World Record Open Water SCUBA Dive

Documented in 2003 Guinness Book of World Records

During the Labor Day weekend of August 31^st through September 3^rd, 2001, members of the San Marcos Area Recovery Team performed a World Record OPEN WATER SCUBA DIVE by sustaining team commander Daniel Misiaszek underwater for 60 hours and 24 minutes. The entire event was recorded with Seaview Video Technology. This event was a fundraiser for the team to purchase new equipment and took place in Spring Lake, Aquarena Center on the campus of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Thank you for sharing this historic event with us in story, video, and pictures. SMART is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization staffed with volunteer police, fire-rescue, and EMS personnel. (Photo by Ashley A. Horton, University Star)

Here is the interactive World Record SCUBA Dive in chronological order.
Preparation - Team members Kathy Misiaszek and Kye Kennedy prepare diver Dan Misiaszek with underwater video and communication gear during a practice dive in the 71 degree water. Video camera provided by Seaview Video Technology.NET

Preparation - Standing on top of the submarine, a transducer is dropped into the water to allow for duplex communications between divers and the topside support team. Dark clouds and the warning by the National Weather Service of severe thunderstorms and lightning threaten to cancel the entire event.

In the water and beginning the dive, Dan Misiaszek points a hand held Seaview Video Technology at the audience inside the submarine theater. (Photo courtesy of the San Marcos Daily Record, Anita Miller)

Spectators inside the submarine theater watch through the windows and also on a TV monitor which was set up to monitor Dan throughout the entire dive. (Photo by Jim Evans)

Kathy Misiaszek, still wearing a wetsuit from a support dive, is interviewed by the media inside the submarine theater. (Photo by Jim Evans)

Kaitlin Davis is captured by Austin NEWS 8 as she watches her father through the windows. (Photo courtesy of NEWS 8 Austin)

Wearing a full face mask, orange dry suit, and underwater communications, Dan is seen here early on in the dive.

After battling hypothermia, the support divers add an additional wet suit over the familiar orange dry suit. Dan is seen here interacting with the crowd in the sub. (Photo by Jim Evans)

Long dark nights looking into the submarine and talking with the support team.

Support divers prepare the 12 tanks used a total of 130 times to replenish Dan's air supply.

The media is gathering inside the sub as Seaview Video Technology keep a constant vigil on the situation.

SMART Diver Kye Kennedy talks to the press with less than two hours to go on the official clock!

Now wearing a wet suit over his dry suit for additional thermal protection, Dan is carrying an extra stage tank and entertaining the crowd with the hand held Seaview Video Technology. (Photo by Ashley A. Horton, University STAR)

VIDEO - This is the actual video shown on the news after the completion of the dive. (Best viewed on Windows media player. Right click to download or double click to view) Courtesy of NEWS 4 - SAN ANTONIO.

After 60 hours and 24 minutes, Dan slowly climbs the latter to dry land.

With hands pruned as white as a ghost, Dan smiles to the applauding crowd. (SMART Diver Bob Klett with his back to the camera, Kathy Misiaszek on the left clapping her hands)

Dazed and unsteady on his feet after 2-1/2 days in a weightless environment, Dan is helped to the showers by SMART Diver Don White.

After a quick shower, Dan faces the media cameras and compliments the support team. "I had the easy job, the support divers and topside team had to do all the work" - Dan Misiaszek

Some of the supporting team members that helped make this dive possible.

A relaxed moment with the family and a cake "SIXTY +".

DIVE LOG for the World Record Open Water SCUBA Dive
Location: Spring Lake, Aquarena Center on the Campus of Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas
Environment: OPEN WATER, Fresh water, high mineral content
Water Temperature: 71 degrees
Time entered the water: 12:10AM on September 1, 2001
Time of exit from the water: 12:34PM on September 3, 2001
Total Dive Time: 3,624 minutes (60 hours and 24 minutes)
Maximum Depth: 23 feet (as recorded on Dive Rite Ni-tek III digital computer)
Number of aluminum 80 SCUBA tanks used: 12 single tanks + 2 steel twin 95's on divers back = 14 tanks
Number of air fills into diver's tanks using equalizer hose: 130
Support Team Divers: Members of SMART Divers (13) and the UHEXSO Dive team (9) = 22
Support Team non-divers: 40+
Hazards - During the initial evening and at the midway point, severe lightning threatened to cancel the dive.
Underwater Video - Video sponsored by Seaview Video Technology.net.

