Archive for the ‘Free Diving’ Category

It is extraordinary how the sport of Free Diving has evolved…

Not so long ago it was considered a feat of all feats to dive to 30m without the aid of suplemented air. Now, well… now, you just have to look at free divers like William Trubridge to see how far this extreme sport has come.

At 11:50am on the 19th April, 2010 in Dean’s Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas New Zealander William Trubridge became the first man to pass the barrier of 300 feet (92 meters) freediving completely unassisted – a discipline called “constant weight no fins.”  The dive time was 3:45. Constant Weight No Fins is the purest measure of human aquatic potential, and athletically the most demanding of the freediving disciplines.

He completed this extraodinary achievement with another dive, this time  with fin and constant weight, and achieved another incredible dive – 116 m in 4 minutes and 9 seconds, but Herbert Nitsch set the record in this discipline with a staggering 124 m in 4 minutes and 10 seconds.

William Trubridge learnt to swim at the age of 18 months, and was freediving to 15m by the age of 8, however he did not begin serious training for the sport until 2003. In 2004 he became the first non-Italian instructor at Umberto Pelizzari’s prestigious Apnea Academy.

Dean’s Blue Hole is the deepest blue hole in the world, at 202 meters (663 feet). You can find it in a bay west of Clarence Town on Long Island, Bahamas.

That’s the more extreme side of freediving and it is amazing how it continues to break all its own records as the divers, a mere handful at competiton standard, push themselves to the very limit of their abilities.

However, freediving is not only a sport for these supreme athletes. It is fast becoming the thing to do if you are in search of the purity of eco-bonding. The intensity of freediving fulfills all your subliminal wishes. It’s got something to do with the feeling of freedom and weightlessness…

Of course Free Diving is not a new sport… Archaeologists say that  records show that people have been earning their living from freediving since the 5th century BCE. The first nation which was famous for it was the Haenyeo in Korea. They collected shells and sponges to sell to others. The Ama Divers from Japan began to collect pearls 2000 years ago. Spear fishering around the Mediterranean Sea was also important in the historical background of free diving or apnea.

The art to freediving is to remain relaxed. Hard, you might think, as your push your way to the bottom some 50 feet down, but not impossible if you have had the right training. And then… when you’re there… well, then, you will find that the rigouress training was well worth it as you move along the bottom  effortlessly and free, watching the antics of cavorting fish among the bright hues of sponges, anenomies, and complex coral colonies.

You don’t even have the rasp and roar of oxygen in your ears as you marvel at the beauty of this silent underwater world.

You will find that you can glide along at close to twice the speed you could have traveled with scuba gear on, but with virtually no exertion. Your fins will be longer, nearly twice as long as those for scuba or you can use a monofin. Either will give you huge thrust with very little muscular contraction. You will be like a ghost moving through the water. Silent and efficient.

Sara Campbell

Of course you can’t stay down there for long. We are, after all, not meant to be able to emulate fish.

As your breath wears out you kick back to the surface with slow relaxed movements and my goodness do you enjoy that first lungful of air. But the amazing thing is that your whole body ‘zings’ with exhilaration from the exercise. You feel rejuvenated, re-energised and ready for what the world will throw at you next.

You will not be able to achieve any of this without proper training. We are not designed to survive underwater, we do not have gills (no!!!)  and so it goes without saying that there are many hidden dangers to freediving. BUT with proper training, well then, the world’s your oyster….

Oh dear, that was a terrible pun.

It is worth repeating that if you train properly and never dive alone (a cardinal rule in free diving) it is an underwater sport that is less dangerous than scuba diving.

On 22nd April, William Trubridge dived to 92 m breaking the CNF (constant weight no fins) world record, and yesterday (26th) he smashed his own record, reaching an astounding 95 m (311 ft) in 4 mins 7 secs.

