Kiwi Freedivers at Deans Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas

LA - Monday Morning

2008-04-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

We now are in LA for the last day of the trip.

The flight from Maimi to Atlanta was exciting for some and scary for others.
There was a major jet stream moving over the country and we hit that not too long after take off.
The guy in the seat next to me, Matt, was crapping himself as the plane bucked its way north through it all. The little girl across the isle and up one row thought it was the greatest ride, even better then Disneyland and was laughing and yahooing all the time it was happening.
She was about 4 year old and was awesome. Many of the adults on the plane were letting out crys every time the plane dropped. After experiencing numerous bumpy landings in Wellington Airport, Joy and Myself took it in our stride.

We made LA almost 30 mins early after being delayed 20 mins at Atlanta so the jetstream was good from that perspective, but unfortunately the ground crew were not ready to receive the plane therefore by the time that was sorted we ended up leaving the airport around the same time we should have if the plan had been on time.

We got to the hotel and crashed for the rest of the night.

Its now 7:20am LA time (2:18am NZT Tuesday) Monday morning and we are about to head off to the California Science Museum for a nosy around. Our flight leaves LA at 11:30pm tonight, so we are hoping to make the most of the day.

Will be home soon enough and we both cant wait to see the kids!

Will update soon.

Missed flights and more fun

2008-04-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well... we got to Nassau easily enough... and parted company with Natalia, Mike, Megumi and Leo.
We checked into the international part 3 hours early for the flight to Maimi.
Did some shopping, waiting and more waiting, then we see people queuing for the flight... so we head up there and crap ... our fight to Maimi was gone without us.
We were the only 4 people for that fight and because we did not hear the call, they left without us.

We managed to catch a flight for all four of us (Kerian, Joy Frank and Christine) to Ft Lauderdale which turns out to only be 25 mins ride to Miami.

Frank and Christine were staying with their cousin in Maimi, so they arranged for us to be picked up and transferred to our Hotel. Very lucky indeed!

Right now I am outside the Ft. Lauderdale Airport waiting for our ride and we should be in the motel soon.

The Saga Continues Next Episode, same bat time, same bat channel.

Day 11 - Its a Wrap!

2008-04-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

The final day of the comp and it was a big day for a number of us.
Quite a few of the athletes had already left so there were only 8 of us left to dive.
First up was Ryuzo with another attempt at 105m. This guy just keeps coming back for more.
Today saw him miss the tag by 1m !!! its a long long way to go to not quite make it!
Second was moi. I nominated 76m today as it was a big depth in order to allow me to go as far as I wanted to without getting to the plate and thinking "I could have gone deeper". No regrets.
It was a little difficult to get my head around yesterdays events as they seemed to have changed the perspective for me a little, but not necessarily in a bad way.
The count down today seemed really short and top time came around too fast, but regardless, it was time to dive. Once I was at about 35 - 40m all the bag stuff in my mind melted away and left me in a really good place to continue the dive. My mouth full was working great.
At about -68 - 69m I caught a flash in the top of my goggles which caused me to look down and the moment I did that my mouth full was gone... I had just lost the ability to EQ any further!
I grabbed the rope and saw the plate so close!!!! ARRR!
I swum nice and relaxed to the surface knowing that it was a great dive, but not knowing how great.
After SP I checked the gauges and I had recorded 71m ! I was ecstatic!!
My personal goal for this trip was to make it to 70m min! I have reached a milestone in my freediving carear.
Feb of 08, my deepest comp dive was 37m. I have almost doubled my CW depth in only a few short months.
Enough of my blubbering, William Trubridge was soon to step up to the plate.
Due to the controversy surrounding his 107m dive a couple of days ago (bottom tag issues) he wanted to put it to bed once and for all. He had nominated an astounding 108m.
His dive was flawless and 4 mins later he returned to the surface and completed SP. He held strong even after a minor samba and finished SP at 13.5 seconds. He was released from the performance area after 1 min with another world record to his name. He stated that at the bottom that he had plenty of air left in his cheeks which may mean that we have more to see yet!
Last but not least, Frank was the last diver for the day. He was chasing his brothers unofficial FIM record for Columbia and finally put it to rest. -47m FIM. A good dive and easy SP.
So thats all folks. We will be heading to the restaurant soon for a finial group meal and a whole lot of people here who have not been able to drink want to make up for lost time.
See you all back in NZ!
Thanks for all your support.

Day 10 - Second to last day today

2008-04-10T12:41:00.002-07:00

It was a real mixed bag today. In order to share the tasks between all the competitors we all needed to take a turn as Safety Diver "A" or Deep Safety. Today it was me.

I missed the first dive due to a technical error which saw me driving back to the unit as quickly as possible in order to retrieve some gear then get back as soon as I possibly could.

Frank was first diver, but had Eq issues therefore did not make his dive.

