1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000 Martin Dorn We do see sharks. We do see many different kinds of fish, and it it's still interesting. I've never seen one in Elizabeth River, but to be clear, even in Rudy Inlet down at the oceanfront, many sightings of bulls of bull sharks, which that's notoriously the most dangerous shark on the planet. 2 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Zack Miller Hello. I'm Tim Ryan. 3 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,000 Tim Ryan Hello, Zach Miller. I had to doing a quick check to see what episode number we're on. 4 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Zack Miller Two sixty seven, maybe? 5 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. Two sixty seven. 6 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Zack Miller Yep. Here we are. Live and in color. 7 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Tim Ryan These weeks fly by. 8 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:08,000 Zack Miller Have you changed anything in your background in a while? I don't feel like you have. I feel like we got a lot of fun. I don't care. 9 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:09,000 Tim Ryan I'm saying Nope. 10 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:10,000 Zack Miller Maybe I can 11 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:11,000 Tim Ryan Things are things are moving too fast to focus on backgrounds and all that kind of stuff, man. It's we got a lot a lot of stuff that's going. A lot of things, really moving really fast as you know. Gearing up for the start up World Cup. 12 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Zack Miller Fifty six days away. 13 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Tim Ryan We're gonna be putting Virginia on the the global stage again. So get your applications in. What as you know, we yeah. It's like, man, the the messaging is always so it's really it's a it's been a super interesting exercise. And so a lot of people are like, man, I don't know if I can compete on that kind of a stage, but, gosh, you just just show up. 14 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:14,000 Right? I mean, like, the number the people that you're going to meet by just attending this event could totally change the trajectory of your business within itself. So just show up. Have a great time. Drink a drink. 15 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Have some food. Meet some people. Support fellow entrepreneurs. It's gonna be awesome. Show up. 16 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:16,000 We can't wait to see you. 17 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:17,000 Zack Miller There you go. I got nothing else to say. Thanks for taking my thunder. No. It'll be fun. 18 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:18,000 It'll be definitely the largest stage, not just like the attendance, but the largest stage that I have ever stepped on. Yeah. Except for maybe, like, in, you know, high school when I was fun. When I was a thespian. I'm joking. 19 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:19,000 I was not I was not in the drama club. I cannot I was not good at any of that stuff as you guys all know that. But Yeah. Then we got 20 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Tim Ryan TechNite. It's quickly following behind that. Nominations are open for that. So, yeah, I think that one of the one of the nicest things that you can do for a fellow founder, a fellow business is just take two seconds to nominate them to, for an award. We got several awards to choose from, entrepreneur of the year, startup to watch, innovator of the year, CTO, CIO of the year. 21 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:21,000 Many we have nine different awards to choose from. Take a couple seconds to nominate somebody, and, it's all part of the storytelling aspect of what we're trying to do here. So that'll be fun. 22 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:22,000 Zack Miller Should see who who wins the w n award. First time for that, probably the most meaningful of all time. It's the first time, I would think. So it'd be interesting to see who gets that. Dubby is you know, I didn't know him well, but the time I had with him there was, like, an impact here. 23 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:23,000 There's, like, there's an aura around this guy. It's like, oh, man. 24 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. I didn't I didn't know him well either. I was super, it was really, really nice to hear how honored the family was that we're making this award in his honor. So 25 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:25,000 Zack Miller Yeah. 26 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:26,000 Tim Ryan Rumor is they'll be in attendance for that night. 27 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:27,000 Zack Miller Oh, cool. 28 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Tim Ryan Same with the same with Dan Bell. Dan was a a tireless champion for the region, and we'll have a an award in his name to honor him as well. So really, really good stuff. I'm excited about that as well, Tech Night. Let's head to our website. 29 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:29,000 All the info is there. 30 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:30,000 Zack Miller Alright. I'm excited for today's guest. You know, we we've known him for approximately seventeen minutes. An introduction from Chris Tillett, city of Portsmouth, economic development over there. 31 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:31,000 Tim Ryan Shout out to to Portsmouth. 32 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:32,000 Zack Miller Shout out. You know, Martin, I don't know if you know this, but, like, Chris Tillett is, like, the greatest business development dude, like, on the street, like, from an economic development perspective economic development perspective, like, in the history of any place. 33 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,000 Tim Ryan It would yeah. I agree. 34 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:34,000 Zack Miller He's like if you haven't gone to lunch with him, make him take you to lunch. Right? Like We we walk He just knows every single yeah. We went to some streets place. Down? 35 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:35,000 Yeah. 36 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:36,000 Tim Ryan But we were walking down as the three of us. I felt like it was a three person parade because all we were doing was just waving to everybody Oh. Walking down High Street. 37 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:37,000 Zack Miller And it's not like he's the mayor or anything, but, I mean, you know, people treat him like that. I don't know why. But shout out to mister Christopher Tillett, who's obviously been on the show before. But, Martin, welcome. Thanks for 38 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Martin Dorn Thank you. 39 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Zack Miller Thanks for being here. 40 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:40,000 Martin Dorn It's unique. So I'm looking forward to 41 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:41,000 Tim Ryan to diving in, if you will. 42 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Zack Miller No puns. Oh, that's funny. Wow. Look at you and your choice of words there, Tim. What are you what are you alluding towards? 43 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:43,000 Oh, wait. Wait. What's on this coffee cup? That looks fun. 44 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Martin Dorn It is. 45 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:45,000 Zack Miller I might I might 46 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,000 Tim Ryan I think that this yeah. I'm looking forward to this show. There I mean, it should be just a chill vibe, like, this whole the whole show. 47 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Martin Dorn Well, what do you have for me? 48 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:48,000 Tim Ryan Well, yeah, what's what what do you got what do got going on? We we're gonna go underwater and learn about some the diving aspect. I think that we hear a lot about that about the region, shipbuilding community, always yeah. There you hear a lot about it, but we've never had anyone that's under the water and seeing the things. Like, how much how much time a day do you a typical day, how much time is spent underwater? 49 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Martin Dorn A typical day for myself or one of our divers is typically a minimum of three hours and as many as ten depending on what the decompression limits you to. Wow. Physical aspect of it, you know, is that a really labor intensive job that we're performing, which you can imagine that quite a bit of our work is labor intensive. 50 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:50,000 Zack Miller How does that move? Were you a swimmer in high school, college, or anything like that? 51 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Martin Dorn We where I came from, we did not have a pool. We had ponds, not pools. So there was there was no swimming in high school. I I swam a lot in the summer and, you know, went to the beach like, you know, most anyone else. But to be clear, there was something there was a driving force behind myself. 