World Record Scuba Dive
Longest Fresh Water Dive
Current Record 120 Hours
Goal 144 Hours

As some may have noticed, I will be making a world record attempt for the longest freshwater dive. I have been asked many times "Why try something like that?". It is been something I have wanted to do for a long time. I’ve researched it for a long time, and things in my life just kind of fell into place where I am now ready to do it.

Every year I do a local American Cancer Society "Relay For Life". I am a team captain, and spend a lot of time fundraising for the ACS. Cancer has been a part of my life for many years. I have had friends and family die of cancer, and still many more fighting it. What a better way to raise money than to combine my love of scuba diving with a dive fundraiser. Divers are a tight knit group of people, and it is my hope that we can all ban together and make this a great fund raiser.

More about the dive. The current record is 120 hours as confirmed by Guinness World Records based in London. My goal is 144 Hours. I have decided to make this attempt in Haigh Quarry in Kankakee, IL . The quarry owner is onboard for having this event at her location although she has many concers about the logistics of the event. Saftey is a top priority fro this dive. as everyone can imagine there are some logistic hurddles to overcome while planning this dive. Most of them seem to be workable so far. The biggest concer at this time is supprot staff. This event will run from July 20th till July 26th if I reach my goal time. With rotating support crews, that is a lot of support staff.

I have sponsorships from several Companies. These companies are providing most of the gear needed to complete the dive. I have also been sponsored by Our world Underwater, The midwests largest dive expo. I have a booth at the show to help promote the event, the fundraiser, and to sign up support crew. The one thing I have not had sponsored is a Drysuit. I’ve talked with several companies, and none of them think they have the resources to provide me with a suit. This will be something I will have to buy out of pocket.

So you might ask what you can do to help. Here is a short list of things that you can do.

1. Donate to the ACS - Relay for Life You can find a donate button on my website at www.worldrecordscuba.com . That button takes you directly to the ACS website where you can donate directly to them and it gives credit fo rthe fundraising to my Realy team "United Walkers". If you are a US resident, your donation is 100% Tax deductable.

2.Are you an instructor or work for a dive shop? Help promote the event and the fundraiser through the rest of your staff and customers. It’s amazing what can happen with word of mouth.

3.Do you have DiveBuddy reward points that you will not use? Transfer them to me so I can convert them into ads on Divebuddy. I can get $100 worth of advertising for every 1000 points. So if you know your not going to use them, you can give them to me and help a great cause at no cost to you.

4. Are you local to the Chicagoland area? Contact me and let me know you would like to be part of the support crew. I need both Diver in water support and surface support. None of the tasks for the support crew are that hard, I just need a lot of people to help cover all shifts, day and Night.

Remember if you plan to attend the Our World Underwate show this Feb, stop by and say hi. My booth is #1012.

I will update this blog as time goes on.

Have a great day and great diving..

Robert