Will attempt to stay underwater for week
October 1979
This week-end a young Wexford girl will attempt, along with two other people, to break the world record for staying underrwater. All proceeds from the attempt will be donated to St. Mary’s Hopsital at Baldoyle, Co. Dublin, for the physically handicapped.
Mary Power, of 23 Whiterock View, Wexford, is one of three members of the Dolphin Sub Aqua Club in Dublin who will be trying to stay underwater for 160 hours and beat the record currently held by a group of Americans.
The record attempt will be made in the swimming pool of St Mary’s Hospital. The two other people involved are Michael Moore and Stephen Tisdall, both from Dublin.
It has taken the group several months to prepare for the attempt on the record, and Mary and her two companions have been undergoing a very strict training course.
One of the biggest problems they will encounter while staying under water for a week will be boredom. To counteract this, they have been undergoing an initiation course on Yoga techniques, which they hope will keep them occupied for some of the time.
Other activities they will be taking part during the 160 hours will include chess and reading. They will have the use of a specially weighted chess set which can be used underwater, and they will also have books which have been waterproofed.
One of the main worries will be the effect the water has on them. Prolonged bodily contact with water has extremely adverse affects on the skin. To protect them against these problems, they will be wearing two diving suits. The first will be an undersuit like those worn by commercial divers in the North Sea, and the second will be a heavy duty nylon dry suit. When both suits are fitted, the only part of the diver to be exposed will be the face.
They will wear full-face face masks to combat the usual problem of chapped and swollen lips. Compressed air will be delivered to the mask via a tube.
If the attempt to break the world record is successful, then the three divers will emerge from the pool on Sunday week next, each having staked a claim for a top role in the next series of ‘The Man from Atlantis’.