting

This month’s presentation is truly one of a kind! We have writer/photographer Elizabeth Cook joining Captain Greg Grivetto for a lively evening of shark diving — in photos, videos, and discussion, that is.

Last year I was faithfully reading one of my Diver’s Alert magazines when I happened upon a great article on Great White shark diving at Isla Guadalupe, by Elizabeth. So, I thought, “What the heck, let’s see if she’ll come do a presentation.” I contacted her through DAN, and she said she didn’t normally do this sort of thing… but she had not said no, just yet! She said if I could get Horizon’s Captain Greg to join her, then she would. That’s how it came to be… we have two guest speakers for March!

Greg Grivetto’s love for the sea was formed in his pre-teen years as he ventured out onto the Pacific with his parents on board their small charter fishing boat. Having experienced the ocean and its inhabitants at such a young age, he grew to love the liquid environment and vowed one day to share his knowledge and love for the ocean with others. In his twenty years as captain, he has taken scuba divers, shark divers, whale watchers, bird watchers and sightseers the entire 750 miles of the Pacific coast of Baja, ventured into the Sea of Cortez, and has spent innumerable days exploring California’s Channel Islands and offshore seamounts.

“My reason for working on and in the ocean for as many years as I have is very simple to understand for those of us that have been fortunate enough to spend any amount of time at sea. I encourage everyone with a sense of adventure to experience the ocean and embrace the wonder of all it has to offer.”

Jennifer, Greg’s wife, is just as much an advocate for the ocean and stands alongside him in all of his endeavours. “I met Jennifer on the ocean and immediately found her as someone that has as much an appreciation for this environment as I.” With the Grivetto family’s two newest additions joining the school over the previous five years, Greg and Jennifer are not at sea as much as before, but are working hard to ensure that Horizon Charters remains at the forefront in customer service and environmental standards.

http://www.horizoncharters.com/

Elizabeth Cook is a free-lance photojournalist and technical writer. When not diving and shooting underwater photos in Southeast Asia and off the coast of California, she makes her home in San Diego. Elizabeth has been a committed DAN Member for a decade. Her latest book series, Underwater Encounters delivers intriguing facts and first-hand accounts. Readers come face-to-face with some of the most interesting animals imaginable - directly from the depths of the world’s mysterious seas. Students love to learn how ocean animals hunt, hide, and communicate.

A special enhanced educational section within each book, titled “Protecting Our Blue Planet” identifies specific activities to help care for the blue planet. This series inspires readers to make a difference to the future of our oceans while educating students on marine life diversity.

http://www.hameraypublishing.net/underwater-encounters1

They’re coming all the way from San Diego just for us!
So, let’s have a great turnout this Monday…

Ken is returning to our club Feb 8 with his renewed commitment to keeping our local diving interesting. We have at least two of his trips on our calendar this year, so I thought it would be great to support his new effort and have him come back out.

Channel Islands Dive Adventures mission is to offer well organized dive trips to unique and interesting destinations with a dive/travel guide present, to help foster new friendships with other like minded divers and above all to promote safe and fun diving.

CIDA is owned and operated by Ken Kollwitz, an insured NAUI Divemaster and diver for over 30 years. Ken has planned and organized many trips from San Diego to British Columbia, Canada (Ken’s favorite) and has dove the Channel Islands for over 20 years. Ken has a sense of adventure and enjoys all types of diving such as; hunting, wrecks, photography, drift, deep, tech, deco and more. He last visited us when he worked for the Sunfish dive boat as a Divemaster and Operations Manager.

CIDA organizes and plans trips (mainly charters) on various dive boats with 5 main goals in mind. Those 5 goals are to offer trips to specific unique dive destinations, to have fewer divers on trips (limited loads), to promote diver safety, to offer reasonable priced trips and above all to have fun with other like minded divers.

CIDA also has partnerships including K2 Scuba www.k2scuba.com, Divers One www.diversone.com, Scuba Nation www.scubanation.com, and some others that will benefit all divers and not only in California. The focus of the group is to provide excellent service, good pricing and something different for divers, their families and friends (just like what I have been offering with CIDA, but on a larger scale). CIDA will be setting up many events/adventures locally and abroad and would be happy to have your club on some of them.

