Curtis McNamee “Curt“ is retiring after 20 years helping founders Bruce and Lynn Partridge build Shearwater Research Inc (SRI) in to the world-leading manufacturer of diving computers and CCR monitors and controllers that it is today.
Curt was there at the very beginning when Shearwater’s first products – hand-built monitors and controllers for Closed Circuit Rebreathers (CCR) – were still being manufactured in a spare room in Bruce and Lynn’s Vancouver home.
He heard about these new computers while co-instructing advanced open circuit tri-mix and CCR diving classes near Seattle and visited Bruce and Lynn to learn more.
Immediately impressed, Curt purchased a couple of the original GF products for his own use and classes and began promoting them. Bruce and Lynn soon approached Curt to help develop a dealer base in the US, at first to incorporate SRI products into KISS rebreathers.
Curt, Bruce, and Lynn became great friends and in the early days attended every dive show together. Curt would often sleep on the couch in Bruce and Lynn’s hotel room.
Curt soon opened the Shearwater service centre for the North American market and was sole contact 24/7 for sales and service for years. If the phone rang and Curt was awake, he answered. This was the genesis that formed Shearwater’s customer service care that stands today.
Curt has been close friends with Bruce and Lynn for over 20 years, vacationing and working together at shows and dive trips all over the world. As word spread and Shearwater continued to grow in the recreational diving markets, Curt opened over 700 Authorized SRI Dealerships in North America and was the company’s sole representative until 2022.
To quote Bruce and Lynn, “Curt acted as an owner, sacrificing everything else and working endless hours to ensure the success of the company and he embodied the spirit of our motto, to “Really, really care about our customers.” His contributions to the company cannot be overstated and we appreciate his efforts.”
Curt’s retirement is effective Friday August 30th, 2024. We wish him well as he continues his adventures and cannot thank him enough for his decades of dedicated service.
Farewell Curt, and Thank-you!