ORMOC, Philippines (17 May 2008) — The Shimakaze world record attempt by Rob LaLumiere and his support team has been canceled due to tropical storm Halong. Project supervisor Roscoe Thompson of Action Divers told CDNN that while "everyone involved was frustrated and disappointed, safety is always paramount in every dive — when in doubt, always cancel the dive". Originally scheduled for Friday, May 16, the dive was postponed 24 hours after problems getting the helium used by technical divers to the support vessel as the weather deteriorated. Thompson said the bad weather abated this morning and the team was optimistic about getting an anchor on the wreck this afternoon, which would have enabled the dive to go ahead on Sunday. But as the surface support vessel headed out to the wreck site in Ormoc Bay, the weather suddenly deteriorated as powerful wind gusts and heavy seas again prevented anchoring to the Shimakaze. Unable to anchor the support vessel to the wreck, the team returned to port and reluctantly postponed the dive indefinitely. "After so many months of planning and preparing for this dive, we all feel completely devastated," Thompson said. "But the reality is that no matter how much we want to do the dive, nature is boss. As divers, we revisit that truth every time we go diving." The primary objective of the dive was to honor the men who lost their lives when more than 350 American aircraft sank the Shimakaze during the Battle of Ormoc in November 1944. At a depth of 250m (820ft), the dive would also enable LaLumiere to better his previous record set in May 2006 of 193m (633ft). No decision has been made as to when the dive will be rescheduled. Shimakaze Powered by a monster high-temperature, high-pressure steam engine that generated approximately 80,000 shaft horsepower to each of her two screws, the Shimakaze was Japan's fastest WWII destroyer capable of reaching a speed of over 40 knots. | 
