World Record for Underwater Dining
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500 slightly unhinged people attended an event underwater at a swimming pool in Acton, west London last Saturday at the Park Club, in a formal bid to set the world record for the largest formal underwater dinner party with Guinness World Records.
Photo The Telegraph
The 3 course banquet consisting of smoked salmon, candied lemon, and medley of crab with asparagus attempted to raise thousands of dollars for six charities including Save the Children and The British Heart Foundation. But what hadn’t initially been made clear was that each course consisted of precisely one mouthful of food.
The $200 US entrance fee included:
• Dinner suit or ball gown supplied by sponsors
• Mini try-dive followed by the 3 course dinner underwater
• A photo of each individual underwater
• 1 certificate of ‘Insanity’
The all-day event was held in 20 waves of sessions.
How does one eat food underwater? First you remove the aqua lung from your mouth, then pop in the food, replace the aqua lung in your mouth and press the button on the aqua lung to purge away the water in your mouth and start breathing again.
All participants were guided on how to use an aqua lung and breathe underwater by specialist diving instructors.
Matt Dawson toasts the Underwater Dinner Party
Organizer Tim Slater of the record attempt had experimented with scientific solutions. “We got space food from NASA through the international space school in Cardiff.” he said. “It did say just add water, but perhaps a whole swimming pool was too much.” Slater added that in order to prevent the foods from disintegrating or floating away each course, or mouthful, was sealed in a waterproof coating of jelly.
With food issues resolved, there were still a few matters to deal with, such as breathing, swallowing and remaining on your seat without floating off.
Reporter Adam Lusher of the Telegraph said, “The cumbersome 8 kilo (18 pound) weight belt around my waist helped me stay seated, but the only sure way to avoid an undignified ascent from the table to the surface under natural buoyancy seemed to be to cling on to my chair. Alas, you needed both hands for the rather tricky process of breathing and eating under water. After we signed an alarmingly lengthy medical disclaimer, our instructors showed how to do it.”
“When your waiter serves you, hold the jelly parcel in your hand — the silver forks on the table are simply for decoration. Take a deep breath, the air tank regulator covering your mouth. Then remove the regulator and pop the food in.”
“As my buoyancy pushed me into levitating a disconcerting few inches above my chair, the first mouthful tasted salty (one assumes that was the jelly rather than the water), with a hint of chlorine (definitely the water). No matter how hard you tried, a trickle of swimming pool always seemed to enter your mouth.”
“The next trick was trying to swallow contentedly, while not letting too much air escape from your mouth. Then, assuming you still haven’t run out of breath or floated away completely, there is the small matter of replacing the regulator connecting your mouth to the air tank. It is, of course soaked in water. You have to press the purge valve at the front. Around your mouth, you feel a cold blast of air.”
As bottles of wine floated past, divers and diners made it apparent that attempting to unscrew the top and pour wouldn’t work.
Onlookers were served hamburgers at pool-side while underwater diners were left to feel rather hungry.
Underwater Dinner Party Event
Scubadive Underwater Dining
How to eat underwater.
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Insane.
I’d be the one poolside, eating a burger!
Thanks for confirming my thinking that the Brits are just a bit wacky.
well this takes the cake Deborah !!!!
I agree with MorganLighter that the British really do take things to the extreme……
I suppose it’s one way to lose a few pounds/kilos….haha….
You and me both Morgan
But it does look like it would have been a blast to watch!
It was too crazy to pass up writing about it Kim, haha!
That’s hilarious. I’ve never even heard of anything like that before. Do you know how much money they ended up raising?
I just checked the site that put the event together, and no mention is given as to total funds collected yet, as they’re allowing 2 weeks to hand in all earned funds.
They offer high res photos now, but at $40 US a pop, I think I’ll pass
Makes me want to eat sushi under the water.
Wow. I can’t imagine paying two hundred dollars to eat bad food underwater in an evening gown… that’s insane.
It could be pretty interesting attempting to eat sushi underwater Zune
Haha, it’s all for a good cause AntiBarbie
What………no lobster? ‘Course I guess clam chowder would be out of the question.
I think anything in liquid form is out of the question Nitropuppy
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Totally brilliant. Gotta give it a try at some point.
Think their wine maybe diluted a bit through =]
[...] covering your mouth. Then remove the regulator and pop the food in.” wonder woman fetishread more | digg [...]
I like diving, but this is stupid. This is just plain stupid.
I think it’s a lost effort to consume any wine Steve
To each their own, Dumb
It’s certainly an interesting way to create awareness for a charity function.
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Ron Paul for President 2008.
I think underwater dining is a bit on the silly side
Sure it’s silly, that’s the charm in it Mick — to do something zany and have fun at it while earning $$ for the effort for charity
[...] Champ after throwing a rock that skipped on water an astounding 51 times, shattering the previous world record of 40 skips. The event took place July 19th, but it took up to now for Guinness Book of Records to [...]
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I think to eat underwater sounds totally insane because how are you gonna serve food underwater and then try to eat it while you have a mouth full of water? plus i don’t that food will taste any good underwater let alone trying to drink underwater as well.
It wasn’t an easy feat Angelo
They did report that they were getting pool water while trying to eat, but they only feasted on a few bites of food, all the same. It was mostly done for hype to promote a charity. And the insane fun of it all 
This is too weird. I liked the one photo where they lift the restaurant with a construction crane in the air and even a band or a piano. That was expensive and looked pretty awesome, plus you could enjoy your meal
It would be a meal you’d never forget, Max
This is pretty cool i would love to be there let me know next time gosh
I haven’t heard of anything for this event this year, Scuba.
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What were the chances that before you read the article you figured they were going to be served seafood?The biggest challenge will be chewing and breathing. Never tried that while scuba diving before.