Vertical Blue 2008

[littlefreediver]

WILL, I'M SPEECHLESS! You have blown all expectations out of the water! Now we truly have something great to live up to!

Well done, and congratulations to everyone. It's been a fabulous competition to watch from afar. Future organisers... please take note! If we want the sport to grow, sponsorship opportunities to grow, promotion and marketing needs to be an integral part of event organisation! I know it's a lot to ask, but we all stand to benefit...

This has been a perfect opportunity of how it CAN be done - and multiple world records set at the same time!

x
Sara

 

[efattah]

Congrats Will on the 86m!

I'm back in Vancouver now, in the cold rain.

Vertical Blue 2008 was certainly the best freediving competition in history, from all angles. Some highlights include:

- Eleven attempts per athlete in any self propelled discipline
- Big emphasis on giving the athlete the conditions they want (i.e. allowing them to dive at the start or end of the competition, or with a given surface interval between them and their friend for coaching purposes, etc.)
- Supreme redefinition of 'excellent' conditions. Ability to breathe and prepare on the beach and then swim 30m to the competition line.
- Easy access to 100% O2 at 6m for off gassing
- Impressive and comfortable accomodations
- Extremely reasonable cost
- Best safety setup in history, with the best counterballast system I have ever seen as well as a flawlessly working Furno fish finder that tracked all athletes without error to at least 80m, allowing activation of the counterballast system based on instantaneous information about the athlete's location and activity (i.e. stopped due to equalizing, slow from narcosis, bottom plate problem). This allowed the elimination of scuba divers which in turn allowed 11 attempts per athlete
- Most favorable for spectators --> Joy was calling out the athlete's location at all times based on the fish finder. We were all cheering or praying based on where we knew the athlete to be. What an indescribable excitement to know what is happening during the dive. It also can lead to some anxiety as on Dave's 111m dive, when he kept stopping on the way up and slowing down, getting further and further behind schedule (and we almost activated the counterballast).

There are already plans to do it again, maybe even twice per year, and I will attend every single one of them, assuming I am invited. Thanks Will T. for making it happen!

 

[shoutatthesky]

Wow sounds like a great time was had by all! Congrats and thanks to all:friday:friday

I have just been told that Will is being interviewed today by Katherine Ryan on the "Nine till Noon" show on Radio New Zealand. He hasn't been on yet so maybe you guys can catch the interview via the web? It should be available as a podcast after the show so I will try post the link when it comes online.

Radio New Zealand National : Programmes A-Z : Nine to Noon

Here is the link anyways...

 

[shoutatthesky]

The interview is now available on the previously posted link.

 

[laminar]

Long Island, Bahamas - Breaking news!

William Trubridge has set his 4th world record in the Vertical Blue competition with a free immersion dive to 108m, improving on his world record of 107m this week. More details to follow.

Natalia Avseenko battled a current and fatigue but turned early at 41m on her 60m constant weight without fins world record attempt.

Megumi Matsumoto achieved a Japanese national record in constant weight with a dive to 64m.

Leo, unfortunately, could not recover from the gruelling attempts and blacked out again just beneath the surface on his 51m constant without fins national record attempt (USA).

Ryuzo Shinomya, trying to increase his personal best and set a new Japanese record, couldn't quite equalize all the way and turned one metre short of his target of 105m, achieving 104m with a penalty for not retrieving the tag.

Kerian Hibbs turned early at 71m as he lost his mouth fill looking for the bottom plate.

Tomoko turned early on her dive, as well.

Frank Pernett redeemed his earlier attempt in free immersion, setting a new national record with a dive to 47m. That's two new national records for Frank.

Stay tuned for the full wrap up of the Vertical Blue competition coming soon.

 

[laminar]

That's National records for:

Frank Pernett: CNF, FIM
Dave Mullins: CWT
Kathryn McPhee: CNF, CWT
WILL T: FIM, CNF + WR
Megumi Matsumoto: CWT
Leo Muraoka: FIM
Ryuzo Shinomya: CWT
Natalia Avseenko: CNF + WR
Kerian Hibbs: Variable weight

I think that's it. A pretty impressive haul, I think.

Pete

 

[Kars]

Great interview, Will really did an exilent job on awsering the questions, like a true teacher

Vertical Blue will be a model for future world class events.
Appart from the exiting reports I devouer wherever I could only whish for some moving images, emotions and interviews. I would love to see the surfacing of Natalia for instance!

I't a long list of records, everybody worked hard and it turned out very nice, thank you!

Love, Courage and water,

Kars

 

[efattah]

Now that the event is over, it is time to start analyzing & compiling the data.

- Editing the video clips for each dive and posting them
- Writing more detailed reports & interviews

Also, I'm sure many of the athletes will need several weeks to analyze the data from their dives. I accumulated tons of data and it will help me plan out the rest of my year and the next year, and allow me to set accurate goals.

Looking forward to the next meeting at Dean's Blue Hole !

 

[samdive]

wow - what an amazing event! Well done everyone, incredible performances all round - and especially well done to the organisers, judges and reporters - I know it's not easy!

Would love to come another year

Sam

 

[Mullins]

It was a great event. Although not many of the divers were competing directly with one another this time, the multi-day format has the potential to foster real competition rather than blind nomination 'poker games'. The risk of burnout is quite real though, I suffered a major slump towards the end of the comp just when I needed to be peaking. Given the high stress of a multi-day event Will's 108m FIM yesterday would have to go down as one of the biggest dives ever.

 

[KatFish]

I agree that the competition format worked really well. I found the whole event to be pretty relaxing and enjoyable. I probably suffered the least stress that I've ever had in competition, perhaps because I knew that there was time to re-try if anything went wrong and I didn't have too many expectations placed on me, or maybe it was just the relaxed island lifestyle... I know that the officials would have appreciated a rest day mid way though!

 

[Kars]

Indeed Dave, such competitions reqiuer good planning, and conservation of energy on the athletes' part too
It's simply not possible to really peak Every day and maintain the same level of performance.

I'm sorry you did not have the bit of luck needed to get that comming WR Dave, I know you can do it, you'll find a way!

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[cebaztian]

Will to Sweden
kurs i fridykning


Sebastian
F.Biz

 

[sucinimad]

As long as this thread is brought up, are there any more vids from the contest? Eric and Laminar's feet first CNF?

 

[efattah]

I'll try to post vids of the 67m FRC and the feet first CNF on youtube.

 

[Fondueset]

Cool Eric! I'm happy to host it if you have any trouble with Youtube.

 

[rogam44]

I'll try to post vids of the 67m FRC and the feet first CNF on youtube.

Any progress with posting these videos online? I can't wait any longer...

Jiri B

 

[laminar]

I'll post them today.

Pete

 

[efattah]

The first edited video is up of the 67m FRC dive at Vertical Blue 2008:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGh9lMxHp1Y]YouTube - 67m FRC Dive[/ame]

 

[efattah]

Feet First FRC no fins video:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QTHoXtQPlY]YouTube - Feet First FRC Descent[/ame]