Level D-Judge now

Together with 23 other judges I have been promoted to Level D-Judge last week.

This is an important step because it allows me to head international competitions in the future.

I had been working towards this promotion at the end of last year and beginning of this year and so am very happy.

I also applied for judging the World Championship in Aarhus this summer and (to my surprise) was accepted. So, I will get my first C experience there. Exciting!

I just hope I will not get into too much difficulties as I do not want to be judging Elisabeth or any close rival of hers. If possible I want to avoid to be in the position where my judgment can be questioned by reason of conflict of interest. Let’s see how this will work out.

In any case I am happy to be judging so much as it gives me the feeling of still being part of the freediving while my injured shoulder is keeping me from competing myself. But don’t worry, I am getting sick and tired watching other people dive while I cannot even get into the water…

What is a Counter Ballast System and how to build one?

A Counter Ballast System (CBS) is a safety system for competitive freediving.

The idea is to have a fast system for the retrieval of a freediver at depth. The freediver is connected to the rope by a lanyard. In case of an emergency at depth, the counter ballast is released on the opposite side in order to pull up the bottom weight of the rope and the freediver hanging on the bottom by means of his lanyard.

The system was developed in order to cope with greater depth in competitive freediving and the risks for a scuba safety diver.


Exampel of a CBS designed and manufectured by Olivier Haug.

A CBS consists of the following elements:



1. Rope
2. Bar
3. Two pulleys
4. Brake
5. Two to three weights

The setup is quite simple. At the end of the bar you would put the pulleys and let the rope run through them. The brake is located between them.
In my setup, I’m using three weights. The weight on the bottom and the weight on the other side are exactly the same keeping the system in balance. This is making the handling of the system a lot easier and both lines are hanging straight in the water. A third weight is secured at the bar (at the counter ballast side) and connected to the rope with another lanyard. The brake is holding the (balanced) rope in position.

All of the elements should fulfill certain criteria in order to make the whole thing run:

• 1. The rope
  
  • a. AIDA International has specified the thickness of ropes used in competitions. Using a static rope with a diameter of between 10 and 12 mm for CWT, CNF and FIM is recommended.
  
  
  • b. The rope needs to be at least 10m longer than the maximum depth of the dive.
  
  
• 2. The bar
  
  • a. Should be long enough to keep the two ends of the rope apart from each other. Minimum 4 m. If you prepare for a -70m dive and release the CBS the two weights (including the diver) will pass each other in -35m depth. There, the distance should be big enough to assure no entanglement is taking place.
  
  
  • b. In case you are using a boat or a platform to mount the CBS on, the bar should be looking over the edges for more than 1,5m in order to assure that neither the athlete nor the safety freediver hit the boat/platform when surfacing.
  
  
• 3. The pulleys
  
  • a. They should be sufficiently wide. As some ropes tend to be swelling in the water it is recommended to take one that is 2mm wider than your rope.
  
  
  • b. It is very good to have pulleys that can be opened in order to remove the rope. Then you will be able to change the setting without running all the rope through it.
  
  
• 4. The brake
  
  • a. Can be as simple as a cleat.
  
  
  • b. Needs to be released quickly.
  
  
  • c. If you are using a rope clutch or cam cleat, it needs to be sufficiently wide (see pulley)
  
  
• 5. The weights
  
  • a. The bottom weight/counter weight should be sufficient for the discipline you are diving in. It needs to keep the line still and avoid it from moving very much even if the diver should touch or kick it with the fin. 5 kg should be enough for CWT and CNF if there is no current. For FIM you would choose between 15 and 20 kg to keep the bottom stable even when the diver is pulling himself down.
  
  
  • b. For the extra weight to retrieve the diver AIDA International is suggesting a minimum of 15 kg.

To release the CBS you simply release the break and drop the extra weight at the counter ballast side. Then, in addition to the weight, two men should start pulling up the rope.

