NEWS & MOVIES ARCHIVE

7th International Symposium "Diving AST 2009"

It has been over six years since around twenty-five enthusiasts started to talk about possibility of diving for people with special needs on the 1^st International Symposium in organization of Swimming club Slovenske Konjice. Only »international« guests at that time were Mr. Fraser Bathgate from Great Britain and Stracimir Gosovic, MD, PhD, from Croatia.
 
The Symposium has hosted through years many exceptional individuals in diving and hyperbaric medicine area and slowly spread his mission through region. Symposium was visited by divers, instructors and other sea lovers of all parts of ex-sheared country and was persistently knocking down boundaries, that are now left only in some heads. Divers with special needs were meanwhile knocking down boundaries on their area with equal zeal.
 
International association of IAHD Adriatic was born during symposium and has grown in couple years into driving force in area of diving for people with special needs in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. With acceptation to technical committee C.M.A.S. (the oldest and the largest SCUBA associations in the world) got IAHD Adriatic (SLOF01) in year 2007 right for teaching all divers, including the one with special needs, which was by then exclusive in domain of SPZ Slovenia – Slovene SCUBA association (SLOF00).
Every year on the symposium we introduced all three basic categories (Apnea, SCUBA, Tech diving).  This year´s symposium finally lost label of »Special needs« and achieved goal to completely erase border between recreative divers and those with restraints.
 
 
 


 
The 7^th International Symposium »Diving AST 2009« was started by Belgian Patrick Musimu, first person on planet, that sank on inhalation under 200 meters. Assembly apnea resumed scientists, Zeljko Dujic, MD, PhD (University OF Split School OF of Medicine, CRO) and Arnie Sieber, PhD (CNR-Institutions OF Clinical Physiology Pisa, ITA).
 
In regard of fifty years anniversary of C.M.A.S. we this year also invited Secretary General of that organization, Pierre Dernier. With help of film Elhawi Star, Sigrid & Lina –The Choice OF SCI Divers, editing by Peter Lombar, we introduced visitors only theme connected to divers with spinal cord injury. We also hosted Marino Brzac, Smiljans Gluscevic, PhD (Archaeological Museum Zadar, CRO) and Andrej Natlacen in assembly about SCUBA. Lectures about SCUBA finished pioneer of hypobaric and marine medicine, Stracimir Gosovic, MD, PhD with subject concerning possible ecological catastrophe, that could end tourism in Adriatic sea for many years. He also introduced his new book – “Priručnik za komercjalna i mornarička dubinska ronjenja”, which was created in long period of twenty years.
 
Tech diving assembly, which was due to round-table on Friday the strongest part of symposium, started with top specialist from American Navy Wayne Gerth, PhD (NEDU - Navy Experimental Diving Unit), and continued with respectable scientists and divers: Petar Denoble, MD, D.Sc. (Divers Alert Network, USA), Marko Ljubkovic, MD, D.Sc. (University OF Split School OF of Medicine, CRO), Toni Leskela (Suunto), Gianni Garofalo and Giovanni Distefano (Mares), Arnie Sieber, PhD (Poseidon).
 
Extensive programme finished for most persistent at 20.30, with the second part of the 1^st International festival of underwater film and video »Sprehodi pod morjem«.
 
At the end 7^th International Symposium »Diving AST 2009« was real scuba festival that was beside eminent lecturers distinguished by coupling of all that like water and are diving in its depths in apnea, scuba or as technical divers. 
 
IAHD Adriatic

Foto: Miha Matavz, IAHD Adriatic
More pictures and presentations you can find on
ftp://194.6.237.66/DivingAST2009/Default.htm

 

14. 02. 2009