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Dive Buddies Say “Yes”

Almost 2 years after their engagement, Hiro and Sandy have found the perfect place to tie the knot - a natural sanctuary beneath the earth and water.

DIVESummer 2013

Under Pressure:Some travel to great lengths and others climb to amazing heights, but these two will plunge to unspeakable depths for their love

EXCHANGING VOWS INSIDE MOTHER EARTH...Taking the plunge into marriage is a serious and life-changing event for any couple. Two dive enthusiasts are taking this commitment to greater depths making literally ‘ground-breaking’ news.

The majority of engaged couples spend their prenuptial period picking the perfect religious venue, coordinating color schemes, rehearsing ceremonies, and hoping the special day isn’t a wash-out. Money is thrown into renting tuxedos, limousines and hotel reception halls. Days before the actual ceremony, friends and relatives gather to rehearse walking down aisles, addressing speeches and posing for photos.

For Hiroyuki Yoshida and Sandra Smith this pre-wedding check list is the most foreign concept for their plans of the big day. These two individuals have fallen in love with each other and the sport of diving, so for them there is no better way to say “I do” than in the world that brought them together in the first place - the underwater realm. Here, there is no need for chiming church bells, fairytale wedding dresses, drawn out speeches or fear of getting wet on the special day.

Hiro and Sandy have come up with the plan to push the limits of their commitment to

each other along side that of their diving careers. They are planning a full-scale underwater wedding ceremony in a place very few humans have ever laid eyes on - an underwater cave at the depth of 123 meters. For them, this cave will act as their sanctuary.

Instead of walking down a red-carpeted aisle there will be a steep descent through a stone corridor. There will not be any spoken vows, but in their place will be hand gestures and written words. A kiss will share the only moment’s air between them during the whole ceremony. Only the powerful glow of their underwater torches will light the magical moment.

What is the planning of such an extreme wedding? If there are no traditional elements of getting hitched, what stands in as their replacements? Who in the world is even going to marry them at such a depth? And more importantly, what does the couple aspire to thereafter?

Holy Matrimony! Saying “I do” at 123

meters of depth in an underwater cave

AFFAIR

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Summer

PERSONAL FACTSBORN

EDUCATION

DIVING SINCE

FAVORITE DIVE!

HIROYUKI YOSHIDAJanuary 23, 1985Tokyo, Japan

Diploma of Aquaculture

2002

Macro Hunting in Deep Waters

SANDRA SMITHDecember 2, 1980New Jersey, USA

B.A. Anthropology

2005

Reefs or Caves with Lots of Swim ThroughsEX

TREM

E 201

3INSTRUCTOR RATINGS:TDI Advanced Nitrox, Decompression Procedures & Advanced SidemountPADI IDC Staff

DIVER RATINGS:TDI Megalodon Advanced Trimix CCR TDI Full Cave CCR

OTHER RATINGS:Dive Medic TechnicianApeks Service TechnicianChamber Operator

SPECIAL INTERESTS:Underwater DSLR PhotographyVideography

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“The only thing we are good at planning are dives. It makes perfect sense to plan our wedding as that”

The decision to marry 123 meters underwater was not the first thing that sprang to mind for Hiro and Sandy, but it was the natural solution to a drawn-out engagement. But getting married underwater at a conventional depth of ten meters was not what they are after because a dive like that would be too routine. So why not plan it a little bit deeper to make the day worth remembering?

For the past three years, Hiro and Sandy have been diving beyond the 50 meter range to build up experience and situational awareness in these depths. With a solid foundation in open circuit decompression dives as well as mixed gas diving, they are now ready to push into the 100 meter zone. The wedding will be the perfect chance to prepare for such depths and make some ground-breaking dives for their log books.

123 meters seems like a very arbitrary depth at first glance, but like all of Hiro and Sandy’s dive plans this number has a reason. They discovered their birth dates lie directly next to each other when written out in month and date format - December 2 (12-2) and

January 23 (1-23). Actually, the couple is aiming for 122.5 meters, but they understand such precise depth is a little too far fetched.

Knowing the depth they want to achieve, the soon to be bride and groom next have to think about where they can successfully get that depth. Open ocean is far too chancy to plan around because unpredictable currents and weather can make the dive dangerous or not at all possible. An environment without these factors would be ideal and the only place Hiro and Sandy remember being like that is a large sinkhole they dove back in late 2012. It is located in the southwest of Thailand near to Krabi in a place called Song Hong.