He performed a flawless dive ascending to the surface in complete control, looking up for a moment and rotating around the line so as to exit away from the boom.  With a clearly coherent surface protocol, it was just a matter of waiting out the 30 seconds before white cards were shown and the crew erupted, splashing water around him and congratulating him for his second no fins world record in Vertical Blue 2010.

Ryuzo Shinomiya from Japan completed a 108 meter CWT freedive in full control, for a new Japanese national record in constant weight.

Alfredo Romo, a man who only learnt how to use fluid goggles two weeks ago is now the king of depth in Mexico – 3 national records in all 3 disciplines.

Sadly Herbert Nitsch turned at 74 m and pulled up the line, and will leave this Vertical Blue without completing a dive in the CNF discipline, meaning he cannot now win the Suunto Dive-Off.

It looks like that title is going fair and square to William Trubridge.

Our heartiest CONGRATULATIONS…

There are still 2 more days to go and the competition is becoming intense as WilliamTrubridge and Herbert Nitsch battle it out to become the world’s  best freediver in the Suunto Dive-Off competition.

We reported the other day on William Trubridge’s record breaking 92 m dive CNF ( constant weight, no fins) and we have now been sent the video. Please follow this link to underwater videos. It is worth watching.

In the meantime, records continue to be broken.

On 22nd April, both William Trubridge and Herbert Nitsch made new personal bests in FIM (free immersion) and CWT (constant weight) respectively, setting new records at the same time.

Trubridge, 29, dived to 116 m below the surface and, despite taking a few extra seconds to pull the Velcro tag from the plate, “it was hard to get the tag from the bottom as I struggled with some narcosis,” he said. “But it’s great to have the free immersion record again,” he completed the dive in 4 min 9 sec. The depth was verified by a Suunto D4 dive computer. This is Trubridge’s tenth world record and his first in FIM since 2008. 

In FIM, divers must retrieve a Velcro tag from a metal plate, which is lowered by rope to the announced depth. They are not permitted propulsion equipment such as fins but can use the rope to pull themselves down.

Nitsch reached an incredible 124 m with a CWT dive (constant weight) to set the 30th world record of his career and the deepest self-powered dive of all time. In CWT, athletes must also retrieve a Velcro tag from the plate, but cannot use the rope during the dive. They are, however, allowed fins to assist them. He took 2 min 13 sec to reach the bottom, and looked strong during his ascent. With 35m remaining, his legs appeared to tire and he resorted to alternate arm and leg strokes to successfully complete the dive in 4 min 10 sec.

A graphic description always helps I think, so again, using a tall building as your guide,  Trubridge dived the equivalent of nearly 39 floors and Nitsch achieved an incredible 41 floors in depth (averaging 3 m per floor).

Extraordinary isn’t it?

Subsequent to those dives, yesterday, the 25th, Herbert Nitsch broke the brand new FIM record by achieving a dive of 120 m.

This puts the 40 year old Austrian ahead of the 29 year old New Zealander for the Suunto dive-off  competition held during the Vertical Blue competition to find the best all-round freediver. Divers score points based on the ratio of their dives in three freediving disciplines to current world records.

American Carla-Sue Hanson leads the women’s table. This is how the chart looks at the moment:

The last two days promise suspenseful diving as these two competitors go to the wire in an attempt to be crowned the best all-round freediver.

He’s done it. William Trubridge has done it. He has become the first person ever to pass the barrier of 300 feet (92 meters) freediving completely unassisted – a discipline called “constant weight no fins.”

Can you even visualise that? 92 meters… that’s about 30 floors. Go outside, find a skyscraper and count up to 30 – then you’ll be able to visualise how deeply he dived.

For the last three years Trubridge, a 29 year old New Zealander, has dominated the discipline of Constant Weight No Fins (CNF), setting 6 world records in taking it from 80 meters to 90.  For a year he held the Free Immersion (FIM) world record, and he has been steadily progressing in Constant Weight (CWT) also, last year becoming the 5th man to enter the 110 meter club.

