Dahab Depth Demons

Triple Depth
Originally uploaded by Laura Storm.

Dahab, Egypt. Dusty coastal town where the Sinai meets the Red Sea. Unlike Sharm-El-Sheikh, a place that feels like it's part of Egypt, not Disney World. With a treasured resource that any freediver would dream of - over 90 metres of depth, bored into an enclosure within a coral reef. They call this 'The Blue Hole'

An Anglo-Australian consortium set out there the first week in December, on a mission. To set depth records.

Four freedivers, two safety scuba divers, and one surface co-ordinator. Ben Noble ( AUS), Anne-Marie Kitchen-Wheeler, Sam Kirby, Laura Storm, Matt Kitchen, Penny Noble ( AUS ) and myself. Our support base in Dahab was provided by none other than Lotta Ericson and Linda Paganelli of 'Freedive Dahab', with assistance from freedivers Sofus Kreutzmann & Katerina Smirnova.

Our team had 6 depth records to set, four of them using a sled. Ben was aiming for No-Limits, Variable Weight, and Free Immersion. Anne-Marie for Variable, and for myself Variable plus Free Immersion. I had pangs of guilt over the Free Immersion, as Marcus Greatwood had only just broken this a few weeks previous. The planning for this trip had by far preceeded that performance, and I couldn't drop 50% of my objectives. I'm just not that much of a gentleman.

The team had multiple roles - Laura and Matt doubled underwater safety with filming, Sam doubled freedive safety with scuba communication, and Penny doubled surface photography with counselling / mentoring. The schedule was tight - 4 days training, and 2 days record setting.

Even before we flew out of Gatwick, we knew there would be issues. Most of the group were experiencing cold viruses to some degree or other. Ben managed to ward his off with nasal rinses, I was lucky and didn't pick mine up until after the attempts, but Anne-Marie suffered the most. Despite valiant attempts to overcome the bug, and training at every opportunity, she knew on the last day of training that she wasn't going to make it. Having a feverous virus is no way to set records.

As we began our sled training, we soon discovered there was a lot more to it than just strapping-in and enjoying the ride. The first demon of sled disciplines has to be nitrogen narcosis. It robs you of all sensibility, logical thought, and even an awareness that you have succumbed to it. One of our tasks with Variable Weight, once we had disembarked from the sled, was to return it to the surface for the next person to use. A simple case of apply the brake, fill the lift bag, turn off the valve and release the brake. A five year-old could do it, surely? On a shallower dive I had no problem, but past 50 metres, it was a different story. Did all the steps and the sled didn't go up. So I then spent half a minute applying and releasing the brake. A bit like turning a light switch on and off when the bulb has blown. Eventually, the proverbial bulb did light up, and I put more air in the bag. Then forgot to turn off the valve, so the sled arrived at the surface with an empty cylinder - useless for the next person. A lesson for the future - when you can't think properly then resort to survival instincts - leave the sled down there and head for the surface! I could easily have stayed down for longer, and paid a price worth more than a surfaced sled.

Continuing with the incompetence theme, the next day I plummeted down to 80 metres and managed to take my hand off the brake. Then, umm, couldn't find it again until the sled whacked into the plate. No problems with equalisation there, then. Anyway, I wasn't the only narcotic in the group - at least one other person managed to drain another cylinder by forgetting to turn off the valve. Interestingly, I was always under the misapprehension that nitrogen narcosis disappeared at the surface. On one dive, I was in the land of the fairies for a good minute after I had surfaced. Everything was hilarious, and everyone was my best friend.