Pekka Hartikainen, owner of First Buddy and an experienced rebreather instructor, first introduced Hiro and Sandy to Song Hong when he asked them to record and help with the installation of an underwater habitat in the lake. During this trip, they also got the opportunity to meet Ben Reymenants, Blue Label Diving’s owner and technical instructor trainer who set the record with his 239 meter dive in another cave in Thailand. Although no one knew it at the time, a perfect dive team for a record-breaking wedding was born.

All that remains now is getting the team outfitted with the proper equipment and getting Hiro and Sandy in the water to train with Ben.

LIFE BUDDIES

Team Work Above & Below A good understanding of the other’s limits, personality and goals keeps awareness high and laughter loud. TOP: First work together in Whale Island, VietnamMIDDLE: Freediving in dark waters of Khao Sok, ThailandBOTTOM: Post dive huddle off the coast of Perth, Australia

Pekka & Ben on

rebreathers in Song Hong

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The next four months are all about diving, training, and pushing limits...Thanks to the help and guidance from Ben and Pekka, Sandy and

Hiro are now in the most critical phase of their dive training - establishing hours of experience in deep cave environments. Careful considerations about the type of dive equipment and the right blend of gasses need to be made.

The team has chosen closed circuit rebreathers for the record breaking wedding dive because they will reduce the overall gas needs and required decompression times. The ideal diluent for the CCR at 123 meters is a hypoxic trimix.

Despite having the ability to recycle a fair amount of gas, Hiro and Sandy must also carry with them enough bailout tanks to get them through their ascents, deco stops and back to the surface in the event the rebreathers fail. Carrying that many tanks as well as a rebreather make it near to impossible to move around, so the majority of the bailout tanks will be staged or carried by support divers.

Diving with an hypoxic trimix aids in reducing both narcosis and toxicity. The fraction of O2 is less than 18 percent in a hypoxic blend in

order to keep the partial pressure of oxygen (PPO2) lower at great depth. Exposure to high PPO2 will more than likely

result in an underwater convulsion that ends in drowning. Narcosis from nitrogen is kept to a minimum by substituting a large fraction of nitrogen with helium. At depth, helium behaves very well in keeping a diver’s

mind clear and functional. As long as the team monitors the PPO2 throughout the dive,

and calculates a safe ascent profile for o!-gassing, the record breaking wedding dive will be a success. During the upcoming summer months, Ben will put in long hours of training with the couple and make several build up dives before the wedding that is set for September 30, 2013.

Eternal Night DiveBeing inside a cave is a magical feeling experienced no where else. With only the beam from a torch to light the way, one can only focus on the immediate surroundings. Imagination wonders freely to fill the spaces unseen.

DIVE LOGISTICS GEAR GAS TEAM TIME

RebreathersGreat depths demand more gas. A CCR recycles gas so a longer, deeper dive can be made

Mixed GasHypoxic trimix is ideal beyond 100 m. It means less narcosis and chance of an O2 hit

Solid SupportEvery diver in the water has a vital role. Support divers are needed to carry extra bailout

3 Plus HoursFor even 15 minutes at 100 to 120 meters more than 170 minutes of decompression time is needed

Narcosis, O2 Toxicity & Hypoxia all dictate dive

logistics

SQUEEZING PAST LIMITATIONS

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All these technicalities are not the only factors hanging over the dive couples heads...

Having a solid dive plan with the right breathing gasses is only half of the plan to make their wedding triumphant and safe. Song Hong is a full cave environment so that means special cave diving techniques must also be integrated into the dive plan. Staying within reach of the guideline, placing line markers and utilizing torches for communication all fit into this category.

Although a dive of this magnitude already has a theoretical ceiling - the divers can not make a continuous ascent to the surface without stopping - an actual rock hard overhead make it all the more intimidating. Wandering into a pitch-black labyrinth is against most human intuition. The wedding couple already has invested in proper cave training with Ben and now spend a majority of their dives visiting various cave sites in the Krabi area to enhance their skills.

Making the dive count In order for Hiroyuki and Sandra’s

wedding to be accepted as a legitimate achievement for the Guinness World Records some conditions must be met.

First, two precisely calibrated dive computers must accompany all the divers to the depth where the ceremony will happen.

Depth recording must be accurate and exact for the attempt to qualify.

