A blind BBC journalist and a paraplegic amputee, both from Lancashire, are hoping to have an hour-long Red Sea dive to a maximum depth of 40m carried out as a buddy-pair recognised by Guinness World Records (GWR).
Friends Mohammed Salim Patel from Blackburn, who has been blind since his mid-teens, and Shaun Gash, a disabilities campaigner from Morecambe paralysed from the chest down in an car accident at 20, took up scuba diving together only this spring.
They had been working towards their record-setting attempt through the year, reckoning that between them they would have the strength and vision required. “You’ve got somebody with legs that are powering away and someone with arms that are powering away – and together we are like V6 engines,” says Gash.
Their early coldwater training challenges in Lancashire were recorded in what is now an award-winning documentary strand on the BBC1 news programme BBC North West Tonight.
They undertook their joint dive in the warmer waters of Um Sid in Dahab in late September, guided by a team led by Egyptian instructor Mohamed ‘Curly’ Mokhtar Elazab, who works for MAD (Morecambe Area Divers) Dive School and had trained the pair from the start. “My main thing is honestly not the record – my main thing is seeing their faces after each dive,” he says.
The dive formed part of one of the school’s regular trips to the Red Sea. In the lead-up the duo were said to have “absolutely smashed it” on “intense” boat dives from Sharm el Sheikh including the Thistlegorm, as well as Dahab’s Canyon and Caves sites.
For the record bid they spent an hour in the water and reached a maximum depth of 40m, but must now await verification of their record claim from GWR.
Report of the Year
The men’s quest to get scuba-trained was aired at intervals by BBC North West Tonight during the summer. Patel, the programme’s planning producer, recently won “Report of the Year” at the Asian Media Awards for the six-part Disabled Scuba Diving Duo series, having pitched, produced, contributed to and edited it.
“My motto in life is that I may be blind but I have a vision,” he told the audience in accepting the award.
In the series, which can be seen on YouTube, Patel reported that it had initially proved difficult to find a dive-centre or instructor able to train the pair until they came across Curly and MAD Dive School.
The centre had provided training support while Northern Diver came up with drysuits, a modified DPV for Gash and full-face masks with comms. The school’s Jodie Rawsthorn carried out all the underwater videography.
Initial training at the Capernwray inland site and the pair’s first sea dive off Barrow can be seen in the series. Later Patel was able to set up a “Blind Scuba Diving Taster Day” for 10 young people with funding from charity The Primary Club, which, as shown on TV proved to be a popular experience.
“We want to spread the word that diving is for everybody, for every ability,” says Gash.
Also on Divernet: Diving blind: How Jess Pita experiences the underwater world, Blind diver claims deepest sea-dive record, 4 scuba divers who swear by adaptive teaching, Wheelsdan claims three worlds at Stoney
