Summer to Autum madness continues

July started with David Armstrong ‘aka’ Dinky on holiday so the technical diving in sharm was quite slow. Immediately on his return he was joined by old student Soren Bowadt. Durin his holiday Soren refreshed his tek knowledge and did some Trimix dives culminating in a dive through the arch at the blue hole in Dahab. On the last day Soren took a day off from deep diving to try the JJ-CCR and for his son Andreas to try technical diving. Both loved it and watch this space for their next visit 😀

Soren with son Andreas and instructor Dinky.

After the depature of Soren the JJ-CCR was broken down to be immediately re-built again by resident Danish instructor Jannik FRarrup. Jannik has completed all his course up to entry level trimix with Werner Lau tek being taught by either Aaron Bruce or David Armstrong. After a couple of years on OC technical rigs Jannik has made the move to CCR. After a great course which was enjoyed by both instructor and student Jannik is now a JJ-CCR rebreather diver certified with IART…… all he needs to do now is order a JJ, or Emma might get him one for xms >:XX

August started with the Return of Rasmus Dysted (PADI tecrec IT and owner of kingfish dive and travel) and Maria Bollerup (blue venture) who were out for just over 2 weeks of purely CCR diving. Both Maria and Rasmus started off in the deep end and enrolled in their Inspo Mixed gas course with Instructor David ‘Dinky’ Armstrong. Over a tough 6 days both Rasmus and Maria emerged with a smile on their face after completing an almost perfect 60m dive through Thoms canyon.
Straight after the mixed gas course there was no rest for the wicked and over the coming week they both crossed over to JJ-CCR and Megalodon divers!!!!!
Congratulations on all your achievements and we hope to see you soon for advanced mixed gas and more rebreather fun.

On the 12th of July we welcomed a new face to Werner Lau Tek in the form of PADI Course Director and TecRec IT Chris Waterhouse. Chris was in Sharm to complete a mission he had set himself with a diving Instructor and guide that he trusted. At the same time as welcoming Chris it was a great day for Werner Lau Tek to welcome Mark Chilton as our PADI TecRec instructor!!
During the two weeks holiday Chris, Mark and Dinky got their heads together and hit the water with build up dives to his big goal. During the Dives David ‘Dinky’ Armstrong handled all logistics and planning and also managed the support team. One member of the team who we would like to thank very much is Robin Clemes who was returning to Sharm on holiday.
During the build up dives Chris and Mark worked their way through a series of dives culminating in Chris achieving his goal at 130m!!!
Big thank you to everyone involved especially to Mark and Chris and we hope to see you in the future as the project isn’t finished yet……….

Chris after his 130m!!!!

Left – Right. Mark ‘Chill’ Chilton, Chris Waterhouse, Robin Clemes and David ‘Dinky’ Armstrong

There’s no rest for the wicked and after Chris’s departure Mark ‘Chill’ Chilton took a couple of days off from gas blending :-p and Dinky started another Inspo Trimix course with Martin Kerr.
After completing his deco course over a year ago it was nice to see a familiar face again. On the first day we hit the water and everything went well from there. All skills needed a slight polish but after the first 90 minutes in the water Marting was well above speed so we increased the depth again culminating in a 60m dive through Thomas Canyon. Congratulations on your latest achievement Martin.

Martin and Mark Chilton checking gases in a briefing

The depature of Martin saw the arrival of Rob, Neil and Jules or to us Shrek and Beaver :-p
Regular returning guests Rob and Neil came out to Sharm again for a week of Mix diving. During the week the team led by David ‘Dinky’ Armstrong did the bottom of Thomas canyon, 115m ledge on Shark Reef, Woodhouse Drop off and Jackfish Deep Caves.

Rob and Beaver in Tiran Before a dive

During the beginning of September we were also joined by Roger Jenkins of Emperor Divers. Roger has been wanting to have a look at the TDI route and start to guide technical diving for a while. During his coveted days off Roger crossed over to TDI and completed his Tek Dive Master with instructor Dinky. It was a great few days and even Taffy Duck got an outing!!!!!!

Roger and Dinky in their colourful attire :crazy:

With a couple of days to relax Dinky was back at the dive centre preparing for the arrival of simon booth and Julie Perry who had booked onto do sidemount and DPV courses. With a couple of days to spare instructor David ‘Dinky’ Armstrong decided to give open circuit a try again to see how his breathing rate was!!!!!
With the arrival of Simon and Julie on the 9th of September the courses were started on the 10th. During the week we were joined yet again by Ben hawkes who also participated in sidemount classes. During the sidemount section everyone got to grips with at least 4 different sidemount rigs and slowly developed techniques to carry multiple sidemount slings, proper gas switching procedures and then later on how to utilise it with scooters!!!!
After a great week a big congratulations to all 3 for passing both courses with flying colours.

Julie, Simon and Ben on a sidemount technical dive.

Julie on the scooter

At the same time dinky was completing his TDI courses Mark Chilton was completing a PADI Tec 65 with his repeat guest Terry Hamilton. I am told that after a rigorous week of training Terry passed with flying colours. For more updates check out Chill-Tec on Facebook.

Moving into the second half of September we have been inundated with rebreather divers. On the 13th we were joined by Rob ‘The Face’ Bartlett who will be working his way up through the instructor ranks here over the next few years. Rob and Dinky were also joined by Jacques Marzin who was back with his camera and also the third member of team doom and gloom…. Disaster ‘Marko Schnick’ was back for some 45m deco diving.
Whilst Rob was learning the ropes of guiding David ‘Dinky’ Armstrong started another Megalodon CCR air dil course with Marting Green who came all the way from Australia. During the 6days Martin got to grips with the Meg and how to set it up and dive it to a maximum depth of 30m. The course was finished and then a couple of days later the team of meg divers consisting of Martin Green, Sam Ware, Rob Bartlett and David ‘Dinky’ Armstrong went to the thistlegorm for a lovely 2 hour 20minute no deco dive exploring all the holds.

Martin Trimmed out on his final dive

Team of Rob , Sam , Martin and Dinky behind the camera on Fiddle Garden.

Setting up kit on thistlegorm day

Now at the End of September Sam is still with us working back up to some 60m Mixed gas diving and Dinky has started another JJ-CCR course.

Thank you to everyone for joining us over the last couple of months and congratulations to all who have achieved the goal. We hope to see you again very soon.
Werner Lau Tek Team