Rick asked me along to the Coventry swimming pool to act as official observer whilst he tested his new micro rebreather.

The rebreather is a pendulum type semi closed design purpose built to minimise size and weight. Containing only 600 grams of absorbent it gives a duration of up to one and a half hours at modest depths. Gas feed is via a Cis Lunar ADV; the diver exhales through the nose to purge depleted gas from the unit and the ADV injects rich Nitrox to replace the lost gas as the counter lung bottoms out. Maintaining a workable Oxygen level is down to the divers own judgement and is controlled by changing the frequency of the nose breathing. In the water the unit breaths extremely will although it is important that the volume of the counter lung is matched to the divers own lungs.

Rick intends to use the micro breather in a project in the Lot in a few weeks time. The lightweight compact design will allow easier carrying both to the cave entrance and between the sumps in the cave.

And yes there is a reason it looks like a saucepan. It is.