52 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:52,000 I like, I I spoke to you earlier. I came from Inland Carolina and knew no divers. There was no deep bodies of water. And this being in the seventies, I think it was Aquaman and too much Jacques Cousteau that drove me to this point. And I knew at 17 that that's what this is what I wanted to do. 53 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:53,000 I mean, like anyone else of that age, I didn't realize it was gonna take me to this portion of my life, but it has, and it's been good. 54 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:54,000 Tim Ryan So what do you when you're when you're underwater for three to ten hours, what do you what are you typically doing? What what is the the typical day in the life look like? 55 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:55,000 Martin Dorn Okay. You could break that down. You mentioned, some of the different, areas of work we may be in, whether it's, let's say, ship's husbandry. I'd be working on ships, construction, offshore oil and gas, wind farm, things of that nature. So if I'm working on a ship, you know, we could be polishing the propeller, actually cleaning the hull, opening up sea chest gratings, and cleaning the piping leading into the vessel that may supply cooling water for generators or the primary propulsion device, things of that nature, doing well repairs on the hull. 56 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:56,000 Tim Ryan Man, that 57 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:57,000 Martin Dorn That's just ships, and that's just a snippet of of working on a ship underwater. But, anyway, yes. So the day can be very long, and those jobs can drag into multiple days or weeks depending on the complexity of that job. 58 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:58,000 Zack Miller Alright. You knew this was gonna go off the rails when you talked about Aquaman and Jakku stuff. 59 00:00:58,000 --> 00:00:59,000 Tim Ryan Of course. 60 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:00,000 Martin Dorn No. There's many, many, many autorockets to this thing. 61 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Zack Miller I mean 62 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:02,000 Martin Dorn Develop into. 63 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:03,000 Zack Miller I have I have no idea what those things are. Can you guys just explain to me, like, what a Jacques Cousteau is? I figured an Aquaman is like a Marvel character or something. Like, I don't know. Like, Turbo Man is something, you know, I I can think about. 64 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:04,000 You know? Shout out to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time, underrated, I think. But an Aquaman and a Jacques Cousteau what are what are we talking about here? 65 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:05,000 Martin Dorn Oh, Jacques Cousteau, is probably who made, being underwater more famous than anyone else, help found US divers, Aqua Lung, and traveled the world showing the people of the world what the underwater environment was. I I forget when he was born, but, I mean, he was making devices, I believe, as early as the forties, and that just continued onto his until he passed. He was just a true innovator, and, again, he showed the world what, it was like to be underwater. And that that was just from basics to the environmental aspect later in his life, you know, seeing the impacts of decades of degradation due to pollution and other things. So, anyway, really great human being. 66 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:06,000 The world is better for him. 67 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Tim Ryan In terms of, like I'll look him up. Yeah. In terms of divers, does this area have a lot of divers per capita compared to other locations? Or 68 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:08,000 Martin Dorn Commercial divers for sure. Recreational divers, not as much as a place like Florida, but it does have its share. There's there is some diving offshore. It's it's not touched on very much anymore. There's some lakes inland that people go to. 69 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:09,000 But, commercially, this is a fairly large epicenter for commercial diving because of the shipbuilding and just the in general infrastructure that we have that's water based that needs constant maintenance. 70 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,000 Zack Miller Are you doing this, like, on the Elizabeth River? Are you going out? Like, where, like, where where is majority of this stuff being done? 71 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:11,000 Martin Dorn Well, you pick a river where you see vessels or you see piers. Anywhere where there's anything onloaded, offloaded onto a vessel, you're gonna have an infrastructure built around that, and it's gonna need to be built and repaired. There is a certainly a lifespan. They're made with wood and steel, and and both of those have their intricacies and their lifespans. 72 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Tim Ryan Man, I I I it's just something that I haven't really thought about in terms of 73 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,000 Martin Dorn Most people most people don't. 74 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. Because but we're surrounded by so obviously, we talk about all the time. We're surrounded by so much water. 75 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:15,000 Martin Dorn Drive over a bridge. What is holding that bridge up? That foundation will degrade to a point to where it has to be repaired or it's impassable. You you're going you're going to have failure. You will have failure. 76 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:16,000 Oh, wow. So every I mean, every bridge you pass over. Everyone. 77 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:17,000 Tim Ryan Well yeah. And that so you look at how long, like, the James River Bridge is, the the Monitor Merrimack, the HRBT, Chesapeake Bay Bridge, or just the power lines going across the James River. 78 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Martin Dorn Yes. You may you may have seen it mentioning that. They did some major repairs on the abutments for them a couple years ago. Those transmission lines that run across. Yeah. 79 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:19,000 Yeah. Yep. So it it is a truly interesting field, and you can go in so many directions. There's just so much to be done, the engineering, the equipment that it takes. It's a vast group of really dedicated and intelligent individuals that really keep all of this going. 80 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:20,000 Tim Ryan Well, and you I would imagine from a bravery standpoint, one to be underwater, not claustrophobic, and having like, you have to I think I would think you have to have a little crazy in you to to to 81 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:21,000 Martin Dorn You nailed it. You started off maybe a little off base with the heroic side of it. I think the crazy may supersede all of that. But, yes, to your point, it it take it does take a unique person to do something that would make most people wanna hide in the closet. So, yeah, it's it's it there's an interesting group of people that make up this industry, and, yeah, it's fun. 82 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:22,000 That that that's part of the fun. 83 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:23,000 Zack Miller Alright. Well, wow. I mean, the heroics are probably because of Aquaman. You know, you're you're 84 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:24,000 Tim Ryan Well, I I mean, it's just like I I don't wanna I would imagine the military I mean, if the navy would provide a lot of the people that you hire, I would think. 85 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:25,000 Martin Dorn They used to. That's where I began my career in, 1988. Got out in '93, and I I haven't stopped being in the water. 86 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:26,000 Tim Ryan So because yeah. I mean, like, just like EOD, the the explore for the I'm trying to think. Explosive Ordans disposal. Mhmm. People for you know, like, that's just a tight knit community. 87 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,000 And I would imagine all the underwater divers and the underwater welders, I they would all have, like, a super, you know, tight bond with one another. I would 88 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:28,000 Martin Dorn Very much so. We, yeah, yep, we have industry parties, not even necessarily, like, company, you know, gatherings. We have industry gatherings specifically for that, and, you know, some of those aren't suit and tie kinds of events. Okay. 89 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:29,000 Zack Miller So you get out of the military. You decide that, hey. Like, I I wanna do this diving thing. I wanna create a business. Is it anything like that? 90 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Like, how did all of that come 91 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,000 Martin Dorn So that was a big failure initially. I'd I'd started a small, like, coal cleaning business. And when I say coal cleaning, mean, like, for private vessels, smaller vessels. And I had another business venture, some batting cages at the oceanfront that kinda went high and right. And so I I needed a a real job working for someone else with some guaranteed income. 