IV Lodz Wreck Festival - report

On Saturday, 16 February 2013, the 4th Wreck Diving Festival, which we have announced many times, took place. Everyone who came that day to the Technical University of Lodz, certainly did not regret it. From the very beginning it was interesting, and the end was the real icing on the cake.

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The festival was opened with his lecture – “Lost Sailing Ships” – by the legendary English wreck diver and photographer – Leigh Bishop. Bishop, known to the participants of the last two editions of the festival for his extremely interesting way of conducting presentations, saturated with humour and funny comments, did not disappoint this time either. The presentation on lost sailing ships was specially prepared for this year’s festival.

After a good start it could only get better. In the main hall, the floor was taken by Dr Waldemar Ossowski, who presented the results of archaeological works carried out in the foreground of the port of Gdańsk, Tomasz Stachura reporting from the perspective of the participant of the Mars 2011 wreck expedition, Daniel Pastwa and Łukasz Piórewicz talked about the history and excavation of the wreck of U-boat U768, found by Wojciech Jechna.

At the same time, in the workshop rooms it was possible to participate in small groups in classes conducted by Mario Weidner, Leigh Biushop, Adam Wysoczański, Marcin Trzciński, Michał Kosut or Piotr Kardasz.

Throughout the duration of the classes, the equipment stands set up in the corridors welcomed others interested in purchasing diving gear. There appeared representatives of such brands as Sea Wolf, No Gravity, Sidemount System, Trojan, Pirania Prince or Centrum Techniki Nurkowej Piórewicz from Gdynia.

The further into the forest the more trees there were, and the same was true of the attendance at each subsequent lecture. In the afternoon, Polish wreck diving enthusiasts had their meetings with: Danijel Frka, Sławomir Makaruk, Marcin Jamkowski, Mario Weidner, and once again the undisputed star of the festival – Leigh Bishop.

The Englishman once again captivated the audience with his stories, which had everything! Adventure, diving, wrecks, difficulties with the local authorities and daring and spectacular escapes from oppression.

According to the organisers, all invited speakers attracted 30% more participants this year than last year. Considering that there was so little time to prepare the festival (the organisers were leading an expedition in Sierra Leone), this should be considered a great success.

The festival ended with an auction of diving equipment and souvenirs, which raised 3150pln. This amount will be donated, as in previous years, to the Lodz Hispicjum for Children account.

Source: Organiser