Mike Young is best known as the former owner of KISS Rebreathers and the inventor of the KISS Sidekick and Sidewinder mCCR, however, he is also an avid and accomplished cave explorer.

He was growing up in the mountains of Colorado. During his growing years, Mike discovered no adventure was too big, taking up other pursuits such as becoming an avid extreme skier, hunter, mountaineer, and extreme motorcyclist. Mike learned to scuba dive in the early 90’s and made his first open water dives in a sinkhole on the edge of Africa's Kalahari Desert. This new experience, combined with his passion for extreme sports and wrangling alligators, made it natural for him to gravitate toward technical diving. He was soon performing deep cave dives, and his interest in sump diving grew.

Mike’s desire for diving and reaching areas unseen has led him to custom-build many of his own products. Through his background in engineering and manufacturing, he had become affiliated with both Hollis and KISS Rebreathers for many years. In that time he was influential in the design of a number of diving systems, including the development of the KISS GEM gas extender rebreather.

In addition to overseeing production and designs for new equipment, Mike’s interest in exploration is still very much alive.  He has been involved in many exploration projects in the US, Mexico, and Central America. Moreover, he also discovered a Mayan vase in Guatemala that dates back 1800 years.

In the future, we look forward to continuing our collaboration with Mike to further explore the possibilities of OrcaTorch dive lights.

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