92 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:32,000 And so I went to this company, Chesapeake Bay Diving, and, worked for this company for quite a few years. And then the owner gave myself and two other, at the time, young men, the opportunity to purchase the business. And, that's where we came in. That was in the early two thousands when when we took over the business. 93 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,000 Zack Miller Was that a big, like, change for you? Because you had just been the guy kind of doing the work, and now you're gonna have to be the guy that kind of oversees 94 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,000 Martin Dorn Well, like I said, I had already dabbled in business. I I in I think it was '94, '95. I actually with the help of a friend, I submitted plans to put up a small building on Pacific Avenue right across from where the the dome is now, the the new park. 40 something foot building for concessions for the the batting cages. So I had a little bit of experience early on in dealing with the government and, you know, evaluating budgets and just doing the I mean, I was really young and not very good at any of that, but it was a it's certainly a stepping stone. 95 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:35,000 Zack Miller Yeah. No. That stuff is fun. 96 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Tim Ryan Fast forwarding today, I'm sure I know the answer. More fun to be underwater or more fun to be the business owner and and and 97 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:37,000 Martin Dorn I'd much rather be underwater. I I don't get to do it very often. Last couple of weeks, we've been so busy that I had to supplement some dive teams, and I take zero leadership role. None whatsoever. If I go on a dive team, the the men that are being paid to supervise, that's what they do, and I just dive. 98 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:38,000 Tim Ryan I think that's super important, though. That's a really, really big lesson that, you know, there is a time to lead, and there's a time to follow, and you have to you as owner, you have to know that, and your team members need to know that, hey. You've got authority to tell me and what to do and 99 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:39,000 Martin Dorn I will not interject. I a a customer that doesn't know me, I won't even I won't even they will have they will just assume that I'm just, you know, a member of the dive team, which I am. But, yeah, I don't even the supervisor has control of the entire operation, and I'm simply there to do what needs to be done. And I like it. 100 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:40,000 Zack Miller Okay. But you you you swim a little growing up. But now 101 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:41,000 Martin Dorn Oh, absolutely. Yes. Every every single opportunity I was given and took by went on someone's property just to go swimming in their pond, maybe without permission. But so I would get some water time, go swimming. 102 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:42,000 Zack Miller Okay. So how like, what do you think your 50 freestyle time would be these days? 103 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:43,000 Martin Dorn Oh my goodness. I have no idea. The last time I got time was in the navy, and I think my 500 was, 104 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:44,000 Tim Ryan I 105 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Martin Dorn think, nine to five or something like that. 106 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:46,000 Zack Miller Okay. Okay. Last night. 107 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:47,000 Martin Dorn Skinny. Still am. But yeah. 108 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Zack Miller Nine minutes? You have some all day, and you can only do nine minutes? Come on, man. You can be faster than that. 109 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:49,000 Martin Dorn For five five hundred five hundred meters. 110 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:50,000 Zack Miller Okay. 111 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:51,000 Martin Dorn Yes. Yeah. 112 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:52,000 Zack Miller So what's the craziest thing you've seen in the waters here? 113 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:53,000 Tim Ryan So that yeah. I've been waiting for that question too. 114 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:54,000 Zack Miller Hoping for it. I'm I'm hoping it's like a mermaid. 115 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:55,000 Tim Ryan Well, I mean 116 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:56,000 Zack Miller Something something ridiculous. 117 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:57,000 Tim Ryan Thinking about how much of the underwater is unexplored and undocumented. 118 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:58,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. So crazy stuff. It would be I mean, inanimate objects would be just random UXO unexploded ordinance. But, honestly, I think an Atlantic sunfish up up close in person is probably one of my favorites. I've seen sharks and all kinds of crazy fish and things driven in by the Gulf Stream with a a a southeast wind. 119 00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,000 But, yeah, I think the Atlantic zone fish is probably one of my favorites for being in near shore activities. 120 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:00,000 Tim Ryan How big how just for reference, how big how big is the Atlantic sunfish? 121 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Martin Dorn Man, that's a big fish. 122 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:02,000 Tim Ryan I Is it? 123 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Martin Dorn I I don't wanna exaggerate, but I I think the thing was probably I don't know. If you've seen them, it's a really odd looking creature, but I think it was six or seven feet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 124 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:04,000 Look that thing up. That is a crazy 125 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Zack Miller Wow. 126 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:06,000 Martin Dorn They're massive. They're big fish. I have no idea how they survived evolutionary. 127 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:07,000 Zack Miller Atlantic sunfish. That's what you said? 128 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:08,000 Martin Dorn Yes. 129 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Zack Miller It almost I mean, when you guys see this, you're gonna believe me when I say this, but it looks prehistoric. 130 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Martin Dorn It does. You would think it could swim fast enough to have survived, again, evolution. It does. It can move out pretty quickly. 131 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,000 Zack Miller That is a gnarly looking little sucker. Mhmm. You know Jaws just said fifty years? 132 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:12,000 Martin Dorn I did. I saw that the other day. I saw that deal. I can't believe it. 133 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:13,000 Zack Miller What a just one of them? Or are they swimming in 134 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:14,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. I just saw one. Just saw one. Oh, and you know what? Another thing in the same place, this would be at the down in Duck. 135 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:15,000 Zack Miller Holy moly. Look at 136 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:16,000 Martin Dorn that. Right. This is you. I didn't wanna That's 137 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Zack Miller Martin right there. 138 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:18,000 Martin Dorn Mess up. Oh my. Large creatures. Migrating stingrays. Like, just a football field of stingrays. 139 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:19,000 And fun fact, they won't swim through a pier. They will actually all go around the entire pier. The whole whatever 140 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:20,000 Tim Ryan you want. 141 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:21,000 Martin Dorn Whatever they're multiple. 142 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:22,000 Tim Ryan That's why 143 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:23,000 Zack Miller Is there a reason for that? 144 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:24,000 Martin Dorn I don't know. I don't know whether they kinda visualize the whole thing as a solid. You know what I mean? The piles, I don't know if if that's their perception. 145 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:25,000 Zack Miller That makes sense. 