In a little less than three weeks, more than 250 civilian and military rebreather professionals, hyperbaric doctors, researchers and high-end explorers will be headed to Valletta, Malta for Rebreather Forum 4 (RF4).
The April 20-22, 2023 forum is an industry, scientific and governmental symposium designed to advance and consolidate the diving community’s knowledge of rebreather technology and its use by technical, government and scientific divers. The goal of the symposium is to improve rebreather diving safety and performance.
As indicated by the name, RF4 is the fourth such symposium held by the diving industry. It will bring together some of the “Who’s Who” of the rebreather world from the sport, scientific and military communities, including:
- Dr. Alessandro Marroni
- Dr. Andy Pitkin
- Brian Carney
- Dr. David Doolette
- Dr. Frauke Tillmans
- Gareth Lock
- Dr. John Clarke
- Kevin Gurr
- Mark Caney
- Mauritius Bell
- Michael Menduno
- Dr. Neal Pollock
- Prof. Oskar Franberg
- Paul Toomer
- Pete Mesley
- Phil Short
- Dr. Rachel Lance
- Dr. Richard Harris
- Richie Kohler
- Prof. Simon Caruana
- Dr. Simon Mitchell
- Prof. Timmy Gambin
- Vince Ferris
In addition to the symposium, attendees will be treated to three-days of demos and try-dives on a variety of rebreathers, SUEX scooters, Garmin dive computers and the new Shearwater Sonardyne Dive Track device. Attendees will also have access to dive historically significant shipwrecks surrounding the island with the help of event sponsor Heritage Malta and its affiliated dive centers.
Several more highlights include the most complete historical tech rebreather exhibit to date featuring almost all of the early sport diving rebreathers: AP Buddy INSPO, KISS Classic, a Smithers MEG, Cis-Lunar MK-5P, Ouroboros, Sentinel and Hollis Explorer, with pictures, unfortunately not hardware, of the original Peter Ready’s Incredible Steam machine (PRISM). In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to dive Heritage Malta shipwrecks in virtual reality.
DAN Europe founder Dr. Alessandro Marroni will be conducting a live presentation of his lovechild, AVATAR project’s DANA Health diver monitoring system, that will be linked to a submerged rebreather diver off the coast of Malta, during the presentation.
Finally, at the RF4 Hydrogen Banquet Blowout, Dr. Richard Harris, aka “Dr. Harry” of Thai Kids cave rescue fame will report on his recent 13.5-hour test dive to 230m at Pearse Resurgence, New Zealand, to determine the efficacy of hydrogen breathing gas for uber-deep tech dives.
For registration and more info, go to rebreatherforum.tech or email InDEPTH co-founder and Editor-in-Chief Michael Menduno at m2@gue.com or text him via WhatsApp at +1.760.831.9494.
(Featured Image credit: Tom St. George)