Things that can go wrong:
- The rope can jump out of the pulley and jam.
- The two ends of the rope can entangle and stop the movement.
- The counter weight can hit the freediver, the safety diver or anybody diving around that area.
- The lanyard can break.
- If the rope is too long the counter weight can hit the bottom before the diver is up at the surface.
- Many more things we cannot think of…



On 24th of May 2009 we tested the couter ballast system installed at the platform at the Kreidesee in Hemmoor in a safety drill.
Elisabeth Kristoffersen was diving down to a depth of -40m attached to the main line by a lanyard on her wrist. Upon arrival at the bottom plate she pulls so the surface crew knows, she is ready.
Then, the break is released so the counter ballast sets in and two men pull the rope up in addition. The pulling style is from the Skandalopetra diving.
It takes 41 seconds for Elisabeth to dive dow and only 34 seconds for her retrieval, including 5-6 seconds to release the weights.
Safety: Daan Verhoeven and Igor Migonov
CBS: Christian Ernest and Jens Berger

Always remember: a system is only as good as the people handling it! Do trials, educate your surface crew and keep all parts clean and running.

The 10 Best Pics from BBH...

And yet another post about Fredrick's pictures.
The man keeps coming up with more and more fascinating images from his time in Dahab, most of them featuring my beloved mermaid.

Here are his 10 favorites. Maybe he earns an entry in the Apnea Photo Award 2009. Which one is your favorite? I like number 1 best.


Freediving in Egypt by Fredrik Naumann - Images by Felix Features

I have not figured out how to start a poll so please leave a comment to vote.

More pictures from BBH

Fredrik, our photographer turned freediver, has published some more pictures of the last days of diving.

More records for Norway

Today was a good day for the freediving in Norway.

On her second dive, Elisabeth went down to -40 meter without her fin. That is 15 meters deeper then her previous record. The dive took over 2 minutes again as she is swimming with her turtle style. But according to Elisabeth it felt easier then her -35m training dive two days ago. This was also Elisabeths first competition dive with only a noseclip and no mask.



Steinar Schjager set a new record for the Norwegian men in the same discipline by diving down to -47m, putting on 5m on his record.

Other inofficial results: Ingela -40m CWT, Christian Ernest -57m CNF (NR), Klara -56m, Ilka -40m FIM, Ulli -55m CWT, Bjarte -67m CWT.

New Norwegian record: CWT -65m!

I just got the news and want to share it with you.

Today at 9:21 am CET, Elisabeth dove down to 65 meters and returned the tag to the judges at the Buzzy Blue Hole competition. Her dive time was 2:40 min. She says that her legs where getting quite tired so she had to slow down but all went well.

I am so happy!

Elisabeth will rest now and attempt another national record in the afternoon. She will go for -40m in CNF. Her next TOP is 13:21 pm CET.

A photographer turned freediver

Fredrik Naumann is a Norwegian photographer who is following Elisabeth, shooting her in different locations and editing articles for the Norwegian press.

When I met Fredrik for the first time last year at the Aarhus Triple Challenge 2008, I remember he was overly anxious about his scuba tanks. I must admit, I was messing around with them using 'em for getting the pool side BBQ started...

In any case, these days are gone. At the OIC, Fredrik must have gotten so fed-up with hurling his dive gear around that he decided to quit the crap. He enlisted for a freediving course and went to Bergen with the boys from Oslo freediving club to get started on depth.

Right now he is down in Dahab at the Bizzy Blue Hole shooting in apnea, for the first time in his life. The above picture is just a little teaser, I think. He promised me a picture for the Apnea Photo Award. Let’s see what he is coming up with.

It is not often that a journalist is taking part in what we do. Usually they keep their distance which might be good in one way as their view is uncorrupted. On the other hand they sure won’t understand the nature of what we do and usually make mistakes or worse use the old fear of drowning to shed a dark light on our sport.

I am very curious how Fredrik will develop. Maybe he will even compete at some point. I wonder what impact that will have on his work.

Training at the BBH

While Elisabeth is down at the Bizzy Blue Hole, I am sitting here in my flat hunting for a job.

I must say, it is quite challenging and takes a lot of concentration to not think of them in Dahab. Especially when the go diving with sharks.



But while Elisabeth is diving deeper and deeper (doing her PB of last year's BBH today, 61m) I am very happy that people like Daan are looking after her.

Announcing the Apnea Photo Award 2009

When I saw the remarkable pictures of the Vertical Blue it struck me that there is no dedicated Photo Award for apnea pictures.

So, let’s change that. It is just an idea but let’s see where it is going.

Rules:

1. The photo's theme/motive must represent apnea/free diving
2. The photo must be taken in the calendar year 2009
3. The photo should be taken in apnea
4. Any photographer can participate with a maximum number of 5 photos
5. Anybody can nominate photos

Nominations:

Here is my first nomination


Photographer: Fred Buyle
Location: Dean Blue Hole, Bahamas
Date: 04.04.2009
Name: drinking
Depth: -18m

If you have a nomination, please leave a comment or send me a message.