146 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. But, anyway, yeah, that's fun. Honestly, not there's not too many crazy things down there. Just the normal we we do see sharks. We do see many different kinds of fish. 147 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:27,000 And it it's But, like, sharks in 148 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:28,000 Zack Miller Elizabeth River type of thing? 149 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:29,000 Martin Dorn I've never seen one in Elizabeth River, but to be clear, even at Rudy Inlet down at the oceanfront, many sightings of bulls of bull sharks, which that's notoriously the most dangerous shark on the planet. Yep. You can check that out. Statistically, that is the most famous the most fearsome and dangerous shark you get. 150 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:30,000 Tim Ryan Wow. Yeah. 151 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Martin Dorn But I've had a really close-up encounter with one while spearfishing, and it was a actually, a pleasant and interesting encounter. It you could just tell that the animal wasn't being aggressive at the moment. I've seen aggressive sharks, and and this particular one wasn't. So it was a it was a neat experience. 152 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Zack Miller Did you guys exchange phone numbers? 153 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:33,000 Martin Dorn No. We certainly exchanged glances, though. Yeah. It was swimming straight. We were swimming towards each other, and it just, like, boxed around me and went back in the same direction it was heading. 154 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:34,000 Zack Miller I always think people are kind of, like, loony for being like, oh, the shark, you know, attacks someone. It's like, well, you are in their backyard. Shark, this is their house. 155 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,000 Martin Dorn Yes. 156 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:36,000 Zack Miller Maybe like, why are you so surprised? 157 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:37,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. That's very it's it's it doesn't happen very often. We had a job in the Gulf Of Mexico that we were on for quite a few years. And, I think there were four separate sites that we were operating in about eighty eighty miles offshore. Two of those sites had an incredible amount of I think they were blacktips, smallish sharks, but agro all the time. 158 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,000 No one got bit, but everyone was constantly trying to defend themselves. 159 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:39,000 Tim Ryan Wow. 160 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:40,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was that was the only experience where I was kind of over being around sharks. Barracudas, that job, actually, we had a large barracuda that would just watch us all day long, and it was pretty neat. 161 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Yeah. Yeah. We'd just sit there, hang out just a couple feet from you, and this is probably a six foot barracuda, you know, on the biggest side. And yeah. So you're sitting there burning. 162 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:42,000 We're cutting with underwater torches, and that animal's just sitting right behind you all day. 163 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:43,000 Zack Miller Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you you know, they were streaming, like, on Netflix. 164 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,000 Martin Dorn It happens they were watching you guys. Show. But, yeah, that's the that's the that's oh, I have friends, though, that have had some significant experiences with whale sharks and giant mantas out in the Gulf Of Mexico. 165 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:45,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. We was our family, we took a trip a few years ago to Cancun just to do the experience, the whale shark swimming. 166 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:46,000 Martin Dorn And Oh, you're 167 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:47,000 Tim Ryan lucky. That was that was wild. I mean, that 168 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:48,000 Martin Dorn was That's a cool experience. Oh, 169 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Zack Miller yeah. Was that off off, like, you get on the boat and go, like, several miles out type of thing? 170 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:50,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. We were on that. That thing was, like, two engines wide open for, like, forty five minutes to get then until they spot them. And then next thing you know, they're telling you to jump off the boat. And, gosh, our kids were smaller back then. 171 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:51,000 We're like, what are we doing? Here, we're off the coast of Mexico to throwing our kids off the ship to go swim with whale sharks. But it was 172 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:52,000 Martin Dorn A couple of guys who just 173 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:53,000 Zack Miller legit swam with them? 174 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. I I mean, because they're just kinda just moseying along moseying doing the doing what they're doing and yeah. It was because they're like the size of a school bus. I mean, it's 175 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Martin Dorn just I've I've always wanted those and the giant mantas. I've I've never seen them up close, and that's certainly I I will have to go vacation apparently to go see that. I think I've missed the boat with with in my career of seeing that. But, yeah, it's good for you, man. That's funny, though. 176 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:56,000 You're down in Mexico. You just met the two dudes on this potentially piece of crap boat you're getting ready to get into with your kids. And and We're 177 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:57,000 Tim Ryan just we're just chucking them 178 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:58,000 Martin Dorn off. I know. Yeah. I know what you're talking about. It's yeah. 179 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,000 I've had experiences on vessels like that in other places. Yeah. You know, these people, it's a complete piece of crap, and you're going out in the ocean. 180 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Zack Miller Yeah. So maybe a crazy question, but is this industry of what you do, is is our location, like, really prime for that? 181 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:01,000 Martin Dorn Oh, like Yes. Going back to, a, just this very expansive, highly populated region living on the water. You again, you've got all the, you've got the tunnels. You've got 182 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Tim Ryan the 183 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:03,000 Martin Dorn bridges. And then we now we will include, the shipping industry. So not just the fact that the vessels are coming in at the port, but the fact that they've got to be made and repaired. We don't make that many vessels here, but we do repair quite a few whether they're they might even have to be dry dock. You know, we would do the repairs pier side. 184 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Or there are no underwater repairs to be done, and they're all internal repairs. So those two items create a lot of work for us. 185 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:05,000 Tim Ryan I'm just I'm try I I I feel so ignorant, but I, you know, I have so many questions. Like like, is like, the tunnels, for example, like, how much work has to be done on these tunnels? You know, is, like, there an acceptable level of water that is allowed to go in the tunnel before they call you out to 186 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:06,000 Martin Dorn So we honestly, I've never I've never even set up seen a proposal or or request for proposal to do any underwater repairs to the tunnels. I did like the old ones. They would be created out of pipe, let's say, up in, Maryland. Was it Bethesda? No. 187 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:07,000 No. It's not Bethesda. Sparrows Point. And I bet there was a big steel mill there, and, they would make the pipe, tie them together, create a tunnel, float it over here, and then sink it in place. I'm sure there's cathodic protection, built into the system. 188 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,000 I don't know what kind of monitoring devices they have. But, yeah, the original tunnels, they were simply made out of steel. The new ones, you know, they're boring them. There's really nothing that we could possibly do. 189 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:09,000 Tim Ryan Mhmm. Well, that's good to know. 190 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. Yeah. But Okay. 191 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:11,000 Tim Ryan So Yeah. 192 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:12,000 Martin Dorn We'll we'll stick with the pot the pot the different pilings, whether they're, you know, cylindrical pipe or, you know, square concrete with pre stress wire inside or old school timber. And can all be repaired. