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Safety diving for William Trubridge's 102m Deep Dive

1/12/2014

4 Comments

 
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....
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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.
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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
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The safety team with Will post-dive
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Dean’s Blue Hole - First impressions

21/11/2014

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I’m new to the sport of freediving and don’t think I really realized what an opportunity it is to be visiting Dean’s Blue Hole and being part of Vertical Blue, that was until I mentioned it on Facebook. I then got plenty of comments from other freedivers  saying, “how cool it is that I’m making the pilgrimage to the Mecca of freediving” or how envious they are.
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With me starting to fully realize what this place and comp means to the world of freediving it was re-enforced while on the first flight to Nassau in the Bahamas. The in-flight magazine contained an article by Brittany Trubridge, William Trubridge's wife.

She wrote of her love for the island, growing up here, meeting Will and freediving. But as a kid she was scared of Dean’s Blue Hole, its darkness and the deep unknown, she avoided swimming in it and basically never across it. This made me start to realize what a special place it must be, Will obviously realized this a long time ago, hence his choice to make the island his home and the Blue Hole his playground.

After a 4 hr wait at Nassau airport we arrived in the evening at Long Island, Daan Verhoeven (a well known and very capable diver) was waiting to pick us up at the airport. Dean’s Blue Hole beach clean up had started at 3pm so when we arrived at the accommodation and no one was there we headed for the Blue Hole!

The clean-up had just finished so Johnny Sunnex and some of the other safety team and organizers were milling in the carpark. I said my hellos, Will was there but on the phone and even though I had never met him all I wanted to do was see the hole! So I politely excused myself and walked towards the beach.

From the carpark the hole is to the left, the weather for the last week has been messy and pushing into the hole, though reasonably sheltered from the ocean directly the water wasn't crystal clear, with plenty of weed and unfortunately rubbish floating in it. Though despite this it was still amazing, the evening sun was setting so the cliffs on the far side were glowing, and the beautiful white sand led the eye to the water’s edge.

I immediately was drawn towards the hole, half way across the beach I realized I still had my shoes and socks on, I bent down removing them quickly without even undoing the laces. I walked straight to the water’s edge, peered down then stepped forward into the water. Though not the most spiritual type I had an immediate argue that I wanted to connect to the place and the only way to do it properly was the feeling that I needed to be in the water.

On the edge the shallow water over the fine white sand is an amazing turquoise blue, but it quickly drops away and only 5m out the lurking darkness of the hole begins. I just stood and stared for a while, taking it all in. 

People were done for the day (or so I thought, read part 2...coming), so it was empty, quiet, peaceful, and had a real energy about it.

Standing there calf deep in the water and feet buried in the sand I could now really appreciate and understand why people said Dean’s Blue Hole was such a special place.

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Exploring the underwater world - freediving in sicily

26/6/2014

3 Comments

 
Well I am now currently travelling the world and blogging about it via a couples adventure travel blog called - Four Jandals. My first blog on it is about a free diving video I made while I have been aboard a sailing boat. I also felt it was appropriate to share here, enjoy.

Many people travel the world and see its amazing sights, but most have no idea of the incredible sights that it holds under the surface.  Those that have never properly put their face under the surface with a clear underwater view are truly missing out!

Did you know that 71 percent of the earth is covered by water and 95 percent of the underwater world remains unexplored according to NOAA.  So can even the most seasoned travellers say that they have really travelled and explored the world thoroughly?

I love the water and all the activities that it allows me to do, from my past as an Olympic swimmer to more recently getting serious about my spearfishing and freediving. The water is essential to all life and is what makes planet earth unique, it should be respected but not feared, and is a wonderful place that should be seen and experienced by all.
The ocean and its underwater life are phenomenal and should be at the top of everyone’s must see and do’s. Recently while sailing from Greece to Sardinia I jumped in the water at an Island called Favignana, on the Western end of Sicily, Italy, and captured some of fish life and scenery (including a shipwreck) while freediving. 

As you can tell I’m passionate about the ocean and its sea life, so rather than try and describe it I made a short video. Although not the most amazing aquatic sea life I have seen, it gives you a glimpse into the amazing underwater world that awaits those that truly choose to travel and explore this wonderful unique world and all its holds.
Watch the YouTube video; Freediving in Sicily
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    Author

    Sharing what I have been up to since retiring from professional swimming. Not necessarily directly swimming related posts but still to do with the water. 

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