We had no rest day built-in. For me, this was a mistake. As well as the constant racking up ( or down ) of depths each day, my body was slowly dehydrating. I realised this an hour or two before my first record attempt, and by then it was too late. The initial attempt was Free Immersion to 71 metres. Just one metre below the depth set the day before. The whole dive was a disaster from the outset. As I made the first pull, I felt pressure release from my lungs as valuable air forced its way into my stomach. Seconds later, I could feel even more air fizz through my noseclips. I started tensing up as I started gliding and slipped sideways, and at the same time, managed to lose half a mouthfull of air. Somewhere below 60 metres, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to calculate that 1 x full lungs, minus the air I lost at each various stage, equals zero. I could no longer equalise. I used my mouth to attempt to pump out a few cubic centimetres but this just made things worse, as I then ruptured blood vessels in my trachea. The bottom plate was tantalizingly close, and I could feel pain in my eardrums, as my fuzzy head tried to decide whether to continue or stop. That decision was taken out of my hands as I reached the plate, took the tag and turned. But as I pulled myself up, I could feel blood working its way down into my lungs, so I knew there would be problems at the surface.

I didn't blackout until just after attempting to take off my goggles after surfacing, and it was only for a few seconds. But a blackout is a blackout, and means no record. Combined with the rupture, it also meant that diving again that day was simply not possible, so it was all down to my contingency day now.

Things now weren't easy for Ben Noble, as he had 2 records to attempt, just after witnessing my blackout. It's not an encouraging sight. His target was a rope pulldown using arms only, to 50 metres. He made none of the mistakes I had, and came up as fresh as a daisy. About an hour later, he had his Variable Weight attempt at 72 metres, and surfaced equally jubilant. Ben is very measured in his approach, and quite meticulous with preparation. This day was no exception, and he reaped the rewards. His outstanding attempt with no-limits had to wait another 24 hours. Even freedivers need to decompress sometimes.

Last day / last chance at the Blue Hole, and the wind had picked up, so there was surface chop to worry about as well. Talking of chops, my depths were now much more conservative - 7 metres hacked off the 71 I had originally attempted, and my Variable Weight reduced to 80 metres. Better safe than sorry. First off the blocks though, Ben had his No-Limits to nail. At 80 metres, this would make him Australia's deepest freediver. In true Ben-style, it was executed flawlessly. He almost looked disappointed that it had been so easy. Without doubt, from where I was sitting, he could have gone much deeper.

My turn on the sled, and it was a case of same depth, same story. Even to the extent of becoming my nation's deepest male freediver. Another lapse of judgement though with my strategy. As in training, I had chosen to pull myself up the line rather than fin. Of course, I had overlooked that in 20 minutes time, I had a 64 metre Free Immersion to complete....using my arms. Would they hold out? My surface interval disappeared like blue lightning, but then 2 or 3 armstrokes into the descent, so did my noseclips. I had knocked them off. With my left hand I grabbed onto my nose so that I could continue equalising. With my right arm only, I pulled, so that I could continue descending. This was equally as catastrophic as the day before, and I was sure that if I continued, I would be heading for another blackout. Something in my head told me there was no going back, no giving up, so I carried on. There seemed to be enough strength in my arms, and as I headed toward the surface, a stubborn confidence crept in. At the top, I was clean. I should have been relieved, put it felt more like pure defiance. I just couldn't let the depth demons beat me.

Safe freediving means never doing it alone. Ultimate freediving means doing it within a team, and I felt extremely proud at what our team had achieved. It's not just about reaching the bottom plate, it's all the other things - rigging, de-rigging, mutual support....not to mention the superb photos and videos. Clips can be seen here of Ben's FI/VW and here of my 2 records.

With our exercise nearly complete, all that remained was to head into the desert, and celebrate with AIDA sparkling wine and camel koftas, and sing national anthems. It's what we do.

Winter Sled Team

Here Come ... The Judges
Originally uploaded by Laura Storm.

The last six weeks have seen a UK freediving phenomenon take place. No news here, though, and there has been good reason for that. I've been ever-so-slightly busy making this news public, dealing with related press enquiries, liaising with PR agents, doing interviews...the list goes on. I now have a little more time on my hands, and to avoid repetition, a summary about our new world champ's achievements can be read at the bottom of the BFA homepage. The interview I did with Sara will follow in due course.

