Having
learnt a lot from our previous attempts, the team was looking to set a new cold
water record for open sea dive with the help of Starfish Diving Centre &
Corinthia Group of Hotels in St Georges Bay.
This
was Sean’s second attempt at the cold water record. On Valentine’s Day 2011
whilst in the water, the team was hit by a force 6 storm that made it
impossible to stay in the water and carry on as not only did Sean have problems
but so did the team trying to get in and out of the water. Therefore the team
decided to abort the dive for safety reasons 2 hours short of accomplishing
their target record time.
In
October 2011, the WRDMalta team started training and preparing for the record
attempt, holding team meetings every fortnight for a number of months building
up to the event. Keeping in mind the main obstacles faced in the previous cold
water attempt, the team closely monitored the weather this time round, and took
a joined decision on when the event should be held. Moreover, rosters were
organized, divers paperwork and certifications were filed, roles of safety
support delegated, as well as weak points discussed and agreed on areas for
improvement.
During
the months building up to the event a number of training dives were held also
every fortnight in order for the safety team to practice their roles and in
order for Sean to build up on duration times underwater.
As
February was coming to an end, the team saw a window of great weather and
therefore it was agreed that the event would take place on Saturday 3rd
of March. It was decided that it would be best to enter the water at night in
order to be thrown in at the deep end and get the hardest part over with first.
Therefore, Sean entered the bone-chilling water at Starfish Diving School, St
George’s Bay, on March 3 at 11.45 p.m and the challenge began.
We
could not have chosen a better day to start as the sea was like a glass window
and there was not a cloud in the sky. Straight down to 11 metres accompanied by
lead safety divers Ian Warwick and James Norris, the first thing that came into
view was the sponsorship banners floating 1 metre above the sea bed. The team
did an excellent job at setting these up during training dives that same
morning.
Full
face mask on and working just fine they began to swim around looking for any
debris in the area. It was agreed that the team would perform a beach clean up
during the duration of the dive, firstly in order to raise environmental
awareness and secondly in order to keep everyone occupied and moving around whilst
in the cold water. The team managed to collect an immense amount of bottles, as
well as car tyres. Moreover, a couple of sun beds were also retrieved which had
been drifted off to sea during the winter months. Believe it or not the team
also managed to find a fridge door down on the seabed. It was agreed that most
of the clean up would take place during the hours of the night as this would
keep the divers moving, however the team did carry on searching for debris
throughout the entire morning.
When
the sun finally came up, this shot a positive note of energy and warmth amongst
the entire team. Now with some natural light land support was able to monitor
Sean much better on the CCTV and also used this as a means of communication
where Sean would write what he required on a slate and show it to the camera.
Whatever he asked for was sent down to him with the next team of safety divers
which entered and exited the water on a roster at 1 hour change-overs.
With
everything running smoothly, except for the heated vest battery running low
Sean was starting to feel chilly. The battery takes roughly 4 hours to charge
and unfortunately was the only one on site therefore Sean had to make do
without it for a while, but did use hand warmers as well as plenty of hot drinks
and soup to keep him warm. The next safety team entered the water at 8am- lead
safety diver Ian Warwick accompanied by Sean’s partner Mikaela swam down to
base camp happy to see Sean in high spirits.
“When
I saw Mikaela swimming towards me I prepared myself for what I had been
planning for months. I wrote a message on my slate and turned it towards her.
Written was ‘Will you marry me?’- she
stared at me for what seemed like an eternity and then wrote back ‘yes!’. I
cannot express how excited I was at that moment, the cold feeling went away and
I warmed up inside,” says Sean.
After
various safety diver change-overs, and now 11 hours and 30 minutes into the
dive, Sean began to feel the cold once again, even with the heated vest back on. A message was sent up the land support to
advise that Sean and the divers were beginning to prepare the deco cylinders
for ascent. Now 11 hours and 45 minutes
into the dive, Sean already knew that he was the new Guinness World Record
holder for the longest cold water sea dive. Even though he was aiming at 15
hours, Sean and the team agreed that he had endured enough of the bone-chilling
water and therefore decided to slowly swim back towards land 12 hours into the
dive, mainly to avoid hypothermia.
