Suneet Jain, of Roslyn, had never gone scuba diving in the ocean before an afternoon last December, when he and 181 others tried a practice attempt at the Guinness world record for the longest human chain formed underwater.
“It went pretty badly,” he said. “We spent an hour in the water. Some nonswimmers were a little panicky, and it was hard to get all of the people arranged in a straight line.”
The actual attempt to break the record would take place the following day.
Jain’s path to getting involved with the world record attempt began years and miles earlier in his hometown of Mumbai, India, where in 2009 his aunt connected him with the Chrysalis Entrepreneur Forum, a business consulting and networking organization.
“I was one of those teens who didn’t want to get involved. I put up resistance,” he said. “I’m glad she got me into it because since then anything and everything I’ve done with them has been great.”
After graduating from high school in Mumbai, he moved to Roslyn and began attending Farmingdale State College.
“I was studying business but wasn’t enjoying it as much,” he said. “I got into physics and math and how machines worked — that’s what fascinated me.”
He switched his academic focus to mechanical engineering, but kept in contact with the entrepreneurship group in India.
Last summer, after graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, Jain was brainstorming with fellow members of the Chrysalis Entrepreneur Forum about something remarkable the group could do.
“We came up with the scuba idea,” he said.
For the next six months, the members worked out the logistics.
“It was a big ordeal getting gear for divers and getting a location that could accommodate that many people,” he said.
They settled on Koh Tao, an island off the coast of southern Thailand.
Last December, the divers met in Koh Tao and conducted the failed practice run at the Guinness world record for the largest underwater human chain.
The following day, they tried again.
“They kept us waiting in the water for the longest time,” he said. “We had people coordinating with everybody at the beach and a Guinness representative there.”
After over an hour spent underwater, Jain and the other divers found out their record- breaking effort had been certified a success.
“It was amazing,” he said. “After all that time and planning we put into it.”
“It really went to show if you put focus and effort into something you can really go ahead and do it,” he added. “That’s the best thing we got from it.”
Jain is back in Roslyn, where he works as a mechanical engineer and an advanced mathematics instructor.
He said he and his friends have been discussing records they can break on the North Shore, but he was mum about the details.
“I’m going to keep it under wraps for now,” he said.