Second up was Leo (USA) who was trying for 51m Constant Weight No Fins.
I met him at -20m and signaled that he was in visual contact. I continued to shadow him towards the surface but he was in distress. At -5m he lost motor function and at -2m he lost his air.
I bought him to the surface and kept him clear until he came around. My first rescue ever in Constant weight.

Next up was Kathryn who was chasing a National record of 65m. This dive was to be a long way past her deepest CW dive. I was coaching her for the dive and Fran slotted into place as Safety A.
Kathryn got away from the surface well and came up looking good. A nice Surface Protocol then a small shake saw her safely through for white cards and a new record.
I take full credit of course as it was my CW fin she was wearing. ;-)

The diver that was to follow Kathryn scratched, therefore there was a big break until it was William Trubridges turn. Again I was slated in as Coach for Will, therefore Safety A was again assigned to Fran.

William looked rock solid in his build up to what was to become a World Record dive and got away really well. He had nominated 86m extending his record set earlier in the week of 84m.
He looked great as he surfaced and completed his SP claiming the record as his and putting it just that much more difficult to break in the near future. The world record was also the first world record that Joy has been official judge for, so is a great feather in her cap to be able to say that she was one of 2 judges who officiated the world record.

Last dive of the day was to be Dave Mullins, again chasing the World Record. Nominated 113m.
He looked fairly good on the surface and got away really nicely.
The officials counted away the depth and time. At just before 3 mins I left the surface to meet him at a requested -25m. I got to 25 and waited. Slowly out of the gloom I saw the giant man coming up toward me. He was on his way up. I signaled to Safety B that I had visual.
At -22.5m he missed his first controlled kick and I knew things were not good for him.
I placed my hand on his back as he signaled to me that he was in trouble. I spun around to his side and slipped my arm under his, clamped his mouth and begun recovery. A shot of adrenalin helped boost me to the surface. Simon begun to assist around -10m and we completed recovery.
I put him onto his back then got out of the way as the other safety people were attending to him and bringing him around.

After a while, Dave was back with us and I was given the task to swim him to the shore.
Dave was then put on air to assist with recovery.

It was not to be this time around, but he was safe and this was the main thing.

Its been a mixed bag so far in Deans Blue hole. I need to drop it now and focus on my dive tomorrow as I am building on what the big man has taught me and am going to go deeper than I have before.

Send me all your good vibes.

Kerian

Day 10 - Second to last day today

2008-04-10T12:41:00.001-07:00

Today I became a Free Diver!

2008-04-09T19:40:00.001-07:00

Day 9 of the comp started with a stunning day.

Ryuzo was up first with a 105m nomination which was another 4m past his National Record set just a few days ago. Unfortunately today was not to be and due to Eq he did not make it to the plate.

Next was Hawaii's Leo who was chasing his second National Record. Free Immersion to 76m.
A nice recovery on the surface saw him clench his second US Record in this comp.

Following Leo was yours truly. After the last week of being stuck on 62m, the legendary Dave Mullins spent some time assessing my Eq by doing some rather nasty negative dives after the comp had wound up yesterday. He spotted a few things that I was doing wrong and suggested some solutions. Today was the day to put it into practice.

Also an e-mail from Ant Williams telling me to forget the comp and dive for the enjoyment helped put my mind set into a different place.

I was a little nervous at the surface before the dive, but thats always a good thing for me as it helps me focus more.
My breathe up was great, packing even better then I was away.

As I got to the "Sink Phase" (insert American voice here) where the body is no longer buoyant, I bought my hands to my side and just relaxed dropping down and accelerating. My first stage depth alarm went off to tell me to mouth fill which I did and then William Winram jumped into my head "Relax and enjoy it"
I went limp and embraced the drop.
For a change equalizing was a breeze and next thing I know I almost smash into the bottom plate!!! I actually went right past it. I grab the plate to turn myself as I no longer have my hand on the rope. I then look up over the side of the plate, see my tag, grab it and start to swim to the surface. I am swimming too fast because I am excited so I switch to a double kick and glide. Its the most comfortable / familiar way for me to swim. Next thing Natalie is in view, I am only 20m from the surface! I stop kicking in the last 10m and float to the top, grab the line and complete Surface Protocol. White card !

I am so excited .. I am finally a freediver!

Kathryn is next so after a quick suck of the O2 I swim back in time to coach her.
Its a close thing!
Kathryn gets away from the surface the best I have seen yet. The calls come in, 20m, 30m, 40m, 50m, turn!
She gets to the surface looking really relaxed and completes SP. A very nice dive and probably the best she has looked after a no fins dive so far this comp.
A new national record at 50m no fins.

The rest of the day saw Tomoko and Megumi both also get white cards.

A great day for those who dived.

