Class Act

[Rockhound76]

We attended the Texas Dive Show in Houston last weekend. Fairly light on vendors and not well advertised, it was still fun.

My 15yr. old is a wreck diving fanatic. He would rather dive a wreck off the Panhandle of Florida than go to Grand Cayman. He was very excited to read that Richie Kohler was there with Mike Barnett.

He knew about Kohler from "Shadow Divers" and from Gary Gentile (Gary is not a fan. lol.) He did not know who Mike was, but when Richie and Mike learned about my son's interest in wreck diving, they spent about half an hour with him. He normally is fairly quiet, but they had him really opening up to them. I was very impressed with both men.

He kept going back to ask them questions and both men were very patient and helpful. Richies told him that he envied a kid who was diving at 15 today, because he thought the technologies were going to open up even more sites in the near future.

At the end, my son was practically begging to go diving with Richie one day. We got Mike and Richie's email addresses and hope to keep in touch. I guess I'll be mixing gas in my garage one day......oh, boy. We did walk away with three autographed books, which my son has proudly displayed on his bookshelf.

Anyway, we enjoyed their seminars afterwards, my only regret is that I missed a chance to talk to Stan Waterman again this year.

[kjvander]

yeah i get to meet richie at OWU next month in chicago. I'm really looking forward to it. I was hoping to meet John Chatterton as well...but i have a feeling that i'll probably be going down to his dive op in the DR for training. way to inspire your son and keep the sport growing.

[hychang]

Very cool. Glad to hear that these guys are approachable, especially availing themselves to inspire young people specifically your son. I trust we'll be seeing a dive report someday soon about you and your son diving with either or both Kohler and Gentile