Bob Evans
Contributor
Another diving Hero and friend lost. Lance would stay at our Santa Barbara Home. Many meals and great stories. A big fan of my fins. From his son.
My dad, pictured on the left with myself and Ian Koblick, died last Sunday. Many of you who follow my page know who he is but others may not have made the connection as when I was 19 he changed his name from Frank Milhoan to Lance Rennka. To be honest, as a pioneer and adventurer, family was not his first priority, so I am not here to memorialize him as a great father or husband.
Yeah, as a family man dad made a great diving instructor. One of my dad’s favorite sayings was, **** it if you can’t take a joke, IYKYK, and I think he would appreciate it that I worked it in here.
However, my dad was an incredible waterman and diving pioneer and that is what I want to memorialize. Dad started diving with my Grandpa at 16 after they bought some mail order Aqua Lung equipment (we used a tank for years with a 1957 manufacture date). They were hunters, and no fish, abalone, or lobster on California’s central coast was safe when they were in the water.
In the mid 60’s dad became one of the early NAUI instructors (I’m pretty sure his NAUI Instructor number was 814 or 841). Within a short period of time he was involved in instructor training for NAUI. Occasionally, a 5-6 year old me would hang out at the pool or beach during one of these instructor programs watching my dad work with other diving pioneers like Glenn Egstrom, Jim Stewart, Cmdr. Jim Williams, Dennis Graver, and John Hardy.
Dad was running the fishing and diving department at Al’s Sporting Goods in Cayucos California when Santa Barbara City College announced the start of their Marine Technology Program, a two year commercial diving and marine technician program designed to create divers to support the oil & gas and marine science industries. Dad graduated in the first class and quickly began whisking off to parts unknown to work on projects for Global Marine or saturation diving on the oil rigs in the North Sea.
When I was in fourth grade dad was an established commercial diver and marine technician and was referred to Ian Koblick by Bev Morgan. Koblick was looking for a diving officer for his new underwater habitat project in Puerto Rico. Ian had just wrapped up the very successful Tektite Program in the U.S. Virgin Islands and had formed PRINUL, the Puerto RIco International Undersea Laboratory. We packed everything we owned in our Ford Econoline Van and headed to Florida from Carpinteria California, put our van on a ship, and flew to Puerto Rico.
In the 14 months he was involved in the program dad was instrumental in getting the UW habitat La Chalupa built, and he was the diving officer for 7 successful two week missions in what many still consider to be the most sophisticated underwater habitat ever built. Unfortunately, early in the program when they were still figuring out the best way to get the bulky habitat back into the harbor after a mission, he was involved in a “line under tension” accident and what started out as a severe compound fracture of the wrist progressed to advanced gangrene in the hospital (malpractice) and he lost his left arm above the elbow.
Two months after the loss of his arm dad was actively back at work diving and supervising the habitat operations. He was an Aquanaut as part of mission 8 and spent two weeks under water supporting the scientists on the mission. He was the diving officer for one more mission after that and then he needed more surgery on his damaged arm and shoulder and so we moved to Florida where he would have access to VA hospitals.
Once all the surgery and malpractice lawsuit issues had been solved we hightailed it back to California. Dad didn’t immediately get back into the diving industry as there was not a lot of demand for one armed commercial divers. He did however continue to dive and hunt on the Central Coast and was known as one of the best spear fisherman around. Nothing like being on a two day trip on the Truth and watching all these young macho divers wondering how this old one armed dude with this weird looking modified pole spear kept getting more fish and lobster then they did.
Eventually, Cmdr. Jim Williams and Dennis Graver convinced dad to get involved in diving instruction again and cross over to PADI like they had. Cmdr. Williams then invited dad to come down to San Diego and help staff a ten week instructor course at PADI International College. He agreed and began training up a couple of students to head down there with him and take the program. Ultimately, he took three students down to PADI college including his 18 year old son just 4 mos out of high school. It was late in the process, when my dad suggested I spend some of the malpractice lawsuit money that was allocated to me and become a diving instructor. Knowing dad he was getting a kick back for each student he brought down. Nevertheless we scrambled to get me the prerequisite certifications and logged dives needed and I began a journey that saw me have a 23 year career in the diving industry followed by a 3 year revival just recently.
Dad went on to become a PADI Course Director and through his work at PADI College and as an independent Course Director he trained hundreds of diving professionals and his teaching techniques and philosophies live on through them.
In the mid ‘90s Ian Koblick tasked dad with helping to develop and direct the Scott Carpenter Man in the Sea Program based at Jules Undersea Park and MarineLab in Key Largo FL.
Students of the program were introduced to the refurbished La Chalupa UW Habitat now known as Jules Undersea Lodge and along with MarineLab (a smaller UW Habitat), a diving bell system, and a small submarine, hundreds of students and teachers were introduced to the world of underwater exploration and marine science.