The
first safety stop was done at 10 metres for a total of 10 minutes. Sean was
joined by his two lead safety divers once again, as it was planned for Ian
Warwick and James Norris to be with him both on entry and exit. At 6 metres
they did a safety stop of another 10 minutes followed by a further 14 minutes
at 3 metres. Sean was then free to leave the water and join his team and fiancé
at the surface once again. He emerged out of the 14°C water 12 hours and 34
minutes later, breaking the world record that stood at 11 hours and 46 minutes.
The
feeling of breaking the record was over whelming, especially when being greeted
by a large crowd of friends, family as well as media. With the help of the
safety team, Sean got out of his kit slowly and was carted off to the deco
chamber for a routine safety check and was given the all clear. Eager to return
to his team and friends Sean was taken back to Starfish Diving School where the
team were still showing their sincere commitment and were busy collecting the
debris retrieved from the sea into one large skip, bringing the banners back
out of the water, as well as retrieving spare cylinders and marker buoys from
base camp. After some food it was time for some well deserved rest for the
entire team.
Sean
would like to take a moment to thank everyone that was involved in the record,
from the organizers, to the surface support team and safety diver team as well
as all the sponsors as without your help and support this record would not have
been possible let alone successful.
Special
thanks goes out to Starfish Diving School, namely Mikhail Umnov, for all his
help and support not only during the record event, supplying the team with
unlimited number of cylinders, but also for the assistance given the entire
year through.
Moreover,
a big thanks to Corinthia St George Hotel, Marina Hotel and CT Park for
supplying electricity during the event with flood lights, CCTV monitors as well
as food, accommodation and parking for all the team during the entire duration
of the event.
Last but not least, a final thanks to the
various companies which sponsored the team with a variety of equipment used
during the record which ranged as follows:
- Halcyon equipment from Silent Planet UK- including wing and halcyon cold
water regulators
- Apeks & Aqua Lung from M&A Diving supplies Malta- including Legend
regulators, full face mask, Apeks Tec3 Regulators, hoods and gloves for all
safety divers, surface markers and light sticks.
- Custom Diver UK- including battery pack heated underwater vest
- O'three UK- including msf500 Dry suit, under-suits, semi dry gloves and hood
Now
having received official recognition of his record-breaking accomplishment from
Guinness World Records, Sean and his team have agreed to re-attempt the Summer
Warm water record however it has been decided that this will be held in
September 2013 as the team plans to endure a duration of 60 hours in order to
claim not only the Guinness World Record but also the World Record. Even though
this date is a while away, the team is already busy working on tactics and
improvements. Further information will be published soon.
On Sunday October 21, World Record Diving Malta launched their new & innovative 'Treasure Island' competition. Treasure Island is a thrilling underwater treasure hunt challenge
around the most popular dive sites found on the Maltese Islands.
Following the success of the event, Treasure Island will now
be held twice annually at the beginning and at the end of the diving
season.
The aim of the game is to compete against rival teams to get to the
finish line first- whilst also solving riddles, collecting treasures as
well as overcoming a number of other hidden challenges and obstacles
faced along the journey. In the 2012 edition the teams were given a list
of photos to be captured along their journey varying from photos at
specific locations, to performing tricks underwater such as juggling and
handstands, to dressing up as clowns and as Santa underwater. The teams
truly went all out with their creativity and imagination and WRDMalta
have got photos to prove it!
The teams were also given a General Knowledge quiz regarding the
various dive sites they needed to visit in order to collect the hidden
treasures. The answers to these questions could actually be found at the
dive sites so teams set off on their quests to find the correct answers
and all teams managed to answer these questions correctly- well done to
all!
Throughout the day the teams involved showed great enthusiasm and
extreme effort to complete all their challenges. Everybody had a great
time and the organizers expressed how they later suffered from jaw ache
from smiling and laughing whilst watching the teams’ performance
throughout the entire event.
Finally, WRDMalta would like to say congratulations to the winning
teams – very well deserved. WRDMalta would also like to express sincere
gratitude to their sponsors: Starfish Diving School, Corinthia St.George
Hotel, Marina Hotel- Corinthia Beach Resort, Ta’ Cassia Salina
Restaurant, M&A Diving Supplies, Apeks & Aqualung and KDMTraffic
for their constant help and support as well as for providing such
excellent prizes for the event.
A massive thank you goes out to our sponsors for
showing their constant help and support during events as well as the whole year
through. Thanks to our sponsors we have been able to organize the following
brilliant prizes to be won during the upcoming Treasure Island event: 