2 World Records and 4 National Records

2008-04-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

A quick update, as time is short here in the Bahamas - but first the huge news is today is that the Kiwis have totally cleaned up at the blue hole today. First up, Kathryn completed a very easy 48m CNF dive - extending out her National record. This is the 4th time she has extended her records while at the blue hole, so it has been a very successful competition for her, despite one black out early on.

Kerian has been diving well, and Today set a National Record in Variable Weight, with a dive to 74m. The dive was very easy for Kerian, he came up clean and is keen to get back on the plate and extend that record out a bit further as well.

William Trubridge set his 2nd world record of the competition today. 2 days ago he sent the CNF record of 84m, today he set the world record in FIM at 107m and is looking to extend both of those records over the final days of the competition.

Lastly and certainly not the least, Big David Mullins will tomorrow attempt the world Record in CWT at the same time as extending his own PB and National record - this will make 4 world records held by Kiwis out of a possible 6 in the Freediving sport.

Pictures from the freediving at the Bahamas - and other social functions held by the organisers, along with some of the most amazing scenery and wildlife is posted on our gallery featured on the right hand side of our blog

Tough Day

2008-04-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

Not too much to report about yesterday. Only Kathryn dived.

She was attempting to dive to 50m. She looked good from the surface and looked good on the way up, but unfortunately for her, she blacked out on the surface and got a red card.

Today (6th April) only I nominated to dive. I set the depth to 64m which I was hoping would be an easy dive for me today. Unfortunately about 4 mins from my dive, I did a test eq. on my ears and the left ear gave me a serious pain. I tried again and it did not hurt as much. I was close to pulling out of the dive, but tried one more Eq and it did not hurt at all so I decided to stick with the plan.

I did the dive, but it was difficult as I was worried about my ears the whole way down and could not relax as I needed to in order to make a good dive.
I got to 62 (again) and turned as I did not want to hurt myself any further.
Coming to the surface I was somewhat disorientated and was spiraling around the rope.
My kick also lost it tempo due to my head not being where it needed to be.
I surfaced and competed Sp. yellow card for turning early.

If the ear is ok I will try again for that depth as I should be able to get 64m.

Better luck tomorrow.

We are off to a BBQ for the competitors this afternoon so it will be a good time to chill with the other athletes and organizers. I am tired and need sleep too. I think this means I will sleep well tonight despite the heat.

What A Day!!

2008-04-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today saw the Kiwi's out in force.
All of us attempting a dive of some description.

Kathryn was up first. Further extending her grasp of the Constant Weight without fins discipline.
Kathryn had a very pleasant dive to 44m resetting her NZ Record just set the previous day.
She never looked like she was struggling during any part of the visible sections of the dive.

Next up was Me. I had nominated a 73m free immersion. The thinking around this was that if I can pass the 60+m mark, I might as well keep on diving. I had discussed at length the dive plan with Fran and Joy, therefore it was just a case of sticking to the plan and seeing how it all went.
Also, this was to be my second ever FI dive, so it was always going to be a long shot.
Breathup was good, focus good, so at the surface everything was going to plan.
I stopped pulling down at 30m but was still too buoyant, therefore my descent slowed. I started to pull down the line more, but by this stage I was already behind in my planed dive.
I got to 58m where I needed to stop myself briefly in order to sort out my Eq and thats when the trouble begun. I had taken too long to get to depth and as a result, unknown to me, Narcosis was on its way to get me. Until this point in time I had only heard the stories of Narcosis so I was unsure as to what was happening. Its a strange feeling to describe, but was like being drunk but at the same time, outside of your body. I was still descending slowly, looking around all the time, forgetting all about equalizing. I finally stopped myself at 62m and 13 seconds after being there realized that I needed to get control and head up. I pulled my way to the surface and completed SP. yellow card, narced off my tree. After that I headed to shore to suck on some O2.

Williams World Record attempt was next, so I needed to get back into the water as his nominated coach. I swum with him over to the platform and assisted him to get ready. He got into the water 8 mins out from his dive and then I positioned him on the rope and helped keep his head up out of the water to allow him to relax. He had announced 84m and the current world record was 83m.
A 10 seconds after top time, he rolled over and begin the attempt. His speed down the line was nice and consistent as recorded on the sonar. We saw the turn then up he came. Just as he broke the surface I put his support ring next to him and yelled "Breath Will".."Breath".. "Noseclip".. "Goggles" .."Signal" and he was done! A new World Record!!!!

During the attention Will was receiving Dave was working on his focus ready for a 108m dive.
His breath up looked "Dave Calm" and then he was off. From the surface everything looked cool.
Then we lost him on the sonar at 50m. The judges and officials kept calling the time, but there were some nervous looks being passed around. approx 2 mins past and then he appeared on the sonar again at 50m on the ascent. He was slow but coming up. It seemed to take an age for him to get from 20m to 10 m, but finally he was in sight. Then he surfaced. About 8 seconds after surfacing he started to samba which lasted for about 10 seconds. He completed Surface protocol at 28 seconds. Too late therefore he got a Red Card and the dive was disqualified.
I swum with him to shore to keep an eye on him at the medic's (Joy's) request and got him on O2 as soon as possible.