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 193 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:13,000 Some of the old ones. Some of the railroad bridges, if you can believe that. 194 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:14,000 Zack Miller Okay. Well, I'll you When 195 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Tim Ryan the bridge collapsed in Maryland and Baltimore, so did the did did they have to go and do underwater welding to take to assemble disassemble all that stuff? 196 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:16,000 Martin Dorn Just ripped it out. Most of it was just ripped out. There was some underwater burning. This company called Broco makes a rod, and it utilizes a a magnesium alloy, wires that run through this mild steel tube pipe, and then you introduce a 100% oxygen to that. You start it, and then you can lit you can literally cut stone with it. 197 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,000 We primarily cut metal with it. Anyway, so that particular job, that was done intermittently if something couldn't have been cut with the device that was being held by the crane. 198 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:18,000 Tim Ryan Wow. 199 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:19,000 Zack Miller Yeah. Okay. No. I I just never thought of this until today. So 200 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:20,000 Martin Dorn Oh, it's yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We did after Katrina and Rita, we went down for quite a few years and worked in removing I think it was three different guerrilla class jackup rigs that had capsized. And so we had a lot of experience with cutting lattice work, like, was on the key bridge and just incredible amount of stored energy. 201 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:21,000 And I I believe some lessons were learned down there because we we weren't the only ones down there working, but some devices were created and utilized in order to and these are massive massive pieces of equipment. To cut the steel and then grab it and then remove it or just cut it and then let it fall and, remove it with another type of device with the crane. 202 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:22,000 Zack Miller So when there's a tunnel underwater, is that actually in the ground? 203 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:23,000 Martin Dorn Oh, yes. Like, the ones the ones that that HRBT has been putting in. I mean, that's a straight tunnel. 204 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:24,000 Zack Miller So it's in it's in dirt, I guess, or whatever the bottom floor is. It's not like there's water on top and water on the bottom. 205 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Martin Dorn It's gonna be more substantial than that. Yeah. Wow. Yep. They that I forget. 206 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:26,000 I believe that bore was put something like a 110 feet below, something like that. It was an 207 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:27,000 Zack Miller 110 feet from surface level or a 110 208 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:28,000 Martin Dorn feet below From surface. From surface. The surface of the water down. 209 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Zack Miller Oh, okay. Yep. Interesting. I guess I just never thought of that. 210 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,000 Tim Ryan It's a super slow yeah. I mean and they it moves, like Very. An inch an hour. I mean, it's a really, really slow process. 211 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Martin Dorn It is. 212 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:32,000 Zack Miller As fast as I run. 213 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:33,000 Martin Dorn But, yeah, that's a I I I can't speak too much about that. We've had a a done a couple of things out there for that project, but I so I get to hear people talk about it. And so, unfortunately, my knowledge base is pretty pretty small. 214 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:34,000 Tim Ryan Do you how much how much of the work that you all do is local versus seems like you travel quite a bit for different jobs as well. The We do. The SandX. 215 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:35,000 Martin Dorn That that would make that would probably only make up about 1%. 216 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Tim Ryan Oh, wow. 217 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But but, I mean, 1% of we're diving every day. So we've been down to Columbia, to Hawaii, Alaska, California, Minnesota, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, just all over. 218 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:38,000 All over. Never even 219 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Zack Miller Are there sharks in Lake Michigan? 220 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:40,000 Martin Dorn Not that I know of. Not that I know of. No. What about the I have I have I did get to Dive Lake Superior the first time it had frozen over since, like, 1978 or '79. Yeah. 221 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:41,000 Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Two we had of Minnesota and the UP of Michigan, two coast guard icebreakers had been working twenty four seven for account you know, who knows how long. 222 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:42,000 And both of these vessels, the rudders nearly fell off. Like, literally, there was one fastener out of I forget, but let's say 10. There was only one left, and we got a call from the coast guard initially. The first one was in the Upper Peninsula. We fixed that one, and then two weeks later, we got a call to go to the UP for the exact same thing on another vessel. 223 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:43,000 Tim Ryan What, so what's what's if someone wants is interested and they want to, take this on as a career path, what like, how long does that take in terms, like, a certification aspect? Is there or is there, like, multiple paths that you can go to? Maybe you want the welding path versus something different. 224 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:44,000 Martin Dorn So you could go to the navy. You can get your certification through the US Navy, or you can go to I think it's a handful of schools now. One in Seattle, two in Texas, one in New Jersey. I I believe that's it that are active. It oh, Seattle, Washington. 225 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:45,000 I can't forget that one. That's a good one. So, typically, it is from, I think, three to nine months. And, honestly, the three month one is a really good school. I'm not I'm not gonna put names out there, but people can do their research. 226 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:46,000 That's a really good school, and, honestly, that's all the time that you need. My understanding is the other schools that the length of time is longer, and it they're worth well, it cost considerably more to go to. That's simply to be able to get funding for the students. So, like, veterans, you know, VA funding, they the school has to be x you know, has to be a certain length in order to facilitate that. So they have changed their curriculum to facilitate that funding. 227 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:47,000 Whereas this other school, you can get it for considerably less monetarily and in length of time. So, anyway, you can choose other avenues if you would like. You can, you know, specialize in welding. You've got some medical courses that you can take. But, ideally, I I believe most, especially inland companies, agree with me. 228 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Just get your your certification, your all you need to do to dive commercially. There's only one. That's that's it. There's no additions. Nothing else. 229 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Tim Ryan Interesting. 230 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:50,000 Martin Dorn Everything else you have to earn by tying in the business because you can't you can't learn what you need to learn at that school. They're not gonna put you in situations that you oh, yeah. This is a it's a very fluid environment as you could as you can imagine. 231 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Tim Ryan Do you track how much time you have underwater? Like, pilots track flight hours. Is there some sort of mechanism for that? 232 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:52,000 Martin Dorn Mandatory. Because at a minimum, you every dive you make is is tracked is logged, and you are supposed to maintain a logbook. So, yes, everybody should know the amount of time that they have underwater. 