Speaker Details
| Website: | https://www.caveadventurers.com/ |
| E-Mail: | caveadventurers@hotmail.com |
About Edd Sorenson
Edd Sorenson (born October 17, 1959) is a technical cave diver known for numerous rescues of lost or trapped divers in the underwater caves of Florida particularly in Vortex Springs and Blue Springs Recreational Park.
His diving career started back in 1995 in the Pacific Northwest that sparked a new passion for the world beneath the water’s surface. He continued his education over the course of the next year. While on vacation in Florida in 1996 to wreck dive The Spiegel Grove, which was blown out, he found his new love for cave diving at Ginnie Springs doing a cavern dive. He was rebreather certified in 1997, Full Cave Certified in 1998 and over the course of the years he has continued to become one of the cave diving communities most known Instructor Trainer for several training agencies.
In 1999 he was asked to join the International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery (IUCRR) as one of the founding members and later founded Cave Adventurers in 2003. After joining the IUCRR Edd did his first body recovery in 1999 at Ginnie Springs in High Springs, FL.
Edd became a local hero in 2012 when he successfully rescued 4 people in 3 different rescues in Jackson County Florida on Merritts Millpond. Edd has been featured in Duracell’s series Quantum Hero’s. For his efforts in 2012, Edd was awarded first ever Diver’s Alert Network’s Hero Award, Heroic Merit Award and Instructor Trainer of the Year from the Professional Scuba Association International (PSAI).
Edd is the Safety Director for the NSS-CDS and has been awarded a Life Saving Award in 2013. This year at the 2019 NSS-CDS International conference Edd received a Lifetime Achievement Award and the NSS-CDS named an award after him “Edd Sorenson Life Saving Award” which this year’s recipient was Rick Stanton from the UK for his part in the Thai Cave Rescue last year.
Edd has also received awards from Jackson County Sheriff Louis S. Robert III for his Meritorious Service for the lives he has saved, an award from the International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists (IADRS) and the Edd Sorenson outstanding Achievement award from the Aquatic Science Association.
Due to his experience with Vortex Springs cave system, Edd was involved in the 2010 search for missing dive Ben McDaniel. Edd searched the cave system to where he could barely fit his head through and found no signs that anyone had been in that area. The system was pristine with no marks or any disturbance to the floor or the ceiling.
In February 2019 Edd, along with Mike Young, successfully recovered 2 Italian Divers lost for 17 days in the Dominican cave system called Dudu Lagoon. In April 2019 Edd successfully rescued Josh Bratchley , a British Cave diver who assisted in the 2018 rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a Thai cave, from Millpond Cave in Flynn’s Lick, Tennessee. Bratchley was lost in the cave for 27 hours when Edd found him in an air bell at the back of the cave and successfully brought him out alive.
Edd has been instrumental in the dive community for not only Cave Rescues and Recoveries but innovating and fine tuning “Sidemount Diving” as it became more popular over the years. Edd has also been hands on with Mike Young, Owner of KISS Rebreathers, on creating a Sidemount Rebreather known as “The Sidewinder”.
When Edd is not teaching diving or saving lost divers, he enjoys riding his Big Dog Chopper, Flying his Piper Cherokee 6 airplane and …. Well… diving for fun!! (Go Figure).