Secondly, video proof needs to show Hiro and Sandy in the presence of their ordained minister, Ben, exchanging vows and rings at the depth of 123 meters. For this, the couple purchased a special housing for their GoPro rated to a depth of 1000 feet. Pekka, who will be Hiro’s Best Man, will also double as the videographer of the ceremony. A live recording will be shot to give the Guinness World Records for proof and also to give friends and family a glimpse of the marriage.

The icing on the cakeSo far the wedding day of Hiroyuki and

Sandra departs far from tradition of white wedding gowns and chapels, but the couple have thought over a few details to make the day extraordinary.

Their first big concern is getting a minister to a depth of 123 meters in a cave underwater. Since they can not find anyone with those qualifications in their Facebook friends list, they have found another way around the issue. Their instructor Ben can be ordained as a minister online and legally hold the power to marry them. So, after doing some online research, Ben has become an ordained minister of the Church of the Latter Day Dude. Funny as it sounds, it is legitimate (www.dudeism.com) and for Hiro and Sandy’s philosophy on life, it fits accordingly.

Deco Stops:Extreme diving builds up a lot of decompression time in the shallows.TOP: Hiro completing the final stops of a 60 meter trimix dive.MIDDLE: Trying out the new underwater habitat before installation. This is where the honeymoon begins.BOTTOM: Sandy off-gassing on a high oxygen blend during decompression.

HANG TIME

2009 Hiro and

Sandy first started diving

CCRs

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Another problem perplexing the two is how to actually declare their vows to one another. With mouthpieces in and breathing a helium gas mixture, their vows will sound like they are coming from a chipmunk in dental surgery, so another solution has to be found. Hiro and Sandy will spend the next couple of months inventing coded gestures that can be signed out fluently on the big day. Any additional messages can also be written on underwater wet notes.

Then comes the question of what the bride and groom will wear. Fortunately no white, frilly dress or penguin tux need ordering. What is more of a concern to the couple is how to keep warm spending hours submerged. Although the water temperatures average around 27 degrees Celsius, body cooling happens due to heat convection through water. For this reason, Hiro and Sandy are seriously considering drysuits for ample thermal protection.

The dive couple are devoting lots of time and brainstorming power to making every detail right for the perfect underwater wedding. The actual day should be full of surprises.

Hiro and Sandy may think 123 meters for a wedding is quite an achievement, but they are not content in stopping there. Together with their fellow mentors and team mates, Pekka and Ben, planning is being done for further exploration of Song Hong. To date Song Hong lacks a comprehensive map and divers are keen to know just where does it flow.

Beyond Thailand, Blue Label Diving forges onwards to places like Maldives and Indonesia for exploration of blue holes and pursuing the less known southeast asian coelacanth. Both Hiro and Sandy are passionate underwater photographers and videographers. They plan to be part of these upcoming expeditions to document the discoveries along the way.

Unto Death Do Us Part With a well worked out dive plan and a strong commitment to one another, the two do not have any plans of parting ways anytime soon.

Although they may be making this promise to each other over 100 meters below the surface they also plan on coming back alive. For this reason, Hiro and Sandy dedicate almost all of their free time to receiving proper training and devoting ample time to practicing. With guidance and expertise advice from industry specialists, like Ben and Pekka, the two soon-to-be newly weds are in good hands.

Not only do Hiro and Sandy want to show their commitment to each other with this world record wedding dive, they also want to proclaim their love for diving. After all, it is a very serious dive to be attempted so a hundred percent devotion must be at at all levels.

For many newlyweds the magic ends when the lights go out and people turn in to sleep. Luckily for Hiro and Sandy, every dollar spent and moment used rehearsing go towards their experience and assets as technical divers. The wedding truly signifies a start of a new beginning both personally and in diving. �

Save The DateThe Guinness World Record wedding is set for September 30, 2013 in a remote location near Krabi, Thailand called Song Hong. The o"cial attempt category is to be registered as ‘Deepest Underwater Wedding Ceremony’ of which there is currently no record. For further details about the event please email sandrayjane@gmail.com.

Contact Information# Sandra Smith

+66 (0) 86033 5203# Hiroyuki Yoshida

+66 (0) 86033 3952# Ben Reymenants

ben@bluelabeldiving.com# Pekka Hartikainen

pekka@firstbuddy.fi

BLUE LABEL DIVING23/12 Moo 6, Viset Road,T. Rawai, A. Muang83130 Phuket, Thailand

Coelacanths of Southeast

Asia are on the to-do-list

AFTER THE HONEYMOONMaking a world record wedding is only the first part of the dream. More exploration still awaits.