After a long three-year break due to COVID, the Baltictech 2022 conference was held once again in Gdynia on November 26-27, a special 10th anniversary edition of the meeting of technical divers.
In front of the organizers it was quite a challenge.
Not much time, high expectations of participants and new ocation. For the first time, the conference was held in the Naval Academy Library building in Gdynia, Oksywie. The change of location allowed to receive even more participants. This year's edition was very popular, the attendance exceeded the organizers' expectations. The break did its job and more than 1,200 people from 19 countries came to Gdynia.
Without a doubt, over these ten years Baltictech has become the largest international conference for technical divers in the world.
During this year's edition we hosted 42 Speakers from 13 countries. During the two-day conference, 39 lectures were held, simultaneously in three halls. Participants were faced with a difficult choice which one choose, although the program was very varied.
It should be noted that the most interesting panel of this year's conference was a block of meetings with people professionally involved in diving. Participants were able to find out, among other things, how to become a saturation or military diver, how to start higher diving studies or find their dream job for a wreck diver. Andrzej Pydyn and Mateusz Popek presented the work of an underwater archaeologist and Aleksander Palasinski showed what the work of a camera operator looks like on a daily basis, presenting examples of underwater and surface photography.
As always, and this time, there was no shortage of speakers from DAN and topics related to diving medicine. Thanks to Alessandro Marroni, we learned about new technologies in diving research and Jacek Kot introduced the important topic of counterdiffusion in diving. Safety and health issues were also raised by: Andrzej Gornicki, Pasquale Longobardi and Mikołaj Wrobel. This year it was possible to attend a workshop on musculoskeletal prevention and learn how to function without sports injuries.
There were also lectures about the Baltic Sea. On Saturday morning Benedykt Hac started the day with an interesting lecture about the Baltic's chemical weapons and in the afternoon there was an opportunity to see a presentation by the Baltictech Team and hear some good news about the Baltic's wrecks. However, the presentation about the Karlsruhe wreck and the search for the mysterious amber chamber attracted the most interest. The speeches of the following were also very positively received: the British-Swedish team - about the Langban mine, and Alf Norkko and Edd Stockdale about ice diving. There were issues about rebreathers, caves, wrecks, the organization of expeditions, dive training and historical threads. It is worth noting that for the first time there was an opportunity to explore freediving, which is becoming more popular every year.
During the conference, attendees were able to visit 32 exhibitors, dive industry representatives, dive equipment manufacturers, distributors, training organizations and dive travel agencies. There were product launches and among them were the new Seacraft GO scooter and SANTI's Blue Power battery for dive heating. One of the most interesting places to visit was the booth of the Heritage Malta Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit, where each participant could virtually dive in the wrecks located around Malta, an amazing experience.
There was no shortage of honors awarded during this year's BEST Baltictech 2022 Plebiscite. Adam Slucki was named both recreational and technical instructor of the year. Marek Cacaj, meanwhile, was selected rebreather instructor 2022. As the best dive base, the participants chose Honoratka Dive Base and most of you distinguished Dive Demo Days at Koparki as the event of the year. During this year's edition, the organizers did not award the Failure of the Year, which was a surprise to all of us. However, we support the organizers in this decision and confirm that the most important thing is the integration of the diving community, and this is what we come to Gdynia for.
Instead, there was no shortage of gifting a few lucky people with new equipment or vouchers. SUEX - the main sponsor of the conference donated up to 3 of its scooters, the surprise bag also included: Avatar wetsuit, Shearwater computer, Halcyon flashlight, kits from K01, personalized wings from XDEEP and vouchers for diving in the deepest pool in Poland - DEEPSPOT.
The final highlight of the conference was a trip to the former German training center for divers and Uboat crews, the so-called "Spitoons", which now belongs to the Polish Army and is not generally accessible.
Baltictech is a meeting you can't miss, it serves to promote diving and interesting initiatives, and the one for sure this year was the "Women to Women" initiative, during which women divers could learn about the so-called "Women's Issues".
2 days of diving festivities, the most important event of the year. Great Speakers, leading exhibitors and, above all, divers from all over the world, meetings, exchange of experiences and constructive discussions, which we already miss the most.
It remains to wait for the next edition in 2 years, in 2024 we see you again!