A mixed bag today and one to learn from. 2 new National (NZ) records, one of which is now a World Record.

As for me, I am going back a few steps in my quest to get deeper. Tomorrow is a rest day, so I will work on a new dive plan and tackle the 65m mark.

Stay tuned!

3rd April - Day 3 of Comp

2008-04-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

Tough Day in the Office

Well, today was a tough day. I had nominated a 66m cwt dive. Feeling I was ready to break the 60m depths I have been diving to.

The day started with Ryuzo Diving Constant Weight 100m which was awesome. Breaking his record 2 days in a row! Ryuzo has constantly impressed me as an athlete as well as being a very very nice guy to talk to and learn from.

Kathryn broke her own record again. She is consistently pushing and getting the results. She is doing really well at Deans.

I was the next Kiwi in the line up. I was running a little behind getting to the platform and therefore rushed my prep a little, but by the time I was on the line I was totally in the zone.
I was feeling really relaxed and almost falling asleep!
I bought myself back into focus packed and dived.
It was a really good entry and felt nice on the way down. Freefall was awesome.
At around 58m I lost my mouthfull again! I flared out my arms out to slow my descent so I could bring up another mouthfull of air, but each time I reverse packed I could not hold it. Also as you can not hold the rope, I was still sinking so not being able to eq. the pressure was still coming on my ears. I got to 60.9 and decided that I needed to head up, because the mouthfill was not working. I headed up. 3 massive kicks then settle down to the rhythm that I have adopted for ascent. Its a nice relaxed kick which is continuous. I have found it to be the most energy efficient for me. I came up, surfaced and did a nice clean surface protocol.
Once I was cleared from the line, I checked my dive computer. I had spent 10 seconds at 60m trying to Eq! It just goes to show that I am now really comfortable at that depth where as before I would get down there and the first thing I wanted to do was return to the surface. This bodes well for deeper dives to come.

Tomorrow is another day. One more dive, then I will take a rest day as I would have dived 4 days in a row. The sled will be ready soon for me to make my first official attack on the Variable Weight Discipline.

2 NZ records - and many more to come!

2008-04-03T19:46:00.001-07:00

Today we saw another great dive by Kathryn who broke her own NZ record with a Constant Weight No fins dive of 41m and Big Dave Mullins pulled out a Big dive today - also breaking his own Constant Weight record - taking it to 108m. Both came up clean, however Dave did experience Narcosis - and was quite the joker because of it!

Both Kerian and William had good dives, however they both turned early - Kerian nominated 66m CWT and turned at 60.9m, and William ( pictured above during his warm up prior to his dive) nominated 101m FIM and turned at 97m - so these are still good dives - and Kerians PB in CWT.

Tomorrow we have more big dives ahead of us, Will has nominated 84m CNF - which will reclaim the world record he set last year, but which was later broken in October, Dave has nominated 111m CWT - pushing the NZ record out even further, Kathryn is going to dive without a wetsuit tomorrow , and is hoping for a 44m dive, with kerian attempting FIM at 73m - so it should be an exciting day ahead of us - and we are hoping for more good weather, rather than a return of the tropical storm we have had in the last few days!

Official results are being posted at http://verticalblue.net/news/

Thunder Stoms and Lightening

2008-04-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Well, Day 2 of the comp and the gods have decided that the water is too shallow here.

We have been experiencing thunder storms on and off over the last few days and heavy rain. They are tropical storms though, which just roll in, do their thing then disappear again as quickly as they arrive.

Day 2 of the comp only saw 4 competitors diving due to 2 athletes pulling out before the day begun.

First up was Natalie with 62m CWT. She did a nice clean dive and got white cards all around.

I was second with a nominated 60m CWT. I entered the water as late as possible to stop from getting cold. I did my lung stretches on the dive platform while Natalie was doing her dive.
I entered the water 5 mins from my set dive time and prepared.
Everything was going well and at 10 seconds after top I begun my dive.
It was feeling great as I went off the surface, couple of big kicks and close my eyes to enjoy the descent. All of a sudden I was whipped around, my lanyard had caught on something! I was now head up and needed to abort the dive. I looked up my lanyard line and it was caught on the carabina which they send the tags down on. The tag was still attached too! I swum up and grabbed the tag and carabina and returned to the surface. I was so angry! I think it was a reaction to being turned around suddenly and unexpectedly.
Needless to say, that dive was an aborted effort, so I was asked by the officials if I would like another go after the last athlete. I elected to dive again.

At that stage there was only William Winran and Christian to dive.
William was attempting a 90m FIM dive which he did not make and turned early at 70m.
Christian nominated 62m and got the tag - and also the French National Record!