A couple of exciting new websites are now out there. One is Sam Kirby's Saltfree site, and the other is Liv Philip's. Both well-designed, and worth bookmarking. Gone are the days when you could get away with crafting html in notepad to build a website. For the time being I'm sticking with flickr, Ebay and Blogger for my own efforts. Internet bi-finning, if you will.

The British Freediving Championships have just been awarded, and the 2007 Women's award goes to....Liv Philip! Anne-Marie Kitchen-Wheeler gets retrospective awards for 2005 and 2006. Well done to the ladies. The 2007 award may seem at first glance to be a little unusual. Don't we have a triple World Record holder with Sara Campbell, and should she not be the holder? Well, points are made up from the core disciplines of static apnea, dynamic and constant weight. So although Sara has a solid 90 points to contribute from one discipline, Liv has points in all three and therefore outranks. No controversy here - Sara has focused on depth disciplines and reaped the rewards there, so Liv equally deserves recognition for diversifying her efforts.

On the men's front we have 2 new UK record holders - Marcus Greatwood regains the title that was his at the outset - Free Immersion, with a solid 61 metre performance. Dave King has knocked us all sideways, with a new constant weight record of 78 metres. Set only a few weeks after returning to competitive freediving from a 3 year absence. What depths would he be plundering if he had been in-training during that time? Prospects for the 2008 GB team are looking very good now, both Men and Women's. Wherever the World Championships are, I shall be watching from afar and wishing the team well.

Last but not least, we are expecting good news from Australia, as Ben Noble heads out to Dahab next week with several of us as his UK entourage, to set some sled records. I'm looking forward to a ride on the sled myself, as well as all the other good things that Dahab has to offer.

When the Water's Deep and the Fish are Big

Hammerhead above diver bubbles
Originally uploaded by altsaint.

When there's much to write about, then there's little time to do so. For this brief update, I will let pictures ( both moving and still ) paint a thousand words. Because you really wouldn't want to read that many, would you? Since I last waxed lyrical, the first notable achievement was Liv Philip's new Dynamic No-Fins Record:

Video Clip #1

Whatever the video clip does or doesn't convey, the atmosphere was electric. It's the most impressive performance I have ever witnessed first-hand, let alone judged. Liv is using a very precise technique which has allowed her to almost eclipse her equivalent performance with a pair of fins. My not-so-secret question about this is, if the technique works so well without fins, what would be the effect of using the same stroke with a pair of short bi-fins? It's an experiment worth trying.

Next on the list was a trip to Ecuador and The Galapagos. Myself, Laura Storm, Anne-Marie Kitchen-Wheeler and Matt Kitchen ( not to mention fourteen other much-more-accomplished-than-myself Scuba divers ). Not only could I write a thousand words about this, I actually recorded a lot more than that in my diary. One of my favourite Dive publications suggested they'd publish a transcript, and I'm currently waiting to see if they're still game. If not, then it may have to be here that the short version appears. The photos sum up some of the adventure:

Fishy Photos

Finally, our return to Blighty heralded the preparations for Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly to have a go at a spot of statics. A little different to the usual inductions Liv and I do, it fell under the category of entertainment:

Video Clip #2

Those of a critical disposition might think their times were a bit lame. Not so, when the pressure is on and the Producer has insisted the whole thing be filmed in the most awkward position possible. The boys did considerably better in training, and better-than-average compared to would-be apneists trying out for the first time.

Last but not least, a note to self. ( Yes, this is supposed to be a personal diary for me to record things I need to remember about freediving training and photography. ) Seeing as you had such a nightmare trying to use manual settings on the C7070 for Wide-Angle subjects in bad light, perhaps you might want to experiment next time with the hidden scene mode called 'Underwater Wide-Angle'. The clue is in the name...

Campbell's Broth

Three months pass...

