Edmund Yiu
Edmund Yiu has over 25 years of experience in recreational, technical, rebreather and cave diving, with more than 6000 dives conducted all around the world. He has been focused on Technical Diving since 2000 and continues to pursue his passion for diving, exploration and conservation through scuba diving instruction.
Edmund also has years of experience in dive equipment servicing, retail sales and distribution businesses, providing technical support and total solutions for dive centers and instructors.
Edmund currently acts as the Greater China Regional Head for RAID (Rebreather Association of International Divers) serving dive centers and developing instructors throughout the region. Edmund is qualified as a RAID Examiner, RAID Recreational, Technical OC and CCR Instructor Trainer and RAID Full Cave Instructor. Through the wealth of experience that he brings to the industry, Edmund hopes to improve safety, establish higher training standards, modernize training best practices, ensure professionalism with the proper attitude and all the while, improve profitability for dive centers and instructors. Edmund also holds numerous Instructor Trainer/Instructor ratings from several dive training agencies within Recreational/ Technical and Rebreather Diving.
The final word on dry suit comfort, quality, and durability - Very seldom you will see a manufacturer that refuses to compromise in any way to create the most dependable dry suit on the planet and stand by it too! by offering the best warranty in the industry.
frank vasseur
Born in 1968, Frank discovered outdoor activities when he was a scout. He took up caving and other outdoor activities in 1984, and learned to dive in 1987, with the aim of furthering his cave explorations. Since then, he has been learning and using new equipment and technology to explore caves further, but safely.
He explores caves and chasms all over southern France, but also abroad, in collaboration with local cavers and cave divers. His discovery of virgin galleries is subject to the production of tangible and shareable elements (topographies, reports, photographs, films) so that a discovery can benefit others and not only the privileged discoverer. With an approach that is more empirical than technical, he has fixed on pixels areas that have been little or not photographed until now, with the desire to show the magnificence and aesthetics of this amazing environment, which ignorance borders on a nightmare.
He has written several books on cave diving. The latest are a technical manual (2014) and a photographic book “an inside world” in 2018. For several years he has been teaching CCR and cave diving.
I have been diving with an SF Tech drysuit since 2009. Durable, comfortable, reliable, it remains the best drysuit I've ever used for technical diving and cave diving.
mario marconi
Mario is a Technical open-circuit instructor since 2001 and CCR diver since 2002. He uses the rebreather mainly for deep cave exploration in Europe at depths over 170m and also has double rebreather for cave exploration since 2004. In 2008, together with Pim van Der Horst and Alessandro Scuotto, he was able to explore the “Milano” wreck in Lake Maggiore at -241m with a bottom time of 4’ on the wreck. Currently his standard configuration is a double Liberty sidemount for deep and cave dives. He has been working on this specific configuration for about a year, conceiving this system as a fusion of twin CCRs and not just as a simple rescue rebreather concept.
Finally Mario is Full Cave Instructor Trainer for PTA-CMAS and DST Academy, OC Extended Technical 100 Instructor, PSAI Liberty Explorer Mixed Gas CCR Instructor.
The customer is the central element of the exchange, resulting in the creation of a custom-made piece of art. Quite simply the best drysuit I have used in the last 25 years.
Maxim Kuznetsov
Based in Gainesville, Florida. Maxim has been a diver since 1981, an OW diving instructor since 1998, and a cave diving instructor since 2005. Currently, he is the Director of Training at NSS-CDS, a Technical and Cave Instructor Trainer at IANTD and a Technical and Cave Instructor at TDI. He is also a rebreather cave diving instructor.
Best drysuit on the market
mel calrk
Mel is an active technical/rebreather diving instructor trainer, and avid underwater photographer. She also has taught for Divers Institute of Technology (DIT) helping to develop future commercial divers. Mel has made a genuine contribution to the diving community by increasing CCR diver knowledge and safety through her easy to read manuals; rebreathers Simplified, CCR Trimix Simplified, and CCR Cave Almost Simplified. When Mel is not instructing, she can usually be found in the water exploring wrecks or caves.
Mel is a member of the Women Diver’s Hall of Fame.
BEST drysuit I have ever used. I am still diving a suit from 2015 which has thousands of dives on it, now that’s quality. Durable, comfortable, reliable, it remains the best drysuit I've ever used for technical diving and cave diving.
Pedro Balordi
Pedro was born in 1963 and has been diving since the 80’s. For many years he worked as a diving instructor in his spare time. At the beginning of the 90s he became more and more interested in technical diving and so he completed the first full cave course in 1997 and the first trimix course in 1998. Many other training courses in technical diving such as CCR and DPV followed. At the same time, Pedro is also an enthusiastic caver and so it was clear that he would combine both more and more. Since the year 2000 he has focused exclusively on cave diving. At the same time, he is also involved as a head of operations in cave rescue (Speleo-Secours Suisse) and has been involved in several cave rescues and salvages in Switzerland and abroad.
Since 2004 he has been diving exclusively with his KISS MCCR device and with Trimix as a diluent. This in a configuration that is reduced to the essentials and thus guarantees the greatest simplicity and security in his inquiries.
Over the many years, Pedro has been able to explore, explore and set the end of the line in many caves in Switzerland (Bätterich, Bellegarde, Bossi, Gelber Brunnen) and abroad, alone or with his partner. There are well-known caves in France such as Source de Marnade, Source du Durzon, Source du Doubs, Source du Landenouse, Baume des Anges, Planagreze, Vipere or in Italy the Cogol dei Veci & Cogol dei Siori.
