Posts Tagged ‘freediving’

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.

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.

Denmark will be hosting the next big freediving competition in August. It is worth remembering that this is an extreme sport on the fringe of mainstream sports, but with dedicated participants and supporters.

A really dedicated following because there is minimal sponsorship and divers do not recieve any funding. This means every dive, every competition is funded by their own hard work, dedication and love of the sport.

The indoor freediving world championships will be held in the town of Aarhus in Denmark from the 17th – 22nd August.

That means freedivers will be working their butts off (excuse the expression) to get there.

AIDA Germany has announced the following people as the official German Team:

• Women: Barbara Jeschke, Ilka Michaelis, Anna v. Boetticher and Olga Martinez-Alvarez
• Men: Martin Legat, Ulli Wulf and Sergio Martinez-Alvare

AIDA Canada is also on their way for selecting the pool championship team. It’s still small and has open spots:

Women: Jana Strain, Mandy-Rae Krack
Men: William Winram

Team New Zealand held a competition in mid-May to see who would be chosen to represent the country at the upcoming indoor world champs – they are still waiting on the selection to be confirmed, but in the meantime have come up with a novel idea to raise funds to help with the costs, and for $250.00 you can be the proud owner of this:

A swimming cap signed by 4 of the world’s top freedivers:

William Trubridge
William has broken freediving world records 7 times. His 2008 no 1 world rankings were in Constant weight without fins with -86m and Free Immersion with -108m, both of which were world records. On 10th April 2009 he did it again bettering his own mark in the discipline CNF (Constant Weight No Fins) with a dive to 88 meters (288 feet) in 3′30″.

Dave Mullins
Dave has broken 4 freediving world records and set a spearfishing world record with biggest marlin. Last year he ranked world no 1 in dynamics without fins with 213m and constant weight with -108m. He also was 2nd in dynamics with his world record dive of 248m and 3rd in static apnea with a breath hold time of 8 minutes, 11s.

Kathryn McPhee
Kathryn set her first world record and was ranked 1st woman in 2008 in dynamics without fins with 151m. She also ranked no 2 in dynamics with 179m and statics with a breath hold time of 7 minutes 1s.

Guy Brew
Guy has the second biggest breath hold time ever in competition. He topped the 2008 world rankings with a huge static apnea of 8 minutes 31s.

There is an added incentive to winning the auction (ie: paying over $250). If you, too, would like to learn how to freedive and live anywhere in the vicinity of Wellington or could get to Denmark over those dates in August, Kathryn McPhee will throw in a free one hour coaching session to suit your level.

Closes: Sat 6 Jun, 7:34 pm. This auction may auto-extend.

Please read the questions and answers for this auction.

This is something we do not recommend to all and sundry, but Michael Rutzen from South Africa, otherwise known as ‘Sharkman’, seems to get away with it. He has turned the art of scuba diving and snorkeling into a seriously extreme sport.

Rutzen eats, sleeps, breathes and dreams of sharks and is on a one-man crusade to prove that rather than being the crazed man-eater from “Jaws”, they are in fact sociable and approachable creatures – to anyone who understands their body language. brettlock screened this video for us.

He loves sharks. He has an empathy with them, an appreciation of the magnificent beast that they are, and he is keen to show everyone the other side to one of the world’s most fearsome creatures.

He started out as a fisherman, but as tourism grew in his coastal region he became a boat skipper taking tourists out into the ocean to see Great White’s. It was at this point that he learned to love the fish.

He learned how to freedive with sharks from Andre Hartman and then learned how to adopt his posture and interpret the sharks behaviour to avoid being attacked.

Mike eventually opened up his own shark boat for cage diving. His company Shark Diving Unlimited has since become the world’s first to offer a PADI specialisation qualification on white sharks.

When asked exactly what it was he was trying to prove with his research and his shark cage diving business, Mike said: “I would like to get people out there and teach them a little bit about this animal if possible. Try to let them go away with a little bit of positive knowledge and respect for the sharks. If we can achieve that little thing, these animals will be here for a long time. Because all the animals on earth that died out, nobody knew about until they got into a book that says ‘extinct’, and these Sharks that have survived all these millions of years, they deserve to be here.”

He has appeared in his own television show for the Discovery Channel – called Sharkman. In the program he toured the world diving with different species of sharks and demonstrated their tonic immobility reflex (DiscoveryNetworks ).

He has dedicated his life to the study of sharks and the Great White in particular. The Great White is unanimously considered the most dangerous and fierce shark on the planet. Although there is proof that the Great White is dangerous and capable of deadly attacks on humans there isn’t a lot of evidence that they are man eaters as shown in the movie “Jaws”.

Michael has been working to dispel this ideology about the Great White.

He is, however, under no illusions that it is a dangerous and unpredictable creature and he takes no unneccessary risks. “There is only one proven fact about White Sharks, most probably all sharks but White Sharks in particular, and that is that they are highly unpredictable. You can get methods of doing something that usually works one way and then you get Sharks that prove you totally wrong, and that’s in every interaction you do with the animals. That’s the odds you take. Sometimes it works to your advantage and sometimes it’s very much to your disadvantage, like I have found out a few times when I was cut,” he says.

He is quick to caution anyone who thinks they can hop into the ocean to have a closer look at this great fish. He is a highly trained professional and doesn’t want anyone to get hurt trying to do what he does unless they have been trained and educated for years and know how to free dive properly with sharks. He does NOT recommend freediving with sharks for tourists or thrill seekers as “we cannot train our tourists fast enough to learn all there is to know.”

Please bear that in mind!

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.