Chess
I was so comfortable snuggled up next to Debbie that the idea of jumping into a cold pool to scuba dive was the last thing I wanted to do
The loud buzzing of the alarm jolted me awake. I squinted at the alarm clock, the digits displaying the time as 1:00 AM. As I rolled over, I heard Debbie’s steady breathing, indicating she was fast asleep. We were crammed into my single bed in my dorm room at Elizabethtown College. With my roommate gone for the weekend, I couldn’t resist breaking the rules and sneaking her into my room. It was 1978, and I was in my junior year at college. I was so comfortable snuggled up next to Debbie that the idea of jumping into a cold pool to scuba dive was the last thing I wanted to do.
I gently shook her, “I have to go,” I said.
She groaned and said, “Okay, better you than me.”
I dressed and walked toward the athletic hall, where the pool awaited me. It was pitch dark, and I shivered on the cool April night. I walked into the swimming pool. Fred was sitting on a chair at the deep end of the pool. He smiled, stood and walked over to me.
“Scott, ready for our shift.”
“I am. How they doing?”
I looked into the blue water of the pool. Sam and Gail were submerged in the 12-foot deep end, standing across from each other at a table with a chessboard attached. It was weighted down with two cinder blocks. The chess pieces were made of stone so they wouldn't float away. Bubbles rose above them as they exhaled air from their SCUBA tanks.
“Fine,” Fred said, looking at the clock on the wall he continued. “We have fifteen minutes, let’s put on our tanks.”
I smiled, “We have hour twelve, right?”
“Yep, fifteen more to go to break the record and become famous.”
This whole thing started in September at the beginning of my Junior year when I became the president of the scuba club. I vividly remember watching Mike Nelson’s Sea Hunt adventures as a child, and had wanted to dive since I was six years old. I got certified in high school, fell in love with diving, and joined the Scuba club my freshman year of college.
We used the swimming pool in the school’s athletic center. Club members would rent their gear when we had practice dives in the pool or went on field trips. We were planning an open dive at a nearby quarry in a week and were going over the final plans. At the close of the meeting, I made an announcement.
Holding up a copy of the Gunnies Book of World Records, I said. “The world record for playing underwater chess is twenty-seven hours.” I paused for effect. “I think we should attempt to break that record.”
Jill looked at me like I was nuts. “How the heck can we do that, twenty-seven hours?”
I turned to the page that described the record. “It doesn’t have to be the same two people as long as it’s continuous.”
Sam began to understand where I was going. “So we could rotate two people for an hour at a time.”
“Yep, there are twenty of us. We would break the record in just over two days.”
There was excitement but also many questions. Would the school let us do this? SCUBA tanks had to be filled with compressed air, and the cost would be hundreds of dollars, how would we pay this expense? How would we coordinate the schedule of divers? The rules said the diving could comprise multiple divers, but there could be no gap in the chess playing, this had to be carefully coordinated.
“Look,” I said, “These are all good questions, give me time to look into all of this stuff.”
Sam’s eyes shined as he said. “Look, I’m all in for this, but I want our record to stick for a while. I want to break the record by at least ten extra hours.”
I always liked how Sam thought. “Great idea, Sam, let’s plan for that.” I turned to the group. “Okay, I’ll look into all of this, and I’ll report what I find at the next meeting.”
There was high energy as everyone left the pool. Walking back to my dorm room, I wondered how the heck I was going to figure out all of these details. I decided to talk to Professor Daub, my marketing professor. We hit it off because of the painting business I started. I made an appointment to talk to him.
I approached Professor Daub’s door, which was slightly ajar, and cautiously made my way inside. He looked up from his desk and smiled. “Mr. Ocamb, what can I do for you today?”
I opened the Gunnies Book of World Records and turned to the page about underwater chess. “The Scuba Club can beat this record.”
He couldn’t help but grin after reading the article before asking, “What can I do to help?”
I went into detail about the different challenges I was facing. Would the college even allow it, and how would we cover the cost of the air?
His eyes widened, and a big grin spread across his face, his excitement apparent. “This is a great idea, Scott. I know the Dean very well, I’ll talk to him… but, the college definitely won’t foot the bill for over $200—”
He sat there, lost in thought, looking into the distance. I watched the idea forming in his mind, like a lightbulb slowly turning on.