Since Pedro comes from classic caving, combined cave diving, the so-called multi-siphon diving, has increasingly fascinated him and today he is certainly one of the most experienced cave divers in this discipline.
He has been able to pass on his experience and adventures in many lectures to interested divers and non-divers in Switzerland and abroad.
The current explorations of the Pozo Azul and the Cogol dei Veci are now the focus of his activities.
Behind several kilometer-long siphons like in the Pozo Azul, you want to be able to rely 100% on the material. You don't have the right to a special brand or an asking price, you just want the best. When climbing 14km from the entrance into the canyons, you can only rely on your experience and gear and not on what's 'cool' or hip. So SF Tech is clearly my choice. For me, this also includes the very fair and very customer-oriented 'after sales' service.
Sabine Sidi-Ali
I’ve been diving since more than 30 years. The last 10 years, I was focused on rebreathers and caves; teaching and exploring. I liked the caves to the point that I moved to Mexico 5 years ago to enjoy the Cenotes. I am now 9 months per year in Mexico and 3 months a year in Europe where I am dedicated to my passion: cave and technical diving. I teach up to CCR cave and technical cave diving as well as rebreather and trimix courses. I spend around 300 days a year under water.
On my days off, I go exploring undiscovered caves. I participated in cave exploration projects in various countries: in Mexico and in Europe. There is nothing more fascinating to me than the feeling that you are the first person ever who dives a place and this is followed by surveying and documenting those caves, which is also part of their protection.
Reliable, comfortable, best quality, warm, excellent service. Simply the best you can find on the market.
Severine Bär
Born in 1979 and a diver since 1992, Séverine has marvelled at the diversity of the underwater world since she started diving. With time and the move to trimix and rebreather, deep wrecks and the drop offs of the great alpine lakes have widened the field of possibilities. Finally, in 2009, the year of her first dive underground, Séverine found her passion. Crystal clear springs, muddy siphons, multi-siphon caves full of surprises, the multiple aspects of caving and cave diving have fascinated her ever since. So, in order to share this unique underground world and the special atmosphere of the dives with those who are not lucky enough to go underwater and/or underground themselves, she documents her incursions under the surface as often as possible.
My neoprene drysuit, superbly robust and warm, is for all the colder and somewhat more committed dives. The TNT, pleasantly flexible and light, joins me on quiet summer dives and in warmer waters, from the Tasmanian sea grass beds to the Florida caves. In addition to the quality of the products, the warm welcome and the after-sales service are worth mentioning as well. A modification? a new seal? bigger pockets? Never a problem – free coffee and a smile are included.
Thorsten 'Toddy' Wälde
Thorsten “Toddy” Wälde is an instructor and trainer in technical diving. He is the inventor and “brain” behind the Toddy-Style sidemount system. At the age of 22, he decided to start a professional diving career. After several years as a dive instructor and operator of dive centres in Offenburg and Freiburg (Breisgau), he turned to technical Trimix diving and in 2001 to Mexico. There he lived and worked for several years on the Yucatan Peninsula, focusing on cave diving, working as a guide and dive instructor, and participating in expeditions, films and research projects in the vast and complex cave systems of the Mexican peninsula.
In 2004 he returned to Europe with the aim of establishing a diving and training centre specifically for cave diving education. In search of a suitable location for this project, he found Sardinia, where there is a large number of underwater and subaquatic cave systems to explore. In 2005 he decided to create “Protec Sardinia” in Cala Gonone on the Golfo di Orosei. From guided dives to CCR caving instructor training, everything is possible at “Protect Sardinia”.
It's an absolutely robust suit that fits my expectations exactly. I work mainly in caves and I need the best suit on the market. The SF Tech suits are for me the best choice for my work and explorations.
Tom Steiner
Tom was born in Switzerland in 1965, he has worked all over the world, training ESA and Navy astronauts on rebreathers. He also does safety dives for world famous freedivers and technical divers. Loic Leferme, Fred Buyle, Şahika Ercümen and Sarah Campbell, Pascal Bernabe, Don Shirely and many others.
- Total number of dives: 15,000
- Rebreather hours: 2,500 (Inspiration, SF1, Draeger, OMG “Azimuth”, Voyager)
- Cave dives: +3,500 (Spain, France, Mexico, Malta, Egypt)
- Dives between 40 and 100 meters: +6,000
- Dives between 100 and 150 meters: +250
- Dives between 150 and 200 metres: 5
- First dive: 1979
- Training organisations: TDI/SDI and PADI
SF Tech drysuits are for me, the best drysuits ever made with the best customer service you can get.
Xavier Meniscus
Professional diver, Xavier works in France on the dams of the Rhone valley, and on offshore oil platforms in saturation diving. As an underground diver, he has been exploring for more than 20 years the longest and deepest caves and resurgences in France with a double mCCR Joki configuration. His main explorations are: the Gouls de Tourne, Marnade, Port Miou, Le Durzon, the Emergence de Bourne. The latter holds the world record for underground diving since December 2019, having reached a depth of -286m in the Font Estramar resurgence.
A comfortable and durable suit. I use a SF Tech TNT for my recreational dives and a Classic Kevlar for my bigger exploration dives. No other drysuit has withstood so many dives, the deepest dives in the world, regularly over -200m. I'm entering my 6th year with my Classic Kevlar.