NEWS STORIES

Diving to break records

San Marcos organizations top several world diving records over Labor Day weekend

Sarah Moore
News Reporter

Kathy Misiaszek bounded up the stairs of the Aquarena Springs Center's submarine theater.

"Fifteen minutes. Only fifteen more minutes," she called out.

"Are you excited?" someone asked.

"Yes, I am."

At exactly 12:34 p.m. Monday, Dan Misiaszek and the San Marcos Area Recovery Team broke the world's record scuba dive, previously held by a Norwegian who remained submerged in a tank for 51 hours and four minutes.

The biggest difference between the two records, said Kathy Misiaszek (Dan's wife), is that Misiaszek braved the hypothermic waters and possible marauding catfish of the San Marcos headwaters, whereas the Norwegian diver was in the controlled environment of a tank.

"The main thing is not the world record," Kathy said. "SMART needs a new truck and diving equipment; this is a fund raiser."

Kathy, an expert diver herself, remained on the premises of Aquarena Center for the duration of the dive, tending to her husband's needs and anxiously awaiting his return to dry land.

Misiaszek slept, ate and even brushed his teeth underwater. He subsisted on a diet of Gatorade and a pediatric electrolyte solution. Dehydration was a problem because of the dry air he was breathing, and even more of a problem because it was hard to get him to drink enough of his liquid diet.

"He said it tasted horrible," Kathy said. "We tried flavoring it with (orange) Kool-Aid, but that didn't help much."

He had an external catheter that stayed hooked to his suit the entire time to catch his fluid waste, but Misiaszek didn't eat solid food for 24 hours before the dive because they had no way to deal with solid waste.

Michael Sonntag, 2 1/2, watches SMART member Dan Misiaszek as the diver attempts to break the world record for the longest underwater scuba dive at Aquarena Springs on Sunday. Misiaszek resurfaced Monday at 12:34 p.m. after remaining underwater for 60 hours and 24 minutes.

Ashley A. Horton/Star photo
ahorton@universitystar.com

When Misiaszek emerged, the official clock, used for veracity to qualify for the "Guinness Book of World Records," read 60:00:00; however, Misiaszek had technically been in the river for 60 hours and 24 minutes because of a malfunction of the time clock caused by the damp conditions late Friday night.

Misiaszek entered the river at 12:10 a.m. on Saturday, in the dark of night as a light rain fell. He braved cold, equipment malfunction, dehydration, and various pains to set the record, raise funds, and bring attention to various diving programs connected with SWT and the San Marcos Police Department. He emerged Monday afternoon shortly after the sun came out from behind a covering of clouds to a hot, humid day and an enthusiastic crowd cheering him on.

The first thing Misiaszek did when he got out of the water was take a shower and try to get warm. Don Dibble, SWT scuba instructor and SMART technical adviser reported that he was in great spirits. "He's shivering and shaking cold, but he's grinning all over," he said.

Finally Misiaszek walked slowly and shakily out to the group waiting for him.

"I haven't eaten in three days," he said. "The catfish swimming around out there were starting to put ideas in my head." The sentiment seems to have been mutual. In an underwater interview with Misiaszek Sunday morning, he claimed the catfish were eyeing him for dinner. Perhaps appropriately, the idea for doing the record-breaking dive came up in conversation after the Misiaszeks had been awake for 24 hours and came across mention of the Norwegian record in a magazine. They were looking for a fund raising idea, and "It seemed like a good idea at the time," said Kathy.

Misiaszek began to have misgivings only a few hours into the event when he began shivering uncontrollably and his crew had difficulty devising a strategy to keep him warm. Kathy's concerns began before that.

"He has such a strong will and determination. I was worried that something would go wrong physically and he would try to push through it to achieve his goal and endanger himself in the process," Kathy said. Kathy visited him underwater several times, though she was kept pretty busy organizing things above ground. Misiaszek likes to make her laugh underwater so the water goes up under her mask, she said, half-drowning her.

She got revenge by writing him a note that he would have to stay under longer because she'd just found out that the Norwegian diver had gone back and stayed in 65 hours this time.

"We love each other," Kathy said.

And both Misiaszek and his wife had nothing but loving words for their support crew, 40 members made up of mainly of SMART divers and Underwater Heritage & Exploration Society, as well as Aquarena Springs employees.

Misiaszek's second statement after leaving the water was to thank his support divers.

"I had the easy job," he said. "They were the ones doing all the work."

"We've had tremendous support from our dive team," Kathy said. "We couldn't have done this without them."

Misiazsek also praised the site. "We couldn't have done it without Aquarena Center's support. This was the perfect arena for (the dive)."

