Otters Adventures Expeditions Sponsors

Commitment to quality ensures that John Womack, founder of Otter Watersports, pushes his own suits to the very limits. Shown here are some examples of the expeditions where Otter Suits have played an invaluable role in the toughest conditions. John Womack puts it to the test.

PEARSE RESURGENCE, NEW ZEALAND

Otter are proud sponsor's of Richard Harris on the Pearse Resurgence, New Zealand Trip

The grey-white marble passage finally ends at nearly 160m with another abyssal shaft dropping down into the blackness! Rick and Dave alternatively push the deeper section of the cave, laying 6mm line from an improvised reel; the dives leap-frogging to 157m, 160, then finally Rick's astonishing record-breaking dive to 177m ....

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DIVING THE RMS NIAGARA

Otter are proud sponsor's of Richard Harris and Leigh Bishop on the
RMS Niagara, New Zealand

Suddenly, I heard Craig squealing in his helium falsetto. There, out in the open, sitting on the sand was the ship's bell! An exchange of unintelligible chatter followed. I raced to photograph the bell in situ, but Craig was already deploying a lift bag and attaching it to this most sought after prize. Minutes later, the bell began its ascent to the surface, and we spontaneously embraced and renewed our excited babble!

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RECORD BREAKER

Mark Ellyatt, Scuba Cats’ Technical Diving Instructor Trainer, achieved the deepest ever solo scuba dive recorded on Thursday 18 December 2003. At 6.30pm local time, Mark surfaced from the 313m (1032ft) dive and broke another barrier by completing the dive without any decompression illness symptoms. The conditions on the surface were described as perfect at the dive site almost 35 miles west of Phuket in the Andaman Sea.

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RECORD BREAKER
	Simon Townsend Longest Solo Rebreather Dive in the Mediterranean Sea lasting 25 hours

BRITANNIC 1997 & 2003

Britannic Expedition 1997 - The Britannic, the sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic now lies on her side in 120 meters of water in the Kea Channel in the Aegean. Launched on the 26th February 1914 to run service between Southampton and New York, she was requisitioned by the admiralty on November 13th 1915. Commissioned as a WWI Hospital Ship, it was November 21st 1916 when she met her end. Shortly after 08:00 she was hit by a torpedo, and began to sink.

Discovered in 1976 by Jacques Cousteau, the 1997 Britannic Expedition was led by Kevin Gurr. This trip, an attempt to understand why she sank, used the latest in technological advances. All the team wore the Otter Technical SuperSkin and Otter Undersuits, which worked perfectly in tough conditions. Otter Watersports are proud sponsors of the HMS Britannic 1997 Expedition.

Britannic Expedition 2003 - As you may be aware, Britannic has been off limits to recreational divers, however Expedition Leader Carl Spencer has been working on a documentary for National Geographic US and Carlton and got special dispensation for the Expedition as a media project and forensic analysis. John Snr joined the Britannic Expedition 2003. The team had a lot of politics to deal with within the various Greek Ministries which cost them a few days diving, but overall the expedition was a big success.

The wreck itself is visually stunning, in ambient light and everything is so easily recognizable making navigation into the wreck really easy, it's the ultimate for free swimming divers. They were pulling between 30-48 minute bottom times on the Inspirations for no more than 6½ hour total run times. There is still tons to do on the wreck, I think you could spend years on it and still not be satisfied

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ROCKALL 2003
	Rockall, stands alone in the middle of nowhere and is 83ft across, 65ft high and 100ft wide. John Snr has been working with Kevin Heath and a team of divers from across the UK, all interested in the Norge – Ian Trumpess, Stromness-based skipper of the boat Invincible and a diver himself, Ian Whittaker, Vic Young, Jeff Keep and Ian’s deckhand Clive Hewison. Kevin explained the scale of the disaster: “The sinking of the Norge was the biggest peacetime loss Denmark had ever had in its naval history and it was the biggest loss of life in the Atlantic before the
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REPULSE SOUTH CHINA SEA
	An ambitious expedition to the South China Sea required a quality suit. Run by John Thornton, Scapa Technical, the goal was to dive the wrecks of the 'Repulse' and the 'Prince of Wales'. Diving to 66m in temperatures of 29 degrees, the 3mm Steamer, Otters Warm Water Wet Suit system was ideal. The international expedition sailed from Singapore on the MV Mata Ikan for almost 24 hours across the South China Seas, almost to Vietnam, to reach these two war ships. The aim was to record unique video and photographic footage. Ambitions were achieved by using Trimix and Rebreathers. Despite adverse weather conditions, and poor visibility, the 10 day trip was a success.
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NARVIC EXPEDITION, NORWAY
	A more Extreme expedition provided focus for the testing of the Otter Extreme, a suit developed as a progression of the popular Ultimate. This technical suit, tested in Narvic, Norway, by the British Military put the suit through its paces. The cold conditions of the arctic circle were ideal circumstances for the ultra warm Extreme.
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