A Couple Dozen Nutcases
Under the Sea

"I don't know what we'll find down there," says Susan Izdepski, copromoter of the world's first underwater marathon, to be held this month in the less-than-clear waters of New Orleans's Lake Pontchartrain. "Who knows, Hoffa might even be down there." Izdepski--whose husband, Bob, a commercial diver, is currently the de facto favorite in what promises to be a slim field--says that as of April only a handful of Navy SEALs, employees of the local aquarium, and "some crazy triathletes" have signed up for the race, a 36-hour slog in nine to 16 feet of water. But while this may sound like just another over-the-top endurance event, there is method to the Izdepski's madness: The event is an attempt to raise awareness for Sub Ocean Safety, a group dedicated to fighting "a worldwide epidemic of paralytic bends" caused by the un-educated use of compressed air technologies.