Determining the winner:

With awards you basically have two ways of finding the winner. A: a jury composed of "experts", B: a public vote. I want to know your opinion on it. We have to find a measurement before the year is past. Oh, and of course there is C: a combination of both A and B.

Video of the Berlin Masters Cup

Lars has just published a video of our Open Masters Cup here in Berlin.



Maybe we should do more of this kind of filming so we can show the world what a wonderfull athmosphere we have at the competitions.

Surprise success in training

Now look at that...



I don't really know where that came from but the good vibes at the training with Anna and Elisabeth must have had an effect on me.

I usually take the role of the whip swinging coach, these days, making them do another dive and telling them what their arms, legs and bums are doing when they should be doing something completely different. One time, when they were really fed-up with me they turned around and said, now you do a dive!

Now there was no way backing out for coach Martin. Keeping the moral of the troop and restoring credibility and respect was only possible by getting in the water and doing a nice 50m+ dive. An in fact, the dive was so nice, on Sunday, after standing in the water for 2 h and without all the big fuzz of a breath-up and all that, I felt like doing it again.

And so I set off to a dive of 75m. It was not the perfect dive, I know. I did not pack enough air and was sinking which caused me swim up and not really glide as much as I wanted to and I totally forgot about collecting my legs and all that... but hey, I did 75m when my PB is 79m...

The training with Anna must be having an effect on me after all... Still, I keep stepping on that scales in the change room just to reassure that I'm not losing any weight at all. Anna says it's because I'm building up so much muscles at the same time but that could be just a trick to lull the coach.

Coaching Anna v.B. in the pool

As you may or may not have heard, Anna has announced a National Record attempt. Well, in fact, she announced three.

After vaporizing the women’s depth records last year she is now turning to the pool disciplines. She announced to break all static (6'07"), dynamic (134m) and dynamic without fins (99m).

Now, Anna is not known to be a very big fan of the pool. So how is this possible? One thing is that she is actually staying in one place for more than 2 weeks. Another is that Elixia, her fitness club and sponsor, is willing to give her all the opportunity to train whenever she wants. They even gave her a 3 months membership card for a trainer to coach and safety her through the training. And this is where I come in.

So, what do you do when you have a 25m pool, a gym and training buddy just 5min from your doorstep? I tell you, you train 8 times a week (no kidding!)!

Through the last week we trained 6 times in the pool (every discipline twice) went on a strength circit and to a spinning course. Wednesday is the only day off, which is giving me some time to write about the training... ;)

As a start we wanted to see where Anna stands and so she did three max dives ending up at 100m DYN, 80m DNF and 4'14" STA. Pretty impressive when you think of her PBs of 117m, 68m and 5'08".

After that we went into strength and technique training. In DNF the difference that this training made was very soon visible. Training the strokes and kicks separately and a generally improved balance made her reduce the strokes per lane from 5/6 to 3 and a half.

Monofinning is still a different game. There, we did mostly focus on gaining the strength necessary to kick down the fin. Anna decided to leave her Waterway Glide fin at home for this one and start with a fin that is not so buoyant. As the pool is only 1,30m deep we also put some emphasize on the turns.

In static we did some nasty CO2 tables (1min hold, 1 breath, 1min hold). Yesterday, she did another STA max and ended up at 5'01". So we are closing in on her PB and moving forward to the big number.

So far Anna has shown an incredible will power and not flinched once when I was pushing her limits. Let’s see how long she can keep that up because I do want to see where her limits are.

I did not get around to take some pictures yet but will do that later. I do have some crap technique videos but was not allowed to release them... ;)

Tomorrow, Anna is doing another DYN max... let’s see how it goes...

Video from the OIC

Thomas was diving to the maximum depth of -52m in a 3mm suit.

Thankfully he decided to put it on this time. The day before he tryed the same without it...

Oslo Ice Challenge - the worlds first freedive competition under ice

Just a quick one from Oslo. The competition is over and all are warm and safe. For an organizer/judge this is the most important.

But I must admit, apart from being cold and wet, it was a lot of fun.