233 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:53,000 Tim Ryan Interesting. Because I would imagine I'm looking at some of the pictures on your website, so it looks like you can go down with tank with the tanks or That is exactly down there with a tethered system type of thing with Yeah. 234 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. Yeah. We are always surface supplied. The tank is for an emergency only. That is it. 235 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:55,000 And that get those are I think that our website's very antiquated. We're getting ready to redo that along with everything else. But the majority of those are from the Gulf Of Mexico on that particular project I was telling you about. It was deep. We were diving well over 300 feet with a coast guard variance surface gas. 236 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:56,000 So it was a very it was awesome. Wow. I'm not even 237 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:57,000 Tim Ryan So I guess 238 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:58,000 Martin Dorn try and sugar. What's what's that? 239 00:03:58,000 --> 00:03:59,000 Tim Ryan So, like, what's the longest that you that you could stay underwater with with surface supply to oxygen that, you know, that you could stay there almost, an endless amount of time, I would think? 240 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Martin Dorn Cannot. You have to. You cannot. So let's let's say at 30 feet, you've got about five hours. So this is this is a the the dive tables are created for a time and depth. 241 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:01,000 And so you're going to, let's say, on gas a certain amount of of nitrogen into your system if you're breathing air. So you're going to take this inert gas, and and it it stays in your bloodstream. And as you rise, that has to be processed through your lungs, through your cardiovascular system, and primarily. It can come out through your skin as well, but that takes time. And so the deeper you go, the longer you stay at depth, the more that inner gas and it depends on what inner gas you have if you're have a heliox mix because you need to get rid of the nitrogen because nitrogen becomes it's it's narcotic, if you will. 242 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:02,000 So let's say for every atmosphere, every 33 feet is like having a cocktail. And so those cocktails will add up every 33 feet. So at a point, you have to you will not function properly. You'll be drunk. And yeah. 243 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:03,000 Yeah. Which that is immediately when you come up, there is no lasting effects. It it that effect subsides as you come up, you know, equally. Wow. Yeah. 244 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:04,000 So, yeah, again, we will switch to a helium mix in order to compensate for that. And then this whole physics physiology side, now we also have to decrease the oxygen because oxygen becomes toxic the deeper you go. Because of the volume of air that you're breathing, you gotta you gotta think about the additional amount, the quantity of gas that you have. 245 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,000 Tim Ryan Is all of that done? Is there a program that that will do that automatically, or do you all have to, like 246 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:06,000 Martin Dorn We still it's nine I'd say 99.9% of everyone still does it. I'm I'm looking at a sheet that has all of my guidelines on it, my take their tables, my dive tables, and you do that long hand. 247 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Zack Miller Yeah. But when you're three 248 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:08,000 Martin Dorn Even the gas. The gases. So, you know, hypothetically, let's say we're getting ready to make a dive to 240 feet. I'm just throwing this out there. So if anyone's watching, please this is just an example. 249 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:09,000 I might have an eighty six fourteen mix. 86% helium, 14% oxygen. And you will notice that that is not 21%, which you're used to seeing as our, you know, what we require physiologically. So you you have to bring that gas down so you don't have, like, pulmonary o two toxicity. 250 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:10,000 Tim Ryan It's just it's it's amazing to how 251 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:11,000 Martin Dorn Central nervous system. 252 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:12,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. It's technical all of this is. This is 253 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:13,000 Martin Dorn Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It gets it gets the deeper you go, it gets extremely technical. I've got a a dive log from a guy who was over a thousand feet, and his percentage of oxygen in the mix was point 5%. 254 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Zack Miller So he doing that while he's down there? Were someone else doing that up there? 255 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Martin Dorn Oh, no. No. That's all 256 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,000 Zack Miller drunk down the bottom of the water. You know, that sounds pretty difficult. 257 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Martin Dorn Okay. So 258 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:18,000 Zack Miller now point five. No. No. 259 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Martin Dorn No. So, yeah, that's all done by the supervisor 260 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:20,000 Zack Miller Got 261 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:21,000 Martin Dorn topside, and that is long before the dive has has began. Yeah. We things are planned way in advance when we do things, especially of that nature. 262 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Zack Miller Style of body of water matter, like salt versus other things in that 263 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,000 Martin Dorn equation too? Or I think you've got a a two pound disparagement disparagement between salt and freshwater. That doesn't really we don't really take that into account when we're diving. If we have to buoy something, add air to something, that most certainly does count. 264 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:24,000 Tim Ryan Wow. 265 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:25,000 Martin Dorn Mhmm. 266 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:26,000 Tim Ryan So what what's what's the maximum depth? Is it a is a thousand feet about it? Or do you can you even go 267 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Martin Dorn They've gone over a thousand feet. I can't remember what the the maximum dive depth is now, but it's 268 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:28,000 Tim Ryan it's probably think about, like, the buoy aspect or, like, I would imagine, like, the oil rigs in the Gulf Of Mexico, those are probably you gotta I don't know what the the depth is of The Gulf. 269 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Martin Dorn So operational depth. So let's say in diving, I I don't know too many guys that have operated outside of the 600 foot range. Right. Now that again, let's go back to something that you said about an unlimited amount of time because you're surf supplied. That's not the case. 270 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:30,000 Again, we're gonna get back to these tables. So let's say you got thirty minutes five hours and thirty minutes. You've got sixty minutes at 60 feet. So you notice that there's a difference there. It continues the the time and depth continues to go down the deeper you go. 271 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,000 At 300 a little over 300 feet, we actually had fifteen minutes of of time for tangible work. That's it. Wow. Yeah. More I hear 272 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:32,000 Zack Miller the the more I hear this, the more dangerous this actually is. Because at first, I'm like, okay. Like, you know, he's just cleaning whatever, you know, whatever. But now, I mean, math? We gotta math this 273 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:33,000 Martin Dorn whole time. We had to add math into this. I know. I know. 274 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:34,000 Zack Miller So, like, on a scale of one to 10, how dangerous do you think this career is? Well You can use decimal points if you want. 275 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. We we've I've known of some fatalities and people get hurt. But, honestly, I hear of guys following up roofs way more often. 276 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. Yeah. 277 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,000 Martin Dorn There's we try very hard with regulations and training and intercompany's discipline to create an environment that is safe. Checks and balances. Every hose is we we try to stay on top of every single piece of equipment no matter how small or seemingly insignificant within the system it may appear. Man, it's tested. It's logged and not just one time. 278 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:38,000 I mean, this is, like, whether it's a semiannual or an annual or in every dive for that matter. You know, you're gonna inspect your helmet. You're gonna you should inspect everything within sight. If you're a good diver, if you're a good supervisor, it's not mandated. Myself. 279 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:39,000 I'm going to look at everything. 280 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. I mean, the thing that's interesting is that, like, typically, we talk about, you know, the the the Fervent Four show for those that are not familiar. 4% of businesses hit a million dollars in annual revenue. So a lot of times during the show, we talk about business and how what you did to become successful. But the other thing that we do here at Innovate Hampton Roads is really is serving as a storyteller of the region. 