The DIRrebreather Team is made of very active rebreather divers, explorers and instructors. Most of their time is dedicated to diving in various environments like cave, wrecks, fresh water, etc.

This page is open to any DIRrebreather Member who wants to post some news about their activities, courses, expeditions or explorations.

• Newsletter
• Expeditions
• Products
• Training
• Media
• Articles

Newsletter

THE SETPOINT, your Newsletter.

DIRrebreather Members receive a free one-year subscription to THE SETPOINT as part of their Membership. This very specialized Newsletter features unique articles written by experts in their field and actives cave and wreck explorers worldwide, Discover the latest thoughts on equipment configuration, the most current trends on decompression or the exploration of a remote cave system on the other side of the world and how to deal with the logistics involved.

Setpoint #1

If you're not a member, the first issue is the only one you can download. Enjoy reading THE SETPOINT.

Setpoint #2 (August 2007)

The second issue of THE SETPOINT is now available to our members. The main topics being discussed in this issue are future expeditions, O2 sensor calibration, and Standards Mixes used for OC, SCR and CCR dives. To download the issue #2 (Members only).

Setpoint #3 (November 2007)

The third issue of THE SETPOINT is now available to our members. The main topics being discussed in this issue are the expeditions planned for 2008, new staff and instructors, new books and training aids, and desirable features of a rebreather. To download the issue #3 (Members only).

Setpoint #4 (January 2008)

The fourth issue of THE SETPOINT is now available to our members with the complete calendar of the expeditions planned for 2008, some new books and training aids, and an article about Rebreather Bailout Gas calculation. To download the issue #4 (Members only).

Setpoint #5 (March 2008)

The fifth issue of THE SETPOINT is now available to our members with information about our new books, manuals and products and an article about Fitness and physical preparation for Technical rebreather Divers. To download the issue #5 (Members only).

Setpoint #6 (May 2008)

The sixth issue of THE SETPOINT is now available to our members with information about our last and next expeditions. To download the issue #6 (Members only).

Along with this issue, DIRrebreather also published a comprehensive study about "Motor Skills Learning and current Bailout Procedures in Recreational Rebreather Diving".

Setpoint #7 (July 2008)

The seventh issue of THE SETPOINT is now available to our members with information about our last cave and wreck expeditions in Mallorca. To download the issue #7 (Members only). With this issue, we also launch a survey to better understand the current practices in rebreather diving.

Products

New DIRrebreatherbrochure

We just designed a new brochure explaining what is our team and what to we do to help improving safety in Rebreather Diving. Please download and share this full color brochure.

New DIRrebreather products

We now have new products on sale in our shop. You'll find there T-shirts, Polo shirts, Baseball caps and Woolly hats, along with other useful products like backpacks.

New DIRrebreather Books

We now have a bookstore. You'll find there all the Rebreather Books and Presentations written by our Team.

• Rebreather 1 Manual
• Rebreather 2 Manual
• Fundamentals Workbook
• Fundamentals Slides Presentation
• Expedition Mixed-Gas Rebreather Slides Presentation
• DPV Rebreather Slides Presentation
• Rescue Workbook
• Rescue Slides Presentation
• Overhead Environment Slides Presentation

You'll also find some interesting books about Technical diving, thanks to Amazon.com

V-Planner and DIRrebreather

Ross Hemingway designed a special version of his famous decompression software: V-Planner. Based on standard mixes, diluents and setpoints, V-Planner can now help to guarantee decompression consistency within the same team.

To get the special version of V-Planner:

Expeditions Events

February 2007: 240m/784ffw exploration in Sra Keow cave, Thailand.

The Asian Cave Diving Club finally reached the bottom of Sra Keow cave in Thailand. Sra Keow Cave is located near Krabi, Thailand. It's the third part of a serie of expeditions organized by the Asian Cave Diving Club in order to explore of what is now the deepest flooded cave in South-East Asia.

Thanks to an impressive logistics and several set-up dives, the team reached a maximum depth of 239m/784ffw (measured with a calibrated Liquivision F1 depth gauge) during a 10-hour dive conducted on the 18th of february 2007. During this dive, the deep divers safely explored and surveyed the deepest part of the cave. They used open circuit scuba and Closed-Circuit Rebreather, to a dive that might be the deepest mixed-team dive ever.
Decompression was calculated with V-Planner software and was partly done in a very comfortable habitat under the direct supervision of a medical team.

A complete report of this third expedition is available here. For more information about the previous expeditions, visit the cave expeditions page at www.cedricverdier.com

Training

Instructor Workshops

Cedric Verdier just trained new Instructors in Mallorca, Spain. After a few days of training and of fun cave diving, we welcome Pim Van der Horst from the Netherlands and Jordi Mateo from Spain as new DIRrebreather Fundamentals Instructors. Both have an impressive experience in rebreather training and own a large collection of rebreathers.

Diver Workshops

• New workshops have just been designed, based on what our members asked for:

- The DIRrebreather Rescue workshop is 2.5 day workshop about self-rescue, assistance and rescue techniques specific to rebreather divers. It contains extensive academics and practical in-water application with a lot of different scenarios and situations. A workbook and a slide presentation are also available to support this workshop.

- The DIRrebreather Overhead Environment workshop is focused on wrecks and caves. In 3.5 days, participants (who are already trained/experienced in wreck or cave diving) learn tips and tricks about efficiently using their rebreather in an overhead environment. Comfort, efficiency, emergency situations are part of this workshop.

• Paul Neilsen frequently conducts DIRrebreather Fundamentals Workshops in Puerto Gallera and Cebu, Philippines Islands. He is also teaching mixed-gas CCR training at the same locations.
  

• Cedric Verdier conducted the first DIRrebreather Fundamentals Workshop in Krabi, Thailand. Other workshops are also conducted in the Philippines, France, Spain and Cyprus. Cedric also proposes CCR cave training in many places worldwide (Greece, France, Thailand, Malaysia, etc).
  

• Pim Van Der Horst conducts DIRrebreather Fundamentals Workshops in the Red Sea and the Netherlands.

For more information about these workshops, please contact us.

Media

DIRrebreather is being featured in different diving industry Media.

- Thanks to Pim van der Horst, an article has been published in DUIKEN. It's a complete presentation of our Team, our Standards and Training Workshop. DIRrebreather Article in Dutch.

- X-Ray Magazine has published an article about DIRrebreather in their issue #23.

- New article about the expedition on the HMS Victoria in Advanced Diver Magazine eZine#3.

Articles

Some of the studies done by the DIRrebreather Team are for Open Distribution. Have a look at them here:

"Motor Skills Learning and current Bailout Procedures in Recreational Rebreather Diving" by David R. Lee and Cedric Verdier

"Unconscious Recreational Rebreather Diver and Rescue Techniques" by David R. Lee, Dr Howard Scoff and Cedric Verdier