Submarine man enters record books again
Lloyd Godson’s crazy. Or so we thought, when in 2005 the 27-year-old marine biologist submitted an idea to us to live in a modified steel skip 3 m under a lake for 12 days, surviving only via plant-based life support systems, as his bid to win our $50,000 challenge.
We thought it a sure-fire recipe for “sleeping with the fishes,” but Lloyd’s solid, science-based preparation and his infectious enthusiasm won us all over and we handed him the money. In 2007 the Biosub was sunk in The Pit near Albury-Wodonga on the NSW/Vic. border and the world watched with baited breath for 12 days while Lloyd sat it out in a 2.4 m x 3 m steel box.
Three years on and he’s at it again. This time Lloyd has set a new world record that’s earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records, by spending 14 days in a 4 square metre underwater box at Legoland in Günzburg, Germany. During the experiment more than 100,000 visiting schoolchildren were able to see Lloyd through the glass wall of his submarine home. Over 336 hours, he succeeded in generating 2502 watt-hours of electricity by riding a bicycle, covering the equivalent of 625 km.
At 12.03pm on the 13th April 2010, Lloyd swam up from the underwater house to greet the assembled media and to be presented with his new world record-holder certificate by Olaf Kuchenbecker, the editor-in-chief of the German Guinness World Records Book.