“I know a few people at some local businesses that may fund you. I also know some people in the media, I’ll call them too.”
My hopes went from no way this would happen to believing I could actually pull this off.
“We can do this Scott,” Professor Daub said. “Let me make those calls, and I’ll get back to you.”
It seemed like forever, but Professor Daub got back to me two days later. He talked to the Dean about the idea, and he was enthusiastic about it. He wanted to schedule the record-breaking dive over the Spring Weekend at the college.
Professor Daub also knew the head of marketing at Pennsupreme, a dairy company that sold milk and ice cream in the area. Finally, he said he contacted the Lancaster Chronicle newspaper. The newspaper would be present when we broke the record. I thanked him and walked out of his office, both excited and scared because now we had to actually do this.
I met with Sam before we had a meeting with the entire club. He was very excited. “So we’re really going to do this?”
“Yep, we are.”
His brow furrowed. “We have to plan this right, we’re going to have two people underwater around the clock for over two days.”
“Yes, we are,” I said. “That’s why we’re meeting now to plan this out.”
“Well, we can use our local dive shop. I am sure they will love the publicity, especially since they will get over two hundred bucks out of it. I’ll call them and plan it out.”
“I talked to the pool guy.” I said. “The normal water temperature is 75 degrees, but that is too cold without a wet suit if we just stand there playing chess. He agreed to crank up the heat to 82.”
“Great idea, Scott.” He had a broad smile and held up a box.
“What’s that?
His pride was apparent, “It’s an underwater speaker, tunes will help us pass the time.”
I loved the speaker idea, “Well, we’re all set. I’ll set up a meeting with everyone, and we can plan out the details.”
There were twenty-two of us in a classroom as I briefed everyone on the plan. We gathered around the blackboard, the sound of chalk scratching against it as we brainstormed over the schedule. To ensure fairness, we made sure that all members took turns diving in the middle of the night.
It was no accident that I planned to be part of the dive that broke the record. Since this was my idea, no one objected. I chose Gail to be my diving partner for the critical record-breaking dive. I had notified the media to be present at 2 p.m. when we would break the record.
It was the day everyone had been waiting for, the day when the record would be broken. There was a Pennsupreme banner hanging on a wall. Free ice cream was available to all. The newspaper was present as Gail and I put on our tanks.
I sat down at the edge of the pool and let my feet dangle in the water. I spit in my mask and rinsed it out in the pool. Gail was next to me and I smiled, “Ready?”
“Let’s do this!” she said.
I put on my mask, placed the regulator in my mouth, and lowered myself into the pool. Diving made me feel like I was transported to a completely different world. As I looked across the pool, the clear blue water seemed to magnify everything around it. There was a hiss as I inhaled air and a gurgle of bubbles when I exhaled. Paradise by the Dashboard Lights echoed through the pool.
I felt weightless as I slowly swam to the bottom of the pool. This weightless feeling was common, in fact, NASA practices spacewalks in a deep pool where the astronauts wear replicas of their space suits.
Gail and I arrived at the table, the two divers looked up, gave us a thumbs-up, and swam back to the surface. Gail and I stood next to the table and began our record-breaking game. We didn’t really play competitive chess, we moved the pieces around as the bubbles rose around us. Despite the water being eighty-two degrees, I shivered after about twenty minutes. An underwater clock allowed us to keep track of our time. After our hour ended, we switched places with the next set of divers and swam to the surface.
Gail and I broke the surface and swam to the edge of the pool. We climbed out and Fred helped us remove our tanks. He was all smiles. "Congratulations, you two, you did it!”
“We all did it,” I corrected him.
A reporter from the Chronicle walked over and took a picture of Gail and me, and asked us how we felt. I expressed how this was a team effort and I was excited we broke the record. I told him I loved to SCUBA dive and this was a perfect thing to add to my diving experience.
The next day, Gail and I were in the Chronicle. I carefully cut out our picture and set it aside for safekeeping.
We had about three months of fame until our record was broken by another team of divers. It wasn’t really that hard, so in hindsight, it was not that surprising. Still, it is a very fond memory of mine that I am happy to have been part of.
How did you like Chess? Leave me a comment and let me know.
What a neat story, Scott. I really enjoyed it!
This was great! A fantastic experience and well told. Thanks for sharing, Scott. 🌊🌊🌊