Here's the story of my dive at the CAFA nationals.
Constant ballast day began, and although I had announced 83m, I only needed 27 points to win the combined event (static+constant), so I only needed around 58m in constant to get those points.
I had constructed a new weight 'device', I hesitate to call it a 'belt', it was one solid piece of lead which goes around your waist, with one joint and a buckle, much less drag than a belt, but still within AIDA regulations. I had wanted 1800g, but it only weighed 1130g--yet it was so perfect I had to try it!
My W2 monofin was cracked beyond repair, so I used the W1 mono, not my favourite.
I got into the water without my suit, 9 minutes before my official top.
I felt great at the start of the dive, and got to 30m without much effort, and did a huge mouthfill.
I started sinking, but due to the darkness, it was not obvious how fast I was sinking.
I waited for the 70m alarm from the apneist, and it wouldn't come. I sank forever, and actually started getting narked during the sinking phase, which only happens if I sink for a really, really long time.
Finally the 70m alarm went off and I heard the scuba divers at 70m shouting at me and shining their lights on the line.
I looked up and saw the plate with the 83m tag. If I got the tag it would be a new canadian record, but I knew internally that I had been sinking for far too long. I sensed that if I went for the tag, the dive would last for more than 3'00". Earlier, Tom (safety freediver) had asked the ancipated dive time, and I had told him 2'40 to 2'50". Doing a 3'00"+ dive was like russian roulette, and I had already won the competition by a large margin, so I couldn't justify going all the way down.
I turned around at 74.2m and started the ascent. As I reached Tom at 23m, I gave him 'ok' signs and realized I had tons of air left. I even slowed down near the end to time my 'float grab' perfectly. I reached the surface at 2'45" with tons of air left and was a bit frustrated I hadn't gone all the way down, but really there was no way to justify it since this was a competition and I had already won the competition with the 74m depth. Because the dive time was dead on target, Tom & Kirk thought I had reached the target depth when I encountered them at 23m right on schedule.
Diving without the suit always feels so wonderful and I always seem to have lots of air left. I'm pretty sure I have 95m in me with the correct ballast and my newly constructed W3 monofin.
We checked the profile later. Kicking down to 30m, my pace was good, but once I started sinking at 30m, it was at 0.55m/s, speeding up to 0.60-0.65m/s near the end, far too slowly. Sinking speed should be 0.75m/s-1.1m/s.
Eric Fattah
BC, Canada