Ken was certified at 16, had a 10 year surface interval and has been diving the last 20+ years mainly around the Ventura-Monterey-Channel Islands area. He considers himself a true cold water diver with his favorite diving around Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Other places Ken really enjoys to dive are Jade Cove, Port San Luis / Avila / Morro Bay area, Monastery beach and San Clemente Island. Ken is always looking for new exciting out of the way dive sites and hard to get too dive sites.

Ken is an insured NAUI Divemaster and a brand new NAUI Scuba Instructor. He is certified in limited wreck penetration (TDI); advanced nitrox/decompression procedures (IANTD), open water buddy for disabled divers (HSA) and he is a DAN diving emergency specialist provider.

Ken has been a member of the Channel Islands Divers dive club for the past 17 years where he has served as President and Dive Coordinator. He also has been a member and helped out with various other local dive clubs and organizations such as the Channel Islands Underwater Photographic Society and the Channel Islands Council of Divers. He has also helped out the Ventura College advanced NAUI dive program for the last 5 years.

Besides diving, Ken enjoys planning, organizing and leading dive trips locally and abroad and he really enjoys meeting new divers and working as a Divemaster. Ken believes safety is #1 and having fun is #2 .

Hope to see everyone there!

NICK ICORN, “Keeper of the Flame”
Nick was born in Hollywood, California. He always had an interest in the ocean. From the age of eight he would go tent camping on southern California beaches. He learned to swim in the Huntington Beach surf and in the pool by the pier. He entered high school in 1943. He was kicked out of the Merchant Marines when they found out he had lied about his age and was only 14. His mother helped him enlist in the United States Marines in 1944. He served in the Philippines and Saipan in the aftermath of WWII.
He married Marilyn in 1950. His diving career began one day at her uncle’s home where in a pool he donned a mask and fins for the first time.
Nick was part of the first formal Underwater Instructors Course. He holds Instructor certifications from the YMCA, Los Angeles County, NAUI, SSI, PADI and NASDS. In 1969 he became the first Executive Director of PADI developing programs and standards. Under his leadership their instructor base went from 234 to over 12,000 worldwide. He wrote numerous training manuals for the industry including the first, “Standards and Procedures Manual,” and the “Basic Scuba Course,” and the, “Course Director’s Manual.”
He worked for many of the US diving manufacturers including US Cavalero, Ocean Dynamics, Healthways, US Divers, and Sherwood Selpac as an engineer helping in the design evolution of diving equipment.
His honors include two NOGI awards, the DEMA Reaching Out Award, The California Scuba Service Award, the Conrad Limbaugh Memorial Award, International Legends of Diving Award, and is a member of the NAUI Hall of Honor.
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Maldives, Belize, Hawaii and of course Southern California are some of the places he has been diving. His only diving accident was in the 1970’s in the Bahamas when he suffered the bends.
He has volunteered hundreds of hours lecturing on the evolution of diving, and often displays pieces from his vast collection of vintage diving equipment.
Oh, and he will be inducted into the Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in Grand Cayman just days after our meeting!
http://www.scubahalloffame.com/details/Induction2.html
http://www.portagequarry.com/LegendsWknd/2008Wknd/NickIcorn.html
http://www.portagequarry.com/legendarticles/icorn_041708.htm
http://www.auas-nogi.org/bio_icorn_nick.html

Please join us next Monday, November 12, for “Scuba Fatality Investigations” presented by Ken Kurtis of Reef Seekers Dive Co.

For those of you that do not know Ken, he has been a great friend to our club, and is one of the most active divers (above and below the water) in the Southern California dive scene. He’ll explain what they, as investigators do and why, give some LA County stats, give some national stats that he has recently compiled and end with some recommendations about how you can avoid become the topic of our discussion. Very timely considering we had a fatality opening weekend and just had one this past Saturday at the UW Park.

Ken was certified in 1978 as part of a radio station promotion to set a Guinness record for underwater broadcasting. He became a NAUI Instructor in 1980 and has taught thousands of people over the years. He’s logged close to 5000 dives, still actively teaches everything from entry-level on up, and confesses his favorite class to teach is Fish Identification. Ken leads foreign trips (Sea of Cortez, Yap, Palau, Bonaire, Midway Island, Fiji, Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Cayman, and the Bahamas are just a few of the stamps in his passport) as well as diving on most of his local charters. He’s served as chairman of Chamber Day/Eve since the early 90s, has been a volunteer Diver/Team Leader at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach since 1998, shoots photos and writes for local and national scuba publications, and is a familiar face to television viewers in Los Angeles. Ken’s also hosted various TV shows, commercials, and infomercials (no, he can’t get you a deal on the frying pan) that have run nationally and internationally. Ken claims to hold the Reef Seekers deep diving record of 3500′ . . . but we have to add the caveat that he did it in the Alvin submersible for a PBS special so that might be cheating.

www.reefseekers.com

I know it’s early, but I’m very excited about October’s speaker,
and wanted to get a head start in announcing her.

