BEACHCOMBER
TIME DIFFERENCE
Around Christmas time, DIVERnet recorded that a young Londoner called Toby had staked a claim as the youngest PADI Master Scuba Diver, getting certified in the Maldives the day after his 12th birthday.
While readers will no doubt join me in wishing young Toby well (perhaps with a pang of envy, if they could have done with a spot of shark-diving at Tiger Zoo in December) it’s worth mentioning that DIVER never knows quite how to treat these “youngest diver” stories.
Trouble is, time waits for no one. No sooner does Junior Diver A claim such a title than Junior Diver B pops up with the same certificate - by which time A has become B’s senior, even if only by hours, and A’s hard-won record is a thing of the past!
I mentioned this to PADI. Well aware of the issue, it told me that the agency didn’t keep track of such record-claims because that would create too much of a “competitive vibe”, detracting from the achievement itself.
I can certainly see that, though I’m not sure all proud mums and dads do. My contact at PADI told me how some British parents had recently been trying to help their son obtain an unbeatable youth record by manipulating global time differences.