[Stephan Whelan]

Erik,

You raise an excellent point. The politics of the agencies (AIDA, IAFD, FREE and in a little way CMAS) at present is causing high profile divisions and public statements.

In any underwater sport, safety is key, and each agency has its own ideas on what is "safe".

I agree that Eric's decision to pull out of AIDA (and concequently the World Championships that start today- Friday) took courage and he had to put his point of view across, it is sad that he had to take such action to make his feelings felt.

However we do need to make sure that there is an open dialogue between the different agencies, and that they can work towards a single goal in performance freediving.

We at Deeper Blue are working with all the agencies to help facilitate this open dialogue and promise to keep reporting the facts not just blind press releases...so far the agencies seem to be receptive to our help.

These are difficult times for the sport, but as Rudi Castineyra said to me in a recent email...

this "cleansing" is neccessary and will, in the long run, be good for the sport, even if in the short term it makes things ugly. There is a certain balance and order that must be achieved in order for freediving to work better, and I think that's what's happening right now, so let's hope that it's all for the better.