Hello all,
I have followed this thread with some interest, and felt that I should add my own 2 cents of input for whatever they are worth.
Sebastian,
First of all, I always found it odd that you love the unassisted category so much and when you spent 3 weeks with us when David and Yas were going for records in that category, you never, once, asked any of them or myself anything about the category, training or a technical detail, but we rather discussed about FREE and AIDA, always at your request by the way...I thought, what a waste, here is a diver who loves a category and has a genuine chance to learn from some of the best unassisted divers and their trainer and he does not take it...hmmm, what is becaue you don't respect the FREE system? But perhaps this very particular way of yours to look at technical matters is the reason why I see you endlessly attempting to come up with comparative percentages between categories and other things which truly cannot be quantified in freediving. I think you would do well in not being so concerned about how these formulas and aproximations work, which will change from person to person, from day to day, anyway and try and grasp some of the more tangible and important aspects of freeediving training, which from time to time truly seem to be within your reach and you take no advantage of it whatsoever. I remember Topi telling me how you spent some time together with him at some event and all you did was brag to him instead of trying to learn something from such a talented diver...And please, don't go around equating David's 65 meter dive to an AIDA 62 meter dive, you are being disrespectful when you say that, irrespective of whether it is due to an improper training background or whatever. Just go to the FREE site and watch the video of his record, the video that we make available after each record right away, or write to any of the judges who verified it, as we publish the judges' names and list e-mail contacts for them, or ask Stephan Whelan from Deeperblue, who was there as a reporter, but please, do not make such irresponsible statements without knowing what you're talking about...
Walt,
You don't need to be my friend to be able to attempt a record under FREE. People like David and Yasemin started by being my trainees, and as you may or may not know, I teach several courses every year and certify hundreds of students so my pool of talented trainees is rather large. That they are so close to me could perhaps explain why we share the same ideas and principles that lead us to believe in the FREE system, but trust me, no corners have been cut with them. Take Topi for example. I never met him, he was another anonymous diver who wrote to me asking for advice and, as I do with many people (including Sebastian Naslund) I invited him to come and spend some time with us in Turkey and witness Yas' record attempt. When he got there and we saw how good he was, we did all that we could to allow him to get some dives, and I personally insisted that he should attempt a world record on our money, even if it was to break David's record. In the end, when Yasemin failed both her attempts due to her pancreas tumor, we ended up organizing the whole event just so that Topi could get his first world record, and believe me, I would have done the same for you or anybody else who would have shown enough passion and interest to come all the way down to see us. Now Topi will dive under AIDA and that's just as well with me, we did not help him out of political reasons or because he was a friend, I think him and I respect each other very much but I certainly can count my friends with the fingers of one hand...
I agree with you that talent alone is not enough to allow you to attempt a world record and that's unfortunate, but at the same time, those who want it really bad will eventually succedd in finding sponsorship or any other alternate way to organize a record attempt. Look at Yasemin, she lives in Turkey, which is certainly not a rich country and without any sponsorship tradition and yet, she managed to find support after knocking on countless doors. And the same goes for David, every year he goes through hell trying to secure the money for his records, but somehow he does it, so are they the most talented? Maybe not, but they certainly deserve the records because besides the natural talent and hard training, they put in the hours and days and months at the incredibly hard, demoralizing and at times even humilliating job of convincing people to give you money. Look at Pipin, the most financially successful freediver of all times and he came from Cuba, from totally restrictive conditions and poverty, but he wanted it very bad and he got it, besides the fact tnat he really had no scruples in getting there. Of course, I know things are not so simple as this, but there are always ways to go about it. Well, you could have paid 600 dollars and come to one of our training camps and get the chance to set your 63 m WR with proper safety and judges, and it doesn't get cheaper than that...but perhaps you don't believe in the FREE system? If you don't, I totally respect that, but for the others out there, this is the same system that has made Yasemin, David and even Topi household names in freediving. Their credibility and reputation is pretty much as high as could be AND they have managed to get sponsors...So hey, if there's anything we can do to help you, let me know and we'll do our best as we do with anybody else.
I wonder if anybody has really stopped to think for one second why we created FREE...is it because we would get rich or famous or have "power" as some say?
Please, why would we go through the trouble of setting up an organization unless we felt there was something really valuable we could offer to the community, and to whatever smaller or larger scale, we have certainly managed to do that.
Safe dives,
Rudi Castineyra
