Shearwater Research is a Canadian manufacturer of dive computers and rebreather electronics for technical diving.
History
From the very beginning the company sought to develop products that are simple to use and easy to read underwater.
In 2004, Shearwater Research was founded by Bruce Partridge who produced their products in a spare bedroom at his home. As of 2014, Shearwater was producing thousands of dive computers per year in a manufacturing facility with twenty employees.
Shearwater Research began by building controller boards for the Innerspace Systems Corp (ISC) Megalodon rebreathers in 2004. There was a problem with the configuration and by the end of 2005, ISC was no longer offering the Shearwater electronics package. Since that time, the initial issues have been resolved and Shearwater electronics are again available for use on the ISC Megalodons.
Shearwater decompression computers began with an implementation of the Bühlmann decompression algorithm into their Shearwater GF in the Spring of 2006. It was available in either the partial pressure of oxygen with decompression or control versions. In January 2007, the Shearwater GF was the computer used with the JJ-CCR.
With the release of the Predator in 2009, Shearwater moved away from the old LCD display technology to the use of new OLED displays in their computers. This was the first color OLED diving computer available in the market with a user replaceable battery. Power was a major limiting factor in the development process to include the OLED technology.
Shearwater received their certification for ISO 9001-2008 in 2010 and all their products are complient with CE, FCC and IC international standards.
With the Predator, Shearwater also introduced bluetooth to allow easier syncing with their desktop software. Their reason for the move to bluetooth was to make a computer that could be used on multiple operating systems. The Predator's two button design has been called "intuitive and easy to use". The top of the line Predator will also allow for up to five breathing gases for the rebreather and up to five bail-out gasses. The user can make gas switches on the computer at any point during the dive.
In 2011, Shearwater announced that they had licensed a technique to monitor carbon dioxide absorbent canister developed by the United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit. In collaboration with rEvo rebreathers, they were able to show that the thermal canister CO2 monitor would work with Shearwater's Predator dive computer.
Shearwater has continued to develop new ways to calculate decompression in their equipment by releasing an implementation of the Varying Permeability Model (VPM-B/GFS) in 2011. The "GFS" is for Gradient Factor Surfacing and indicates the combination were VPM and GF models are compared and the longer time utilized for the displayed profile.
The Shearwater Petrel has been called the "Predator with improvements". The Petrel was designed to allow a standard AA battery to drive the power it needs for calculations and OLED display with automatic brightness changing. The unit is 40% smaller than the Predator. The Petrel includes both the Bühlmann algorithm and their VPM-B/GFS algorithm. The Petrel also extends the profile data storage that was previously available from 200 to approximately 1000 hours.
With the release of the Petrel, Shearwater has also improved the educational materials available to their owners.
In 2013, Shearwater was presented with the International System Safety Society Award for safety in "Scientific Research & Development" at the 31st International System Safety Conference in Boston.
Shearwater's NERD or Near Eye Remote Display is a head-up display that places the divers information in front of their eyes. The Shearwater NERD was released at Dive 2013 in Birmingham, UK.
The most recent computer, the Perdix, is similar to the Petrel but has a 30% longer battery life and a thinner and lower profile. The computer was named after a "grey partridge". (The Founder's surname is Partridge)
Safety outreach
In 2010, Shearwater was one of the founding manufacturers for the Rebreather Education and Safety Association. Shearwater's Bruce Partridge served as Secretary for the founding board of the organization.
Partridge also presented at the Rebreather Forum 3 meeting held in 2012. He presented on the use of information technology with focus on human factors in equipment design.
Shearwater is also a sponsor for the diving research efforts of the Rubicon Foundation.
In 2016 Shearwater funded a rebreather sorb absorption research study by David Harvey; Neal W Pollock; Nicholas Gant; Jason Hart; Peter Mesley; Simon Mitchell (2016). "The duration of two carbon dioxide absorbents in a closed-circuit rebreather diving system". Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine. 45 (2): 92â€"97).Â
Exploration support
A Shearwater Predator was used to calculate decompression on a 2010 expedition that lead to the identification of the HMS Snaefell that went down on July 5, 1941.
Lance Robb utilized an ISC Megalodon rebreather with a Shearwater Predator in a 2010 expedition to explore Osprey Reef at a depth of 156Â m (512Â ft).
Shearwater also supported research by the University of Connecticut and Ocean Opportunity to explore the Tongue of the Ocean. This project, funded by the National Geographic Society/ Waitt Grants Program to explore the mesophotic zone between 200Â ft (61Â m) and 500Â ft (150Â m) carried The Explorers Club flag number 172. The Shearwater electronics were utilized to record the diver profiles.
Awards
- EUROTEK.2014 Innovation Award, for manufacturing "an advanced or technical diving product or service that has enabled you to further your diving or made your diving safer"
References