And now he’s done it again…

Swimming a form of adapted breaststroke he descended next to a vertical line, collecting a tag from the bottom plate as proof of depth, before returning to the surface with only his hands and feet for propulsion. And he did that in 3 minutes and 45 seconds. This is the first dive ever on one breath without fins to that depth.

This amazing record was set at 11:50am yesterday in Dean’s Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas.

The dive took place during the Vertical Blue Suunto Dive-Off competition which I talked about on Friday. It runs from April 17-27 and sees the best freedivers in the world compete to extend the limits in this extreme sporting discipline.  Dean’s Blue Hole is the deepest blue hole in the world, at 203 meters (660 feet).

And Trubridge’s is not the only record to be made. Herbert Nitsch has set a new one for himself of 114m (CWT) – his 29th World Record, while Ryuzo Shinomiya (Japan) reached 101m ( FIM) – a new national record for him, and  newcomer Alfredo Roma Hernandez (Mexico) performed an impressive constant weight dive to 60 meters with the monofin, another  new national record.

In the meantime the Suunto Dive-Off competition continues and the current point system is as follows:

In each of the three disciplines, (CNF, FIM and CWT) an athlete can earn up to 100 points, depending on the ratio of their best performance compared to the best dive in the event.  This way each discipline has the same weighting, and the freediver with the best aggregate (out of a possible total of 300) wins the Suunto Dive-off and is crowned the best all-round freediver of the year.

• CNF:  constant weight no fins – cannot use fins or a propulsion aid of any kind.
• FIM:  free immersion – the diver uses the rope to pull themselves down and up.
• CWT:  constant weight – and the assistance of fins or a monofin.

10 years ago even the most imaginative freediver, let alone the couch potato, would have set the supposed human limit far shallower than the depths currently being reached.  Will the same be said ten years from now?  One indication that freediving might be due for a plateauing effect of world record depths, at least in CWT, is that the Variable Weight Record has remained mostly unchanged in the last ten years.  It is also possible that these experienced freedivers might be approaching depths where head-down equalisation difficulties, extreme narcosis and risk of decompression sickness will prove insurmountable hurdles…

And a quick clarification on the name ‘Suunto’ in case you have been wondering what it means: Suunto, Finland, is a leading designer and manufacturer of sports instruments for diving, mountaineering, training, hiking, skiing, sailing and golf, and sponsor for the Vertical Blue competition.

All photographs were taken by DeeDee Flores. If you would like to see more of her wonderful work please go directly to the Official website: http://www.verticalblue.net/news

It has been a long time since we wrote anything about freediving – surely one of the most extreme of the extreme sports – not necessarily because the participants push themselves to dangerously deep underwater levels, but because they are in an environment that is totally alien to mankind – especially without breathing apparatus.

We covered, fairly extensively, the Vertical Blue 2009 competition last year, and this year will certainly be keeping our eye on it again.

Vertical Blue, the globe’s premier freediving invitational competition which begins on April 17, 2010 at the 203m deep Dean’s Blue Hole, Bahamas, is set to determine the world’s best all-round freediver with something called the Suunto Dive-Off. This is the first time this will have been done and will be a definitive contest to confirm who is the best all-round freediver in the world – at the present moment.

It means that 15 of the best freedivers from nine nations will attempt to reach new depths in three different disciplines. The athletes can earn up to 100 points in each discipline, depending on the ratio of their best performance compared to the best dive in the event.

Sound complicated? This is how it works:

In each of the three disciplines, (CNF, FIM and CWT) an athlete can earn up to 100 points, depending on the ratio of their best performance compared to the best dive in the event. So if Jack registers the deepest FIM dive, with 110m, then he receives 100 points, whereas Joe’s dive to 90m earns him 90/110 x 100 = 81.8 points. This way each discipline has the same weighting, and the freediver with the best aggregate (out of a possible total of 300) wins the Suunto Dive-off and is crowned the best all-round freediver of the year.

