From 1996 – when, following the collapse of his beloved, aquaCORP Magazine, Michael turned his back on the diving industry – until his eventual return at the OZTeK2011 event, Michael Menduno and I remained firm friends maintaining regular communications with one another. My main aim being to lure him back to diving.
In 2008, having continually failed to secure any immediate interest by him on a return to diving – and not being in a position to afford his then stated fees were he to do so – I continued to ask him if he’d mind endorsing OZTeK and EuroTeK (I had mentioned the possibility of Michael’s eventual return to diving to EuroTeK’s, Carl Spencer and Leigh Bishop) in a written message that I could use for marketing purposes. Michael eventually agreed, and sent me the piece titled, ‘Where Few Have Gone Before’ (see below):
—–Original Message—–
From: David Strike <strikinc1@optusnet.com.au>
Sent: Thursday, 7 February 2008 10:18 AM
To: michael menduno <michael@menduno.com>
Subject: Re: Thoughts on OZTek details-Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Tech Diving
Hi. Michael,
G’Day, Mate!
> Hello David,
> Happy new Year to you as well. I’ve been thinking about you. I feel
> really honored that you invited me to speak at Oztek. Thank you again.
> However, after a lot of soul searching, I’ve decided that it’s not
> going to work out for me to attend. I hope that you have a fabulous
> show. Great news that you already have 60% of exhibit sold! Good for you.
Many thanks for at least considering the proposal. At a personal level (as well as at an industry level) it would have been good to see you again, but I do understand your reasoning. As you said previously, were you still involved in the industry it might have been a different matter?
Nevertheless, I’m not giving up on you! 🙂
Could I prevail upon you – as 2009 marks that 20th Anniversary since the start of tech Diving – to pen a few words about those earlier years and your (then) hopes and aspirations for the activity?
Even just a few lines possibly endorsing OZTeK that I can incorporate into a media release would be great! (I know it’s selfish, but your name still carries enormous weight as the person who gave legitimacy to the sport!)
>Please say hello for me to any and all of our mutual diving buddies.
I’ll certainly do that. I’ll also keep in touch with you in the hope that we can once again meet up and share a beer or three! 🙂
You take care
With warmest regards
David
——————
Michael sent the following image to accompany the article
A Message From Michael
6th May 2008
Where Few Have Gone Before
It was a little more than sixteen years ago, that I launched the first tek conference in Orlando, Florida with the help of handful of dedicated tekkies. Intended as an extension of “aquaCORPS: The Journal for Technical Diving,” which I founded two years earlier, our goal was to bring together the fledgling “technical diving” community along with select commercial and military divers to share information and methodology, and discuss the pressing issues of the day. There were many.
At the time, nitrox—never mind trimix—was labeled a voodoo gas by “Skin Diver” magazine, and the D-word, deep diving, decompression diving or both, was considered taboo among recreational dive training agencies. For good reason: the fatality rate among so-called tech divers was skyrocketing and reliable tech training, operations and safety standards were all but non-existent.
That year, 1992, the tech diving community finally came out of the closet and, as a result of a contentious, yet enthusiastic tek conference, began to put the needed standards in place to assure its place in the broader diving community. Over the next four years, aquaCORPS hosted a Eurotek and Asiatek conference in addition to the US-based tek, and several new magazines devoted to tech diving also hit the newstands. The rest, as they say, was history and sport divers would never think about breathing “air” in quite the same way again.
Perhaps that’s why I’m so pleased and amazed to see the aquaCORPS and tek legacy continuing under the leadership, some may say, craziness, of several stalwarts of the hyberbaric intelligentsia; veteran tekkie David Strike and his down under Oztek conference and deep shipwreck photographer Leigh Bishop and partner Carl Spencer who host Eurotek.
If you have occasion to breath gasses other than air (and you better if you’re diving beyond 60 m or pushing no-D limits), I recommend that you make the trek next year to OZ or the UK, or both to attend these important conferences. Your life and pursuit of underwater happiness may depend on it. Go ahead. Mix it up! And tell him M2 sent you.
Writer Michael Menduno was the founder and editor-in-chief of aquaCORPS Journal and the tek conferences and coined the term technical diving. He currently resides in California.
—————-
Michael was also quite a talented artist. This was a ‘quick’ water colour rendition of the
Singapore apartment that we shared in 2015.
Michael eventually succumbed to my nagging and returned to the world of diving when he attended OZTeK 2011.
But one of the most enduring memories that I have of Michael was his unquenchable interest in the why’s-and-wherefore’s of diving. A high-school dropout, who then completed two years of undergraduate study at the University of Illinois, before spending a further four-years at Stanford University’s Graduate school, Michael completed an MS degree in Engineering Economic Systems and Mathematics, and went on to become a PhD candidate in Math, working on algebraic topology.
On at least two occasions – one in a now-lost ADEX webinar interview that took place during Covid – Michael tried to explain ‘algebraic topology’ to me. Sadly, I couldn’t even begin to understand the concept. But it did – for me – highlight why he was so enamoured with physics, physiology and the technology of diving. And why he stood – and will continue to do so for many years to come – head and shoulders above every other writer and editorial contributor when it comes to commenting and reporting on diving.
—ENDS—
Categories: General
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