Well....Summer's half over and I hadn't worked on many things this season, so I decided to put together a stunt that would really challenge me. I had it in mind to do a straitjacket escape, but I've done them from buildings, I've done them hanging from cranes, and in crates, and every other way you could possibly think of...then I came up with a great one. I decided I would put myself to the test and do a straitjacket escape underwater! Talk about a challenge! As if the jacket isn't confining enough....try getting it wet! Ever swim with a shirt on? Know how the shirt sticks to your body like an extra layer of skin? Yeah...well...a canvas straitjacket does it, too....It makes it even more confining! Not to mention that I have to hold my breath while trying to escape...so exhaling to reduce the size of the chest is pretty much out of the question. Next challenge is vision...Vision is greatly impaired under water...virtually impossible to see what I'm doing...I have to go on feeling my way out.
After all that...I decided I still wanted to do it! My team and I set it up with the city's community pool, sent out press releases to all the newspapers and television stations. I performed this about 4 hours ago. I have a research team working on the task of finding out if there's currently a record for this stunt....My research team never did find any information that said this feat had been successfully performed in the United States.
Unfortunately, I had to attempt it twice. I was performing this in a diving pool, 10 feet deep with a diving board. I stood on the edge of the diving board, with over 250 people looking on, not to mention reporters, and news crews. I stepped off the diving board, and when I hit the water, an airpocket got in the jacket and I couldn't get more than 18 inches below the surface. Talk about ticked off!
I surface....work my way out of the jacket, swim to the edge of the pool, and announce I'm going to do it again. One of the news crew asks me, "You don't consider that a success?" I looked at him and said, "He** no!" I had my crew put the jacket back on me. The jacket is now soaked and weighs about an extra 5 to 7 pounds. I get back on the diving board, take some deep breaths and step off again. This time I successfully escape the jacket under 7 feet of water. AND......I did it in 29.1 seconds!!
Got it all on video, too. Plus, I'm getting a copy of the news footage from the TV stations. I'll put together the video and post it soon.

Just thought I'd share about my day.

Michal

What kind of strait jacket?

I used a custom made jacket made from heavy duty canvas and nylon straps. The heavy canvas provided excellent weight, not to mention when it's wet, it's really heavy. Instead of leather straps with buckles (which swell when wet), I went with heavy duty, stainless steel locking clasps and rings. These are ideal, and I like them better than the leather straps because the claps can't be stretched and worked loose like the leather straps can. These added a little weight, but not enough to be considerable. The jacket has six straps in the back and a crotch strap underneath. I'll get some photos uploaded tonight or tomorrow...maybe a video clip of it, too.

This was originally a double post. Sorry

did you seriously do that? where are any news articles? i will have a hard time believeing it until I see any videos

Yeah...I've got it on video, but right now it's raw....I'm editing out the garbage and camera swings, and making it look much nicer. I also have the news story on video as well. Tomorrow morning, I have to go to the television station and buy a copy of the camera footage the news team got. I'll add their footage, to my own, along with the interviews and make the video really nice.

29.1 seconds thats pretty good

Shirts only stick to your skin when you exit the water.

I can get a shirt off in a pool or lake in like, 2 seconds. straight jackets are not that hard underwater either...

but the viewers usually dont know this. Your an escape artist, so we know better. its still a great escape stunt.

Ezactly....the whole idea is to take something fairly simple and make it look dangerous and difficult.

Oh no question.

Everyone who hears about something like immediatly respond with: UNDER WATER STRAIGHT JACKET! ARE YOU INSANE!???"

Exactly....That was pretty much the response I got....Even from my own crew. After the stunt, one of my crew said, "It was painful just watching you step off the diving board all tied up...I couldn't EVER do that."

What added realism to the stunt is the fact that I had to attempt it twice. The anticipation was higher the second time around. Everyone wanted to see if I would be successful. The stunt came off beautifully. My MySpace page is being flooded with messages. My website is getting LOTS of traffic, and people (business and corporations) are calling and emailing booking shows and stunts. The way I see it, a good stunt every 3 or 4 months should keep me busy.

Pictures are up on my website. Click on the Forum button, and go the "Photos" category. You'll find some photos there. Video is coming soon. Some of the photos are large, so if you have dial-up, it may take a moment to load the pics.

My server is down at the moment so you may not be able to access them right away. My webmaster is working on the issue right now.

It was cool, some nice pics.

1 word, YOU ARE CRAZY :]