|
November 1999, Brett LeMaster set a new world freediving
record. Finning down and back up under his own power
(no sleds, no dropped weights, ...), he hit 266 feet/81
meters. Since then, he's been in training for three
new record events. Additionally, Brett and freediving
coach Kirk Krack have been holding four-day freediving
clinics at various locations around the world. When
I was invited to participate in their first clinic in
northern California, I went for it.
So, October 21 & 22 found me in San Jose doing
a combination of pool work and classroom sessions. In
the classroom, they walked us through background stuff
concerning the mammalian diving reflex as well as their
suggested exercises in how to breath up effectively.
Some of the information/techniques I knew going into
the clinic while others were totally new. Indeed, a
lot of nagging questions from personal experience were
answered in those classroom sessions; things like: Why
am I more comfortable when diving below 20' than at
10' or 12'? Or why are the tips of my fingers tingling?
The interesting part of the class work was how the pieces
of the puzzle came together to make a coherent whole.
An understanding of that whole proved useful later during
our ocean work.
The San Jose pools sessions included rescue techniques
(as in, what to do when your buddy passes out from holding
their breath too long), surface dive techniques (an
improvement on the one-leg pike dive commonly seen on
the north coast), static apnea (how long can you hold
your breath at the surface), and dynamic apnea (underwater
lap swimming). For what it's worth, virtually everyone
achieved 3 minute static breathhold times, many hit
better than 4 minutes at least once, and one guy (Scott
Campbell) held his breath for 6 minutes and 39 seconds
(of course, Scott was a ringer; he holds the U.S. record
for static apnea at 6:30). All in all, the results were
pretty impressive considering that we only worked at
these exercises for a few hours over two days. The clinic
handout materials include a two week training schedule
for static apnea with an offer to provide extended schedules
on request. Based on the results of a couple of hours
of work, I'm definitely curious about the improvements
that could be gained from a few week's training.
Following on the two day San Jose session, we moved
to Monterey for a day and a half off the Cypress Sea.
Conditions were best off Pebble Beach, Carmel (little
swell, 25' vis, 56F) so that's where we spent the better
part of October 23 & 24. The ocean work was definitely
the most fun.
With weighted lines attached to surface floats, we
worked on techniques that stimulate the mammalian diving
reflex (free immersion and negative pressure immersion)
followed by work to increase our maximum depth/bottom
times.
Day one ended with a variable ballast drop where, instead
of wearing a weight belt, you hang onto a heavy set
of weights tied onto one end of a long line. After breathing
up at the boat's swim step, you roll into the water
and let the weights pull you down. When all of the line
has played out, you've completed an effortless drop
and the first half of the ride. Let go of the weights,
give a slight kick up, and your suit's buoyancy continuously
accelerates you through the water column. By the time
you hit the surface, you're moving fast enough to come
a third of the way out of the water. A couple of divers
went for height and you could almost read the brand
of their fins. For day one's variable ballast drop,
the line was limited to 95'; for day two, it would be
extended to 150'. Yee ha!!! A lot of fun, indeed, the
variable ballast drop was useful in getting experience
with the pressures at new depths and the work required
to clear way down there.
The final ocean session was divided into two parts
(warm up and target dives) to be followed by a variable
ballast drop. The warm up part was a shortened version
of the first day's ocean work. It was followed by discussions
between each participant, Brett, and Kirk. The point
of those individual discussions was for each person
to declare what target depth they wanted to go for.
It was limited to no more than 15' beyond the maximum
depth we'd been achieving in the ocean. Once everyone
had declared their target depths, we got back into the
water and each got our one shot in sequence starting
with whoever declared the deepest target. While we were
on the boat between the warm ups and target dives, the
ocean conditions kicked up a few notches (from calm
to downright sloppy) just to make things more interesting.
So how did I do? Not as well as I'd hoped. My target
depth was 100'. Based all the diving of the previous
two days, I knew I had more than enough gas to hit that
target. The only problem I'd been having was clearing
past 85'. That problem had to do with finding enough
air to equalize fast enough to prevent one or both Eustachian
tubes from slamming shut (ear clearing has long been
the bane of my diving). While I'm fairly sure I could
sort things out with more practice, I was unable to
break the 85' barrier in the six or so dives to that
depth over the day and a half. Still, 85' is 10' to
20' deeper than a personal best set under much friendlier
diving conditions (day three of a freediving trip in
much warmer, clearer waters).
What else was gained? In addition to increasing my
maximum depth, the clinic also reset my comfortable
working depth in cold, murky waters from 30' to something
in the 55' to 65' range. I was frankly amazed at how
easy and relaxing it was to drop and hang out at 60'.
And, potentially most valuable to me, instead of needing
45 minutes to warm up and really get comfortable getting
to depth as has been typical in the past, I can now
make that transition in 5 or 10 minutes, no sweat. Too
cool.
How did others do? Bob Bachman got lost on the way
down during his target dive, went past his 100' target,
stopped for directions from the safety diver at 109'
and, finally, found his way back to the surface. If
he'd followed the rope straight down and straight up,
gosh, who knows. Of the other participants, I'd estimate
something like half hit depths between 90' and 100'.
Not too bad considering that many in the class were
relative newbies to freediving.
Finally, it's worth noting that both Brett and Kirk
were outstanding. Kirk has the physics, physiology,
and psychology this freediving stuff down cold and his
presentation is well honed. Brett, who seems to spend
the majority of his waking moments seeking that place
between sleepy dopiness and out-of-body detachment (no
offense intended), was still very accessible and always
quick to light up and energetically add his insights,
suggestions and encouragement. During the in-water work
(pool and ocean), they were very safety conscious up
to the point of having a safety diver down as well as
meeting each of us at 60' during the target dives. And,
it turns out they're both really nice guys and very
easy to be around.
Getting back to day two in the ocean, the warm ups
and target dives ran us over the available time by an
hour and a half. As a result, we had to skip the variable
ballast drops. Therein lies the extent of my disappointment
in the clinic.
The clinic wasn't cheap and, indeed, that was an initial
hesitation for me. Costs ran $450 for the clinic plus
$157.50 for two days on the boat. Add in gas, accommodations
and dinners with a bunch of hungry divers and you're
pushing $1000 total. Definitely not cheap. OTOH, the
lessons from the clinic, the experience gained, and
the people we met will all be remembered long after
the money is forgotten. In hindsight, I'd definitely
say it was worth the price and then some. If I were
to do it again (very possible), I'd probably kick in
the air fare to get me over to Kona for a clinic.
Rocky Daniels
Sebastopol, California
[ TOP ]
|
