A DIVER has set a new world record for the length of time spent sitting in a barrel at the top of a pole.

Vernon Kruger is currently 80 feet (24 meters) in the air in a barrel where he has been for about two months, breaking his own record, which he set in 1997.

He told Sky News: “I’ve forgotten why I am up here. I had some good reasons, but I’ve forgotten them since I have been here.

“I have broken my own record now — 22 years ago I broke it, it was a British record, of 54 days. I took it to 67 [days] and this time I’m going to try to push it to about 80.”

He said it was “not too lonely” adding that: “This time we have social media so I feel more connected.

“I talk to people below and so it’s not so isolated.”

He says he does exercises every morning with a trainer below on the ground.

From his barrel in Dullstroom, South Africa, he said: “I can just curl up in a foetal position so I do wake up with aches and pains.”

He added: “It’s amazing how the body adapts. The first week was the worst but after that I got into a routine.

“I actually sleep these days. Not like I would in a bed but I do get a few hours of sleep at night.

“The barrel is small but one of the requirements is that it has to be a certain size so I am limited in the space.”

Answering the question on everyone’s mind about how he manages bodily functions, he said: “Everything comes up by bucket and I have ground crew below. Restaurants are providing me with food so I have different food.

“It all comes up by bucket and down again, my bedding too.”

He said it is quite high and he had to go up by helicopter and will probably go back down the same way.

Asked what advice he would pass on to anyone thinking of taking on his record, he said: “I think people must be mentally prepared. Previous time I was much younger and it was more of a physical problem but this time it’s more of a mental challenge.

“Once you are up you can’t go down and you are not allowed visitors.”

He admitted earlier in the challenge that it was an anticlimax this time around, with his wife and children staying at home on the other side of South Africa.

The Times reported he said his wife was “not very supportive” this time.

Organizer Fiona Jones told the Guardian: “Vernon is not coming down when he breaks his record. He’s going to stay a little longer.

“We’re concerned. Because we’ve got to get him down.”

(SD-Agencies)