Now it was my second attempt for the day.
Breath up was good and I started the dive head up this time.
Descent was nice and I managed to relax into the free fall. My dive alarm went off and I did my mouth fill and continued to equalize easy. Once my second alarm went off, I knew I was only 3m from the plate, so I dropped without worrying to Equalise.
At this stage I overshot the plate, so as I turned, I swum up to look over the plate, get my tag and keep on swimming up. Seemed like a very small swim to the deep safety diver. I removed my nose clip and kept swimming. Ran my hands up the rope to clear the surface and then complete Surface Protocol. White Card.

No lactic, no issues, just a great dive.

I have now completed my deepest CWT dive in comp. I have nominated something deeper for tomorrow, so keep tuned! Same bat time, same bat channel!

Afterwards Joy, Simon, Kathryn, Fran and myself took off to a beach I had been told about. We went for a wonderful swim. Not much to see other than perfect white sandy beaches.
Most amazing church there too which I took pictures of.
We had a nice lunch in Clarance Town.
Came back and ended up at the Cyber Cafe.

And it begins

2008-04-01T15:00:00.001-07:00

Today was Day 1 of comp. No more time to train.

As I had dived the last 4 days in a row I chose to not dive today.
William asked me if I would help out as surface safety on the warm up line.

As a result I missed out on seeing the other athletes performances, but thats no issue as it was very interesting to see how the other elite free divers set themselves up for their dives.

Ryuzo and Tomoko are the cutest couple during their warm up. They talk softly and Ryuzo joins in the breathing when preparing Tomoko for her dive.

I had no issues with Samba's or blackouts to deal with, so other than the current, it was a very easy day.

A list of who is competing:

New Zealand
Dave Mullins
Kathryn McPhee
Kerian Hibbs
William Trubridge

Japan
Ryuzo Shinomiya
Tomoko Yamanouchi
Megumi Matsumoto

France
Guillaume Nery
Christian Maldame

Canada
William Winram
Eric Fattah

Russia
Natalia Avseenko

Columbia
Frank Pernett

Brazil
Karol Meyer

Athletes results (Unoffical)

Ryuzo - 95m CWT- White Card
Guillaume - 69m CWT- Yellow Card (No Tag)
Christian - 57m CNF- Red Card (Technicalities)
Natalie - 57m FIM- White Card
Megumi - 54m FIM - Yellow Card (No Tag)
Karol - 57m FIM - Red Card (BO)
Kathryn - 57m FIM - White Card (National Record)
Tomoko - 52m CWT - White Card (Pb)
Frank - 38m CNF - Red Card (Airway)

Last Training Day.

2008-04-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Well, today they needed a volunteer to test the counter balance retrieval system. I was very quick to put my hand up for that. I need to experience the depths that I will be diving to in Constant Weight so I was first with my hand up.

I elected to dive to 70m, my deepest ever dive so that they had decent depth to gauge the retrevial from. Due to the nature of me being pulled down then pulled back up again, its now considered a "No Limits" dive.

It was also a chance for William to test the bottom camera and luck me then full dive to be recorded.

I did my stretches and breath up, secured my lanyard to the line and it was time to go.

William let the cleat go and I was off. Again, I found it a very easy dive to that depth and no issue to Equalize at all! Got to the bottom, then hung myself below the plate for the ride up. What a rush!
I came to the surface and did my safety protocol. No limits is too easy!

After that I went through my deep safety checks with Grant in order to make sure that we are up to speed with deep rescue.

Tomorrow is the first day of comp and I am having a rest day. (As is William Trubridge and David Mullins). Kathryn is diving tomorrow so wish her luck.

I will post the results as they come in.

Day 5 - Training Day 4

2008-03-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

The Blue hole gets better each day. The visibility is around 20 - 25m now and we can clearly see the edge of the hole from the surface. Its really nice to be able to see so far into the water. This also means that there is more light deeper down meaning that it is no longer pitch black below 50m.

Divers today, William Trubridge, Dave Mullins and Kerian.

William went first today with a Free Immersion dive. He set the rope at 106m for his attempt. Almost 4 mins later he surfaced but had to turn early due to Eq issue. He has a very mechanical method when doing Free Immersion and I think that its very efficient which is why he can return after such a deep dive.

Dave Mullins up next. We reset the rope to 100m for his Constant Weight Dive. He tells us it will be a quick one. Again he leaves very little air for the rest of us to breath and dives down into the depths. we feel the turn at around 1 min 35 seconds and think he has turned early. Soon he surfaces and he had actually got to the plate on that dive. A very quick dive for Dave.

