Hong Kong depth record?

Strange article in the Standard yesterday about 2 divers who are hoping to set a Hong Kong depth record. Apparently “Jackie Wu Ming-chuen, formerly of the marine police, hopes to break the previous mark of 72 meters which he set with diving instructor Johny Lee Kak-keung, 44.”

This attempt is going to take place in Puerto Galera. The Standard’s article seems to imply that they are attempting to break the 100 metre mark, although it doesn’t state it explicitly. Their aim is to publicise deep  water diving in Hong Kong.

I’m not quite sure how this qualifies as a Hong Kong record as it is being conducted in the Philippines, but presumably it’s a record by a Hong Kong diver. And I’m not quite sure why 72 metres is regarded as the current record as I know several people who have dived to over 100m. The article author also mentions that it was in Puerto Galera that “world record holder John Bennett set the bar at 308m in 2001″. While that is true, that record has subsequently been broken and is now owned by either Nuno Gomes (318.25m), or by Pascal Benarbe (330m). Guiness World Records currently seems to recognise the Nuno Gomes dive as officially the deepest.

Anyway, complaints about the article aside, good luck to Jackie Wu Ming-chuen and Johny Lee Kak-keung. It would be nice to see Hong Kong diving getting some good publicity, after too many incidents this year.

Here’s the Standard article.