The Exit

The Exit
Originally uploaded by Laura Storm.

Here’s a freediving challenge you might not want to try. Let’s say you’ve just had a fantastic fortnight’s holiday in Kenya, taking in a safari in the Masai Mara and lots of Scuba diving at the coast. You’re heading back to the airport in the early hours of the morning, bouncing along a pot-holed track in the middle of nowhere, in the back of a 4x4 with all your luggage. Ahead in the distance, the road disappears into a fairly large expanse of water. Same stretch of road was dry 48 hours previously. Difficult to tell just how deep it is, but surely no more than half a metre or so. Your Father is driving, your Brother in the front passenger seat. He puts down his foot and goes for it. Suddenly the car loses traction, and moves sideways, in what isn’t a puddle at all, but a dormant river, newly awakened by recent flash floods. It’s eroded the road away, enough to just about submerge the car you are in. Water is flooding in, and your Father and Brother are desperately trying to clamber out of their windows. Your windows don’t open, and with the pressure of the surrounding water, neither do your doors. At this stage, you will be excused if some degree of panic sets in….

Laura Storm not only managed to kick her way out, but incredibly kept a small bag with her camera and mobile phone in, just above the surface of the water. Able to call for help, what could have been a tragedy evolved into a traumatic escapade. She missed her flight home, of course. The car and luggage were retrievable, albeit the luggage contents ruined. The car? In the UK would have gone straight to the crusher. In Africa things are handled differently - if it ain’t really, really broken - fix it. And so the garage did, in a matter of days. There’s more to the story than this, but I’m relaying things 2nd hand here. Give me a rope and plate anyday - this is too Blaine-ist for my liking.

A short paragraph on training ( purpose of the blog, and all that ). It’s going well. Managed a PB in dynamic 2 weeks ago. Over 100 metres, but some cards have to be kept close to one’s chest as the World Championships approach. Doing lots of running, cycling, pool training, static tables, apnea walks, and being careful with diet. The only downside has been Constant Weight training - haven’t been able to do any depth training since late August, so a bit of catching up to do. I have a week in Egypt before the Championships kick off, so should be able to make up. He hopes.

Last but not least, another word about my mate Theo ( he seems to have kidnapped my blog somehow ). Yeah, he set another record. Yeah, it was impressive - 167 metres in dynamic, and he didn’t even look ruffled at the end. This was at the Maverick’s Crystal Palace Pool Competition, organised by Matt Kitchen. Sam Kirby and I were judging. Challenging stuff - we had to dish out disqualifications in dynamic for 33% of performances, which is difficult when most of them are friends. ( Or were, should I say. ) So a great feeling for us to judge such an impressive performance. This gives me 2 national records under my belt that I have judged. So if you’re reading this Theo - thanks for letting me share in your success!

Next post - post-World Championships.