To Find Somewhere
Originally uploaded by Laura Storm.

autumn is on the horizon...and despite much activity in the freediving world, silence from Beyond the Big Blue.

With some things, being in the thick of them means you don't have as much opportunity putting finger to keyboard. Enjoying the British summer is another good excuse – so now that the rain has finally stopped, I can at last get out in the garden with the laptop.

First things first, then: some new records for UK female sector. No fewer than 4 have been broken, and three of those more than once. One of them ( Free Immersion ) going 2 metres deeper than the men's equivalent. What gives? A new name, a new face, and a blaze of publicity in tow. The name ( and face, shown here ) belonging to Sara Campbell, from Dahab. For years I have been telling students, that if you can only do one activity out of the water to help your freediving, choose yoga. Sara is a guru in that department, having taught it for some time now. Last year she decided to try playing around with a monofin. Now she's been down to 70 metres with it. A depth that the elite normally take several years to attain. Sara has bagged constant weight, constant weight without fins ( 40m ) and free immersion ( 62m ). Record no. 4 was not Sara's for the taking, though. Liv Philip showed that she too, can break her own records if she chooses to, and did just that with a 5 min 32 second hold in Maribor, Slovenia at the World's Indoor Individual Freediving Championships. The UK is hearing a lot about Sara at the moment but let's not forget that Liv, our highest ranked female, is also breaking records. As for us men, we seem to be resting on our laurels...

Talking telephone numbers, Herbert Nitsch went down on a sled to 700 feet and back again in June. He did use a bit of wizardry to do it, but all above-board, if below surface. ( Amazing how plastic coke bottles and bits of polystyrene are the latest technological breakthroughs in freediving – I just love it when simple practicality triumphs over leading-edge gadgetry. )

The competition season is well underway now, and I have had the pleasure in taking part in two. Firstly, Coupe Des Calanques in Marseille, organized by Gregory Piazzola. With about 60 athletes taking part in this, it was a first in that scoring was for teams of two. The idea being, that one experienced freediver would partner a newcomer. ( Or for some teams, that two elitists would partner up and try and walk away with top prize ). I stuck to the brief, and was lucky enough to have Ms George Miller as my partner. I say lucky, because I couldn't have asked for someone who was a better sport about the misfortunes that were thrown at her. A constant weight dive canceled because of rough sea conditions, and a yellow card in static for a mistake not of her making. No histrionics, no toys thrown out of prams – just good humour, and a cheeky grin to go with it. The whole competition was all about having fun, and no-one was being too serious ( not even the 'dream teams' ). A great representation from the UK, with Liv Philip and Tim Money joining George and my 'Tea for Two' as the 'Free Hugs' team. And of course, trusty coach / photographer / psychotherapist Laura Storm. Competing in Nice is a hard act to follow, but Marseille proved itself another worthy French arena.

Last but by no means least....Double Dip, a UK national competition at the NDAC. Home ground for this competitor, and a freak weekend of mainly good weather for the occasion. I can't do justice to Sam's transcripts of the weekend, so I have linked to that. Every time Sam and Laura put on an event here, it seems to surpass the previous. This time, both men and women had some serious competition in the form of a guest appearance from Sara Campbell. Sara managed to do what I did not – reach the depths she had inscribed, and thus achieved the highest scores. Not that I was disappointed – I have a wonderful piece of Bristol Blue Glass taking pride of place in our living room to prove otherwise. So this quarter's news from a British perspective of freediving closes, with more than a little respect to our diminutive newcomer. Who has now kicked my ass twice.

Loïc Leferme (28 August 1970 – 11 April 2007)

Loic
Originally uploaded by Laura Storm.

As with many freedivers, the first big name I heard of in the sport was Jacques Mayol, courtesy of Luc Besson’s ‘The Big Blue’. The second was another Frenchman - Loïc Leferme.

