DIVING NEWS ITEM

Body Glove Founder Dives for His 80th Birthday

WEDNESDAY, 6 AUGUST 2008

Redondo Beach, CA - July 31th, 2008 marked the 80th birthday for Body Glove founder Bob Meistrell, and to celebrate his birthday, all he wanted to do was surf and SCUBA dive a wreck off the California coast. This is fitting for the watersports legend who, with the help of his twin brother Bill, created the first practical wetsuit and whose Los Angeles County Underwater Dive License is 0001.

Last week, he took his longboard and cruised around the Malaga Cove in Palos Verdes. Last Sunday, Bob, and many of his friends and family, dove the U.S.S. Palawan wreck, which lies 117 ft. below the ocean and about two miles off the coast of Redondo Beach. Being Bob Meistrell, he could have gone down in the latest and greatest wetsuit and dive equipment available, but leave it to one of the pioneers of diving to want to do a retro style dive with gear that dated back to the 1950s. Bob explored the bottom of the ocean with dual tanks, a double-hose regulator, no BCD (buoyancy control device), no computer, and a pair of force fins.

Knowing all of the ins and outs of a dive with depth, Bob had the Dive N Surf Dive Safety crew out with him.

"It was a great birthday," said Bob Meistrell, "I am just so proud to have three generations of Meistrells out here diving with me."

Bob and his twin brother Bill Meistrell founded Body Glove in 1953. Bill passed away in 2006 just days before the brother's 78th birthday. Bill and Bob are a part of a very prestigious group of watermen to be inducted into both the Surfing and Diving Halls of Fame.

Source:
business.transworld.net

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