281 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,000 And, like, this episode is very unique in terms of sharing the story of this is a very highly specialized skill that we 282 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,000 Martin Dorn It's a lot of fun, and I'm proud to be a part of it. 283 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:43,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. That's very specific to this region. And, yeah, very, very way more specialized than I ever even imagined it would be. 284 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:44,000 Martin Dorn I feel very lucky to have fallen into it, and I've met some incredible people. And the companies I'm, you know, speaking about the other companies in the area, I couldn't speak more highly of of some incredible people that do some really good work. So yeah. It's it's a 285 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Zack Miller Which you don't think about the stuff that you do. 286 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. I think 287 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:47,000 Martin Dorn people don't 288 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Zack Miller as a thing, but it's like 289 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Martin Dorn It's a real I mean, it is a thing. It is a thing. I mean, you know, during COVID, we all had sheets of paper from the federal government, you know, saying we could go anywhere. Because, again, everywhere you go, you you're impacted by the water. And if you're impacted by the water, then more than likely, there's some mitigation that has to be in place underwater. 290 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:50,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. What's what's it like doing business in Portsmouth? 291 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:51,000 Martin Dorn I'd say it's fairly easy. Fairly easy. Again, with people like Brian Donahue and Chris Tillett, it makes things easier. So 292 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:52,000 Zack Miller Yeah. You just you just right in there. Portsmouth. They're gonna be so happy to hear that. 293 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Tim Ryan Portsmouth has a lot of really cool stuff that's going on. And Yeah. You know, it's 294 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Martin Dorn I'm I'm glad to be a part of it. 295 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Tim Ryan Don't don't sleep on Portsmouth. No. No. No. No. 296 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:56,000 No. 297 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Zack Miller Well, maybe that's what their marketing campaign should be. Tim, you could be getting an advertising manager. You're creative now. Don't sleep on Portsmouth. 298 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. No. It's it's been if people don't really recognize it so we kept we were I don't I don't wanna say forced to be enforcement, but we were because that's where we worked for the people that we came to work for initially before we were given the opportunity to become the owners of Chesapeake Bay Diving. So, obviously, there was an opportunity to leave Portsmouth. But one of it's it's not difficult to do business in Portsmouth, so, you know, there's that's not, you know, a big deciding factor. 299 00:04:58,000 --> 00:04:59,000 But the central location of Portsmouth let's say if you were a service provider of almost anything, Portsmouth is a pretty decent place to be. If you process you know, if you've got, let's say, an HVAC company and you've got multiple crews running out all over the Hampton Roads area every day, well, you put yourselves, you know, located near a freeway in Portsmouth, which we did, and you are you know, we're operating out of operate everywhere in Hampton Roads. And so the we made a very pointed decision, to be centrally located, and Portsmouth is it as far as I'm concerned. So that's a nice deciding factor. 300 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:00,000 Zack Miller I think the fine folks at Portsmouth would love to hear that. So 301 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Tim Ryan Don't don't sleep on Portsmouth. 302 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:02,000 Martin Dorn I can't wait to see that on the banner. 303 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:03,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. I saw that happen. 304 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Martin Dorn I saw that happen. It 305 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Zack Miller was really wild. I 306 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:06,000 Tim Ryan just came back. Zach knows, but I I we just came back from a cruise. So we wanted to support the, the local economy. We we jumped on a crew, the cruise leaving out of Norfolk on, Carnival. And it was a real the ride coming going out and then coming back in along the Elizabeth River. 307 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:07,000 Martin Dorn It's cool. Right? 308 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:08,000 Tim Ryan It was really, really cool. 309 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:09,000 Martin Dorn I mean, 310 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:10,000 Tim Ryan it was just I was amazed at how long it took. 311 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:11,000 Zack Miller Oh, yeah. I think it was 312 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:12,000 Tim Ryan so slow. Of the HRBT. I mean Like, three hours. It was Yeah. It takes forever. 313 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:13,000 Yeah. We're do so we were on the ship. We left at, like, 04:30. Our dinnertime was at six. We're in the halfway through dinner, and we still weren't through the HRBT. 314 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:14,000 I mean, it was, yeah, it was a long journey. 315 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:15,000 Martin Dorn What vessel were you on? 316 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:16,000 Tim Ryan It was the the Sunrise Sunshine, one of the two. It was the eight day cruise. But Oh, wow. Yeah. So but it was a lot of fun. 317 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:17,000 Martin Dorn Cool. Cool. Cool. Where'd you end up going We, 318 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:18,000 Tim Ryan first stop was at Half Moon Cay in The Bahamas, the carnival island there, and then we went to, Grand Turk. And we then we jumped over to the Dominican Republic, and then we came back 319 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:19,000 Zack Miller I think the Grand Turk is where the deepest they have, like like, the deepest water in in the world is or something like that. Maybe. Or maybe they just lie about it. You know? It's but I feel like it was, like, a thousand feet. 320 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:20,000 I don't know. It was probably a lie. But, like, they get you and, like, you can see. And then if you go over this, it's a black hole. You know? 321 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:21,000 Only $40 to get on this boat ride. You know? Something like that probably. But because yeah. I feel like I've been to Grand Turk. 322 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. It was it was I mean, it was I I was really, really happy to see that, I mean, the it was a sold out cruise. And so I'm I'm happy to see that people are taking advantage of of the port and with Nauticus being able to jump on there. And what a really cool thing that so many people were traveling from so like, all over Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia. There was a strong presence there, but all these people traveling into Norfolk to to get on that cruise ship was really cool. 323 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:23,000 Zack Miller I I think this is the first time they've done year round too, right, in its history. 324 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:24,000 Martin Dorn I mean, I I don't know why. I think it should be expanded. I mean, why not? Again, where we're located, it's such an e such an easy place. 325 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:25,000 Tim Ryan It was wild to see when we left the the pier, how they you know, to to to go through the turning process to turn the ship. 326 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:26,000 Martin Dorn Oh, right. Right. 327 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:27,000 Tim Ryan Almost a hole with the Elizabeth River. It was wild. 328 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,000 Martin Dorn Yeah. Yeah. Those guys boats are massive. They're massive, but they're oh, man. They're they're so complicated and not in a negative way as far as, you know, the thrusters that they have on them now, their ability to really manage themselves with little human oversight. 