Guinness World Record: This man lived in a steel capsule under water for 120 days

For months, Rüdiger Koch spent in a capsule under water off the Panama coast. He tells of wine, whiskey and monsters. He also has an appeal to the global community.

He was finally allowed to appear: the German space engineer Rüdiger Koch broke the Guinness World Record under water for most days. For 120 days he lived in an almost 30 square meter steel capsule, eleven meters deep off the coast of Panama.

“It’s like awakening from a dream,” said Koch at the ceremony. Koch spoke of a “big adventure” and said that he had really enjoyed his time under water. The view from the capsule’s bull eyes is beautiful, “when everything calms down and it becomes dark and the sea shines,” said Koch. “It is impossible to describe, you have to experience it yourself.” To celebrate the day, Koch drank a glass of champagne and smoked a cigar before jumping into the Caribbean Sea for his first bath for 120 days.

The German has set up a world record for the longest without pressure compensation under water. The 59-year-old appeared on Friday under the eyes of the referee of the Guinness Book of Records, Susana Reyes, from his 30-square meter home in the sea. Reyes confirmed that Koch broke the previous record of the US citizen Joseph Dituri of 100 days under water.

Everyday life under water: “must not have claustrophobia here”

Everyday life under water was anything but easy for the native of Karlsruhe at 28 degrees in the narrow, non -air -conditioned capsule. “You shouldn’t have a claustrophobia here,” says the engineer, who only worked with washcloths and worked “as in the home office”. Despite the heat, close and everyday challenges, the 59-year-old accepted any difficulty for the world record. His secret? “Projects, good wine and good whiskey”.

Koch watched the sea through the bull eye windows, including the “Gustavo” he has become a friend-a 50-kilo Cubera Schnapper; He even held the fish in a drawing on the wall. Did the night become scary under water? “I had monsters under the bed,” he jokes.

The larger goal: protection of the oceans

However, some sea creatures indeed worrying the engineer, such as the invasive red fire fish. “These fish with poisonous spines” and without local hunters “are a huge problem in the whole Caribbean,” he says. To celebrate its return on the mainland, the fish should therefore come onto the plate. “Hopefully people get a taste.”

Koch also pursues a bigger goal with the record. «The sea is used as a logistics center, battlefield and dump. If we see it as a home, his condition would not be acceptable. » His mission: raise awareness of marine protection, consider the sea as a habitat. And until it dipped again, it shouldn’t take long. «I come back here after the celebration. I won’t stay away for long, »he says.