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By Daniel Myers

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text 0=””]On Saturday June 17, 2017, the City of Deerfield Beach broke the world record for longest underwater human chain. Deerfield Beach shattered the previous record of 182 by a wide margin with a total 241 divers linked together. The feat stole the record from the city of Koh Tao, Thailand and brought it stateside. The volunteer-based event was organized around the annual Deerfield Beach Pier cleanup.

In just 8 years, the annual pier cleanup has grown to record breaking proportions. Arilton Pavan of Dixie Divers began the effort as a way to protect the aquatic life of Deerfield Beach. “We’ve been growing,” said Pavan in an interview with us. “We’re very excited about the record. Everyone involved, I think, is very proud. It’s a real achievement.”

The decision to make the event public is what allowed for the record to be broken in the first place. Community members who are passionate about the environment and their city see the annual cleanup as a way to give back.

Each diver that participated in the event was given a tag to wear so they could be officially documented during the attempt. Divers linked together off the pier and waited as video was recorded of each individual diver in the chain. The recording took so long that at least one diver had to return to the surface for air. Fortunately, the event organizers foresaw such a situation and reserved several divers to wait on the surface to replace any divers that had to return for air.

Technically, Deerfield Beach does not yet hold the official title. The paperwork and documentation of the record attempt have been submitted to Guinness World Records for review. Despite this, Arilton Pavan and the entire team are already looking to next year. “We’re moving forward,” said Pavan, “I think it was very successful. Everyone involved is very proud of what we did and we want it to be even bigger next year.”

If you want to get involved in next year’s Deerfield Beach Pier cleanup, details will be published here as soon as they are announced.[/vc_column_text][vc_images_carousel images=”3516,3515,3514,3513,3512,3510,3509,3508,3507,3506,3505,3504″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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This post was prepared by staff at Point! Publishing. For inquiries call 954-603-4553.

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