Sport: Skin Diver

Some 100 meters off the Isle of Capri one day last week, a stocky (5 ft. 6 in., 150 Ibs.) Italian Air Force lieutenant named Raimondo Bucher donned a man-from-Mars outfit: rubber frog feet, web-fingered gloves, heavy goggles, and a partial face mask with rubber-padded steel clips to block his nostrils. In his hands he carried a 44-lb. spear gun, weighted with an extra 4.4 Ibs. of lead. Bucher. poised on the rail of the small ship bobbing in the rough water, was aiming to become the first man ever to “skin-dive” (i.e., without the aid of artificial breathing apparatus) deeper than 115 ft.

Up with the Marker. Officials of the Federazione Italiana Pesca Sportiva (Italian Sport Fishing Federation) dropped a weighted measuring line 148 ft. down into the crystal-clear water. Bucher, now 40, and eager to win back the record he once held at 98 ft., failed on his first try; the pressure dislodged his mask. After a half-hour rest, he went over the side again, close to the measuring cable. Down he went, while photographers with special equipment recorded the descent. After a long minute and 17 seconds, while anxious officials scanned the choppy water, Bucher bobbed to the surface, beaming in triumph. Aloft he held a cork marker he had pulled from the cable at the new record mark of 128 ft.*

Bucher’s dive was not made solely as a stunt. It called attention to the efforts of a small group of fans in one of the world’s hardiest sports: underwater game fishing. Backed in part by Italy’s National Council of Scientific Research (and also by the Italian Olympic Committee), Bucher and a group of nine others are now planning the “first underwater big game hunt in history.”

Down with the Sharks. Armed with special spring guns, ranging from needle shooters (to catch small fish relatively unmarred) to blunderbuss types shooting two-pound spears, the group will set sail next month for the Southern Red Sea, where the clear waters abound in all types of tropical fish. The group expects to tackle man-eating sharks and giant octopuses (with curare-tipped spears).

In addition to the dangers from the bigger fish, the hunters always take the risk of ruptured eardrums when they plunge deep below the surface. Bucher & Co. have learned the trade secret to guard against this crippling rupture: exhaling against the steel clips blocking their nostrils, they apply pressure to the middle ear to equalize it with the outside water pressure. Although doctors doubt it can be done, Bucher plans to attempt 148 ft. after returning from the underwater big game hunt. Bucher has his own reply to the medical men: “Even 164 ft. is not beyond human possibility for a person who is in perfect physical condition and gifted in diving technique.”

South Sea pearl divers, aided by heavy weights and lines, have reportedly hit depths ranging from 115 to 130 ft.