STA finals and DYN qualification

Today was another looooong day here in Århus for all competitors, judges and the organization.

We started at 9:00 with the static finals. Markus took a very nice video of Georgina Miller's dive in the A-Final witch I was judging.



In the B-Final, Anna took the one national record, she thought would be impossible to take for her. With a 6 min and 12 sec breath hold she was surprising herself and many others, including me.

I was having the honor to also judge Guy Brew in the means A-Final. It took him 8 min and 46 sec to decide the gold medal for him. He is a very strong diver but a bit old school. He was doing his breath-up through a snorkel. Contractions started at around 3 min and he just kept going.
After he did his protocol he was looking at me like he had just returned from a walk in the park...

We had a long break then which I used to get some food, fresh air and then watch the CMAS DYN qualification. I am very happy both federations are hosting this event together. Last year in Legnano, I already experienced the good vibes that such a combination (one event, two federations, two competitions) could create. It was interesting to see a different approach to the same thing: how to swim as far as you can under water.

Here is a video of Stig Severinsen, who started for Denmark:



The dynamic started at 5 and lasted until 8 but we judges shifted the lanes so we got some time off in between. I did not think that judging would be so much hard work. But it is quite demanding mentally and physically.

I hope to have some nice pictures and videos about the dynamic here soon. The important results for me where the ones which (obviously) I could not judge myself:

Anna von Boetticher: 154 m (National Record) -> B-Finale
Elisabeth Kristoffersen: 178 m (National Record) -> A-Finale

I cannot tell you how proud these two girls are making me...

WC is getting started

The 5th AIDA Indoor World Championship has startet.

Here is just a short update. Everything seem to be running smoothly now after the usual hick-ups.

I have put together a little up-date on the German team on the AIDA Germany webside.

The organization has put together a YouTube channel where you can find videos from the competition.



You can find the announcements and starting times for tomorrow here.

United breaks guitars...

As I am packing my bags to go to Aarhus for the 5th World Championships I remember how so many athletes showed up without their beloved mono fins at so many competitions including the last WC in Maribor.

I came across this video which is based on a true story:



Maybe we should make a song about lost mono fins some time.... Anyways, I hope none of you guys is flying United and we will all have a great competition...

Luckily, DYN is last. So airlines will have time for finding missing fins while you all dive DNF and STA. Clever move by the organization team, don't you think?

Static music video

One of my most favorit Swedish bands has finally come out with freediving song!

Give it up for Vibafemba feat. Peter Erik Mårten Boivie under water vocals:



This is so cool!!!

Now we are waiting forn the first under water concert...

Anna going down - 90m

Unbelievable dive from Anna down to 90 m... And then she dose the surface protocol in 4 s... incredible. Enjoy...

On track for the World Championship

Now, look at what Elisabeth did in her last training:



There must be something in the water over in Aarhus. I'm so looking forward to the World Championship. I hope to see some really extrodinary performances...

Terror alarm at the airport

I really enjoyed traveling to all those competitions in the first half of this year. I was getting really good at these short term weekend trips packing all my judging stuff in one bag... untill I went to Upsala!

On the trip there something strange happened. If you have traveled as much as I did, both for work and pleasure, you'd probably take pride in knowing all the safety procedures and be prepared. You put your bag on the band, take yur laptop out, put money, keys and phone in the box and even show your tooth paste and whatever other liquides you carry in the little plastic bag. Your water bottle is empty, your belt and shoes don't trigger the machien, if the random generator gets you, you know just what to do. And in case you forgot something in your bag they will ask you to open it up and look at it.

Not this time!
This time when I got to the security, they send my bag back into the big black box. Then things started to become tens with the guys. They asked a second oppinion from the guys of the next lane. Then they called a suppirior. He decided to call the police and the poloce man arriving decided he needs to call his supperior. Then this police officer asked me to stay away, give him my passport and not to panic. And, you know, telling somebody to not panic is like telling him not to think of an elefant (I bet you saw an elefant right now).

So after checking my background and taking some more suspiciouse looks at my suspiciouse bag they decide that the best thing to do is to carefully ask if I happen to carry a timing device. Now I start thinking... of course I do, I'm a judge...
So even now, I am not allowed anywhere near the bag. I have to yell to tell the police man how to open my bag to find the book of AIDA rules and the stop watches that I put in there. They open it up (carefully, slowley) and see that it is nothing but... a set of competition rules for freedinving and two stop watches.

Somebody speakes into his walkitalki calling off the bomb squat and SWAT team and I get my passport back with the remark to not leave my stop waches on a book again.

Apperantly what happened was that the rules gave an oragne coloured echo indicating an organic substance just like explosives would. My stop watches on top of that was making it look like a bomb. The real funny thing is that I'm sure I was traveling like this before... But, on the way back I was thinking to be real clever and took the electronic watch out which triggered the Swedish securities to stop me a for the mechanical one. Only tey did not make such a big fuzz about it. Maybe it's on my profile now: traveles with rules and stop watches. Other than that, harmless.

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...