 “I trained as an ecologist and I'm currently working in IT to pay for my diving habit. I'm mad about invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians … especially inverts that live in mud, under rocks or underwater. The sea (well any water will do!), is my great passion and I started diving and freediving six years ago and now spend as much time as possible underwater.” Becky is a BSAC Dive Leader and Open Water Instructor with TDI training in Extended Range Diving. Bex joined the team in March 2004 and she has a hidden passion for wreck props.
BEN TOMS
 Ben grew up spending his summers on the Kingsbridge – Salcombe estuary on the south coast of Devon. He has been involved with most watersports for as long as he can remember and took up diving in the late 90’s. A keen wreck diver, Ben rates New Zealand among his all time top places to dive. “Whilst in New Zealand I dived the Rainbow Warrior, Poor Knights Islands (one of Jacques Cousteau’s top dive sites), with Mako sharks and Dusky dolphins off Kaikorand in Milford Sound where they have black coral and is renowned for its fresh/salt water transition. Ben joined the Angels in January 2004. He currently works for PADI.
BRAD CARTER
 Brad is no stranger to the depths of Dayhouse Quarry (NDC) and intimately knows the 75m shot line that the saltFree posse use as he helped to place it. He has dived extensively around the world and highlights include some exhilarating ice diving . He is a keen UK diver and can frequently be found with his wife and regular buddy, diving the wrecks around Penzance, Portland, Plymouth and West Wales. Brad is a PADI Divemaster, BSAC Advanced, HSE level 1 surface demand/wet bell diver, TDI Trimix, TDI Advanced gas blender, Diver Medical Technician and RYA level 2 power boat operator. Brad joined the team in March 2004. His luxury item, should he be ship-wrecked on a desert island, would be a desalinator!
DAVE PORTEUS
 “During my day job I am a communications engineer specialising in the RF field for QinetiQ Ltd based in Malvern. I have been SCUBA diving for thirteen years. During the past five years I have taught the sport. At present I'm the training officer of Malvern's Sub Aqua Club 'Maldives' which, along with four other diving friends, we set up in 2000. Over the last two years, thoroughly fed up of teaching mask clearing, I decided to do something for myself so I enrolled on a TDI Normoxic Trimix course. After a year or so of paying upwards of £50 for gas per dive, I decided a bubble free existence was the only way ahead. I now dive on an Inspiration rebreather and am thoroughly loving it. I am fascinated by wreck diving, with some of my most memorable dives being off Oban and Plymouth and now with the cheaper gas bills I can't see me ever wanting to stop.” Dave joined the team in September 2005.
LAURA STORM (team leader)
 Laura grew up in Kenya where she first learned to dive at the age of 12 with the Nairobi BSAC, at altitude and with attitude!! She retrained the PADI way in ‘98 after an extended time out of the water and started support diving after her regular buddy abandoned the delights of SCUBA in favour of freediving. She is 100% a dark side diver, currently venturing into trimix. Safety diving projects have included Dive Marshaling for Steve Copeland's highly accomplished team during the Sony Freediver Open Classic event (Cyprus 2003 and again in 2004) as well as support diving year round in the UK. When she isn’t under water, Laura runs her own sports injury / remedial therapy clinic. She is the founder of STORM, a research project studying diving related sports injuries. Laura lives for marmite, vodka, rock and metal (the hardcore music variety) and is the team’s mover and shaker.
JASON DUIGNAN
 I started diving with a small SAA club in Scotland in 1993. Over the next few years I progressed to Dive Leader and became the Club DO. In 1999 I moved to Worcestershire and helped start up a successful SAA club. Since then I've been doing too much quarry diving and not enough sea diving. I've recently progressed to diving an Inspiration rebreather (after owning a dodgy Russian one for a while!). It’s the ultimate support diving tool. I enjoy diving anywhere, and have equal passion for wrecks, reefs and technical diving. I'm adventurous but with a strong background in diver safety. When he isn’t diving Jason enjoys running, cycling, swimming and walking, triathlons, adventure racing, rock music and all things outdoor. Jason joined the team in March 2004. He hates marmite!
