Shark Freediving

So training is over for Martin and Niki and record week now really starts. Will they make it? Well, preparation hasn’t been that well and the weather is also working against them, not to talk about sickness, police and other factors. Here’s a short recount of what happened during the two training weeks.

Their account begins on July 19th, where they tell how their journey starts, the massive amount of baggage they have to bring and the road to Dahab. Two training dives in the blue hole to check their new equipment and moving into their house for the next 29 days.

On July 20th they went out with the boat for the first time and Martin did an easy 90 meters constant weight dive and things were looking good. After that they tested out Lola, their sled for the record attempts. Niki did several drops to get comfortable with the machine.

July 21st was meant to be an easy day, so Martin did a 67 meter dive without fins and Niki tried some deeper dives on the sled. Because of the big current they used to anchors to keep the boat into place and this was apparently reported to the police by some passerby. The whole team got arrested and put in jail for some hours because you need to have permission in Egypt to use two anchors… Paperwork!

July 22nd was rest day with some official meetings and Egypt’s minister of Tourism and Egyptian Diving Federation promised that things like yesterday would not happen anymore.

The next day July 23rd proved otherwise when the mysterious passerby once again reported the team to the police for making underwater stills in the Red Sea, because of some law that never changed since 1982. But due to some diplomatic intervention they could continue their own business. The boat wasn’t anchored correctly so Martin touched the bottom of the sea at 93 meters, less then he planned to do. Decent was in a time of 1:31 and the ascent was done in 1:41. Niki tried to figure out which equipment to use for her attempts. Seems to me you should already know this before you go and I get the strong feeling that she never really has done any sled training before.

On July 24th it was time to test the safety and speed of the counter ballast system. Primary safety during the attempts are scuba divers with lift bags which they can attach to the freediver. Second safety system is the counter ballast system.

July 25th showed more problems with anchoring the boat correctly to keep the correct spot and depth. This because of the high tides and everything. Martin wanted to do a 103 meter dive but the line hit the bottom and was soon in a 40 degree angle. After that the put the line at 99 meters depth for another go for Martin. Niki’s dives have completely been aborted because of a sinus blockage.

Next day, July 26th Martin did an easy 77 meter no fins dive and the day after that it was clear Niki had big time flue!

July 28th Niki is still sick and Martin tried to do a 103 meter dive but has problems equalizing. The team isn’t really clear into what happened next and if he made it to that depth or had any problems at the surface.

Two days later on July 30th, everybody is back on the boat and more or less healthy again. Martin did a 103 meter Free Immersion dive in 3:52 minutes and Niki started training again on the sled, but it was clear she still has to improve a lot in only a few days, which is not very smart in my opinion.

On July 31st Martin did a 80 meter dive without fins and the rest of the team arrived in Dahab. So at the end of the day there was a big meeting where all details and tasks for tomorrow were discussed.

August 1st is rest day for Martin and its getting clear that Niki is not ready to get to a new world record. Next day the weather was not good at all and they decided to dive into the blue hole in the afternoon. The blue hole itself is only 90 meters deep so Martin dived to that depth and stayed there for 30 seconds to pose for some photographers…

On August 3rd it was rest day and the only thing they did in the water was some posing for photographers and the next day was once again bad weather with lots of waves and wind. So once again no fins training in the blue hole.

All in all it seems that the only thing really working out is constant no fins at the moment. Deepest dive of Martin in constant and free immersion is 103 meters. Still 9 meters to go for a world record and that’s a big distance. Niki is unfortunately not progressing as she should so I don’t expect a world record from her in the next week, but this has probably already been a very good learning experience for her for the next time. Let’s close this with a nice video of the great weather and conditions they have in Egypt, not…

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All photo’s here are made by Petr Vaverka and you can find a lot more here.