Man beats underwater record

An American man beat his own record for staying underwater with scuba gear after five days in a lake – complete with recliner, a checkerboard, music and good friends to keep him company.

Then Jerry Hall cheerfully signed a pledge to his wife never to do it again.

“I had the easy job,” Hall said. “It was my dive team that did all the work. I kept them hopping all the time, and they never once complained. Whatever I wanted or needed, they were there for me.”

Hall, 39, of Bluff City, Tennessee, already is in the current edition of the Guinness World Book of Records for staying underwater with scuba gear for 71 hours, 39 minutes and 40 seconds.

He surpassed that at 9:56 a.m. Wednesday and didn’t leave eastern Tennessee’s Watauga Lake until Friday morning with a record time of 120 hours, 1 minute and 25 seconds.

“That knot in the pit of my stomach is gone and I’m glad he’s all right,” said his wife, Vicky Hall.