I have never met Tanya, but from all the writing she's done, including her updates on the last attempts, I have to say that she is a fantastic ambassador for the sport. I can't see any evidence of disrespect for anyone whatsoever. In fact she's one of the divers who manages to stay "out of the fray", which I think is admirable. I like reading her stories, and I like her stressing of the team factor in the articles.
As for the no-fins record, AIDA has just introduced this category so it will quickly be taken by another as Tanya states in the DBlue article just written. She admits to wanting to have done a deeper dive, and seems to admit that it wont last long.
If I was in the position of trying to set a multi-faction-recognised world record, I probably wouldn't bother. I'd choose the one that I liked the best, or if I had sponsors paying for everything, I'd pick the biggest and most well known, as long as the rules and ethics were acceptable. Trying to please AIDA alone is enough of a headache I'm sure, paying for "International Judges" airfare and accomodations, let alone 3 or 4 sets of judges from different agencies. Then there would be the logistics of trying to meet all the requirements of all the agencies. Difficult if not impossible! One agency wants safety scuba X metres apart, X amount of freedivers in the water, X amount of O2 available, etc, etc ad nauseum.
Now, on the "International Judge" point. Tom Lightfoot did his CB no-fins dive. It's not recognised internationally because there were no AIDA Int. judges there. Ben Gowan's wife (sorry, forgot her name) did 100 metres no-fins dynamic last year in the UK, but she gets no Int. recognition for the same reason. This policy of AIDA's seems to go against the idea of promotion of the sport, especially such a small and unsponsored one. It costs 1000's of dollars to bring 2 Int judges anywhere, meaning that someone like Ben's wife or Tom Lightfoot or anyone else who is not rolling in $$ or has sponsors will not be getting that International recognition. What's wrong with the National Judges? Are they incompetent, or undertrained? If so, then what aren't they being shown that makes an International Judge more qualified? Is it that "local" judges cannot be deemed as unbiased? Is it that the National judges don't cough up the extra $$ for the "upgrade"
This reminds me of PADI, with their Course Directors who get to travel all over the world at the expense of others. But, PADI Course Directors are in a highly marketed and lucrative industry (relative to freediving) and the Instructors are receiving job training and certification. Except for a few individuals in freediving right now (yes I am envious), a certified world record wont pay the bills at home
Lastly, congrats to Tanya and her Team.
Cheers,
Erik Y.