329 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:29,000 It's it's really cool. 330 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:30,000 Tim Ryan So when they 331 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:31,000 Martin Dorn That's been pretty neat. 332 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,000 Tim Ryan When they have to do they get cleaned or whatever the technical term is, like, how long does it take to do they would they dry dock something like that, or would they do No. 333 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,000 Martin Dorn No. No. No. So there's a company, a local company, Seaward. They have proprietary machines, and they could again, don't whomever's watching, they'll be critical. 334 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:34,000 But I would I would expect they could clean a carnival vessel or something of that size two to three days. Mean, a 100%. 335 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,000 Tim Ryan And how often did would that have to happen? 336 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,000 Martin Dorn So summertime marine growth is near exponential to what it would be in the dead of winter. But let's say quarterly, I would expect, and what drives that is fuel consumption. 337 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:37,000 Tim Ryan That's what I was gonna say. I would have imagined that's also very technical in terms of how much you save in fuel. 338 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Martin Dorn We used to be highly ingrained with Maersk and some other companies, but they've sent some they find extremely cheap labor in South America and some Asian countries. So we don't see much of that work anymore. But back when we were doing it, we were kind of, you know, in the know of of what kind of fuel consumption they were getting, what they were saving Mhmm. The the periods between cleanings. But then we were also at that point in time, there was a regulatory requirement to change the antifouling paint from copper based in ablative style, which means it literally just wipes off to paints that had a I don't know what the exact engineering term is, but but marine growth would just release off of it. 339 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:39,000 It was so slick. Like, there was many many ways you can look at that. You can look at something that is, like, zero porosity, really tight, and now it has the inability to actually adhere itself to it. And then now this is the problem. So you've got paints of that nature, non ablative. 340 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,000 Again, ablative is where the paint actually sloughs off. Well, after the first cleaning, now you've introduced scratches, which is what do you call that in surface preparation for paint? That's your surface profile. So let's say if you're pay if you're gonna paint a car, you have to sand to with, you know, x grit in order to get a surface profile for the paint to actually get into and adhere itself. Well, what ended up happening is you would clean that hole with nylon brushes, but they would still put tiny scratches in there, and then the ring growth, it would not want to come off. 341 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,000 And so now you've gotta use more aggressive measures, which obviously, in turn, put a greater surface profile, which it just exacerbates the problem. 342 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:42,000 Tim Ryan Wow. If you travel did you do you travel to go diving at other places, or do you do you get your fill here 343 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,000 Martin Dorn locally? I I bring free diving equipment with me everywhere I go. I don't dive. Honestly, I don't go looking to dive. My point in saying with the free diving equipment is I'm game to get in the water at any If it's it's basically if it's if we're talking about, you know, nice, clear tropical waters, I'm game all the time. 344 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:44,000 It has it has not lost its shine. 345 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:45,000 Tim Ryan That's awesome. Mhmm. 346 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:46,000 Zack Miller You ever seen any pirates? 347 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:47,000 Martin Dorn I I do not today's pirates, I want zero parts of. Goodness. Yeah. That's a whole that's a whole another show, I believe. That's yeah. 348 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:48,000 Pirates are pirates are scary. Pirates are scary. I've got friends that have had to deal with them. Yeah. That's a that's a serious, serious problem around the world right now. 349 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:49,000 Tim Ryan Yeah. Yeah. 350 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:50,000 Martin Dorn And it's no challenge. 351 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:51,000 Tim Ryan Well, I I hope at some point you find a sunken treasure. 352 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,000 Martin Dorn That would be nice. I I did. I got to dive on what was supposed to be the Juno, which was a Spanish galleon off of Ocean City. One of my first really cool jobs. That was in a hundred and eighty foot of water off of Ocean City. 353 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,000 And I I forget. We were on the sister ship of that that fishing vessel. They made that movie about years and years and years ago. Anyway, that was just a cool little side note. But, yeah, I I got to do that one time. 354 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Yeah. That was a that was, like I think I was 27, 28 years old, and I'm out looking for a sunken treasure. 355 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:55,000 Tim Ryan Well and I would would it would be interesting to know how much either shipwreck or aircraft or just wreckage in general, you know, is a lot. 356 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:56,000 Martin Dorn There's a lot. There's a lot. Cat fish fishermen commercial fishermen have what's called a hang log, and they are thick. And it is, again, going back to everything you just mentioned all over 357 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:57,000 Tim Ryan the place. Yeah. Wow. 358 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:58,000 Zack Miller So we like to end every show with a very specific question. So we actually lied to you, and we said we were gonna wing this whole thing. We had one question. 359 00:05:58,000 --> 00:05:59,000 Martin Dorn Watched the whole show. Perfect. 360 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,000 Zack Miller Some there there's some variation of it. But 361 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,000 Tim Ryan There's no wrong answer on this one. 362 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:02,000 Zack Miller There is not. But, Tim, you wanna do the honors? 363 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Tim Ryan Well, I guess when you are above water and you're on the surface, you're looking for a a place to to eat. If there is there a restaurant or a region, food of the region that that we need to to market ourselves after? 364 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:04,000 Martin Dorn I'm gonna say the leaping lizard. 365 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:05,000 Zack Miller K. 366 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:06,000 Martin Dorn If you're not familiar, it's on Shore Drive. If you're coming from the oceanfront before you get to the tunnel on the right hand side, it is a farm to table. The gentleman that owns it, he travels across the country. He does some research prior to, and he will drive around, and he will research different food items from different places. And he will come home. 367 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:07,000 He's a very intelligent person that I've got a lot of respect for, and you will you will not get it wrong. From breakfast to dinner, desserts, it doesn't matter. It's it's it's made in house with very specifically selected ingredients. The selfish beast lizard. 368 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:08,000 Tim Ryan This is this is why I like the show. So I learn about new places to to check out. Pretty cool. 369 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:09,000 Zack Miller Alright. Martin, this has been absolutely lovely. Learned a lot of things I never thought happened, so thank you for that. Absolutely. 370 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:10,000 Martin Dorn I look forward to Stowe. 371 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Zack Miller That's what I was about to say. You know? Jacques Cousteau. I'm gonna do a little Jacques Cousteau YouTube, you know, looking through tonight, and we'll see what happens. I I I don't know what to expect. 372 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:12,000 And the Aquaman, you know, whatever. So 373 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:13,000 Tim Ryan Well, yeah, Chesapeake Bay diving. Who thought that there was such a cool story and cool company right in Portsmouth. Very cool. 374 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:14,000 Martin Dorn Thanks for having me. Appreciate 375 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,000 Tim Ryan it. Thanks 376 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:16,000 Zack Miller for your time. Peace. 377 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:17,000 Tim Ryan Hey, everybody. I'm Tim Ryan, executive director of Innovate Hampton Roads, and I'm inviting you to attend the Startup World Cup on August 21, 05:00, here at Town Center in Virginia Beach.