The athlete with the most points at the end of the competition is crowned Suunto Dive-Off champion.

So who are these paragons?

Eric Fattah  (CAN)
Carla-Sue Hanson (USA)
Misuzu Hirai   (JPN)
Robert King   (USA)
Dave Mullins   (NZL)
Guillaume Nery   (FRA)
Herbert Nitsch   (AUT)
Niki Roderick   (NZL)
Alfredo Romo   (MEX)
Jared Schmelzer   (USA)
Carolina Schrappe  (BRA)
Ryuzo Shinomiya   (JPN)
Walter Steyn  (AUS)
William Trubridge  (NZL)
William Winram  (CAN)

Unfortunately Martin Stepanek from the Czech Republic has pulled out of  VB2010, so between the remaining 15 there are a total of 58 world or national records and almost all of them are national champions in one or more disciplines. It’s going to be better than the clash of the titans!

William Trubridge (29), is the current record holder in the unassisted constant weight, no fins (CNF) category with a depth of 90m. He is also the host of Vertical Blue 2010, and warden of Dean’s Blue Hole.

Herbert Nitsch (AUT), often described as “the greatest freediver ever”, is the reigning world champion and record holder in the constant weight (CWT) category. The 40-year-old descended to 123m at the Freediving World Championships in December 2009, also held at Dean’s Blue Hole, and has throughout his career achieved an incredible 28 world records.

In the history of freediving only four men have EVER broken records in competition.  They are Herbert Nitsch, Martin Stepanek, Carlos Coste and William Trubridge.

It has been William Winram’s goal to join the elite club of 4 for many years, as he chases the continually receding CNF record.  He is still deciding exactly which wetsuit to use for VB 2010, and says “I am working on relaxing and not thinking about the depth.” Meanwhile Ryuzo Shinomiya has been hammering out 95-100m CWT dives, and today was seen cruising up from a 100m Free Immersion dive that lasted almost four minutes.  Guillaume Nery dives too early in the morning for anyone to witness what he is up to, and Dave Mullins has the ultimate tactic in secrecy – he is training 15,000 km away in Lake Taupo, New Zealand (where rumour has it he is reaching 100m in icy water and at slight altitude) and arriving in the Bahamas the day before the competition.

The water in Dean’s Blue Hole remains at 24ºC, but the allegorical waters of rivalry are already starting to simmer…

How to follow VB 2010

☞ http://www.facebook.com/verticalblue

☞ http://twitter.com/onebreathdive

We will also bring updates to this site.

Good luck everyone.

First off, and before we even tell you what’s going on in Denmark, we must first congratulate Stefan Mifsud for his outstanding static  record breaking achievement on 8th June, 2009. 11 minutes and 35 seconds under-water. He must have gills instead of lungs!

	11 minuts and 35 seconds That is the New World Record in Static Stéphan MIFSUD, France  Hyeres, 8th June

Just imagine sitting stationary underwater for 11 minutes and 35 seconds. Quite incredible… Tom Sietas of Germany held the previous record of 10 mins. 12 secs. – in itself incredible.

Back to Denmark…

The Danish Sport Diving Federation – in collaboration with Sport Event Denmark and Sport Århus Events – are hosting the Free Diving Indoor World Championships in Denmark.

Århus hosts one of the world’s best freediving clubs, The Århus Freediving Club, and is the home city of one of the world’s best freedivers, Stig Åvall Severinsen, so it is an obvious place for the event.

The championship began on the 17^th August and ends on the 22^nd in the Århus Svømme (Swim) Stadium and the divers will compete in the individual World Championships in the following pool disciplines:

• Dynamic with fins (DYN, swim as long as possible with fins, under water, in one breath)
• Dynamic without fins (DNF, swim as long as possible without fins, under water, in one breath)
• Static (STA, keep your breath as long as possible under water)

This is where the action is taking place, with thanks to  strandridder80
for the video. It is quite mesmerising. We will keep you updated with this competition…