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64

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Bill

Baron of Breathold
Oct 17, 2001
1,805
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The one course in public speaking that I took, taught that starting with a funny story sometimes works.
Did you hear the one about the young monk, very early in his chosen profession. He was assigned the duty of writing the scriptures in long hand. After months of this, he was discussing his job with his ÔsupervisorÕ and he asked about the original script that the copies, that he copied, were made from. The elder monk told him that the originals were indeed available but, stored and handled as priceless treasures. He then asked if anyone had ever checked the working copies for errors and was assured that no mistakes were made.
A few days later, as he started work, he heard a sobbing noise from the next room. When he went to check, he found the elder monk staring at a clay tablet, holding his head in his hands. Etched into the clay and covered with tears, under the heading of ÔInstructions on Sexual BehaviourÕ, was the word celebrate. Today I felt a little like the elder monk who learned too late.
Last year, during a week of fun and hard work, I spoke with Robert Croft for the second time in thirty years and the memories came flooding back. If you missed the Pacific Cup, let me refresh your memory. The first man to dive to 200 feet under his own power. After talking with him a few minutes, at a show, in the early 70Õs, I dreamed of copying his feat. Not one of my diving buddies wanted to explore this game.
Today, under MattÕs watchful eye, my thirty year old dream came true.

Aloha
Bill

P.S. 64 is my age by the end of the year and the depth of the training rope.
 
Fantastic achievement Bill! Don't stop there amigo. :king

Cheers,
Erik Y.
 
Congradulations!!! That's insane!! I can't even comprehend the depths your talking about, that's really a very big achievement! :D
What's next, a 8 minute static? :)
 
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hi

Bill wow was that 200ft of constant ballast incredible !!!! :cool:

Whenever my older mates and family complain that there getting to old to dive when there in their early 40s, I always told them about the 60year old guy on the internet who could hold his breath for 7mins.

Now I can tell them about the 60year old guy who can hold his breath for 7mins as well as diving to 200ft :cool: :cool:

cheers
 
Congrats Bill,
Thats an amazing achievement no matter what the age. I could probably make 200'----one way. Great job.:D
Jay
 
NICE GOING, BILL

Bill, you are the Man. I completely forgive you for snoring in class during the Performance Freediving clinic, January 2001. I was irritated because you woke me up is all.

What's next ? Teach Annabel a thing or two about dynamic ?

Paul
 
Bill-
That's fantastic! How about a dive report- conditions, equipment, feelings, etc.? That would be great reading. Once again, congrats.
Jim
 
Thanks guys. I'm not even going to apologize for bragging. It went into the log as 212' in 2:27, free immersion, 75F.

Paul, next class we take, you'll have to sit on the other side. The rib that you stuck your elbow in still reminds me when the barometer gets low. The only thing I do to improve Annabel's performance is remove the excuse that she doesn't have a buddy to train with. Listen, watch and learn is my new technique. A big change for me.

Jim, it was a funny day. We had some light rain, off and on. On the way out, Annabel complained about the weather. Unusual for her. The viz was an easy 100' in shallow and at 50 feet on the rope, you could just make out the bottom. Below 100' I saw the bottom with my chin tucked in. Must have been close to 200' horizontal. Annabel seemed a little tired (company and gym work) and settled for two warm ups, 165, 195 and two more around 170. That left time, for Matt to get in a 175, as well as his 100' free immersions on all her deep dives and for my relaxed prep.

The dive itself was as smooth as Sven. I wasn't going for it, just a backup for my PB on Sun. but, at 55M on the glide, I pulled once more and it felt like escape velocity. The meter doesn't show any increase so it was probably imagined. Narcosis might be involved. Crystal clear water helped.

Aloha
Bill
 
You da MAN, Bill!! :king

As another of your ardent admirers, accept my sincerest congratulations. That you really, truly understand what it's about makes it all the more special. Jeez, I'm happy for ya! :inlove


sven
 
Well done Bill ! :)
You should think about competing yourself one day...

