Posts Tagged ‘Deans Blue Hole’

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.

You may well remember that I did several articles on the Vertical Blue Invitational Freediving Competition in Dean’s Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas last month….

I thought I’d round the series off with this video from W.T. (williamtrubridge) of his unassisted record breaking Freedive of 88m (288ft) in 3 minutes 30 seconds.

Spectacular, isn’t it.

At 11:20am in Dean’s Blue Hole, Bahamas New Zealand freediver William Trubridge broke the world record in unassisted freediving, descending 88 meters (288 feet) and returning to the surface on a single breath of air and without the use of any weight or propulsive assistance.

The dive took place as part of Vertical Blue 2009, an invitational freediving event where the world’s elite freedivers compete over nine days of diving. Already in the competition three world records had been broken by British Sara Campbell and Austrian Herbert Nitsch, but this was the first to be set by a New Zealander in the event.

William Trubridge has been training as a freediver for the last 6 years, and in April of 2007 he set his first world record in this discipline, with 82m. The same year the record was broken with 83m by Herbert Nitsch, widely considered the world’s greatest freediver, but William bettered it again in 2008, with 86m. Herbert attempted the record on the sixth day of this event, but turned early at 71m. William also attempted 88m on the 4th day of the event, and although he made the depth and returned to the surface he blacked out as he took his first breath, and was thus disqualified.

William admits that there was a lot of anticipation and anxiety when he entered the water for another attempt at the record this morning, but he managed to remain calm and finished the dive in 3 minutes and 30 seconds, returning to the surface completely lucid.

He said that this result is the product of years of intensive training, and the support of his sponsors Suunto, Extreme Drinks and Orca and a generous scholarship from AMP.

News and photos from Vertical Blue 2009 can be found at http://www.verticalblue.net/news

If you want to see or find out more about William Trubridge, please go to:
info@verticalblue.net

“It always astounds me that in freediving the people, your fellow competitors (when in comp) care about everyone else so much, they just want everyone to do their best, feel safe and realize each and everyones own potential, it makes for a very very different sporting environment.” Kerian Hibbs.

The Vertical Blue 2009 competition at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas is well underway. Many personal bests have been reached and four national records were broken yesterday from Frank Pernett, Megumi Matsumoto, Tomoko Yamanouchi (her first) and Walter Steyn.

A quick reminder of the records that the competitors are trying to beat:

Male constant weight – 113m – Guillaume Nery
Male no fins – 86m – William Trubridge
Male free immersion – 108m – William Trubridge
Female constant weight – 95m – Natalia Molchanova
Female no fins – 60m – Natalia Molchanova
Female free immersion – 85m – Natalia Molchanova

And the current situation at the Blue Hole:

Kathryn McPhee had a personal best in no fins of 52m

Walter Steyn with a pb and Aussie national record of 95m in 2 mins 49 seconds.

William Trubridge showed some great form with a 107m CWT dive.

Sara Campbell had the most amazing dive. She became the first woman to dive to 100m in competition. However, sadly she blacked out very briefly when surfacing and even though she came round laughing and proudly brandishing the 100m tag, she did not complete surface protocol and so will have to have another shot at it.

Davide Carrera (above) made his 4th national record of the competition, with 98m in constant weight. He is running out of whole numbers in the 90’s now, and his Italian supporters are begging him to announce something with 3 digits.

The star of day 5 was Herbert Nitsch (below being filmed by Dan Burton with a 3D camera), who claimed his second world record, this time in Free Immersion with 109m, breaking the 108m record set by William Trubridge at Vertical Blue 2008.

With thanks to William Trubridge for allowing me to use their wonderful photographs.

Kerian Hibbs, who is right at this moment attempting to break a record or two at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahama’s has been trying to break down the mystic of freediving for me – and I could have had no better instructor. At this rate I might just have to take up the sport myself…

As you know, the divers arrived several days, if not weeks, before the competition began, to acclimatise to the new environment.

The whole idea of diving to unknown depths without the aid of scuba equipment will seem very strange and extremely dangerous to many people. But these guys know what they’re doing, and I am going to give you a breakdown of a dive, as told to me by Kerian.

This 60m dive took place in the run-up to the competition at Dean’s Blue Hole.

You will see from the graph that the descent is pretty steep (1.25m /second) which is way, way too fast and meant that he had problems equalizing.

The ascent was, in comparison, way way too slow (around 0.8m/second).

However, this was are not a reflection of carrying too many weights, but more of laziness and no sense of urgency to reach the surface on shallow dives….

… it might amuse you to know that he now considers anything less than 60 m a shallow dive!

You can see by the curve at the bottom that he had to put in a few good kicks to get going, then at around -40 m he started to cruise – going a lot slower, conserving energy and just enjoying the sensation of the weight falling off.

It is hard to imagine diving to great depths without any artificial aids. Yesterday we did an article on Nuno Gomez who went down to 318 m+ – but with a serious rack of gas tanks on his back. Seriously extreme…

However, to do this with no aid except the confidence to rely on your lungs, your training, your overall fitness, is an extroadinary achievement. As Kerian says: “I guess at the end of the day, everyone knows that when it comes to FreeDiving, the competition is not with others, but within yourself, testing the limits of your own body, exploring the limits of the mind and trusting in the people around you. Thats what makes FreeDiving such a special sport.”

The competition began on 1st April. It ends on the 11th. So far Kerian has had a personal best of a 78m dive.

Due to popular demand, the deadline to enter the New World Tour de Wakatipu mountain bike event has been extended to the 5th April, 5pm. This is the inaugural 2009 Easter event. Ignore the previous deadline and spread the word!

ENTRY FEE:
$65 per person
$45 Junior (19 years and under)

For all entries $5 go to Cure Kids.

We first told you all about this event a few weeks ago… 7th March to be exact, and it seems as though so much attention has been drawn to the event that the response has been fantastic – 500 confirmed entrants so far and expected to climb to 700 or so.

Remember that the 45km event takes place in previously inaccessible parts of the district, traversing a course from Millbrook Resort to Chard Farm. The entries for the event now close on Sunday 5th April. The race is on Easter Saturday, 11th April.

The event, which caters for elite, sport and recreational mountain bikers, “has caught the imagination of people from all over the region and other parts of the South Island,” says Geoff Hunt, director of Southern Traverse and organisers of the event.

“This is an event which offers people exclusive access to the right
bank of the Kawarau River. The chance to go to places which are
usually off limits has created a huge response with over half the
field entered in the recreational division. This indicates clearly
the demand from ’social athletes’ for events of this nature and we
are pleased to be able to provide a course which suits all levels.”

So, if you’re in the vicinity, and looking for something different to do – go to the official website and sign up quickly on the online entry form…

www.tourdewakatipu.co.nz

And while we’re reminding you about forthcoming events, if freediving is what you’re interested in, don’t forget that the Dean’s Blue Hole Competition starts tomorrow, 1st April and will go on until the 11th.

Dean’s Blue Hole is the world’s deepest blue hole (underwater sinkhole), which plunges 202 meters (663ft) to the ocean floor, in a bay on Long Island, Bahamas.

Good luck everyone…