A deeper day

[Gerald]

Congrats to ivan and oskar

Congratulations to Your pb's! Those pb's that come unexpected are the best ones! It reminds me of the 2. Freedive-WC in Sardinia where we had some training with the Aussies. They were all spearos and even though they never went for depth before, they were all in their 40ies (that is around 140 feet) after a few tries.

I like what You said about "a few mates cheering you on". I believe a key element to success in freediving is moral support. Here in continental Europe some divers are too competitive. According to their frame of reference every buddy that passes the -40mt mark may lessen the chance for the rest to be on the national team for upcoming international competitions. Therefore communication and moral support is not as good as it should be. But as soon as You stop caring if You make a "normal" pb or an "official" pb (confirmed by judges) You can step out of that box and cheer up others to go for it.

Just a month ago I hooked up with another Austrian via db-forum (st3fan) and I cheered him up into a pb of -48m (160ft). We had so much fun and didn't even talk about competition yet. You can read more about that adventure here.

have safe and pleasant dives
Gerald

 

[ivan]

hi

Gerald just read your story 48m dives That pic of the cliffs on the coast is beautiful, we don't have anything like that here it's mainly just long beaches with palm trees one day I will go somewhere with cliffs and deep water close to shore

Who were the Aussie spearo's you met, im guessing Pickering, Pucko and Tony heugh. Most breathold divers over here are spearo's who rarely leave the gun in the boat and go for a depth dive. However our deepest apnea diver Wal also called "Walrus" on DB is in Hawaii at the moment and yesterday did a dive to 72m Iv'e got my fingers crossed that when the judges arrive he can beat his own national Aussie record of 58m with a dive to 80m I wish him luck.

Yeah that is sad to see people too jealous to cheer on mates for fear of getting left out of a team or something. We always "physch" each other up so to speak and when someone gets a pb we are usually more excited than the guy who actually did it

As for Oscar and I well we haven't done any dives without a gun since that day but soon I'll have to get him keen to have a go again, been doing plenty of hunting with the gun though.

cheers

 

[Gerald]

Great attitude ...

Originally posted by ivan

Yeah that is sad to see people too jealous to cheer on mates for fear of getting left out of a team or something. We always "psych" each other up so to speak and when someone gets a pb we are usually more excited than the guy who actually did it ...

That's exactly what I believe. That' s the true freediver-spirit. Taking the freedom from the ocean and passing it on first hand to Your buddies. The reason why I still jump off this incredible high cliff every summer in Austria is the joy that it is giving to those that are cheering me up. Without them I would have stopped long ago, considering that i will be 47 on next monday, Nov 17. My pb done in Dahab, Red Sea last January was also celebrated by other divers and the atmosphere was so relaxed that we saw 10 different freedivers doing personal bests. With all the freediver-knowledge available on the internet, moral support has never been as important as it is today. My best wishes to Wal, Annabel and to all other divers, I pray that they would be able to surpass their goals.

In case You didn't find some time so far, here is my post about freediving and cliffdiving - what they have in common - and how two extreme sports done at the same time can be very compatible. The result table of WC 2 in Sardinia '98, with the "Aussie Spearo Team" included, can be found here.

Have safe and pleasant dives
Gerald

 

[ivan]

hi

Thanks for the links mate

Gerald cruising through that World cup link I think I saw your name in the Austrian team and I also saw Abri's name for the South african team Im familar with all the Aussies there except "watman" not sure who he is, not bad dives for spearo's I reckon.

As for jumping off stuff your crazy man jumping 27m
We did it about 5 years ago on a local bridge which was only 10m to the water but that's a lot for me :hmm Anyway everyone was jumping it and some did backflips into the water :hmm I built up the courage to jump but no one warned me at how shallow it actually was so I jumped and hit the rocks at the bottom of the creek and cut my foot up pretty badly :duh The secret apparently was that when you hit the water they immediately kinda aim their legs for the surface so that they don't pencil dive straight to the bottom like I did. If I had some deep water I would have a go at 15m maybe

cheers

 

[Erik]

Ivan, I missed this thread, and just found it today....congrats amigo!
Erik Y.

 

[ivan]

hi

Thanks Erik

Where you been anyway haven't seen you here that much lately. Any new pb's

cheers

 

[Erik]

The only pb's I've been setting are in hours worked....not much diving in the last 3 weeks
I did do an empty-lung with 2 reverse packs-dive to 10 metres for 2 minutes last month. That's about it.
Hopefully we'll be doing some dynamic training now that winter's here.
Cheers,
Erik Y.

 

[ivan]

hi

Erik the 2mins is the total dive time right, cos 2mins at 10m on empty lungs would be insane.

A canadian winter must be pretty harsh stay warm mate

cheers

 

[Aquiles]

Good job old boy!

I told you that you could do it. Just be a little more careful next time. Remember a blackout can get you at any time without warning.:duh

As far as Alberto March hunting in 150 feet of water they use a pendulum to hit the bottom and hunt. They don't kick thier way down that far. It is just not smart to do

Aq

 

[Erik]

Originally posted by ivan
hi

Erik the 2mins is the total dive time right,

Yup, total dive time.
Erik Y.

 

[ivan]

hi

Aquiles mate howzit

We will be more careful next time.

Erik I don't think I can do 10m in 2mins on a full churn of 02

cheers

 

[Aquiles]

Hello there bud,

Yep Im back and posting. Im glad that you got the PB just watch your butt out there.

Cheers pal

Aquiles

 

[Skindiver]

Ironic twist.

I can't dive deeply easily without a line. 20m is a strain and feels like 40m. The bottom or target depth never seems to come and i feel like i'm falling belly first in blue water.
I'm obviously so used to the line as a point of reference and indicator of my descent speed.

So when i want to spear really deep, i drop my gun and swim / fall down the buoy- line , pick up the gun at the bottom / end of the line 30 - 50m or whatever and try zap em quick ... I also need the line for a comfortable ascent. A blue ascent also freaks me out.

Hows that for a twist ?

Skin.

 

[Gerald]

Line aid

To skin and to all of you

In the beginning (some 30 years ago) the greatest motivator for my dives was to reach the bottom as far as I could see it. I still prefer to have contact to the ground, even in a maximum dive. Usually the ocean bottom reflects the light way better than the muddy bottom of a lake (I know one rare exception: it is Vransko Jezero on the Croatian island Cres, a lake that is miraculously blue and clear).

As long as I see the bottom (sometimes 30+ metres!) I feel comfortable without a line. As visual aid a line helps me to find my shortest way to the bottom, exception: monster currents. To calibrate the bottom to my personal depth-capacity guarantees the maximum daylight during the whole dive. Usually at competition sites the bottom of the ocean is so deep that it doesn't reflect any sunlight.

At the WC Sardinia 98 I met the international freediving community for the first time. Back then I was such a hillbilly that I would keep the snorkel in my mouth at 40m+ dives. To use lines beyond the purpose of giving direction (ie for safety to haul yourself up, if needed) was totally foreign to me.

Briefly: spearos dive in a brighter environment, because they (usually) contact the bottom.