Dibble concurred. "Aquarena Center is a great resource - unique in the whole world."

Dibble said that SWT's scuba program is one of the best in the country, instructing students from beginning to instructor level. "Diving is fun. A lot simpler than the movies would have you believe."

September 04, 2001

It's a record: SMART diver lives with the fish for 60 hours

By ANITA MILLER - News Editor

Exhausted, chilled to the bone and ravenous for ribs, diver Dan Misiaszek nonetheless had a record-breaking grin when he emerged from Spring Lake Monday and, only a moment later, planted a big kiss on his wife and fellow diver Kathy.

Then, the 39-year-old leader of the San Marcos Area Recovery Team pulled off his diving gloves and flourished 10 blue fingers for the overflow crowd in and on the Aquarena Center's Submarine Theater.

After spending an official 60 hours and 25 minutes beneath the surface sustained only by scuba tanks and liquid nutritional supplements, he is due for a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records, replacing a Norwegian diver's record of less than 52 hours.

Misiaszek acknowledging being a bit dizzy and lightheaded but he stayed on focus when questioned whether the grueling attempt was "worth it."

"The team experience was worth it," he said in a nod to the 40 team members who provided support both in and out of the water. "It's not about Dan setting a world record, it's about the team. There couldn't have been better teamwork."

Indeed the SMART team was the reason for the two and a half day dive. Needing a new vehicle and additional diving equipment, they had hoped to raise $20,000 -- but as of Monday only about a quarter of that goal had been achieved.

That didn't cloud the moment, or Misiaszek's grateful acknowledgment of everyone who made it possible.

"I had the easy job, the support team had the hard job," he said.

Misiaszek entered the 72-degree water just after midnight Saturday during a downpour that had the loading dock submerged. He said within about three hours, he began to realize that his thermal long johns and orange "dry suit" weren't going to be enough to keep him warm.

"I thought this is bad, I could have a serious hypothermia problem," he recalled. Topside team members including local dive master Don Dibble came up with a solution, having him don a wetsuit over the dry one, then providing a hose through which warm water was pumped between the two suits.

"The first water heater died, but we replaced it," Dibble said.

Before the dive, Misiaszek had said that only severe lightning might cause the team to abort the attempt. That scenario began to develop Sunday afternoon and made for some real life drama.

While Misiaszek and Dibble talked through radio headsets, support divers relayed messages written on underwater notepads. While thunder rumbled in the distance, the decision was made for divers to seek shelter under the Submarine Theater until the storm had passed.

What made that tricky was the depth. While decompression sickness, aka the "bends," is primarily a problem for divers who have descended to great depths, a sustained depth of little more than 20 feet can cause problems. The lake within the theater is about 18 feet deep with the area beneath the sub a bit deeper.

Dibble said experts including the US Navy's Experimental Diving Team were contacted prior to the attempt "and everybody seems to concur that if he stays at 12 or 15 feet there should be no problem with decompression illness."

"I don't think any of us had any idea" how many challenges would present themselves during the dive, said Kathy Misiaszek. In addition to the ever-present chill, her husband was suffering from sensory and sunlight deprivation and was "losing muscle tone by the hour," she said during the dive's final minutes.

He also had aching muscles and joints and had developed a splitting headache that liquid medication couldn't kick. "After 60 hours anything is going to hurt," Kathy Misiaszek said. "I want to fix it but I can't."

One thing she could and did do is ask her husband what his plans were after emerging. The thought of ribs from the Salt Lick kept him going "for the last 12 hours," she said.

The man himself said he was mentally nourished by supporters in the Submarine Theater and the support of his team members, though he was quick to point out, "I'll never do this again."

He even managed to catch periodic naps, sleeping with the fishes as a matter of fact.

SMART divers are still accepting donations and more information can be learned at the organization's website at http://www.smartdivers.com

Though they do not perform rescues they do bring closure to grieving families, explained Kathy Misiaszek. "When someone is lost in the water, their families want them back. That's what we do," she said.

A fish-eye view of a world record
Author: Date: 09-04-2001 Publication: The Austin American-Statesman
Dan Misiaszek, a diver who set up the San Marcos Area Recovery Team, swims past a couple of signs urging him on at the Aquarena Springs submarine center in San Marcos on Monday. Misiaszek, 39, broke the world record for the longest continuous

Thunderous applause and a wet world record
Author: Michelle M. Martinez, American-Statesman Staff Date: 09-04-2001 Publication: The Austin American-Statesman
SAN MARCOS -- He waited 60 hours, 24 minutes in the chilly depths of Aquarena Springs before surfacing, and the thing Dan Misiaszek wanted first was a shower. Misiaszek emerged from Spring Lake at 12:34 p.m. Monday to thunderous applause.

