Long Island, Bahamas -
At 11:50am on
the 19th April, in Dean's Blue Hole, Long Island, Bahamas New Zealander
William Trubridge became the
first man to pass the barrier of 300 feet (92 meters) freediving
completely unassisted - a discipline called "constant weight no fins."
The dive time was 3:45.
Constant Weight No Fins is the purest
measure of human aquatic potential, and athletically the most demanding
of the freediving disciplines. The dive took place during the
Vertical Blue Suunto Dive-Off competition which runs from April 17-27
and sees the best freedivers in the world compete to extend the limits
in this extreme sporting discipline. Dean's Blue Hole is the deepest
blue hole in the world, at 203 meters (660 feet). Day five at Vertical Blue 2010, and Long Island woke to one of
those days that have postcard photographers scrambling for their
cameras. In the warm and calm morning air, Dean's Blue Hole was a
glassy iris. If Shakespeare was right in saying that the eyes are
windows to the soul then this morning the Blue Hole's crystal waters
invited athletes of Vertical Blue to perform a dive into both it, and
their own soul, testing their courage, determination and aquaticity.
And the athletes responded to the call, with another historic day of
competition involving two new world records and two other clamorous
national records.
There was some early drama to the day,
when the bottom plate camera attachment sheared off an hour from the
first official top. Luckily resident mechanical genius Kris Newman had a
spare part in his palatial workshop, and Vertical Blue team member
Charlie Beede whisked it to the dive site: under the circumstances the
45 minute delay was much less than anticipated.
Having dispatched the
Mexican CWT record, Alfredo has started pursuing the no fins (CNF)
record, and he started his campaign with a confident dive to 40 meters.
Another 7 meters separate him and the record, and given his previous
leaps in performance he may even attempt it on his next dive. Alfredo
is diving with a new Orca Alpha Free wetsuit which was gifted to him for
this trip by his close friend Alexis Silva Brisset.
Jared Schmelzer attempting 63m FIM Photo: Vertical Blue 2010 Photo: DeeDee Flores
Carolina
Schrappe and Walter Steyn followed, and both turned early in their
dives. Carolina said later that she had too much going on in her head,
while Walter had a tangle between his noodle float and lanyard while he
was packing at the end of the breathe-up, followed by difficulty
equalising during the dive.
After two very close misses at 46 meters
CNF, Carla decided the number must be jinxed, and moved on to announcing
47 meters. To her great frustration she lost her nose-clip at 41
meters into her descent today, and couldn't equalize further.
Misuzu
Hirai finally triumphed with a great CWT dive to 73 meters, cementing
her position as the deepest Japanese woman. After the judges flashed
their white cards she was splashed in celebration by Ryuzo, who has been
coaching her in her dives.
William Winram took a break from his CNF
campaign today for a dive in the more relaxed discipline of free
immersion (FIM). He had announced a new national record attempt of 96
meters, the deepest he has ever been, and the first north american dive
past 300 feet in any discipline. Still not a fan of the freefall, and
with constant sinus quarrels, Winram continue pulling occasionally all
the way to the plate, before returning to the surface in a time of
3:24. A slight cough belied possible difficulty equalising at the
bottom, but his surface protocol was strong and lucid. This ranks him
sixth in the all time list of FIM divers.
Dave Mullins announced 118
meters, attempting to regain the national record in CWT from William
Trubridge, as well as continue his progress towards a possible dive in
the 120's. His equalisation ran out eight meters short of the plate,
and, frustrated with his ears, he proceeded to take it out on his legs,
ascending from 110 in a time of 1:14, with a peak velocity of 1.7m/s!
If he can master his equalisation then Dave has the oxygen and the leg
power to go much deeper in the remaining 4 days of Vertical Blue.
Next
up to the line was Herbert Nitsch, with an announcement of 124 meters
in constant weight. Taking 17 seconds just to get to 10 meters, he
slowly built up speed to 1.2m/s as he relaxed into the freefall,
reaching the plate at 2:13. Powering off the bottom at 1.4m/s his legs
started to fail 35 meters from the surface, and he began his trademark
armstroke-legkick alternations. At 3:57 he surfaced, but on the wrong
side of the rope, hitting his head on the underneath of the boom. For
most freedivers this would tip them over the edge on a difficult dive,
but although Herbert's neck and chin dipped under, the waterline stopped
just below his mouth as he struggled back to the line, saving himself
from disqualification (athletes must keep their airways above the water
after surfacing). Herbert admitted to still being a little dazed from
narcosis or fatigue, even after finishing decompression 10 minutes
later. This was the 30th world record for the Austrian, and the deepest
self-powered freedive of all time.
William Trubridge was last to
compete, with an announced 116 meter world record attempt in FIM.
After going deep yesterday, he didn't decide whether he would attempt
the dive until the morning, when he finished helping to resolve the
camera problem. At 11:54 he began his descent, with 12 long strokes to
30 meters, from where he hooked his thumbs under elastic thigh-bands and
relaxed into the freefall. William reached the plate at 2:04, but
didn't leave it until 5 seconds later, struggling through narcosis to
detach a tag and fasten it to the velcro on his leg. 42 long arm strokes
brought him back to the surface, where he proceeded to hook his legs on
the rope and take the weight off his tired arms. The judges' ritual
question "do you have a tag?" was answered with a display of the tag
itself, and as the white cards were shown William was mobbed by the
celebrating Italian safety divers. This is his tenth world record, and
his first FIM record since 2008.
Four days remain in Vertical Blue
2010. What new feats and revelations await in the coming days of
competition? Stay tuned...