Normally I would have 3 days diving then a rest day, but today was too good a day to pass up for a practice at the Variable Weight Discipline which is what I am going to set the New Zealand Record for. As a warning, William suggested that I make my first ever VWT dive a shallow one. We set the line at 50m so that I am safely within my limits so that we can allow for descent at a faster rate than normal. For this dive I am upright. William gives me a count down and then lets the rope go! I sink slowly at first than as my lungs decrease in size from the pressure the descent speed increases. I cheek fill to be safe and keep the eq. going to keep up with the speed. Next thing I know I am at 50m. Damn that was quick. I start my ascent and I am actually still boyant so its not going to be hard work to get to the surface. I head up and see Fran, my safety. I head up and complete Surface Protocol and its all over. It has to be one of the easiest dives I have ever experienced! 39 sec to the bottom.

I have decided that my first NZ Record attempt will be at 75m on the variable. I will test myself at that depth tomorrow morning. I will push my rest day out one more day and rest the first day of the comp itself. The new sled will be ready Tuesday so I will do my first record attempt that afternoon.

This is going to ROCK!

Day 4 - Training Day 3

2008-03-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

After my disappointment of not getting the 57m dive yesterday I went and spoke to William Trubridge seeking some advice. One of the most amazing things about this sport is that everyone is happy to offer advice and support, where as in other sports I have been involved in, no one wants to share their secrets or training programs. They want the edge and they keep it to them selves. Not so in Free diving. It seems that everyone wants you to do well, so much encouragement and support, tips and ideas.

William had some advice for me, which was to not worry about it as it was only the second dive since I had arrived and that more than likely I am still tired from the trip to get here. Chill out the best is yet to come.

Not too long after that Kathryn had been talking with William Winram (Canadian Freediver) and he came down to offer some advice too. His was to help me slow down my dives and work on the EQ issues I have been having. I took on board the advice from both William's and planned my dive for the next day. (Saturday)

I spent the rest of the evening chilling and relaxing amongst the other divers. We all went down to the beach next to the blue hole and had a BBQ. It was a beautiful sunset and a good chance for everyone to mingle and get to know each other a little more.

We were the first to leave as Fran was suffering Jet lag pretty bad and just wanted to sleep.

This morning that dam rooster outside the window at the next door neighbor place woke me up so I had less sleep than I have been having previously. I stayed in bed reading a while and got up a little later than the others.

Breakfast was All Bran, yogurt and soy milk.

I spent the rest of the morning going over my dive plan, doing some packing and rib cage stretches and then visualization of the dive. Packed the car and we were off.

During the morning Dave Mullins had arrived and was joining us even though he was just fresh off the plane.

Divers today was the total Kiwi contingent, Kerian, William, Dave Mullins and Kathryn along with Joy (on the platform calling time and depth) and Fran as in water safety diver.

The Hole was much better today. No current on the surface to speak of and the vis was maybe 3m better than yesterday.

William as the deepest diver was first to dive. We were running behind time, but no matter. You just have to dive at your own pace. We set the rope and I accidentally messed up the call on the markings! instead of the 83m he was wanting I ended up calling it 5m more! Regardless, William pulled of a perfect dive.

Dave was next to go. We reset the line to 70m for him. He sucked the air out of the immediate vicinity making it hard to breath for us all for maybe 10 seconds, packed then dived. A pretty quick dive for him, but did a comfortable dive.

My turn next. I had planned to repeat my attempt to 57, but thought I would just stretch it out a little and make it a 60m. That way if everything was going well, I would keep on descending.
I spent longer than normal on the surface preparing, just getting my head in the game. I packed then rolled over. The most awful entry into the water I think I have ever done. no matter, I put my head back on the dive plan I had set for myself and followed it. 3 kicks without too much power, then 3 relaxed kicks and I am on my way. now the descent. Just waiting for my first dive alarm keep the Eq happening nice and regularly. 40m and the cheek fill, then put my arms to the side. William W suggested that I try arms to the side in order to relax more as I free fall. At around 45 - 48 I feel the first of the tension build. I check my fall with the fin to slow a little, relax and Eq again, so far so good. 55m, my barrier, and its too hard to eq. I grab the line and stop. Time to just chill and make sure I can Eq! I drop down to the plate and touch it! I have made my first 60m Dive!!!!!
I turn and head up. Now to the ascent plan. I kick then glide until I stop, kick then glide. I do this all the way until I see Fran. At that stage I pop my nose clip and keep my tempo as I keep to the plan and head to the surface. I breach then grab the rope, clear the goggles and signal, I am ok ! I have done it. My first 60m dive at a SLOW 2 mins 38 seconds. The plan was to go slow and make the dive stick. It all came together.

Kathryn's turn to dive now. She is wanting to hit 50m no fins. She does her breath up and goes. unfortunately this time it was not to be and turns early. Not today.

And thats it for the Kiwi's for today. Time to go and get the shopping done.