Officer is diving for the record He'll try to stay submerged for 60 hours
Author: Erik Rodriguez, American-Statesman Staff Date: 08-31-2001 Publication: The Austin American-Statesman
SAN MARCOS -- Dan Misiaszek loves underwater diving. He loves it so much he formed a dive recovery and exploration group, the San Marcos Area Recovery Team, 13 years ago. So much that his wife and two of his children regularly dive with him. So much,

Diver hoping to recapture record By ANITA MILLER - News Editor - San Marcos Daily Record When he emerged from the 72-degree water of Spring Lake last September 3 after spending a world record of 60 hours and 29 minutes underwater with SCUBA equipment, the one question nobody wanted to ask Dan Misiaszek was would he do it again. Maybe it was the fact his hands had turned bright blue from the cold, or maybe it was the way he wasted no time in planting a big kiss on his wife -- it just didn't seem the thing to do. Those questions are being asked in a big way now, since a Tennessee man has apparently broken Misiaszek's record by staying in a specially-prepared marina slip for 71 hours, 39 minutes and 40 seconds. Misiaszek's answer? The San Marcos Police Sergeant and commander of the San Marcos Area Recovery Team (SMART) would repeat the dive in a heartbeat -- if the community antes up sufficient funds to provide the 17-member team with critical equipment. "The team is ready to go, they have committed to the event providing we get the much-needed sponsorship," he said. "We need to raise at least $30,000 or it would not be worthwhile to put all these people through all this." Fundraising -- for a new vehicle and diving gear -- was the main purpose of last year's dive, yet only about $5,000 in donations were collected. Currently, the team uses a 1978 Ford truck specially outfitted for holding what gear they have, even though they only have enough to outfit four divers with dry suits, double tanks and state-of-the-art underwater communications equipment -- gear that costs about $3,000 per diver. "Dry suits not only protect us in the cold weather, more importantly they protect us in contaminated water," he said. Because the team's main focus is recovery, they often dive in awful conditions. "We go in where there is oil and gasoline and stagnant water, we've even been in locations where we've had dead animals floating in the water. The dry suits protect us from the biological hazards as well as providing thermal protection." Founded in 1988, SMART does not receive any permanent funding; relying instead on donations from the community. Misiaszek said if sponsorships begin to come in, the team could attempt to beat the record set Friday by Jerry Hall of Bluff City, Tennessee as early as next summer. If he were to enter Spring Lake at 7 a.m. on Monday, June 29, 2003 and stay submerged until 12 noon Friday, July 4 it would encompass over 100 hours, he wrote in an e-mail to fellow team members. "I have already gone over in my head the changes in equipment, suit, etc. I have no doubt I can safely do this dive," he wrote. The SMART team, in particular Misiaszek himself, made headline news for the Aug. 3 rescue of a 16-year-old boy who was trapped in a cavity in Cumming's Dam. On the scene expecting to retrieve a body, the team was met with cheers and clapping after Misiaszek surfaced downstream with Dustin Kilgore of Midland. The team was also instrumental in early July, helping officials gauge damage to Canyon Dam after water poured over the spillway for the first time in the dam's 40 plus year history. On another dive at the request of officials in New Braunfels, SMART divers scouted the Comal River for debris that could be dangerous to swimmers and tubers. On April 30 of this year, the team recovered a gun in the murky water of Lake Braunig which turned out to have been the weapon used in a capital murder in San Antonio. In March, the divers recovered merchandise that sank in the Guadalupe River after a truck carrying it blew off a bridge; and in February, they recovered the body of a missing boater from the water of Canyon Lake. The team is also involved in an ongoing project of mapping Jacob's Well, the artesian spring where in October of 2000 they brought closure to a family that had been seeking it for over 20 years by recovering the remains of Kent Maupin, one of two Pasadena men who drowned in the well in 1979. Though his record is technically broken, Misiaszek's place in history is safe for now. The story of his September 2001 dive will be on page 26 of the 2003 edition of the "Guinness Book of World Records," to be available Aug. 26. Those wanting to support the SMART team can send donations to the San Marcos Area Recovery Team at 1700 Ranch Road 12, Suite 307, San Marcos, TX, 78666, or call 353-1671 for more information. "They can make checks payable July 4, 2003; that's when we'd be coming out of the water," Misiaszek said.