Mr. Guardabassi grew up on the coast of São Paulo, Brazil, started SCUBA diving at the age of 16, and became a diving instructor at an early age. He started his career as an athlete, competing at free-diving and spear fishing championships around the world as a member of the Brazilian national team. He also acted as captain, coach and director of Brazilian Dive Team.
Mr. Guardabassi started teaching scuba diving using the YMCA curriculum and facilities in São Paulo. His was one of the first diving schools with a professional team of instructors and dive-masters. In 1971 he opened the Claumar Dive Center, which is now over half a century old, and is one of the oldest dive centers in South America.
Mr. Guardabassi, has always been one step ahead his generation, and understanding the necessity of a dedicated space for sports that included diving, he launched Projeto Acqua in Brazil in 1988.
This new sports complex was the first of its kind in South America, introducing the concept of a multi sports space, including facilities for scuba diving, swimming, triathlon training, and sports fitness. Again, ahead of his time, he built an 18m/60ft depth dive pool, for scuba diving training, development, testing of new equipment, and a space for certified divers to practice.
It can be said that Mr. Guardabassi was 30 years ahead his time, since we now are seeing similar facilities being built like Y-40 Deep Dive in Dubai and other similar international dive facilities.
One of Mr. Guardabassi’s greatest contributions to the development of the local diving industry happened at Projeto Acqua, when he hosted the first PADI instructor training course and the facility became Brazil’s first PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Course.
Mr. Guardabassi and Projeto Acqua supported Brazil’s first generation of Course Directors, who went to run PADI Instructor courses for several years.
Additionally his Claumar Dive Center continued to grow and start its own dive brand, producing regulators, wetsuits, BCDs, and diving accessories.
Today, the seeds of Mr. Guardabassi's early vision have matured into a multifaceted Brazilian diving industry and almost of the senior industry stakeholders in Brazil can attribute their careers to the work started by Mr. Guardabassi 40 years ago.
Mr. Guardabassi still operates Claumar and is always ready to assist the dive market. Who knows what his next “first” might be?
Mr. Guardabassi was my first dive instructor in 1985.
In all these 35 years, he was always available for questions, advice, and support PADI actions in Brazil. His dedication and long-term commitment to sustainable diving tourism, and the local community, make him one of Brazil’s most unique and successful dive entrepreneurs.
In my opinion, the lifework of Mr. Guardabassi is a shining example to us all, and he should be recognized by being inducted into the International Scuba Divers Hall of Fame.
We strongly support Mr. Guardabassi Nomination.
Best Regards,
Claudio Brandileone, Paulo Koch, and Milton Marinho