Day 3 - Training Day 2

2008-03-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Today the weather is overcast and windy. Not that it matters at the blue hole.
Vis is slightly improved over yesterday.
Divers today will be Kerian, Kathryn. Karol and Natalya have not joined us like expected. No problem.

We prepare the rig and Nataliya arrives. She is not diving today, but will swim out and assist if needed.

I am first to go today and Kathryn will follow.

I am a little nervous today as I am attempting to set a PB at 57m and are still not 100% sure of things.
I breath up, roll over and take off. I dive down and I am carrying a lot of tension. At about 30m I miss an Equalization and start to play catch up. I mouth fill at around 40 but am not comfortable. I can feel the tension in my body. I get to 55m and stop. I can no longer Eq. I turn and rocket to the surface. it was not a good dive! 1 min 33 seconds... way way to fast. No wonder I missed the eq.
I am unhappy but keep it to myself.

Kathryn then prepares for her dive. She is also going to 57m but doing it Free Immersion. Thats pulling yourself down the rope to the bottom and then back up again. She finishes her breath up and heads off.
I am her deep safety with Joy calling the dive. I deploy right on schedule and meet her at about 18m. She is looking really strong. She surfaces and does her safety protocol and has completed her first ever truely deep FI Dive. She also unofficially blitzed the NZ Womans FI Record with that dive. From memory it was something like 45m or something.

She is very very happy on the way home.

The rest of this post will be completed in the next days post.
wish me luck for tomorrow!

Day 2 - Training Day 1

2008-03-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

Its going to be a long one!

Well, it was my first day to dive the Blue Hole, which means my first look at the hole and man what a place!

There are so many atheletes here already that we are having to schedule when we dive and also ensure that we have enough people to act as safety divers too, allowing for rest days in peoples training schedules etc.

The Kiwi's teamed up this time, so Kathryn, Will and myself headed down at 10am.

Picture this. You drive down some narrow dirt tracks to get to this sheltered bay, the bay is approx 300m across. You can see water breaking in the distance and there is a bit of a strong wind (apparently unusual). You can only see a shallow white bay. To the left is a rock cliff. Will walks down and around the cliff so I follow him. As I walk around the corner the blue hole is there. Its like a dark blue round circle with white sand funnel into the hole.
The Hole itself where the platform is only 25m across. The platform is in the centre and big enough to support 3 or 4 people on it. Will has set it up with a fish finder so we can track the divers progress during their dive.

We suit up while the other divers finish off their dives, clean up and head back to shore.
I have never experinced such a small swim from the shore in order to get to the deep water, I am used to having to swim 300-400m off shore to get to at least 80m depth, today it was about 10 meters - if that and the bottom is 200m below!

Today the visibility is not great. Usually its around 30+m of clear viz, but due to the onshore winds the hole has had the sand pushed up into it so its a murky as all hell.

We all swim over to the platform with all our gear. Joy is with us and swimming like she has always been diving (usually she shys away from the water as she has had a fear of it for quite some time)

Kathryn is the first to dive. Things do not go well for her on this dive as she had trouble with her entry, but she pushes on despite this gets to the plate at 48m. Kathryn came up clean but says that she feels marginal.

My turn. I have decided that since its my first dive here and I am still very tired from the trip to get here, I will also only dive today to 48m. I am pretty excited and rush my breath up. I head down and its not feeling great, but I am safe in the knowledge that its only 48m. Its also the first dive with the new Suunto D4 Dive watch (thanks mum and dad!) . I have the Suunto Mosquito dive watch on as well as a backup. At 30m the D4 chimes 3 times. I am tense waiting for the thermacline - but there was none. I am so used to diving in the lake where the thermacline shoots you with a huge chill, but there is nothing like that here to worry about. Time to mouth fill, then the Mosquito goes off, thats my backup. I relax now in and start to free fall, because my anxiety has melted away. Now my D4 goes off again, great, thats 45m so I am preparing to turn, then smack, I hit the plate with my hands. Bit of a surprize there, I didnt expect to get there so soon, so I must have been dropping a little quicker than I thought. I grab with my left and pull to get back up. Now I start to sprint because of the fright I got from hitting the plate, I am no longer in the completly relaxed state I was earlier. No matter, I am flying up to the surface. I spot my safety diver and keep on heading up. I clear the surface and take my goggles off. It was an easy dive physically, but mentally it was a hard dive.

Williams turn now. He is doing a free immersion to 104m ! he does his prep and dives. ohh no... he's coming up and under the platform! I go to grab him, but realize that he might panic if I grab him, so I stick my hand on the top of his head. SMACK his head hits my hand which then hits the platform. That hurt. I now grab him and drag him out from under the platform. He aborted his dive because he forgot to fill his liquid goggles. About 10 mins later he is ready for his next attempt.

