ABC of Diving News Feed

Artist Guy Harvey Supports Angels of the Seas

Industry great Guy Harvey has joined the Angels of the Seas (AOS) Conservation Initiative to stimulate the launch and growth of marine conservation projects. Harvey will provide art prints for awards and be present for photo opportunities with the winners. A partner with the non-profit Save Our Seas Foundation (www.saveourseas.com), AOS offers a recognition program to provide incentives for grass-roots organizations, individuals, conservation groups, tournaments and corporations to host conservation programs.

Founder, Betty Bauman created the campaign to increase the numbers of conservation projects, explaining, "It's kind of like the Nobel prize, but for honors, not money. With marine conservation in the forefront, it's time for those who make a difference to be recognized."

In July, 2010, AOS launched www.AngelsoftheSeas.com to serve as a platform for contestants to post their mission and progress. Winners will be judged by their web postings.

New Website Launched, Turtles the First to Benefit
The first entry, an initiative to support the rescue of sea turtles, has already resulted in saving hundreds of turtles from inevitable death by instinctively heading towards the dangerous lights of A1A and condo developments upon hatching. There is tremendous dialogue on the website's forum depicting what the participants witness as they spend hundreds of hours helping baby turtles find their way safely to the sea. The project was commenced by the South Florida Chapter of "Ladies, Let's Go Fishing!".

Bauman initially developed the AOS initiative as logical extension for the 6,000 graduates who were introduced to conservation techniques at her "Ladies, Let's Go Fishing!" seminar series in Florida. She adds, "We have opened this contest to the marine industry and organizations, as the more people we have starting conservation projects, the better it is for marine life."

Information on the competition can be found at www.AngelsoftheSeas.com. Entry is free for most categories. More entries are welcome and participants do not need to be a member of LLGF. Final awards are planned for the Miami International Boat Show, February 17-21, 2011. Interim Honors will be made at the "Ladies, Let's Go Fishing!" Islamorada seminar at Holiday Isle on Nov. 12, 2010.

For more information contact Angels of the Seas Conservation Initiative, www.AngelsoftheSeas.com, 954-475-9068 email: AngelsOfTheSeas@gmail.com, website www.AngelsOfTheSeas.com. Information on the November 12-14 Interim Honors and the ladies fishing seminar is at www.LadiesLetsGoFishing.com.

All Sports Film Fest Awards Sink Faze

Los Angeles, CA. Sink Faze, the movie, was awarded for best cinematography in a documentary feature at the All Sport Film Festival. This is another honor in a growing list of awards and selections given to the independent documentary. Sink Faze has been honored internationally and domestically. Most recently, the film was also honored at the Las Vegas International Film Festival and selected for the Ventura Film Festival.

Sink Faze (www.sinkfazemovie.com and www.imdb.com/title/tt1333033/) is shot in high definition and in a non-traditional conversationally driven format. The film features the lives of four athletes as they pursue their goals to set national and world records in freediving. The film features Martin Stepanek, Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, George "Doc� Lopez, Kirk Krack, and David Blaine training for his Drowned Alive stunt.

Mandy-Rae and Kirk are the freedivers featured in the Academy Award winning documentary The Cove (www.thecovemovie.com and www.imdb.com/title/tt1313104/).

Sink Faze is a low budget independent film and is the first feature of award winning director Grant W. Graves. Grant said, "It is a great honor to be recognized by a festival that is specifically oriented toward sports. This is one of the greatest honors of the many honors the film team has been able to achieve. It speaks to what can be done by passionate people all coming together to spread the beauty and excitement of this rapidly growing and amazing extreme sport. I am proud to have been a member of the shooting team and to have been able to lead such an amazing group of cinematographers.�

The All Sport Los Angeles Film Festival is focused on promoting the art of screen writing and filmmaking in the world of sports and competition. (http://www.allsportslafilmfest.com/index.html) The festival took place at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood on July 10 and 11. Sink Faze was joined by the narrative feature The Greater Meaning of Water (http://www.gmwmovie.com/ and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479051/) that won the audience and best feature cinematography awards. This is the first time two freediving centered films have been selected at the same festival.

Freediving is a sport that challenges athletes to perform while holding their breath underwater in disciplines for maximum time, depth, and distance. Athletes have reached times in excess of eleven minutes, distances over two football fields, and depths greater than seven hundred feet.

source: www.prlog.org

American Freedivers in Stone Diving Exhibition

Two US freedivers, Robert King and Matt Souza, challenged the depths in a traditional Greek diving exhibition on the island of Rhodes, Greece. The ancient stone diving technique, used by sponge divers in the Mediterranean for thousands of years and known by the Greeks as "Skadalopetra�, has recently been revived in Greece.

