|  Down,
Down, Deeper & Down
The Saltfree Double Dip 2009
Rain, rumbling thunder and the odd flash of
lightning set the scene for the Saltfree Double Dip, this year’s
UK Freediving National Depth Championships. Taking place at the
National Diving and Activity Centre in Chepstow, UK, this was the
fifth national competition organised by Sam Kirby of Saltfree
Divers, and one of the largest UK competitions ever.
Run over two days on the 18th and 19th July
2009, 18 athletes competed for trophies and AIDA Rankings in the
three competitive freedive disciplines – Constant Weight (swimming
down and back up as far as you can in one breath with fins for a
monofin), Constant Weight without Fins (as before, but usually using
a modified breast stroke technique rather than fins) and Free Immersion
(pulling yourself down and back up using only your arms). About
a dozen of the entrants train regularly with Saltfree, the others
came from as far afield as Norway, France and Australia (well, not
quite, he was living in London). The competition was truly an eclectic
mix with five women amongst the leading divers, and athletes from
six different countries (7 if you include Cornwall!).
 Diving
off the newly
refurbished freediving pontoon, sited over the deepest part
of the lake, athletes set off at 6 minute intervals to show the
world what they can do. Each dive below 40m was supported by members
of The Angels
technical dive team who use rebreathers and deep scuba to ensure
everything is going to plan at the bottom. For the deepest divers,
the Angels almost had their fins on the bottom of the quarry! Up
top, the judges, event doctor and a team of safety freedivers kept
a watchful eye, ready to drop the emergency counterweight system
should the need arise.
As with any freedive depth competition, each
athlete decides in advance how deep he or she will dive. The line
is then set at that target depth so that it cannot be exceeded.
Family and friends soon remarked “so you know who’s going
to win then”, but Saturday’s results proved that to be
anything but the case.
 From
the very first diver on the Saturday, judges Dave Griffiths, MT
Solomons and Steve Gardner were making full use of their range of
score cards – white for a clean dive with a perfect score,
yellow for a dive with penalties and red for a disqualification.
Many divers had pitched their depth a bit too deep and ended up
turning early, a few were not quite focussed enough on surfacing
to complete the required “surface protocol” in time and
well, there were a few other minor issues – although nothing
to trouble the event doctor, Dr Mark Turner.
Over a delicious dinner at The Boat Inn, Chepstow
(who deserve a mention for serving 32 of us gorgeous food, on time
and even getting the bill right!), discussions revolved around how
pretty much anything could happen the next day. Would Marc Lenoir
(“bring me the Frenchman!”) overcome his fear of the cold
and get past 14m- or for that matter even come out of the shed?
Would MT really get in the water in the UK? Would Sam make her much
trained for and still much feared 15m CWNF dive? Would we all get
struck by lightning? …. and oh yes, Ferenc Worum was celebrating
his Hungarian National Record in Constant Weight No Fins of 33m!
 Sunday
dawned abominably. It rained, it poured, the campers rolled up at
the lake looking rather sorry for themselves and abandoning all
principles of nuts and berries for breakfast in favour of bacon
and egg butties. The judges took one look at their dodgy gazebo
shelter and donned oilskins. But as soon as Sam got her video camera
out to capture the moment, it stopped raining…. For a few minutes…
After a quick last minute no-fins lesson from
Steve Millard (which involved a bit of crotch groping in the interest
of “adding more weight”), Sam “opened the batting
“ (sorry guys, had to rub it in that you all missed the Test
match for this) with an ambitious, for her, 15m CWNF dive. For someone
whose no fins kick had in the past been described both as a “washing
machine” and a “deranged monkey” – this was
indeed a challenge. Dive and surface protocol completed successfully,
the mood was set for a more positive day.
After a quick break to lower the line considerably,
to 68 for Erlend Breidal of Norway, in Constant Weight – the
competition really got going. Still a few athletes turned early
(weighed down by fried breakfast?) but there were only a couple
of disqualifications. Marc Lenoir did break the 14m thermocline
– but only to surface feet first in what nearly went on the
results sheet as a “humour violation” until we failed
to identify anything banning it in the rules… MT did get in
the water –and stayed there all day despite having to borrow
wetsuit trousers that were at least 4 sizes too big!
Results
Deepest Dives of the weekend were both in Constant
Weight by Erlend Breidal of Norway (68m) and Sam Kirby (32m) –
although Mandy Buckley’s beautiful 35m also deserves a mention.
Had she not let rip a quick “b*****r” on juggling with
her tag at the surface her performances would have put her high
up on the leader board!
 Overall
winners, with a weighting of 1.3 points for every meter for Constant
Weight without Fins (and 1 point for the other disciplines) went
to:
Men: 1st
Stuart Bond – UK, 2nd – Ferenc Worum – Hungary, 3rd
– Dave King – UK
Woman: 1st Kattie Lussier –
Canada, 2nd – Sam Kirby – UK, 3rd – Georgina Miller
– UK
The beautiful trophies made of Bristol Blue
Glass were supplied with support from both Bristol
Blue Glass themselves and the British
Freediving Association.
The judges also had to make a decision as to
who was the best “newbie”. Possibly prized even more than
the glass trophies, the newbie prize of a brand new D4 dive computer
and download kit, courtesy of our friends at Suunto
went to Ferenc Worum who had made the remarkable achievement of
breaking a national record, in a tough discipline, at this his very
first competition.
The rain held off just long enough for the
prize giving but then it was time to pile into cars and vans for
the long road back to reality – many heads a-bopping to the
“Double Dip Disco” compilation CD put together for each
of the winners. “Down, Down, Deeper and Down…. “
name that tune anyone?
Further Info
For more details about freediving with Saltfree
– our regular training meets, competitions and courses, visit
our freediving
page , goto the main Saltfree
website or contact Sam Kirby via email at sam@saltfreedivers.com
. Sam can also supply images of the event and the full set
of results.
For more details on the Angels Technical Dive
team, visit www.angelsofthedeep.org
or contact Laura Storm Harris on laura@saltfreedivers.com.
For more details on NDAC, browse this site
or contact us via our online form>.
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