I was learning the basics of freediving in Plymouth in the summer of 2002, being taught by Howard Jones, when Loïc’s name cropped up more than once. Like Howard, it seemed that he also instructed would-be freedivers, in the slightly sunnier environs of Nice. Doing a sales pitch for another instructor is never easy, although we all do it from time to time. Howard managed to promote Loïc’s wife Valery’s home-made baguettes more than anything else, but at least I knew another name and another location.

I had no idea that Loïc was such a grande fromage in the sport, until I went to the London Dive Show early the next year. Howard had arranged a presentation by both Loïc and Guillaume Nery. The two of them were world record holders - Guillaume in Constant Weight, and Loïc in No-Limits. As presentations go, it could have been better if the audience had a better understanding of French, or the speakers of English. The video footage was superb, though, and I’ll never listen to ‘The Scientist’ by Coldplay without a vision of Loïc on his sled.

Only a few months later I was nervously taking the plunge in Limmasol, Cyprus, at my first freediving competition. Yet another Howard Jones production, and with a lot of goodwill and help thrown in from friends and freedivers from around the world. By then I not only knew a few more big names, I was surrounded by them. Loïc seemed to stand out more than the others though - not just because of his flowing mane, but someone who seemed to have the rare quality of presence, but without the big ego in-tow. As the competition came into being, it was obvious that Loïc was very much integral to the whole machine. He seemed to somehow manage safety freediving for hours on end, without a break. Not the easy stuff either - several times he had to demonstrate his rescue skills, which of course were exemplary. When it was time for my dive, I felt like a mouse at a cat party. Without saying a word, Loïc looked at me and instilled a sense of calm. It was a paradox - here was the World’s deepest freediver, giving up his time and energy so that a mere novice could try his hand at the sport in which he was King.

Over the years, Loïc was a safety diver for me at least three or four times, mainly at the CIPA competitions in Nice. After one of my less-impressive dynamic performances, Loïc congratulated me as if I had broken a world record. I never had the opportunity to return the complement and safety dive for him. I don’t even recall buying him a drink. Some of us managed to get a laugh out of him though, more than once, and always for the same thing. He found it very amusing when British freedivers all huddled together in our own group when ‘socialising’. And took great delight in breaking us up.

Sometimes Loïc looked so serious or thoughtful, yet so quick to change his expression into a broad grin. And as quickly as his expression could change, so would his focus, always having time for those around him.

Loïc Leferme is not with us anymore. Not his physical presence anyway. But for those of us that dangle a few metres beneath the waves on a sunny day, and let the breathless calm envelop us…well, if you do it, you know the feeling. The next time it comes, for me at least, some of that feeling will be Loïc.

Get in the Water

If the last posting whetted your appetite for things World Championship-related, then you can read more in the February editions of Sport Diver and Diver magazine. Not to mention my brief summary of proceedings on the BFA website. On the subject of Diver magazine, you can now read online about our top Angel Laura Storm, and her ‘Buddy of the Year 2006’ trip to St. Kitts.

If the bad weather and winter blues are setting in, and you’re not getting in as much freediving training as you’d like, perhaps you can consider a couple of performance boosts. Firstly your hydration. If you think that summer heat is the only seasonal factor to dehydration, think again. Cold weather is also dehydrating, and overwarm central heating systems don’t help either. Dehydration has a big impact on apnea performance. Get drinking!

Boost no. 2 is of the ethereal kind. We all have our pre-apnea ‘chill-out’ methods, and you could do worse than consider meditation as one of them. OK, traditionally this is something we associate with religion, and not all of us are of that persuasion. Paul Wilson has cherry-picked a number of techniques from various religious sources, de-mystified and simplified them, and compiled them into his new book, The Quiet. If you pick up a copy of this book, you do need to go into it with an open mind. You can’t totally disassociate the spiritualist element from meditation, but then I’m not sure many of us can do that with freediving either. This book allows you to have your own beliefs, whatever they are, it’s just that you are expected to have a belief of some sort in order to get a reasonable benefit. My belief? That it might improve my statics. And it did.