To most Americans, the Greek Isles mean beautiful beaches and late-night partying, but Greece is also home to one of the oldest diving traditions in the world. For thousands of years, Greek divers sailed the Mediterranean and out to the Atlantic coast of Africa in search of sponges (then a lucrative commodity). Lacking modern SCUBA equipment, Skandalopetra divers wore neither gear nor clothing (muy loco!), riding disk-shaped stones to incredible depths.

Today's recreational SCUBA divers can dive down to 130 feet. Ancient stone divers went much deeper, often in water as dark as it was numbingly cold. If the diver was lucky, his buddy pulled him and his catch safely to the surface. Many weren't so lucky�fatalities were commonplace, Skandalopetra the ancient world's version of Deadliest Catch.

In the 20th century stone diving rapidly declined due to the advent of SCUBA and the invention of synthetic sponges. But, in the Greek Isles, a group of traditionalists has kept the tradition alive focusing on safety and fun rather than sponges. Divers wear nose-clips (for equalizing ears) and swimsuits, but no other equipment is allowed.

Neither Matt or Rob got close to their personal-best depths--Rob's 130-foot dive falling a bit short of his current 296 foot PB�both were satisfied with their first attempts at stone diving. "It's a pure form of diving,� explained Rob, "and you feel exposed without the wetsuit. When you're hitting progressively colder layers of water (from a comfortable 80 degrees at the surface, to the low 60s at depth) all your good intentions about relaxing and equalizing pretty much go out the window�rather like being hit with buckets of cold water in the shower.�

Matt, looking to continue his diving adventures, will be in a wetsuit this October in Baja, Mexico, diving cage-free with great white sharks with Ocean Encounters.

More information can be found online at http://www.usfreediving.org

source: www.free-press-release.com

21st Century Spirit Ocean Adventure Program

Charleston, SC - The South Carolina Maritime Foundation was given funding by the South Carolina State Department of Education via the 21st Century Community Learning Center Summer Enrichment Grant to offer the 2nd Annual 21st Century Spirit Ocean Adventure program. This 7-week drop out prevention program will benefit 40 rising ninth grade students attending Title I schools in Charleston County. These are schools where more than 40% of their student population is eligible for the federal free and reduced lunch program. There are still slots available for this summer program which will be held between June 4th to July 23rd. Interested parties should contact their school principal or teacher or the South Carolina Maritime Foundation for inquiries.

The 2010 summer program will be headquartered at the new Sanders-Clyde Elementary/Middle School. The first week of the program will be devoted to leadership and character development aboard the tall ship Spirit of South Carolina. The subsequent weeks will be spent addressing the attitudes and behaviors that are predisposing factors for dropping out of school. Daily interdisciplinary, experiential education activities aim to rekindle the students' commitment to education. Some highlights include rafting in the upstate and a field study including a shark dissection at Edisto Beach.

Eligible students are identified through the Charleston County School District At Risk Alert System and slots are then offered on a first-come, first-served basis. This program is offered free of charge and provides extensive adult education opportunities to all family members living with the enrolled students. Of those who graduated from the inaugural program in 2009, 100% are still enrolled in Charleston County School District schools without major discipline issues.

The South Carolina Maritime Foundation owns and operates the tall ship, Spirit of South Carolina. The Foundation's mission is to create opportunities for life-changing experiences resulting in leaders for tomorrow's communities. Since its first season of programming in 2007, nearly 6,000 students have been served. With the support of local partnerships, the South Carolina Maritime Foundation is able to generate funds to keep these exceptional programs in place.

Visit www.scmaritime.org for more information.

Mississippi Net Fisherman Arrested

A month-long investigation by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Marine Resources Division recently resulted in the arrest of a Mississippi man on numerous gill-net fishing and related charges.

Marine Resources' Conservation Enforcement Officer John Knapp arrested Larry Ryan Jr., a resident of Moss Point, on charges of illegally netting in Alabama waters. Ryan was arrested in the waters of Grand Bay.

Ryan was charged with using a commercial-length gill net without a license (non-resident), possessing mullet without a Roe Mullet Endorsement (non-resident), using an unmarked gill net, using a gill net with an illegal mesh size, operating a vessel without proper registration, and operating a vessel without a throwable device.

Ryan was transported to the Mobile County Metro Jail. Marine Resources officers also confiscated a 20-foot boat, approximately 1,200 feet of gill net and several pounds of fish.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama's natural resources through five divisions: Marine Police, Marine Resources, State Parks, State Lands, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. To learn more about ADCNR visit www.outdooralabama.com.