News

Alan King

A tribute to Alan King

Alan was a friendly colleague who loved being outside and talking to anyone. As a child, he developed the skill of always finding something of common interest to discuss with anyone he met, and he carried this through into his adult life. Alan was able to strike up a conversation about anything with anyone. Alan learned to scuba dive in 1970 when he joined the Leicester Underwater Exploration Club. Two years later, he became a commercial diver—a high-risk career in the early '70s—with his "office" primarily being the North Sea exploration rigs.

Sabine Kerkau, Rosemary E Lunn, Roz Lunn, award winning diving journalist, WDHOF, Women Divers Hall of Fame, XRay Mag, X-Ray Magazine, scuba diving news
Sabine Kerkau, an award-winning diving journalist

Sabine Kerkau to be inducted in WDHOF in 2019

Sabine Kerkau will be the first German female diver to be inducted in WDHOF, since it was founded almost two decades ago, in 1999.

Kerkau is a diving journalist, more specifically, a technical diving journalist. There are very few of these specialist reporters, and even fewer female techie correspondents. Kerkau is an intelligent author. She keeps the wreck or cave centre stage, and gives it maximum exposure.

Sabine Kerkau is the first German female diver to be inducted in WDHOF

Wolfgang Leander has died

We instantly became friends.  Wolfgang was mild-mannered, pleasant and very knowledgeable.  At the time his body was already quite ravaged by several bouts of cancer but not his spirit or positive outlook.

Inspirational

Wolfgang's purist b/w photography of sharks, shot on film with his trusty and battered Nikonos V, was one of the few that truly inspired me to take my own photography a tad further. There was always such a raw but at the same time elegant aesthetic over his imagery which always appealed to me, and still does to this day.

Lee Selisky

Lee Selisky dies

Lee Selisky was an adventurous cold-water wreck diver who recognised that divers needed a range of lead weights, hence he founded 'Sea Pearls'.

We've lost an industry icon. Cathryn Castle, Publisher

Selisky started his company in a garage and used his plastics moulding and die-casting knowledge to develop a range of products that included coated and uncoated lead weights and softer bags of shot lead. He manufactured lead in different shapes and colours.

Rob Harper, Rick Stanton, John Volanthen, Thailand, Thai Cave Rescue, British Caver, cave diving rescue, XRay Mag, X-Ra
Weerasak Kowsurat, the Thai Minister for Minister for Tourism and Sports presented Rob Harper with a very special drawing to thank him for his specialist help | Credit: Sky News

British caver Rob Harper is thanked and honoured by Thailand

It has now been confirmed that Rob Harper has returned to the UK for a medical appointment.

When Harper arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport to fly back to the UK, he received a VIP welcome and escort. He was warmly greeted by several Thai officials including the Minister for Tourism and Sports, Weerasak Kowsurat.

The Minister presented a Certification of Appreciation to Rob Harper on behalf of the Kingdom of Thailand.

Kind heart. Fierce mind. Brave spirit.

  Diving is a kind of leisure activity we never really associate with Stone Age people
Diving is a kind of leisure activity we never really associate with Stone Age people

Did Stone Age people swim and dive just for the fun of it?

Surfer's ear is the common name for an exostosis or abnormal bone growth within the ear canal. Irritation from cold wind and water exposure causes the bone surrounding the ear canal to develop lumps of new bony growth which constrict the ear canal. The condition is not limited to surfing and can occur in any activity with cold, wet, windy conditions such as windsurfing, kayaking, sailing, jet skiing, kitesurfing and diving.