To achieve his feat, Hafez had to beat the record set by American Allen Sherrod in October 2014 for a dive that lasted 51 hours and 4 minutes. Hafez’ dive, which took place off Hurghada in the Red Sea, outlasted Sherrod’s attempt by 16 minutes, with a total dive time of 51 hours and 20 minutes. On his official website, Hafez cites fellow Egyptian diver Ahmed Gabr as the inspiration for his record-breaking attempt. Gabr secured his own world record last September when he successfully completed the world’s deepest scuba dive to a depth of 1,089 (332 m).
Gabr’s achievement encouraged Hafez, who currently works as a marine pilot with the Suez Canal Authority, to start planning for his own record-breaking attempt. He decided to align his attempt with the International Red Sea Festival for Swimming and Diving, with the hope that the publicity raised by the collaboration would help promote Egyptian tourism and “rekindle the world’s interest in the stunning beauty of Egypt’s marine environment.” Hafez also wanted to use his mission to inspire others in the way the Gabr inspired him. He hopes that his achievement will “help to motivate Egyptian youth to use their skills, imagination and abilities to flourish in their own country…and enhance Egypt’s position in the international sports arena.”
Hafez is no stranger to extreme diving. He graduated from the Egyptian Naval College in 2001, and served as a SEAL team leader in the Egyptian Navy Special Forces until he retired due to a serious injury in January 2011. It took 12 weeks of preparation to get ready for his record-breaking dive, during which he and his team looked for ways to overcome the difficulties of remaining submerged for more than two days. Although Hafez’ dive took place in just 33 feet (10 m), his exceptional bottom time meant that he had to devise an extensive and complex decompression plan. He also had to prepare for the mental hardships of sleep deprivation, make sure that he was adequately equipped to stay warm during his dive and devise a liquid diet that would enable him to maintain his energy levels.
The result of this extensive planning and preparation was a successful world-record attempt. Hafez entered the water on the morning of Thursday, June 4th and surfaced at 6:00pm on Saturday, June 6th. He stayed busy by working on an underwater installation designed by the Faculty of Fine Arts at Cairo University, as well as contributing to ongoing dive-medicine research by performing various physiological tests. The water temperature was approximately 72 F (22 C), and Hafez wore a battery-powered heating system between his drysuit undergarments to help keep hypothermia at bay. He used 55 cylinders of air, and received support from a team of more than 30 people from all over the world, including support divers, scientists and a mental coach.
Hafez’ inspiration, Ahmed Gabr, also broke another world record during the Red Sea Festival — on the day that Hafez began his dive, Gabr led 400 divers on an underwater cleanup and broke the record for the world record for Biggest Dive in the process.
