NEWS

Cayman 2004 - Freediving World Record Event

Day 27 - Last attempt, then party!

Today is our last opportunity at the records as our time has run out and the judges fly tomorrow afternoon. For some of us it is the last opportunity and for others it's one more opportunity at redemption. No matter what the outcome, tonight we PARTY!

Winds didn't slow down, as predicted by the forecasters. Today only Martin and Doc are making attempts. It is Martin's last chance at the coveted 100m constant ballast mark. For Doc it's another opportunity at bettering his current 30m record. His 34m record was disqualified for his having touched the plate with his foot rather than his hand. Mandy will stay behind and make one last attempt on static apnea upon our return.

Spectators come in droves to crowd onto Tenata, our safety diver's support boat. It is Saturday and what better way to spend your day off. All are on board and after one last dock rollcall and briefing and we are on our way. Arie from Cobalt Coast has graciously offered to host the wrap-up party and hopefully we'll be celebrating four world records and two national records. But as we all know, things don't always go according to plan.

The counterbalance is set in the water. Again the plan is to unhook during the last two minutes of Martin's countdown, then tow the rig back to the deep mooring and reset for Doc's attempt. Deep safeties and videographers go through their checks and rechecks. Judges seal the official videotapes into the cameras. EMTs prepare their equipment. Judges watch Martin and Doc and help in the general set-up of the event. Both Bill Strömberg and Nicolas Laporte have become invaluable assets to the organization, but their keen and serious judging duties come first.

Martin's warming up. Everyone's ready. All are intent on today being the day that the 100m mark be officially achieved. In training Martin's done 100m constant ballast quite easily, however it seems like an eternity ago and many things have transpired with and against the team and Martin since then. Success and failure now lie with Martin and his support group, but most of all with Martin. Nothing will lead us to think of anything but a great dive. We have to be the eternal optimists. Zero-plus 30 something and Martin is out of sight.

I hover at 25m for a century plus two days and then first make out the pulsing white of Martin's monofin. Slowly the body shape and gold colouring of the suit come into view. Things are looking good, after his initial dive looked fluid and relaxed compared to the angry undulations of his previous attempts. Those previous attempts were marred by conscious decisions to abort the dive by pulling to the surface. Hopefully this isn't becoming an auto-response. When the chips are down, you have to go for broke and put your faith in the team around you.

Now he's 10m below me and I scream incredibly loud in my head, "You're almost there! You'll see me right away! Go, go, go!". But now I see what I'd hoped not to. Martin grabs the line at 30m and pulls himself to the surface. On reaching me his eyes are focused and he looks more surprised than anxious, more angry than scared. The shakes of the head in disappointment tell the story. I put my hand under his arm to lend an assist to the surface and soon we arrive to a crowd of onlookers. We go through the body checks first. "Is everything in order? Did you injure anything?". "Nothing, everything is fine". Martin can't explain it. It all felt fine, but the other Martin took over and before he knew it he was pulling up the line.

We all battle different things at these depths and maybe the fear of the unknown is winning. For an athlete at his level, Martin's never experienced a blackout in competition or training. Mandy's been down this road, most recently just the day before. It's necessary to trust the support team and go for broke. You'll either win or lose, but you will have done all you can. Either way, the event is now over. Martin's goal for a 100m constant ballast will have to wait for another day. He did break another record just a few days ago. 102m in free immersion is no easy feat.

Doc is up next. He seems to have changed his routine somewhat from his usual three pull downs and two negatives. His hangs are long and comfortable, but there's a different air around the competition line. Will Martin's failed attempt spill over to Doc? Did he watch it happen and know the outcome? Or was he totally focused on himself? Soon he's finished his warm-ups and is on his way. Already, I can see as I dive observing him that things have changed. His head isn't tucked into the chest and the effort to equalize is certainly more forced than in previous days. In the end, the elusive goal past 30m remains just that, elusive. No worries. Doc's already done 34m in training and after three long weeks, we're all a little battle fatigued.

Soon we're back at the dock and head off to Coconut Bay where Mandy will make one last attempt in static. Fresh from our attempts it's easy to be discouraged and let this seep over onto our last team member. She's going head-to-head with the sport's most mentally fatiguing discipline: static apnea. Mandy performs her warm-ups. She's been to 6:18 in practice recently, but hasn't focused on it for more than a few attempts here. Her neck is still bothering her and we'll need to pull something out of the hat for this one. Clearly, carbon dioxide is going to be the biggest hurdle and we'll try something different. She'll purge for two minutes, bringing on alkalosis of the blood and hopefully delay the breathing contractions. If this works then the hard part will be pulling it off without a loss of motor control.

The crowd swells to over thirty people around this private pool, and the tenants of other units join us with curious looks and questions. Martin and I are both in the water to support out team mate and Mandy starts her attempt. A hushed silence falls over the complex and people dare hardly breathe in fear of disturbing her. The truth is, she likes the normal chatter of people talking. Now over thirty pairs of eyes are burning holes into her silver suit. Four minutes comes and goes. Five minutes and now Martin starts counting off in fifteen second intervals. Five fifteen and we are verbally coaching her on. "Looking good Mandy ... just relax the neck ... let the contractions happen ... you got it ... keep going, nice and relaxed, here we go ...". She grabs the wall and pulls up, breathing, recovering, looking good. It's really a great performance, but only to 5:38.

The crowd applauds and the newly initiated, somewhat baffled, congratulate her on an awesome performance.

Now it's time to head for Cobalt Coast and a long awaited party and some indulgence. But first there are IOC level anti-doping tests to perform in accordance with AIDA rules. Mandy's achieved a feat most people didn't think would happen. She put a full 8 meters onto Tanya Streeter's long-standing constant ballast record of 70m. An unprecedented and impressive achievement, one we don't expect to be matched any time soon. This makes four different world records to add to Mandy's growing list. Not only has she proved she's multitalented within the disciplines, but now she is more determined than ever to take on the free immersion record.

We'd like to thank everyone for joining us on this journey. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. We are looking forward to doing this again in the future and will strive to push the limits of human abilities.

Once again, thank you for following us and we'll see you again in the future.

Sincerely,

Kirk Krack, Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, Martin Stepanek and Dr. George Lopez "Doc"
Performance Freediving Team

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