Greg Riddell and Gary Cobb both spent 7 hours, 40 minutes and 14 seconds submerged, while ekeing out their individual 12 litre cylinders filled with 200 bar of air. They beat the previous record by over 15 minutes.
A low breathing rate and a high boredom tolerance helped Greg Riddell 55 of Sunreef Scuba Diving Services and Gary Cobb 53 of Cobb Creative Advertising & Design to achieve their goals.

The record dive took place on September 13 2003 at Sunshine Plaza, Maroochydore - 1 hour north of Brisbane, Australia. The two men were submerged in a tiny 2 metre by 2 metre tank, at a depth of 2 metres and were watched throughout by interested onlookers at the plaza. The team believe that they are eligible for two Guinness records: the longest scuba submergence on a 12 litre tank, and the longest scuba submergence in a controlled environment.

The team adopted the slogan 'One tank of air, 8 hours to go. Nowhere to run.'

The men had calculated that they needed to achieve a breathing rate of 26.6 bar or less per hour in order to outlast the previous record of 7 hours, 25 minutes. During practice runs they managed to achieve 26 bar per hour and knew that the record was within their grasp - if they could tolerate almost 8 hours submerged in a tank.

The biggest problem encountered by the divers appears to have been cold - Gary had chosen to wear a semi-dry suit and found the going quite chilly. The next biggest problem was the attention of onlookers, who frequently tapped on the tank's glass in an attempt to 'wake the divers up'.

David Blaine should be so lucky!


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