For you to have an idea of the set up here comes the video:



We had three competition dives. Since the deepest dive counts and we weighted CNF with 1.35 points per meter, Stig was taking the lead by diving 41 meter CNF leaving Christian Maldame and Guillaume Nery with their 52 meter CWT dives behind.

That was making things much more interesting for today as 52 meter was the maximum depth. So, we saw a lot of CNF today.

After both Christian Ernest and Christian Maldame went to 42m Guillaume Nery went to 45 without fins. But Stig had announced 52m and therefore came last.

Well, he was kind of surprising everyone by showing up in his speedos like Thomas Grindevoll yesterday. After diving in he went down to about 21 m and turned, making quite a show of it like he had just made a world record.

So we knew then who was first but the second and third place had to be decided in the viking static. The two Christians went head to head. Christian Maldame came up 3'38" and Christian Ernest after 4'02". So the competition was decided.


Everyone had a lot of fun and I know this is something I will tell me children about.

But now I need to sleep....

Preparations for the OIC

Things are running good for the Oslo Ice Challenge. Today, Steinar and Bjarte went out to prepare the fied for us (pictures). The best tool at this point is the snow shuffel.

We are looking at 30-40 cm of Ice under 60 cm of snow. Thats enough to make for nice benches for spectators who just need to bring something to put under the bud...

I like the set-up. This will be the closest one can ever get to a deep dive competition.



Elisabeth and I where training the ice diving two weeks ago in Aarhus as you can see here.



She was actually calling this little dip a dive. I did a proper 9 sec static in that pool. And yes, there is a video that could have proven this if only the videographer would have been strong enough to leave the warm pool for filming and not just stand behind the glas door... ;)

Judging, judging... more judging

After hurting my shoulder in a snowboard accident this winter I was forced to drop my training for the 100m DNF completely and turned to more judging.
It started with the 8ème Coupe des Dauphins where I had the chance to be judging one of the most controversy discussed performances ever.
Christian Maldamé showed us how delicious a real Swiss cheese fondue can be and that it is possible to freedive in lake Geneva in January. I guess he is already training for the OIC.

Then, last weekend I was judging the Finkampen II in Åland. Being a great fan of the ocean and boats and all that, just to travel there was great fun for me. I flew into Stockholm, spend a night with Peter Boivie in Upsala and met all the other Swedish freedivers on the ferry.

With the new rules some things have become much easier to judge and some things are better to understand and beneficial for the athletes. So we were quite happy to be using them in both Geneva and Åland.

I was fortunate to again judge a really amazing performance. Ulf Dextegen held his breath for 8 minutes and 43 seconds. This is the second best result ever achieved in a competition.



I must say that the fun factor of this competition was one of the highest even. First there was a fun static in the frozen Baltic Sea (where I managed 10 s or so with no suit on), then sauna (with Champaign and beer), then Jacuzzi (with beer and that funky Finlandia mixed stuff), then outside pool (with starts above), then restaurant (with pizza, prices, karaoke and freedive drinklist), then night club (with live bands) and then a very hung over ferry ride back after not so much sleep...

Judging is fun!

What’s next?
Berlin Masters Cup 2009
Oslo Ice Challenge
ZLIN APNEA CUP
1st Hemmoor No-Fins only

New German Record DNF - 99 m by Ilka Michaelis

Competitions, competitions.... more competitions...

Berlin Masters Cup 2009

I have just put out the word, the registration form for the 11th Berlin Masters Cup in online. After a few hick-ups and the usual back and forth with the schedule and even a most unusual sabotage attack we finally made it.

According to the number of people that where bugging me about this it should be sold out quite soon. It is funny though that the once who where writing the most emails have not registered yet...

Unfortunately we had to drop the DNF for this time. It does not fit into the schedule no matter how you'd turn it. But we will be working on a solution for the next year.


Oslo Ice Challenge

Then, the preparations for the Oslo Ice Challenge, the first competition under ice, are going very well. Steinar is doing a great job finding people, finding material, testing and discussing things.

I have been drafting a safety concept that is looking very reassuring. Over Christmas I was holding a one day National Judge course for six of the Norwegian freedivers that then can help Sebastian and me as assistant judges.


1st Hemmoor No-Fins only Competition

And in the future I will return to where my freediving started and organize a little CNF training and competition event.
Traditionally the Berlin freedivers are starting their diving season at Christi Himmelfahrt (Ascension Day) and as we have a nice platform with counter ballast system installed at the lake I thought it should be easy to bring a couple of people together.

