Firstly what an amazing athlete and person Will Trubridge is, an incredible guy pushing the absolute boundaries of freediving. As a 15x World record holder he is totally dedicated to the sport and this 102m World Record attempt has brought the sport so much attention. Yet he is a super humble guy and I'm honored to have been able to be one of the safety divers for his awesome attempt.
As part of the safety team our job is to help assist or rescue an athlete should their dive not go to plan. The key word here is TEAM. I might have a great kick and be quick to the surface but without the other member's vast experience and skills it wouldn't mean much.
To reinforce this point watch the awesome video from Vertical Blue here which features us (the safety team), although I'm not so sure they needed to show everything we got up to! Watch and you will see what I mean....
To reinforce this point watch the awesome video from Vertical Blue here which features us (the safety team), although I'm not so sure they needed to show everything we got up to! Watch and you will see what I mean....
Will and I a couple of days before the Vertical Blue comp started
William wanted an all Kiwi team diving during the attempt and asked Jonathan Sunnex and I to be his deep safety divers. Johnny with his vast experience met William at the 35m mark and I was waiting at 25m, from here we proceeded to shadow him to the surface.
As a safety diver if we touch a diver we automatically DQ them, so on the ascent we try to get close enough to be able to observe the diver, but without touching them until they either DQ themselves or require rescuing. When we follow them up we are mainly focused on their face, looking for signs that they are struggling or about to have a black out from the lack of oxygen.
In the case of William's dive today, he acknowledged he wasn't going to quite make it and at approximately 10m from the surface he shook his head to let us know. As I mentioned earlier William is completely dedicated to his freediving and therefore very in touch with his body, including what is happening to it and what is about to happen.
After shaking his head he reached forward to pull on the rope and DQ'ed himself. This immediately meant that we could grab William to assist him to the surface as fast as we could. Unfortunately the TV audio was not properly synced with the footage of William's dive so it sounds like we were at 20m when we grabbed him but in fact we were much closer to the surface.
As a safety diver if we touch a diver we automatically DQ them, so on the ascent we try to get close enough to be able to observe the diver, but without touching them until they either DQ themselves or require rescuing. When we follow them up we are mainly focused on their face, looking for signs that they are struggling or about to have a black out from the lack of oxygen.
In the case of William's dive today, he acknowledged he wasn't going to quite make it and at approximately 10m from the surface he shook his head to let us know. As I mentioned earlier William is completely dedicated to his freediving and therefore very in touch with his body, including what is happening to it and what is about to happen.
After shaking his head he reached forward to pull on the rope and DQ'ed himself. This immediately meant that we could grab William to assist him to the surface as fast as we could. Unfortunately the TV audio was not properly synced with the footage of William's dive so it sounds like we were at 20m when we grabbed him but in fact we were much closer to the surface.
Johnny & I assisting Will at 10m - Photo courtesy of Logan Mock-Bunting
It is not easy for an athlete to let go of a goal, and I'm sure it was a difficult decision for William to grab the rope, but in the end it was the smart move.
Upon reaching the surface William didn't quite have enough oxygen left and momentarily blacked out. This is when our practice training and safety drills kicked in and you will see that we proceeded to keep his airways above the water, remove is goggles, and preform the "tap, talk, blow" procedure which soon brought William around.
Being low on oxygen, very likely narced and having the small black out meant William needed about 20 seconds to get his thinking straight again before we helped him onto the dive platform so that he could recover and be checked by the on-platform doctor.
William was so close and as he mentioned in his post dive interview he is not stopping there and will give it another crack in the not so distant future. When you are pushing the limits of what is capable you really do need all the stars to align, and today wasn't ideal by any means. But Will's dive was a very gutsy heroic effort that truly had the support of 1000's of Kiwi's and freedivers around the world.
William still has two days ahead of him to compete at Vertical Blue and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can achieve with the weight of the 102m attempt off his shoulders and of course being a safety for him again.
Click here to watch William's full dive
Upon reaching the surface William didn't quite have enough oxygen left and momentarily blacked out. This is when our practice training and safety drills kicked in and you will see that we proceeded to keep his airways above the water, remove is goggles, and preform the "tap, talk, blow" procedure which soon brought William around.
Being low on oxygen, very likely narced and having the small black out meant William needed about 20 seconds to get his thinking straight again before we helped him onto the dive platform so that he could recover and be checked by the on-platform doctor.
William was so close and as he mentioned in his post dive interview he is not stopping there and will give it another crack in the not so distant future. When you are pushing the limits of what is capable you really do need all the stars to align, and today wasn't ideal by any means. But Will's dive was a very gutsy heroic effort that truly had the support of 1000's of Kiwi's and freedivers around the world.
William still has two days ahead of him to compete at Vertical Blue and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can achieve with the weight of the 102m attempt off his shoulders and of course being a safety for him again.
Click here to watch William's full dive
The safety team with Will post-dive
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