New CCR world record - Pole dived to 316 metres!

On Wednesday, 10 October, Jarek Macedonski set a new world record for the deepest closed circuit dive. Diving to 316 metres in the Italian Lake Garda, he took the title from another Pole – Krzysztof Starnawski. He also joined the elite group of several people who have exceeded the depth of 300 metres during a technical dive.

Literally a while ago we managed to have a telephone conversation with Jarek, who is still in Italy. We asked about the details of the dive and received a lot of interesting information about its course, as well as the equipment used. Especially the details of the latter, may be of interest to many of you.

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Diving objective

The goal was really one. To show that the Seacraft diving scooter is able to cope with the hardships of such a dive, but also to make people realise that thanks to its use, the entire dive can be carried out much easier, faster, and… in a place where it was not possible before. It is worth mentioning here that Krzysztof Starnawski, who on 10 September dived to a depth of 303 metresalso used the Seacraft scooter and conducted his dive in exactly the same place.

Record after record

De facto, Jarek Macedonski’s dive to a depth of 316 metres, earned him 3 records. The deepest closed circuit dive, the deepest freshwater dive and the deepest dive using a DPV scooter. All 3 previously belonged to Krzysztof Starnawski, and the fact that there are so many was brought to our attention by the legendary Nuno Gomes.

A handful of details

The record-breaking dive to 316 metres lasted for exactly 10 hours. It was conducted in Italy’s Lake Garda, in the same place where Krzysztof Starnawski descended to a depth of 303 metres a month ago. The duplicated Seacraft navigation indicated depths of 316.1 and 315.9 metres respectively. In contrast, the Shearwater Petrel 2 indicated 310m, the Liquivision X1 317m and the digital Scubapro 319m.

The indications of the Seacraft units were taken as the official result of the dive, as they are designs using the latest sensors, and also their discrepancy was only 20 cm.

HPNS – high pressure nervous syndrome

High pressure neurological syndrome is something experienced by every diver who decides to make very deep dives. When asked about the course of the dive from this angle, Jarek made no secret of the fact that the first symptoms appeared around 140 metres and intensified as the depth increased. It was only when returning around 200 metres that the symptoms disappeared. As an interesting note, we can say that also in this case, the use of the scooter has an impact on the course of the dive and the sensation of hpns. Because the DPV pulls you down (or up), the sensation of symptoms is less than when you lower yourself by the rope on your own.

Special battery

A special battery was developed for this particular dive. Due to the time and difficulty involved in such a long and deep dive, a unique power source was needed. Since commercially available batteries could not meet the requirements, Seacraft engineers created a proprietary power source that would allow for 7, 8 or even 10 hours of operation. The battery was placed next to the scooter in a purpose-built casing, from which a so-called wet connector for connecting the heater was derived. Thanks to this, the 9ºC temperature prevailing at the bottom was not a problem.

New opportunities

Thanks to the use of the DPV scooter, completely new possibilities are opening up for divers who want to dive unusually deep. Until now, exceptionally deep dives for divers from Poland and Europe usually required going to Dahab in Egypt, where descending by rope in the local blue hole, one could reach record depths. Such a solution, however, significantly complicated logistics, increased the time of the undertaking and raised costs. The use of a DPV scooter, which can handle the hardships of such a dive, opens completely new doors.

As in Dahab, in the waters of the Italian Lake Garda, dives are usually carried out at the so-called chain. However, this is due to the fact that the bottom here is at a much shallower depth than the maximum offered by the Italian body of water. Usually, because both Krzysztof Starnawski on 10 September and Jarek Macedonski on 10 October dived in a place that allows you to dive above 300 metres, but only if you use the help of a diving scooter.

Both men entered the water from the beach at the campsite and set off into the depths. The bottom here drops at an angle of about 30º, which is an obstacle to making a timely dive to a depth of ~300m if you are not moving using a scooter. However, a sufficiently fast and powerful DPV, such as the Seacraft Ghost, allows you to move confidently to the depths and back. Jarek is convinced that thanks to the scooter, diving time to the depth of ~300 metres can be closed within 7 hours!

Finally, Jarek Macedoński announced that in a week’s time interesting tests of Seacraft navigation will be conducted, which will be a real challenge for compasses. This time diving will be conducted at the bottom, and big depth jumps will show how much the devices, which will be available in shops in the second half of November, can do!

A video recording of the record-breaking dive will be made available on Monday.

Photo: Jarek Macedońsli/Seacraft, Krzysztof Starnawski Expedition