Cayman
2006 - March 28-30, 2006
In this update: The high winds bring some big TV names to Cayman (updates by Paul Kotik)
March 28
Yesterday, Tuesday, was an enforced day of rest for Mandy-Rae. Weather conditions stiffened up a bit, with gusty NW winds pushing up the chop and whitecaps. The training session for Doc and Martin had been switched to the afternoon, so everybody got a little more ( and very welcome) sleep in the morning.
The growing entourage of athletes, aquatic support and media crews assembled on the West Bay dock for a 1:30 PM departure.
The process of fine-tuning the HD Odyssey video system continues in parallel with the athletes' training, and yesterday was no exception - the system has undergone a substantial redesign since HD Odyssey principles Tad Masek and Connor Kirsch came on-island. Yesterday's progress was great. The ocean footage was superb, and last night we saw a successful test of the wireless streaming.
Martin did an unexceptional ( for him !) Free Immersion dive to 103 meters. Doc's dive was a little more interesting, inasmuch as he experienced a minor hypoxic incident after surfacing. Doc is ramping up on the heads - up/ feet-down free immersion style, and on yesterday's dive found those 8-lb ankle weights getting a little heavy as he made his ascent from 46 meters. " I thought of signaling for help as I got to around 50 feet" Doc explains, " But decided to go for it. On the surface, I took one breath and then for some reason let my eyes close. That was it - my head started to roll back and somebody caught me. I remember thinking it wasn't a great idea to close my eyes at that point !"
A team analysis of Doc's dive pointed a finger at the rough seas. Doc reported feeling a little stressed during his breathe-up in the chop. "I felt like I wasn't able to take really deep breaths, as if the chop breaking on me were forcing me to take short breaths. This makes you try harder, and in the end did 15 more packs than usual. This made it harder to get down once I started the dive, because of the extra buoyancy. Plus, I think I got a little chest squeeze at the bottom." Conclusion - stick with the plan through thick and thin. Doc, for a 46 -meter free immersion dive, has no need to jam every last cubic centimeter of air into his chest. " I could've done that dive on a half-breath", he joked later. The chop had created the sensation but not the reality of shallow breathing during his ventilation, and he overcompensated with forced inhalations and way too much extra packing. Lesson learned.
March 29
The PFI athletes all have a scheduled day off today, but everybody else is as busy as always. An away team of the support divers, videographers and others headed off to the Trinity Caves dive site, and logistics, engineering and administration carried on at an even faster pace.
Talks are underway with two of the major North American television networks ! This is really exciting. It could bring real media coverage to our sport. Can't say much more just now, but stay tuned.
We're also working on a helicopter charter to fly over the dive site and shoot some aerial stills and video. Keep on peeking at the videos here on the site - they may get airborne.
Both AIDA International Judges arrived today and will be with us until the final event day.
Hey - it's a day off, so we'll wrap it up here and see you tomorrow.
April 30
Full-dress rehearsal today, with all three PFI Team athletes doing training dives and full deployment of in-water and media support people. It went really smooth in spite of still-choppy seas and winds.
Martin, up first, casually met all expectations and showed beyond any doubt that he can take the World Record in Constant Ballast. His dive today was long and slow - 3:50, but otherwise uneventful.
Mandy set a target of 83 meters, but turned around at 50. Not the perfect way to spend the day, but no big whoop, really.
Doc decided to take it easy after his little samba on the 28 th . Setting aside high expectations and just looking to get back into solid, clean enjoyable freediving Doc did an effortless 41 meter free immersion.
We can tell you now that NBC's Today Show is on location with us and has been shooting footage for the nationally-telecast morning program. The NBC crew has been great. They were out on the boat with us today and not only got some great shots, and later an interview with Dr. Ralph Potkin ( our pulmonolgist - researcher) but also had a great time themselves.
And if that weren't enough, the ABC Good Morning America program will be shooting interviews with the Team tomorrow morning right here on Grand Cayman.
Keep coming back to the site for updates - we'll let you know the broadcast times for the PFI segments on these major network shows just as soon as we know them. Not to be missed!
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