I was reminded recently of the importance of the efforts of my dad and other early diving pioneers when during the covid years I reconnected with Ian Koblick who I knew from my days playing with his boys Tav and Toren during my time in Puerto Rico. I am a journalist now and I was interested in researching the history of the UW Habitat La Chalupa as it was approaching the 50th anniversary of its first mission. The habitat had been “mothballed” during covid and because of its age there was talk of shutting it down for good. With me in his ear Ian had an inspection done and while in need of some serious upgrades, the habitat’s life support systems were still in good working order. I spent several months digging into the archives of the project while logging countless hours underwater in the habitat getting it ready to reopen. The archives are extensive and include thousands of photos. It was great fun to re-live the Puerto Rico days while doing research for the 50th anniversary. When we re-opened Jules’ Undersea Lodge in mid 2021 there was a rush of YouTubers who had been cooped up by covid and were dying to get out and do something cool for the subscribers on their channels. The history of the habitat and the pioneers who were part of the Puerto Rico missions were now being recognized by some of the top YouTubers on the planet who were racking up millions and millions of views.
The 50th anniversary was a success as we had 8 of the original aquanauts and several who worked topside attend and we reconnected virtually with many more. Unfortunately, while trying to involve dad in the anniversary project he had a fall and re-broke the collar bone from the original Puerto Rico injury and was also concussed. While we were able to dive him down to the habitat one last time, eventually for health reasons he returned to California and never made it back for the event.
In 2023 I was the Mission Director for Project Neptune 100 as Dr. Joe Duturi set a new Guinness Book record for living underwater in a single atmosphere stationary habitat for 100 days. Along the way he hosted many marine scientists and school aged explorers, both in person and virtually, while furthering our understanding of the effects of prolonged exposure under pressure and advancing our knowledge of the benefits of hyperbaric medicine. Oh and we might have discovered a couple of new species in Jule’s Lagoon as well.
The fact that the habitat continues to operate today and serve the diving and marine science community is a great testament to the intelligence, ingenuity, and courage of the divers and engineers who were part of the program in the early 1970s. The habitat has been rebranded as Jules’ Undersea Lab with a renewed focus on scientific diving and exploration and less about u/w pizza delivery, although having pizza delivered at 30 ft is pretty cool.
I want to thank Ian Koblick for giving me the opportunity, to refurbish the habitat and remind people of the amazing feat that was PRINUL and La Chalupa and to honor my dad in that way.
My dad was a brash and often crude showman and sometimes that detracted from the fact that his early contributions to scientific, commercial and recreational diving were significant and well documented, they inspired my foray into the diving industry and continue to have an impact today, and for that I am a proud son.
My dad, pictured on the left with myself and Ian Koblick, died last Sunday. Many of you who follow my page know who he is but others may not have made the connection as when I was 19 he changed his name from Frank Milhoan to Lance Rennka. To be honest, as a pioneer and adventurer, family was not his first priority, so I am not here to memorialize him as a great father or husband.
Yeah, as a family man dad made a great diving instructor. One of my dad’s favorite sayings was, **** it if you can’t take a joke, IYKYK, and I think he would appreciate it that I worked it in here.
However, my dad was an incredible waterman and diving pioneer and that is what I want to memorialize. Dad started diving with my Grandpa at 16 after they bought some mail order Aqua Lung equipment (we used a tank for years with a 1957 manufacture date). They were hunters, and no fish, abalone, or lobster on California’s central coast was safe when they were in the water.
In the mid 60’s dad became one of the early NAUI instructors (I’m pretty sure his NAUI Instructor number was 814 or 841). Within a short period of time he was involved in instructor training for NAUI. Occasionally, a 5-6 year old me would hang out at the pool or beach during one of these instructor programs watching my dad work with other diving pioneers like Glenn Egstrom, Jim Stewart, Cmdr. Jim Williams, Dennis Graver, and John Hardy.
Dad was running the fishing and diving department at Al’s Sporting Goods in Cayucos California when Santa Barbara City College announced the start of their Marine Technology Program, a two year commercial diving and marine technician program designed to create divers to support the oil & gas and marine science industries. Dad graduated in the first class and quickly began whisking off to parts unknown to work on projects for Global Marine or saturation diving on the oil rigs in the North Sea.
When I was in fourth grade dad was an established commercial diver and marine technician and was referred to Ian Koblick by Bev Morgan. Koblick was looking for a diving officer for his new underwater habitat project in Puerto Rico. Ian had just wrapped up the very successful Tektite Program in the U.S. Virgin Islands and had formed PRINUL, the Puerto RIco International Undersea Laboratory. We packed everything we owned in our Ford Econoline Van and headed to Florida from Carpinteria California, put our van on a ship, and flew to Puerto Rico.
In the 14 months he was involved in the program dad was instrumental in getting the UW habitat La Chalupa built, and he was the diving officer for 7 successful two week missions in what many still consider to be the most sophisticated underwater habitat ever built. Unfortunately, early in the program when they were still figuring out the best way to get the bulky habitat back into the harbor after a mission, he was involved in a “line under tension” accident and what started out as a severe compound fracture of the wrist progressed to advanced gangrene in the hospital (malpractice) and he lost his left arm above the elbow.