Surprise visit at the 4th Dutch Open

I always said, if you are a freediver and there is a freedive competition within your reach, there is no question. You must go and you must and you must compete.

Why? Simply because there aren’t enough opportunities for meeting with all those cool but crazy people that I now call my friends.


That being said, there seemed to be no real chance for me to go and do just that at the 4th Dutch Apnea Open. For one I had just been forced to quit competing at the Long Night of Apnea due to a cold that lasted the past three weeks. Second, Eindhoven is not really around the corner but rather far to the west and I had committed to meet with the board of AIDA Germany that Saturday. Last, but not least, Elisabeth did not plan to go anyways…

But then… things changed. First, Elisabeth decided to jump in a ancient car that was supposed to carry her and a bunch of Danish freedivers to Eindhoven but broke down about 100 km from the target. When I sat on the plain going to Düsseldorf it dawned on me that I was going quite a bit west. I checked the competition schedule and realized that they did not compete until Sunday morning. Checking train schedules I then saw that it would only take two hours to get to Eindhoven and since my plain back to Berlin would not leave until 3 pm… I started thinking and calculating…

At 6:35 I was on the train to arrive in Eindhoven at 9:00 am. I caught a cab to take me to the pool where I arrived about 9:15 am to be greeted by many of the above mentioned folks. Some thought it quite natural to see me there, some asked why they had not seen me on the in-list, some asked whether I was judging… it made me feel real good. Surprising Elisabeth was one of the coolest things I have ever done.

She was paying me back by doing a 5:02 min STA dive (me coaching) and later 136m DYN which was winning the competition. Makes me very proud!

Seeing the pool was great. I would have been even more impressed by it would we not have a pool of the exact dimensions here in Berlin. I remember what it was like to go in there for the first time. When a 50m lane is looking small and you start doubting it actually is 50m because the structure of the building is scaling it down… what a place to have a competition!

It was great seeing everyone there. Even when I was under stress to get catch a taxi at 11:30 to be back on the train at 12:02 and back in Düsseldorf at 14:08 and at the airport at 14:25 to catch the plain at 15:15 pm. But it was all worth it…

PS: Yes, Pim, I will do everything to make sure I can come back next year. You just make sure it is not so close to the LNA again... ;)

Diving for a good cause

On Monday I had the chance to be part of a photo and video performance the Word Wildlife Foundation (WWF) was organizing here in Berlin. The event took place at the Stadtbad Schöneberg and involved six freedivers being body painted as fish and swim into a net under water.



The performance was supposed to symbolize the bycatch that is making up to 100.000 tons of fish, that is a third of the overall amount that is fished in the North Sea. Bycatch is all of the fish that the fisher men actually do not want to end up in their nets because they are either too small or not the sort of fish they were fishing for. Most of these fish, however die in the process of fishing and are being cast back into the water.

Those numbers are getting even worse when you look at some special types of fish. The WWF report that was presented to the press just before the performance shows that for one kilogram of shrimps 15 kilogram of other fish die. So you might want to think twice before ordering a shrimps sandwich.

This been said there was no reason for us to fully support the WWF with this campaign. The six divers where Anna von Boetticher, Ulli Wulf, Ilka Michaelis and Martin Legat from the German national team, Nadine Werner (professional under water model and hopefully soon a competitive freediver) and my mermaid Elisabeth (yes, I had a hand in that selection).

The pool is 3,8m deep at the lower end and has a 3m wide window in about 2m depth. That made it perfect for a press event because the various camera teams could get a close look at what was going on under water.


I was in charge of coordinating the safety divers. We had 4 safety freedivers and two scuba diver. We were all quite nervous because that was a real fishing net and it did exactly what it was supposed to do. It caught people. I am very happy that the only thing that needed to be rescued was a nose clip.

Six huge spot lights lit the water as we laid out large lanes of black foil weight with sandbags on the bottom of the pool. On top of that we put the nets and hang one across the pool for the divers/fish to get caught in. In the meantime the body painter got to work and paintbrushed the different motives onto the freedivers. That all took from about 6:00 to 12:00 am. We then did three sessions of shooting and at 13:00 pm it was all over.

The performance was a big success as you can see on the campaign website. There you will also find a video. I will be waiting for the press reports and the DVD that the WWF is going to send out to tell you more about it.

PS: I am thinking of a pool competition in that pool just because of the window... let’s see...