I have yet to crack the 200ft mark myself. Training in Hawaii last year my best dive read 60.6m on my Suunto. That works out to be only 199ft, dammit ! :head

So Jealous you live in Kona, diving over there was awesome, I will have to go back there one day....

Cheers,
Wal
 
Hey Wal
Thanks for the kind words. I know that 'almost' feeling. Last Sunday when I turned, the meter was blinking and stopped at my deepest yet, 198.
Probably told you before, my biggest disappointment at the World Cup was only spending a few minutes with the Ausi team. Planned for a little more. It's been 10 years since I spent any time in Oz. For five years I flew to Sydney once a month on average. Sure hope to get there again.
I dove with Deron Sunday and it looks like pool and ocean with him this weekend. I think he's getting serious about Cyprus
Aloha
Bill
 
hi

Bill when you come to Oz make sure you come to North Qld better diving up here, Sydney is to polluted for my liking :naughty, I like fresh air :D

cheers
 
Wal,

Your 199ft dive probably was 200ft+. You forget the sampling rate means the peak depth is usually not recorded! This causes an error in the reading which is worse for the stinger/mosquito than for the D3, but even then there is an error.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada
 
Eric,
I've got a Mosquito, I have noticed sometimes the sampling is a bit slow. Have done it before where I waited on the bottom for 3-4 seconds, first it read around 46.XX, then 48. So Maybe it was 200ft, but I didn't have time to hang around on that dive :D

Bill,
Make sure Deron doesn't slack off !
Tell him any less then 7 minute statics is a waste of his time, and he should be getting to at least 70m in depth before Cyprus :eek:
I haven't looked at the stats of all the previous comps, but I'm guessing Deron must be the best Comp diver from the USA so far. Best static for sure, I don't know if anyone else has dived deeper then him(Constant Weight), apart from Brett of course.

I think I might have seen you on the boat at the comp last year, but I didn't know it was you... :duh
I did talk to Annabel quite a few times, she did her dive straight after me.

I'm hoping to do a bit of depth training myself this weekend if the water is calm enough. Anyway wish you and Deron all the best with training, don't forget to have some fun too. All training and no play can get boring after a while. :t


Cheers,
Wal
 
hi

All training and no play eh, I sure learnt that the hard way when I got sick off doing statics every day, gimme the ocean and some big fish to spear anyday.

cheers
 
Sincerest congratulations , Bill .
:king
It's great to see what determination and the right attitude can achieve .
 
Hey Wal,

After bowing down and kissing Bill's feet he spotted for me for the first statics since the PC. I felt pretty good and with Bill's precise timing capabilities I was very comfortable. After a couple of warm ups and a few yawns (almost had Bill snoring) later I was ready for the long one. I rolled over a few ticks after top and off to "lala" land I went. When I got my first tap at 4:30 I was thinking "this is feeling pretty good, I wonder how long I can go?"
At 5:00 I was thinking "this sucks and I hope I can make 6:00". Then I remembered to just let it go and get past that crappy feeling and it will get better. Sure enough at 6:30 I was thinking "OH Yeah! this is what it feels like, I can make 7:00". After the tap at 6:45 I held on for a few more secs and came up at 6:57. A couple of fast breaths it was back to reality. Bill said I looked great, but I knew I was close because I could feel my daiphragm twitching, but recovered very fast. So now I'm wondering what I'll be capable of when I start training for statics?


Anyway this link is for Bill and I don't want to take away from his incredible achievement! Not that anything I do could equal his.:eek:

DSV
 
Congratulations!

Congatulations, Bill!
Great intro (about the monk), great story, great determination and great success! I am sharing Your joy over this great achievement. It's great that Your pursuits of new freediving-goals are never made at the expense of the pure joy of freediving. Thinking in terms of age-classes, this was certainly a world record!
 
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Congratulations, Bill :)

Just read about your achievement: amazing! Congratulations!!
This proves the real competition is towards one's personal best...no rush, no time...and no limits.
Very inspiring!
 
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