Holly Lohuis, Expedition Team member and Education Associate

Holly is a member of the Ocean Futures Society expedition team and an Education Associate. She is also a marine biologist and naturalist, with expertise in both coral reef and Channel Islands ecology. Her petite size and gentle demeanor belies her strength of character and diving prowess; she can out swim and outlast most of the divers on the team. This is due to her daily ritual of lap swimming and conditioning for triathlons.

With a degree in marine biology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Holly has educated thousands of children about the wonders of the marine world and the need to protect them. A natural-born teacher, she is always thrilled to experience the excitement on young people’s faces when seeing their first whales or dolphins. She enjoys witnessing the students’ sense of discovery when landing on an isolated island and exploring its unique flora and fauna for the very first time.

Holly has been a part of Jean-Michel Cousteau’s team for more than a decade, traveling on cruise ships, conducting interactive live-dive underwater broadcasts from remote regions around the world. Her travels have taken her to the cold waters of Alaska, to the clear waters of the South Pacific, and the pristine reefs of the Indian Ocean. But her most memorable and gratifying experience was being able to teach local Fijians the beauty and fragility of their coral reefs while working as the resident marine biologist at the Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort.

Holly and her husband Derek make their home in the foothills of Carpinteria, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. She is the proud owner of “Rosalia,” one of several dogs that roam the Ocean Futures office. Holly is also a loyal member of the OFS Wednesday night knitting group!

http://www.oceanfutures.org/

Please join us NEXT Monday, August 10, as Brian Meux returns to the club to give us an update on our local kelp beds and the MLPA.

Kelp Restoration Project
The giant kelp beds off of southern California are one of the most biodiverse communities known to exist in our world’s oceans. Similar to tropical coral reefs, kelp beds are highly productive ecosystems that support a wide array of life. One-fourth of California marine organisms depend on the kelp forests for some part of their life cycle. The survival of the threatened bocaccio, giant black sea bass, the few remaining sea otters and entire industries are dependant on large, stable kelp beds.

Brian Meux - Kelp Project Coordinator
Brian began working with and volunteering for the Baykeeper in 2005. Part of his master’s thesis is an analysis of the Santa Monica Baykeeper Kelp Restoration and Monitoring Project. Brian became the Kelp Project Coordinator in June 2007.
Brian’s bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley is in integrative biology. His studies had an emphasis in marine ecology and he also played for Cal Rugby. Brian’s research was filled with descriptions of the harmful effects of human activities on the ecosystems we all depend on. He feels that through the Kelp Project we have the opportunity to make a positive difference. Brian’s master’s degree was awarded by a brand new program at Cal Poly Pomona called Regenerative Studies. This interdisciplinary program focuses on experiential learning relating to sustainable development and ecological restoration and design. His studies have him well prepared for his new responsibilities at the Santa Monica Baykeeper.
Brian aims to restore and monitor as much kelp forest as possible in Santa Monica Bay, with the help of all the dedicated SCUBA divers who volunteer their time to give back to our local reefs.

Brian will also be updating us on the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA). In December of 2007, the Resources Agency announced that portions of the coastal waters of southern California—from Point Conception near Santa Barbara down to the Mexican border, would be the next to receive protection in the historic statewide process to establish a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) under the California Marine Life Protection Act.

The Marine Life Protection Act is a visionary state law that brings together scientists, fishermen, conservationists, business owners, residents and Fish & Game officials to create a long-term plan to restore and protect California’s most unique and threatened marine environments.

100 years ago the National Parks were established on land to protect special areas and wildlife. Marine protected areas and reserves will provide similar protections preserving California’s stunning marine ecosystems for future generations to observe and enjoy. We support a balanced plan of protected areas that considers the needs of marine life, fishermen, coastal communities and California’s natural legacy.

http://www.smbaykeeper.org/kelp.html