A Record in 24 Hours For 25 Dollars
Posted By Deron Verbeck on 19 June 2006
And now that the evac boat had been taken care of it was just a matter of getting an O2 bottle. I had an idea where to get one, but didn’t know if I'ld be able to rent it. I called Jack’s Diving Locker. The girl that answered the phone told me I'd need a scuba cert card and $25 - both of which I had, so it was off to get the O2 bottle. I made frantic calls to the judges telling them that the attempt was a go and that I'ld be at the bay at 8:00am the next morning. The attempt was on!
I lined up the EMT, deep safety diver, a fast boat, bottom and surface video and an O2 bottle confirmed all within about six hours and the only out of pocket expense was the $25 for the O2.
At 5:30am on Monday May 1 2006 I awoke from a peaceful sleep. I felt good and confident that the dive would go well. I had my usual two tiger’s milk bars and water for breakfast and started packing my gear.
Mouna, Will and I arrived at the bay around 8:15am. Glennon and Charles were already there waiting for us. Soon Rob arrived, and then the judges, Matt and Jade. We were all ready for the day.
The only thing that was not right was the weather conditions. The wind was blowing out of the northwest at about thirty knots causing the entire bay to have about a three foot chop with whitecaps. I was a bit nervous at that point because I tend to get seasick in big chop.
Will and Mouna gathered up the counterbalance and the other gear and headed out into the bay. I stayed on shore, going through my stretching routine and preparing mentally for the dive.
At 10:00am Brett and boat showed up. I was still on shore and he was half an hour early. I wasn’t even in my wet suit yet and I was looking at a 20 minute swim out to the line in bad sea conditions. I got Brett on the phone and asked him how long he would be in the bay: he said until 11:15, so I still had time. I scrambled into my suit and started out to the line.When I got there they were still setting up, so I just went right into my warmups.
Things could not have worked out any better if it had been rehearsed a thousand times. With everything and everybody in place and four minutes until my official start, Brett pulled up next to us in his boat and waited for me to dive. At the official start time I took my final breath and started down. Glennon had already descended to 25 feet and was waiting to follow me down to the bottom, filming the entire way. My descent was very comfortable and easy and I reached the bottom plate with no trouble. I pulled the tag off, clipped it on my belt and headed for the surface. The way back up went without a flaw and I made the surface feeling great. I went through the surfacing protocol of removing my mask, giving an OK signal with my hand and saying “I am OK” all within the allotted fifteen seconds. I then followed that with “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and gosh darn it people like me” - a quote I borrowed from good friend and U.S. National record holder Kevin Busscher.
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