Freedive for Charity

[BennyB]

Hi guys,

Here at work a couple of weeks ago we were throwing around some ideas about raising some money for our chosen charity, Children with Leukaemia: childhood cancer charity. I thought something a bit different would be a constant weight freedive so I put my hand up for that, not even thinking that at this time of year the water is only a couple of degrees above freezing :duh

Children with Leukaemia is a fantastic endeavour that helps fight the fight for people who haven't yet had a chance to live their lives. They fund research and welfare programs as well as raising awareness of the disease that affects around 500 kids a year in the UK.

So on May 3rd 2008 i'll be doing a 40m Constant Weight freedive at the National Diving and Activity Centre, near Chepstow.

I'm getting safety support from Laura Storm and her awesome team Angels of the deep, as well as surface freedive safety from some of the crew at http://www.saltfreedivers.com/

Please visit https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/Bennoble and throw some cash my way and in turn i'll turn into an icicle for your pleasure.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[BennyB]

Just a note to say thanks to everyone who has generously donated so far. There's still plenty of time to give so please give a little.

Training so far has been as expected - first constant weight dive since October 07 a couple of weeks ago. One training dive to 24m and 1 week of hyperthermia driven sniffles! Next time I have the chance to hit the chilly stuff will be D Day so I guess training is a wrap!

Please visit https://www.bmycharity.com/Bennoble to give.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[island_sands]

wow! nice one I suppose you wont be feeling like big ben during that dive

You have my support - good luck Ben.

 

[BennyB]

Well the dive is tomorrow and i'm happy to say that DeeperBlue members have really opened up their heart and their wallets. So much so that they significantly out-donated my work crowd, until I told them what cheap bastards they were


Thanks to everyone that has helped support the cause, you're really helping those guys and girls that got a bum start to life. It's not too late to give a little bit either! https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/Bennoble

Cheers,
Ben

 

[podge]

Good luck with the show Ben

 

[island_sands]

Hey Ben how did it go?

 

[BennyB]

Brrrr!!!!!!!

After my 9th hot chocolate I think I am thawed out again rofl .

I'm glad to report that the dive was a resounding success, 40m was achieved but way more importantly nearly £600 was raised for Children with Leukaemia which is absolutely fantastic. What made it all the more special was how generous the DeeperBlue.net community were, leading the donation charge.

Here's how the day went down - we arrived at Chepstow and it was an unusually warm and sunny day, not like the usual mud-pan in the carpark like the last dozen times we've dived. We expected water temps to be a bit nasty still, and this was confirmed when we jumped in - the gauges read about 10deg on the surface and we were told around 4-6 deg at depth. What struck us as amazing though was the visability - at least 15m vis which is incredibly rare and certainly the best vis i've seen there in nearly 3 years of diving there. Did I mention cold? Brr! I had not performed a Constant Weight dive since roughly October last year so I was a bit rusty. Given the cold conditions I had a reduced warm up and jumped in 15 minutes before, did a pull down to 15m for about 45 seconds before I started shivering and headed back to the surface. I did a quicker FRC dive not long afterwards then headed for the line with 2 minutes to my offical top. At OT I packed, took off and started down the line. Equalising was ok but I noticed that the Geek Squad tshirt I was wearing (my workplace) was causing a lot of drag and I had to kick a bit harder. At around 24m I stopped kicking and started my glide which seemed pretty normal and equalising seemed ok despite the cold. my depth alarm went off at 35m and I opened my eyes and looked around to see where the cameras were. I grabbed my tag, turned, quickly posed for the vid camera (yes I am a born poser!) started my ascent, posed for another snap with the stills camera, then started up the rope with a few strong kicks. I was feeling a tug on my lanyard for a few metres then I realised that I was following the scuba diveline and not my own diveline and was dragging the comp line along on an angle. I did a 180 degree turn and followed the proper line up the rest of the way. I have to say it was hard work, partly because i'm not that fit at the moment and partly because the tshirt was creating a lot of drag so I hard to kick a lot more than normal. I got to the surface no problems, did my SP and was all smiles

The following day I did a 45m dive which felt a lot easier, it's great to be back in the water again doing some monofinning.

I have to thank some people for all their help (apologies in advance if I forget anyone!!!) - Sam Kirby for letting us use the Saltfree facilities, Laura Storm and the Angels (esp Simon) for both keeping us safe and taking stills and video (and extra thanks for Laura for helping out with all the logistics, initial ideas & planning the whole thing), Dave Morgan, Anna von Boetticher and the rest of the crew for providing freedive safety, Mark Harris (and Laura) for all the early ideas and helping to put the whole project into a concept and into a reality, everyone that helped out here and there and provided support and finally to everyone that donated, you're all stars!

Cheerio,
Ben

ps. some photos at the end here: Freediving Freedom Finders: un álbum de Flickr

 

[Adrian]

Good going Benny, you made it sound easy but the extra drag and cold made me shiver reading about it!

 

[podge]

Good lad Benny and well done

 

[fcallagy]

Well done Benney tis a good start to the season surely.

 

[apneaboy]

These guys are doing dives for a good cause too, have you lot been saving up for some more donations

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