Cayman 2005 - Freediving World Record Event
Day 26 - April 8 - First day of record attempts
From Mandy-Rae:
The weather gods are finally smiling on us. We wake up to almost no wind today.
Let me tell you, my stomach is so happy for it! Everything starts off just
like a normal training day, just with a lot more divers around. For the first
time we have Jade and Matt of Team Canada, and Derek Sather (safety diver from
Canada) with us on the boat, as well as our AIDA judges Nicolas Laporte and Bill
Stromberg. Thankfully today we have two boats, Off the Wall Divers and Ten-ata
from Dive Tech. The freediver's boat (Off the Wall Divers) seems very empty
with just us and the judges.
As usual I'm the first one up. I have decided to stick with 50m as I've already
done it with ease. We always say that it is best to get the record, and then if you
can, make more attempts to add depth. I slide into the water and start
my warm-ups. Everything's feeling really good. After my negative pressure
dive I leave the warm-up line and head to the back of the boat to change my
weights and mask. I'm wearing my Oceaner Performance Freediving 3mm two piece wetsuit,
fluid goggles, nose clip, a 3lb neck weight, a 2lb weight belt, and
Eric Fattah's new Liquivision F1 freediving computer.
After Danny helps me fill my fluid goggles I hop into the water and Kirk brings
me around to the line. He has all the cameras start filming, makes
sure that the safety divers are good to go, and then starts my five minute countdown.
I take my final breath, pack 20 times, releas the line, roll over
and begin my dive. The first few strokes are strong ones as I fight buoyancy,
but very soon I start to feel the water taking hold as I begin to sink easier and
start my freefall to depth. At 42m my alarm goes off to let me know
that the bottom plate is near. As soon as I touch the plate I can hear my safety
divers cheering me on as I start back to the surface. Before I know it
Kirk's in front of me giving me the 30m / 99ft signal, and in a few more seconds
we're on the surface celebrating a new world record-CNF 50m in 2:08!!!
Doc is up next. He is attempting a new USA national record in Variable Ballast
with a dive to 50m. This is a depth which he's already done, so we are all sure
that it will go off without a hitch. Doc gets on the sled and overhears Bill
saying that he looks like a refrigerator on the sled. Doc does his best to tuck his
shoulders in hopes of appearing smaller. None of us notice ;-) His five minute countdown
complete he disappears into the beautiful 27 degree Caribbean waters
right off the Cobalt Coast. We all feel when he hits the bottom. What we
find out later is that he did a little dance for the safety divers when he got
off the sled. Chris Brandson thought that he was in trouble and started approaching
to attach a lift bag and send him to the surface. I guess that
Doc needs some dance lessons! He makes his way back up safely, playing a
little air guitar for Kirk before reaching the surface. He does textbook recovery
breathing and then lets out a big yell. He has just set the USA Variable
Ballast record at 50m. He still has four more dive days left, so who knows how far
he will take it.
Tomorrow I'll be attempting the women's Free Immersion record and Doc is planning on adding
more depth to the USA VB record. Martin may come out and see if his
back feels up to a CNF record attempt. We are trying to keep him out of the water
until Monday to give him more time to recover -- but I think it's killing him having
to watch us going out while he has to stay home. We are all confident that
he will recover and add a couple of new and very impressive records to the AIDA books.
Special thanks go out to the following people who helped
us out today: Kirk Krack (Performance Freediving), Tom Lightfoot and
Peter Satitpunwaycha.
Stay tuned for more!!!
Mandy-Rae
Goh does the video camera briefing |
Danny fills Mandy's fluid goggles |
Mandy celebrates her new record |
Mandy and Kirk celebrate the moment in front of the cameras |
Doc takes his last breath |
Mandy and Martin with Eric Fattah's F1 freediving computer |
Safety coordinator and deep diver Bill Coltart |
Deep safety diver Derek Sather |
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