Two months after the loss of his arm dad was actively back at work diving and supervising the habitat operations. He was an Aquanaut as part of mission 8 and spent two weeks under water supporting the scientists on the mission. He was the diving officer for one more mission after that and then he needed more surgery on his damaged arm and shoulder and so we moved to Florida where he would have access to VA hospitals.
Once all the surgery and malpractice lawsuit issues had been solved we hightailed it back to California. Dad didn’t immediately get back into the diving industry as there was not a lot of demand for one armed commercial divers. He did however continue to dive and hunt on the Central Coast and was known as one of the best spear fisherman around. Nothing like being on a two day trip on the Truth and watching all these young macho divers wondering how this old one armed dude with this weird looking modified pole spear kept getting more fish and lobster then they did.
Eventually, Cmdr. Jim Williams and Dennis Graver convinced dad to get involved in diving instruction again and cross over to PADI like they had. Cmdr. Williams then invited dad to come down to San Diego and help staff a ten week instructor course at PADI International College. He agreed and began training up a couple of students to head down there with him and take the program. Ultimately, he took three students down to PADI college including his 18 year old son just 4 mos out of high school. It was late in the process, when my dad suggested I spend some of the malpractice lawsuit money that was allocated to me and become a diving instructor. Knowing dad he was getting a kick back for each student he brought down. Nevertheless we scrambled to get me the prerequisite certifications and logged dives needed and I began a journey that saw me have a 23 year career in the diving industry followed by a 3 year revival just recently.
Dad went on to become a PADI Course Director and through his work at PADI College and as an independent Course Director he trained hundreds of diving professionals and his teaching techniques and philosophies live on through them.
In the mid ‘90s Ian Koblick tasked dad with helping to develop and direct the Scott Carpenter Man in the Sea Program based at Jules Undersea Park and MarineLab in Key Largo FL.
Students of the program were introduced to the refurbished La Chalupa UW Habitat now known as Jules Undersea Lodge and along with MarineLab (a smaller UW Habitat), a diving bell system, and a small submarine, hundreds of students and teachers were introduced to the world of underwater exploration and marine science.
I was reminded recently of the importance of the efforts of my dad and other early diving pioneers when during the covid years I reconnected with Ian Koblick who I knew from my days playing with his boys Tav and Toren during my time in Puerto Rico. I am a journalist now and I was interested in researching the history of the UW Habitat La Chalupa as it was approaching the 50th anniversary of its first mission. The habitat had been “mothballed” during covid and because of its age there was talk of shutting it down for good. With me in his ear Ian had an inspection done and while in need of some serious upgrades, the habitat’s life support systems were still in good working order. I spent several months digging into the archives of the project while logging countless hours underwater in the habitat getting it ready to reopen. The archives are extensive and include thousands of photos. It was great fun to re-live the Puerto Rico days while doing research for the 50th anniversary. When we re-opened Jules’ Undersea Lodge in mid 2021 there was a rush of YouTubers who had been cooped up by covid and were dying to get out and do something cool for the subscribers on their channels. The history of the habitat and the pioneers who were part of the Puerto Rico missions were now being recognized by some of the top YouTubers on the planet who were racking up millions and millions of views.
The 50th anniversary was a success as we had 8 of the original aquanauts and several who worked topside attend and we reconnected virtually with many more. Unfortunately, while trying to involve dad in the anniversary project he had a fall and re-broke the collar bone from the original Puerto Rico injury and was also concussed. While we were able to dive him down to the habitat one last time, eventually for health reasons he returned to California and never made it back for the event.
In 2023 I was the Mission Director for Project Neptune 100 as Dr. Joe Duturi set a new Guinness Book record for living underwater in a single atmosphere stationary habitat for 100 days. Along the way he hosted many marine scientists and school aged explorers, both in person and virtually, while furthering our understanding of the effects of prolonged exposure under pressure and advancing our knowledge of the benefits of hyperbaric medicine. Oh and we might have discovered a couple of new species in Jule’s Lagoon as well.
The fact that the habitat continues to operate today and serve the diving and marine science community is a great testament to the intelligence, ingenuity, and courage of the divers and engineers who were part of the program in the early 1970s. The habitat has been rebranded as Jules’ Undersea Lab with a renewed focus on scientific diving and exploration and less about u/w pizza delivery, although having pizza delivered at 30 ft is pretty cool.
I want to thank Ian Koblick for giving me the opportunity, to refurbish the habitat and remind people of the amazing feat that was PRINUL and La Chalupa and to honor my dad in that way.
My dad was a brash and often crude showman and sometimes that detracted from the fact that his early contributions to scientific, commercial and recreational diving were significant and well documented, they inspired my foray into the diving industry and continue to have an impact today, and for that I am a proud son.
