Worlds longest scuba dive

njburke

Hi,
Anyone know how the worlds longest scuba dive record attempt went at the weekend ? I've checked their webpage but no update on the outcome of the dive.


Niall

....

maybe they havent surfaced yet

chicca

Hi ,

I've just check out mykidstime.ie under region Limerick and they have a link to their facebook with details of how they got on

njburke

Hi,
I've since found out the that the dive was cut short after 12 hours mainly due to hypothermia.
Niall

bikeblue

There was another attempt under different conditions on Malta:


Irishman Sean McGahern set a new world record for a salt-water dive when he exceeded 27 hours in the sea off the Westin Hotel this morning.
He emerged from the water at about 11 a.m. to applause from friends who supported him and kept him company throughout yesterday and last night.
The previous Guinness World Record was of 24 hours


http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090920/local/irish-diver-breaks-world-record-in-malta

gary82

bikeblue wrote: »

There was another attempt under different conditions on Malta

That's a different record, the Devane brothers were attempting the 'Longest open, cold saltwater SCUBA dive'.

They emailed out an update after the attempt, I trust they'll not mind me posting it here...

Hi all

A brief update Paul and my record attempt this weekend.

Paul and I entered the water on Saturday morning at approx. 10am. Unfortunately, Paul had to leave the water due to a problem with his p-valve but he lasted almost 8hrs despite the discomfort. I managed almost 12hrs and left the water just before 10pm with moderate hypothermia.

Please see attached photos for a sneak preview of what it was like.

While we didn’t do as long as we would have hoped, we did fulfil the two main aims of the dive (i) to honour Cillian’s memory and (ii) to raise awareness and funds for the West of Ireland Charity CDs Helping Hands and St. Raphael’s Children’s Ward at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.

We are also contacting Guinness and asking them to review our record as we have been advised by many diving experts that 12hrs in water less than 15 degrees is pushing the limits of human tolerance.

That being said we are intending on having another crack at the record next year but much more low key this time and in the meantime we will take some time to focus back on other things.

Thank you all for supporting us in every way possible.

Without your help this would not have happened. Because of your support two important children’s charities are able to do that little bit more for the kids they help.

Best wishes

Declan

There were a few great photos of their setup attached.

lmaopml

Fingers crossed for them. What an achievement!

gary82

These guys have the photos up, same as what were attached to that email: http://www.pddt.info/ Look down to the bottom of the homepage.

lmaopml wrote:

Fingers crossed for them. What an achievement!

The scaffolding job alone is quite an achievement!! :eek:

lmaopml

Wow! The conditions make all the difference, and isn't that the truth.

Looks murky, not to mention uncomfortable.....arent' they all after a few hours, but still TWELVE hours in those conditions..brrrrrr..

In my wildest dreams.... I'm well impressed.

pauliewestcoast

Hi all,
Paul here of worlds longest scuba dive. I see that gary82 has posted a note from Declan. Thank you all for the kind words! Hard to believe that its only been a month since the attempt. We will be diving this weekend (Sunday) in the Galway Atlantaquaria. We are enkoying being back at work and spending time with our family and are leaving the discussions on the next attempt for a while yet!

Thanks again.

divesean

Glad to hear you both ok after the dive and that the records office will give it to you any 1 who try to do a record, i take my hat off to you,its not just hard work but become apart of you,,,well done guys

divesean

My name is Sean McGahern, currently working in Malta as an Instructor at Starfish Diving Centre, St. Julians Bay.

In the winter of 2008, whilst talking with friends, the plan was hatched for me to do a World Record Dive the following September.
September 18th, the day before my attempt, was busy with last minute checks and detailed plans on Saturation and Nytrogen levels, deco plans, one last dunk of the dry suit to check for leaks and an hour spent with my friend Paul Toomer of Matrix Diving, whose help and support at this time was invaluable.
September 19th 2009, after many hours of training and planning, saw me entering the water in my attempt to break the standing record of 24 hours. I had to be at a depth of no less than 10 meters and could not surface for ANY reason. Apart from the obvious stress of spending time in the open sea conditions, other important factors to be overcome included, how to eat, how to drink and how to pee in the sea and coping with the water temperatures during the day and night. Although this only varied by a few degrees, it was very noticeable. Tanks were bought every 4 hours, these being 12lt twin sets, that I had to change without any help or contact with my fellow divers who also bought food and water with them. With preparations starting at 4 in the morning, I entered the sea at 8.00 a.m, with friends, family and the dive team supplied by divewise looking on.
For Tech information a list of the equipment that I was using is as follows:-
BARE Dry Suit with latex cuff seals and BARE dry gloves, twin neck seals, latex and neoprene, with an OMS pee-valve.
Divesystem twin-bladder wing with integrated harness
Steel back-plate, plus 6 kilos of weight attached to the 12ltr twin set.
Legend regulators, primary and secondary, with two Galileo Sol Computers and integrated sensors
Stages were also Legend regulators on 10ltr Nitrox mixes of 50% and 100%
Drager PN Dive Full Face Mask (panorama nova)


The dive started early in the morning, all was exciting for the first 12 hours. At this stage the back pain started, with the changing of the equipment, plus this got caught up in the pee valve, and at 18 hours it stopped functioning. Thankfully I had also used a back up nappy, so Pampers kept me going until my ascent at 27 hours. I managed to sleep for approximately one and a half hours, but I would like to thank my continuing circuit of friends who kept appearing to firstly check on my welfare, and also to pass the time with some entertaining games, I am now the underwater nought-n-crosses champion as well J.

Despite my many fears, the reality of doing this was not as bad as I had thought it may be. Boredom was the worst part of it, but the continuing rota of checks to be done , plus the changing of tanks, the consumption of drinks and some food passed the time far more quickly than anticipated, and if not for the pee valve being stuck and literally being up to my neck in urine, I would have attempted to stay down longer.

Monitering my depth to make sure I was below 11 meters was the easiest part, making sure I didn’t drop below 14 – 15 meters when being visited by friends was far harder, as they would slip down to 17-19 meters. This then had to be factored into the deco times.

Sunday 20th September, 25 hours after entering the water saw me heading towards my first deco station at 10 meters, where I changed from my back gas of 21% to a 50% nitrox mix. I stayed there for 10 minutes, I then advanced to 6 meters at a rate of 1 meter per minute, and at 6 meters we changed to 100% pure O2 and stayed there for thirty minutes. The next stop was at 3 meters, also at a rate of 1 meter per minute, and we stayed there for 55 minutes. The hardest part of this whole world record attempt was doing the final stop at 3 meters, being so close to the surface but still so far. Once the time was up, we slowly surfaced at a rate of one meter every two minutes until I finally emerged.

Not knowing what to expect, I was delighted to hear the cheers from my friends and family, and very surprised to see both The Times of Malta and TVM waiting with cameras rolling, to interview me about this event. After struggling out of my rather unusually smelling dry suit and giving interviews to the media that were seen on TV later that day, and read about in the newspapers and internet the next day, I happily celebrated with friends a family with a glass of champagne and then headed for some well deserved sleep…….

I would like to give special thanks to the following:-
Cartridge World, Malta
Footloose Fun Bar, Malta
M & A Diving Supplies, Malta
Divewise, Malta
Mr. Paul Toomer of Matrix Diving, London
Group8security, Malta
Scuba Systems, Malta
Howard and Sarah Shaw, Video and Photography
Westin Dragonara Hotel

For any further information please do not hesitate to contact me at the above address or you can find me on Facebook and YouTube.

Yours sincerely
Sean McGahern