Will is warming up again doing his breathup and we realised the sonar isnt working, without the sonar working we cannot track his progress during his dive. We told him " dont go, we cant get the sonar to work" and while he actually moved his hand at the time, which we thought was a signal that he heard us, it wasnt, he did not not hear us at all and while we are fussing over the sonar, Will starts his dive.

We scrambled to get watches and safety ready. I waited on the line until approx 2 mins 30 seconds before I go. As we cant confirm his position by Sonar, we have to estimate where he is based on his expected dive times. I dropped to 20m and waited. I could feel him coming up, then I could see him. He's going well. I swim up with him to the surface and he completes his Safety Protocol. It was a clean dive, despite all the drama above the water. I was so amazed. I have never witnessed anyone diving so deep before.

With all the diving for the day done, I went for a look at the edge of the blue hole to see if I could find the Tarpian Fish that reside there. Apparently they grow upto 2 1/2m long and small ones are greater than 1 m. They are predatory fish like Baracuda so I wanted to check them out! But it was too murky and I couldnt see anything, but I did see a shaddow lurking. It was less than 1m in length though so might not have been one.
anyhow, that was that.

I cant wait until the water clears. This place must have to be the top freediving places in the world!

Time to Dive!!!

2008-03-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

Kathryn has been here at Dead mans Cay now for 6 days and has got some good training in over the past few days, obtaining a PB already and building the confidence to go even further. Kerian and I arrived yesterday and along with Kathryn and William Trubridge will be heading to the blue hole shortly for our first look, and Kerian's first dive.

Its really incredible to be around with such acclaimed free divers, imagine sitting across the table from people like William Winram, Ryuzo Shinomiya, Guillaume Nery, Natalia Avseenko, Karol Meyer, Christian Maldame Frank Pernett, ...these guys don't know it yet, but we plan to get as much from them as possible as there is so much they can teach us. Karol and Kerian are organising the Sled to be made for the Variable weight discipline. Kerian has never done VWT before so its a great way for him to learn as much as he can about the sled and what is needed to get it done.

Ladies and Gentlemen start your engines., Hold your breath, (coz you know we will be) and get ready to watch the current world records be smashed ..the Judges are arriving ...the countdown to the start of the competition has begun!

Hi Ya'll <- thats what they say here

2008-03-25T03:44:00.000-07:00

We (Joy and Kerian) are currently sitting in the Atlanta Airport waiting on our connecting flight to Nassau (Pronounced Nassa). Kathryn arrived a few days ago after having a few issues with her luggage, but otherwise safe and sound.

So, whats been happening? Well, we flew out from Auckland on Easter Monday. Was a nice day in Wellington, humid, hot and overcast in Auckland. We mucked about in Manukau for a few hours to kill some time before the flight left.

The Flight... well.. what is there to say about sitting on your butt for 12 hours? We arrived in LA in the early mornig, the sunrise from the plan was spectacular from a million miles above ground.

Arrived in LA and it took 2 hours to clear customs. No drama, just slow, we commented on how syndey airports customs area was bigger than LAX's!.
Checked our bags to Atlanta and then headed off to the hotel room we had booked for 7 hours.
We got a few hours sleep but it was so noisy that we did not get as much as both of us would have liked.

We were bored, so we went down to the Concierge and asked what to do. Man.. what a smooth hustler he was! anyhow he jacked us up with a Limo and we went and cruised La, Hollywood and Beverly Hills for 2 1/2 hours. It was cheaper (and safer) than hiring a Taxi for the time.
There are some MASSIVE houses up there where the stars are. Cars !! Money like you would not believe.
Looked at Hollywood Boulevard and saw the stars etc.
Then it was back to the hotel, check out and hang in the most disgusting airport I have experienced. LA airport. Nothing to do but wait for the flight.

Well.. I am going to check out the IPOD vending machine ( pictured left)...

who would have thought?

I will post again soon from the Bahamas!

-Kerian

Demonstration Dive confirmed

2008-02-22T22:07:00.001-08:00

This is your chance to see free diving pool events first hand. Both Kathryn and Kerian will demonstrate the various pool formats at NaeNae Pool on Saturday the 15th March at 6pm.
Our special guest Frankie Stevens will be there to talk you though the various elements of the preparation and the dive. The Demonstration will be treated by the athletes as an actual competition with AIDA judges ( the regulatory body for international free diving). Of course Kathryn and Kerian will be happy to answer any questions you have, and other club members will be there to talk to anyone who is interested in finding out more free diving.

Lights Camera ACTION!

2008-02-12T22:24:00.000-08:00

The press releases have gone out, as too have the sponsorship proposals, and there is good interest so far. BSport will be interviewing both Kathryn and Kerian this week, and we hope that there maybe a chance to make it a regular thing. We have secured a Celebrity to host our Demonstration Dive - more to follow on that.

With just on 6 weeks to go - we are running out of time, and with a good range of activities lined up it should be a busy 6 weeks