JOHN PARKINSON
 I'm originally from Preston in Lancashire but now live and work in Malvern, Worcestershire. I've been diving since about 1993 and am particularly interested in the deeper technical stuff. I took an IANTD trimix course in 1997 and more recently have switched over to CCR diving with my Inspiration. I try to get in the water as often as possible usually with our club in Malvern. It's not the best place to live for access to the sea but we try and get to the south coast whenever possible and can be found at the usual inland sites most weekends. Most of my diving has been UK based (South Coast, Oban, St Abbs, Scapa etc) with the exception of the occasional holiday to the Red Sea, Mediterranean etc. John joined the team in March 2004. In his spare time he eats peanut butter and marmite sandwiches. Hmmm …!
MARK DEAN
 Mark first started diving in 1997 during a trip to the Red Sea. Soon afterwards, once the dive bug had bitten he ventured into UK waters. He is a PADI Open Water Instructor, BSAC Dive Leader with training in TDI Adv Nitrox and TDI Deco Procedures. Mark has traveled extensively and favorite exotic destinations include Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. As to what has attracted to joining the support team, “I am looking for a club atmosphere where people are there to enjoy themselves and have fun doing what we all enjoy doing which is diving. I also look forward to getting out regularly and building up my depth limitations within technical diving, whilst at the same time doing something to help the freedivers safely carry out their sport with some backup.” Mark joined the team in January 2004.
MARK WASS
 “I started diving with a University Club many years ago and soon became treasurer – well, I figured it was the best way to get my first set of kit!! After working as a slave, I mean as a Dive Master in Turkey, I decided to become an Instructor in the UK. I moved to Technical Diving a few years ago. To pay the bills, I work as an electrical application engineer. Diving allows me to relax and enjoy what covers 7/10's of the earth, away from the rat race above.” Mark joined the team in the winter of 2003. He is an open circuit advanced trimix diver and a PADI Master Scuba Instructor. His passions out of the water include Trinity - his daughter, rock music and playing guitar. He likes marmite! The aspect of safety diving that he least enjoys is “having to go home” and on his life philosophy - he'll either have a beer with you or he won't.
SIMON POWELL
 “I started diving in 2000 on the recommendation of a mate before visiting him in Australia and diving the Great Barrier Reef. I progressed through the PADI ranks to Assistant Instructor and developed a passion for sunken ships before turning to the dark side of mixed gas and deco in order to explore more interesting, deeper, darker wrecks. I wanted more bottom time and more efficient deco, so bought the Inspiration in 2004, and have been diving that exclusively since then.” Simon joined The Angels in July 2005. “Something like this would give me more time in the water with something a bit more challenging and interesting than just looking at the rocks. Having been a "taker" of training courses for so long, it would be nice to give something back for a change! Work hard, dive hard, party hard.” Simon likes marmite!
TREV FRAMPTON
 “I took up diving shortly after joining the RAF and soon found it to be a way of getting free holidays … sorry, I mean expeditions around the world, so I kept it up. It has enabled me to dive in places some people could only dream of. The Scilly Isles, Scotland, St Kilda, Scapa, Norway, UK, Cyprus, Ascension, South of France, Maldives, Sipadan, Red Sea, Belize are highlights.” Having lived in Cyprus for four years he returned to the UK, leaving the RAF and settled near Gloucester. “I was involved in organising the safety divers for the Sony Freediver Open Classic Championships held in Cyprus in 2003. I was so taken by all the freedivers out there that I contacted Laura and offered my services whenever possible in the UK.” Trevor is a BSAC Adv diver, OWI, ABI, O2 Admin, Military Sub Aqua Diving Supervisor, ERD Inst, Adv Nitrox Inst, TDI Adv Trimix, TDI Adv Gas Blender, TDI SCR, IANTD CCR (Insp) and currently dives a Jetsam KISS rebreather. If Trev suggests an after dinner gin, know one thing … it will mean the whole bottle! He joined the team in 2004 and his personal motto is " You either Walk the Walk or Talk the Talk, not both.”
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