His eyes are shut. The true feat is the tremendous exertion required to return to the surface. With his arms extended above him in a hydrodynamic Superman pose, Ravelo must kick against gravity the equivalent of nineteen stories back to air. Instead they will pass his unconscious body back to the surface like a baton. Momentarily lapsing from his trance, Ravelo signals to his manager, Rudi Castineyra, among the scuba divers.
Air hisses out of their buoyancy vests as the divers sink like paratroopers into the clouds.
Ravelo's black form remains alone under the gray sky as he prepares his underwater pas seul. When Ravelo tried to regain his title in 1993, Cuban security officials refused him a boat, fearing that he would sail for America. Their refusal drove him to flee to Miami. His twenty minutes of breathing techniques complete, a tingling in his fingertips tells him that his body is fully oxygenated. He blows off carbon dioxide with four hard exhales and gasps once.