Static!
this is rather long...
My First Samba
I had been practicing static all week in preparation for the last day of competition. After my successful constant ballast dive, I was pretty excited to do well. I had also had an interesting experience with my first samba in static!
I do two warm-up statics and then my target. I don't hyperventilate at all, just slow breathing unlike some of my teammates on Team Canada. When I take my last breath, I pack around 10 ten times or so until I feel nice and full but not straining to keep the air in.
Usually, when I do wet static (and I really haven't done that many except in competitions here in Canada) I just float face down in the water until I come up. I've never put my hands on the edge of the pool or anything.
Anyway, on my target static with Mandy spotting me I got my first contraction at 4:15 and started to resist the next contraction as I was learning was important for me to do. The contractions were well spaced and I was feeling good. At Club Med they had underwater speakers and so I was lost in the song that was playing and resisting contractions. After a while, the contractions got harder and harder to resist and so I came up. I felt my hand dip twice in front of me and the world suddenly came into focus
I immediately said to Mandy, "That was a samba, wasn't it?" She said that I had taken a few difficult, sputtering breaths and then come around. "How long?" I asked. "5:57," she said. I couldn't believe it. The last signal I remember was at 5:15 or so. Apparently I had continued to give strong okay signals at every 15 second tap. I couldn't believe it. My mind had no memory of those taps. Mandy said that if I had been able to hear her clearly and if I had breathed more aggressively in my recovery, I might have avoided the samba.
I decided from then on in the last minute of my statics to lift my head out of the water and grab the pool lip so I could hear the signals more clearly.
Two days later, I tried this out and made 5:32 easily. As Mandy announced the fifteen second intervals during my static, she said," Remember these signals, Peter, stay clean!"
It worked. In a way, I'm happy I can space out underwater, it means I'm relaxed. Since I do most of my statics dry for lack of a buddy, I had to adjust my static "technique" to help me stay aware underwater.
The competition.
Like my constant, I was nervous in the hours leading up to the event. But I had repeated to myself over and over again the night before, "When you get to the competition line, you'll be calm and your heartbeat will be slow and soft. You'll have a smile on your face."
But hell, I was nervous!
Everytime I sat up and watched the five lanes of competitors floating face down in the water and the more than three hundred people watching, I felt my stomach twist and flip over itself. I had almost three hours before my 45 min warm-up began. That's a lot of time to kill and stay calm. I went outside and did some pranayama. It was windy and there was a thunderstorm advancing on the island of Ibiza. I lost myself in the raindrops and the gusts of wind and the smells carried in it. My nervousness vanished. A half-hour before my 45 min, I did some qi-gong "standing" which totally relaxed my legs. It was difficult to walk around. I felt weak but good at the same time. Mandy would be doing her static in the lane right next to mine, since she had also announced 4:30. Already the good news was coming in. Cali and Tara had both been successful in their statics. I would be the first of the Canadian men to go, since both Tom and Dan Hodgins had announced 5min.
I put on my wetsuit and waiting on the edge of the pool for my name to be called. I just sat there, relaxing until about 20 min before my "go time" and then I started my warm-up statics. When it was time to go, I smiled at Mandy and filled up my fluid goggles with saline. Ken, the alternate, dragged me over to the line. This was it! I had Sebastian Nagel, the President of AIDA, as my judge. That made me feel good. I said hello and propped my chin on the pool edge and relaxed some more. I felt I was in top shape: my legs and body was as relaxed as I could make it, my warm-ups had gone well, and I was calm at the line.
The official count started and soon my face was in the water. As time drifted away, I felt my diaphram tightening. So soon! I was sure it was way too earlier and the thought of aborting came to me. I dispelled it, I'm at the World Championships! I felt my first tap at 3:30, then 4:30, and I was still resisting my first contraction. Finally I let it hit me and then I grabbed the edge of the pool so I could hear Ken's voice. At 5:32 I pulled up and I felt fantastic. It was clean and almost immediately another huge smile broke over my face. It was over. I looked over at Mandy and she had done 5:06. Soon we heard the unconfirmed rumour that the Canadian women had moved into first place!
After we were all done, the team staged some fun synchronized swimming-style photographs in the shallow warm-up pool. When they get developed, I'll post them on my website. We were all smiling and looking forward to some champagne for a job well done.
The very last line of people going was exciting. Martin Stepanek was in the lane next to Herbert Nitsch. I expected Martin to pull up early. It was his first competition and he found it difficult to concentrate with the insane media attention he was getting. He stopped his static early and watched Herbert push it. I had seen Herbert do 7:49 in practice and come up with a smile. On another breath hold over 7min, he had his first contraction at 6min!
Herbert's body buckled as he passed 7min, then 7:45, then 8:00. At 8:13 he pulled up. The whole place erupted in applause. From where we were we couldn't tell if he had made it clean. Apparently, he had a samba and had difficulty breathing. The focus of everyone in the building on one person holding his breath was amazing.
The Italians took this as their cue to jump into the pool and start cheering like crazy people! They sang all their national favourites including "O sole mio," "Funiculi, Funicula." Umberto Pelizzari had pulled up early at 5:38, but more importantly his team had won. He was the most rabid celebrator and the loudest.
Later that night, we all saw what happens when over 100 freedivers, who have been denying themselves their indulgences for the last several months in preparation for this competition, finally let themselves loose.
Most of all I was happy that I had been able to do what I knew I could do. It isn't the numbers of time and depth, but that I could do it when it counted. I guess that's the thrill of competition. And I guess the sea wanted me that day....
One thing that I really appreciated about this competition was the high level of sportsmanship. If someone was disqualified because of a samba or blackout, no one ever made fun of them. Usually, people asked with genuine concern if they were "okay." Hubert Maier from Germany had a serious blackout 8m under and was pretty shaken up. He hoped his mother wouldn't find out and told me on static day that the night before had been interrupted by dreams of blacking out over and over again. I congratulated him with feeling when he pulled off a 7:03 static. I think freedivers have a sort of empathy for each other. A serious samba or blackout is never a good thing.
It was also nice to commiserate with other divers who have to train in cold black waters all year round like Jero and Topi.
cheers (and still obviously in withdrawl from all this and some of the cute Club Med staff),
Pete
:t
