NEWS

Cayman 2004 - Freediving World Record Event

Day 21 - 78m WORLD RECORD!!

From Mandy-Rae

Mandy with AIDA judges Nicolas Laporte and Bill Strömberg

Suddenly everyone is back and the day gets under way.

What I once thought was a large van now seems very small as nine of us try to pile in to go meet the boats. We arrive at the dock at 12:30pm and all of the safety divers and camera people are already loading into the boats (TENATA-Dive Tech and Off the Wall Divers). We are soon underway. Doc keeps telling himself that this is just another regular training day. This is his first taste of an organized record attempt and he is surprised at the number of people that are involved.

From Kirk

The weather turned bad yesterday but today clears up just over our part of the ocean. With rain clouds in the distance Martin gets into the water and starts his warm-ups. Warm-ups go as usual except for the negative pressure dive which is a little shallower than normal. He hasn't seemed himself throughout the day and maybe nerves and anticipation are building up. He has already made 100m in practice, but three long weeks of training can take its toll. The dive starts and Martin is on his way for what will hopefully be a world record dive. I start my descent around the two minute mark, get to 25m and wait for what seems like an eternity. Slowly Martin comes into sight and is clearly working to make way. Upon reaching me at 25m Martin opts to bailout and pulls to the surface. Within a few pulls he's shaking his head and looking disappointed. At the surface he says that he felt like he was running out of air, although by the looks of him, he seems fine and strong. Upon reviewing the video maybe his start is a little aggressive and this leads to him overrunning the engine a little. Nerves, tiredness, exhaustion and many other things can build up and bring you to this point. In the end we know he has more than enough capacity to do this dive and we'll figure out what needs to be done. I guess in the end Martin's just adding to the drama of the event so you'll enjoy our web logs a little more :>)

From Mandy-Rae

As usual I'm the next one up to give it a try. As I descend for my first warm-up I realize that I've forgotten to put my gauges on. Oops. So I hold for what I think feels like the right amount of time and head up to find those darn things. My next hold goes really well and I end up doing one of my longest warm-ups yet. After my negative I'm ready to go. The seven minute count down starts and I run through important points that I need to remember for my dive: equalize; kick cycles; sink; grab the tag; wave to safety diver; and relax. Next thing I know Kirk gives me a kiss on the forehead and calls out one minute. Zero time comes and I take in my last breath and start my dive. The descent goes really well. One thing that really stands out is the fact that I can see all the safety divers and photographers. This is something that you only notice in warm clear waters. Suddenly my gauge alarms start going off which tells me that I am about 10m from the bottom plate. Then I hear Derek (one of my deep safety divers) cheering me on. I give him a "gun" signal before I reach for the tag and then I'm off for the surface. I have a little leg burn but nothing that tells me that I've just hit 78m and am on my way up from a world record dive. I reach Kirk at 25m and give him a big smile just before we break the surface. It's a great dive, 2:34min (1:19 down and 1:15 up)! One for the record books :-)

Mandy on the way down	Mandy at target
Mandy ascending with 78m tag	Mandy after the dive

From Kirk

We're all very happy and excited for Mandy. She's put the biggest jump on this record in a while and this is only the first of three attempts she'll have at it. The previous record of 70m by Tanya Streeter in 2001 was recently challenged by Annabel Briseno, but unfortunately she failed twice with blackouts. Mandy's also previously failed in an attempt on this record in the waters off Vancouver, Canada. But we're all confident that she'll push significantly deeper than 80m. Her next target is 81m, the depth of the Performance Freediving Team's first world record held by Brett LeMaster in constant ballast, and one meter deeper than freediving legend and icon, Umberto Pelizzari. We know she can do this and are all very excited as Mandy has decided to put all her energy into constant ballast.

From Mandy-Rae

Doc at the plate

After all the safety divers are back on board and we thank everyone for their support we head off to Bella Capri Italian restaurant for some great food and a little champagne. The next record attempt day is Tuesday, March 22nd. Martin will attempt 102m free immersion, Mandy 81m constant ballast, and Doc 34m free immersion.

Hope you enjoyed this update and we look forward to seeing you all on the next log.

Sincerely,

Mandy-Rae, Martin, Doc & Kirk
Performance Freediving

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