The scholarship year kicked off with a bang, thrown into a whirlwind of big buildings, and amazingly generous people whilst battling a serious case of jetlag! It’s been a surreal time over these past few weeks. The weekend in New York proved to be a time in which many of my dreams have begun to manifest into reality. I have the occasional moment where I have to pinch myself just to reaffirm I’m awake.
The journey all started when I flew from Wellington to Sydney to meet up with Sue Crowe who is the executive director of Tabata Australia. I arrived at the Tabata warehouse to have a short but informative tour . Sue and I then proceeded to try out every conceivable piece of equipment made by both TUSA and Waterproof, both sub companies of Tabata. It was an extremely exciting afternoon that ended up stretching into the evening as I sweated and struggled into a multitude of dry-suits, wetsuits, and polypropylenes as the other warehouse workers left for the day. I want to take an opportunity to thank Tabata, Sue, and the whole Tabata team for providing me with a full set of fantastic dive gear. I can’t wait to put it all to the test!
What followed was a massive twenty-eight hour journey from Sydney to New York. When I arrived it was needless to say I was in awe of the city. I was a hazard as I wandered down the various streets with my head looking straight up and my jaw somewhere near my knees. What followed was a non-stop five days for the annual awards ceremony for the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society (OW-USS), where I met the OW-USS family for the first time. The whole experience blew me away, everyone was so kind and displayed endless generosity. I was introduced to dozens of people involved within the scholarship society, all of whom had warm words of congratulations and many offering fantastic opportunities for me this year. I also to meet my international counterparts Josh Stuart (the 2010 North American scholar) and Ingrid Rushfeldt Krüger (the 2010 European scholar), as well as the 2009 scholars Matt Carter (Australasia), Filip Wolski (Europe) and Myfanwy Rowlands (North America) who were to be passing on the role as OW-USS scholar to Josh, Ingrid, and I.
The main event of the weekend was the formal presentations and dinner at the Explorers club, of which all new scholars are given memberships. Here George Wozencraft the OW-USS President, and Elvin Leech the Chairman of the board and vice-president of European operations made introductions and welcomed us to the scholarship family with medals. We were then presented with our Rolex Submariner watches by John Flaherty of Rolex. I can say that it is an incredible honour to be bestowed with one of the Rolex timepieces, and it is something that I will wear proudly for the rest of my life. We were also presented with t-shirts and caps from DAN, a brand new Cobra 3 dive computer from Suunto, and a tech-diving computer from VR3 technologies. Also we recieved an amazing underwater camera setup from Olympus, a brand new underwater video housing from light and motion, clothing and drysuit undergarments from Fourth Element. Josh, Ingrid, and I were also given specially made plaques with an article written about our winning of the scholarship which has been published in Sportdiving USA, and our scholarship flags that we are to carry with us throughout our journey. The experience was unforgettable.. After the official business was done we all went to celebrate at a local pub for a few drinks. All in all an absolutely fantastic long weekend. A huge thank you to everyone involved who made the weekend possible.
After New York I flew back to Sydney to begin some diving courses with the team at Plunge Diving, which is where I am now. I look forward to keeping you updated on how everything goes.
Will Arlidge
