Shark Freediving

Deron Verbeck from Hawaii, USA, broke his own 7:22 minutes static US national record last weekend during the April Fools No Fins Invitational in Kona, Hawaii. He did an excellent 7:28 minutes and had the following to say about it; “My warm up was shorter than normal, so I did not know how it was going to go. I was feeling pretty bad at four minutes, so I thought it was not going to be my day, but at six minutes I felt much better. I decided to go for it. I felt strong at the finish.”

If you read further you can see the official USAA press release.

The United States Apnea Association (USAA) is pleased to announce that Deron Verbeck, a USAA member, set a new US national record in the freediving discipline of Static Apnea with a performance of 7 minutes and 28 seconds on April 2, 2007. This performance surpasses the previous record of 7:22 held by Deron at the 2007 AIDA Team World Championships in Egypt.

This performance was realized during the April Fools No Fins Invitational in Kona, Hawaii on April 2, 2007. The static competition took place in the pool at Jack’s Diving Locker in Kona, Hawaii. Two AIDA judges judged Deron’s performance as valid. Deron stated, “My warm up was shorter than normal, so I did not know how it was going to go. I was feeling pretty bad at four minutes, so I thought it was not going to be my day, but at six minutes I felt much better. I decided to go for it. I felt strong at the finish. ”

Static apnea tests the athlete’s ability to hold their breath for time. The athlete lays face down in the shallow end of a pool with a coach providing for safety signaling and timing. Upon surfacing at the conclusion of their performance the athlete must perform a surface protocol by removing their facial equipment, signaling okay and saying, I am okay, to demonstrate he or she is in control of his or her performance. Other disciplines include tests in depth and distance.