BLIND DEEP SEA DIVER BREAKS RECORD
DEEP sea diving is one of the most perilous sports in the world with a host of unique risks. But none of these have stopped record-breaking Graham Owen who took up his hobby after he went blind.
The adventurer this year made the deepest saltwater dive by a blind man when he reached a depth of 105m in Egypt.
He and pal Albie Roberts were searching for the wreck of an oil boat at Sha’ab Ruhr Umm Gamar in the Red Sea.
Divers often follow a “shot line” – a weighted wire – to the sea bed. But this time they did not have one.
“They dropped us on the reef and we had instructions of how to follow the reef down, which was very long, so we could land on the wreck,” Graham said.
“We missed the wreck and as we were trying to find it we went past 105m and that was a new record.”
The next day the pair decided to try to reach the wreck again and broke their new record.
“We got 106m then,” Graham said. He and Albie explored the boat. “I couldn’t see the wreck but it was pretty much intact,” Graham said.
“It was a tug boat for the oil rigs and stuff in the Gulf. That’s why it’s called Gulf Fleet 31.”
Graham practised for the dive in Dorothea Quarry, in the Nantlle Valley in Gwynedd, last autumn.
There they swam among abandoned cars and slate caverns.
Diving clear waters like those of the Red Sea is easier for divers with full vision. But not for Graham.
He lost his sight after being diagnosed with a deteriorating eye condition in 2001. Now he can only make out between light and dark.
“I find it far more difficult diving in warm blue clear water than I do in the sea around Britain,” Graham, from Fairburn, Yorkshire, said.
In UK waters torch light bounces off objects. But foreign waters are often too bright for Graham.
“In Britain I know when there is something in front of me because it reflects back,” he said.
“When you’re diving abroad in blue water it is like diving in a big white fluffy cloud. “It’s scary, it’s extremely scary.” In Britain Graham has “a certain level of confidence”. Sometimes he even dives solo.
“But abroad I’m completely dependent on someone else, on the people I’m with,” Graham said.
“It’s far more stressful for me because you realise the inherent dan- ger in deep sea diving.
“When you don’t have any sight it is not easy and with deep sea diving things can go wrong very easily.”
Graham, who is about to start a job with a housing association, tries not to think about it too much.
“If I was to worry about it I would not jump in the water,” he said.
“I’m very lucky I have got some amazing friends and I can do this thanks to my friends, those who have transported me and encouraged me and helped me when I have been stuck wanting some information.”