This paper utilizes psychoanalytic theory to examine risk and injury in the case of a male deep sea diver. It examines the unconscious conflicts which appeared to fuel the diver's involvement in deep diving and to lead to a near fatal incident of decompression sickness. Particular attention is paid to the role of the diver's father in the evolution of the preoedipal and oedipal fantasies and conflicts which appear to be linked to the injury. The research is based on interviews with and fieldwork among recreational and deep divers.