Day -1 : Packing day
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Excitement is reaching gigantic levels. Tomorrow we go !!!
Problem 1 > How to get 3 monofins , 2 pairs of stereo fins, 3 wetsuits , 2x5
kg of weights and lots of other freedive gear in this small bag.
Problem 2 > Aaarrggggh forgot to pack my normal clothes
Problem 3 > I am suffering from serious hay fever and with the current
weather conditions my sinuses are completely closed. Hope Cyprus is better
.......
Day 0 : Travel
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Nothing special to tell. Flight was ok. Checked in to the hotel , which is
reasonable but with a great view over the large static competition pool. Bit
noisy at night though.
We met our friends from
This is a good start of some amazing results...
Day 1: Registration day
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Last night we made some last minute arrangements with some people who did rent
a boat to do some extra training. Turned out some other interesting people
where on the boat. Like Anabel Briseno and Deepest Bear Sam. An Australian guy
we met did 77 meter on the rope next to us, while we where struggling around
the 25 marker. Boehoehoe.....
At registration lots of famous faces showed up , like Martin Stepanek and
Herbert Nitsch. Later we will join the official opening ceremony and of course
the party....
Also our Swiss friend got an SMS that Tomas Sietas did a new WR static at
Day 2: First official CW training
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After a very nice CW training in extremely blue water with 45 meter visibility
and both of us a new PB, today went a bit different.
There was a current , which made it more difficult to control the dive and also
we lost our only lanyard. Visibility still great , temperature awesome, so no
big worries yet. Although both our ears locked up way before our target
depth....
Arriving at the training site is an amazing thing, because in the middle of the
sea an enormous rig , straight out of blade runner goes mad max goes the abyss,
is set up for us to train. Lines go as deep as 105 meters , so just about
enough for us..
This afternoon we did the official dynamics training. The pool is brand new and
Olympic size (50m) , with 8 lanes. Also nice and warm. Training felt good. so
we will see on Monday at the comp.
The big guns took it easy today so no news there (for the moment). Anabel and
Carlos are really nice and easy to speak to. No stardom attitude. Also mistook
Martin Stepanek for the waiter, when I bumped into him . He was wearing a white
shirt carrying something that looked like a tray. We had a laugh about it
afterward. He is also very friendly. Actually everybody is. Last night at the
opening ceremony that was very clear. Including the mysterious Russian team and
the high tech Japanese with there techno monofins.
Day 3: Last CW training
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Today went very well for both of us. Patricia did a PB in free immersion of 27 meters and I finally got the 30m mark. Was not easy since my very limited training possibility combined with the recovery from a broken eardrum, but I am a happy man. Will try to do 33 on the competition.
The training was also good because there was no current anymore like yesterday
and next to that we where in the same team as almost all of the famous
freedivers I know. So while I did my warm-ups I could see Martin Stepanek,
Carlos Coste, Annabel Briseno, Natalia Molchanova, Fred Buyle and Bill
Stromberg do their thing. Afterwards Martin said he ONLY did 90m today........
;-(
Tomorrow Dynamic competition day !!!
Day 4: Dynamics Competition
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Today was a 100% success day for both Patricia and me. We both did a personal
best. Patricia did a great 62 meters and came up very clear and controlled.
Myself I finally got the 100meter I wanted for some time now. Was a very
special dive. I started feeling problems with my legs at around 75 meters. At
90 meters they completely stopped working. I still felt good air-wise, but no
legs does not help, so I decided to get out. Then I looked forward and saw the
100meter wall very close in front of me and thought "what the hell"
and without using my legs I swam to the wall and came up like I had done 10
meters instead. So if I work on my technique to use less legs and more body
like you should with the monofin, I can do much more..........
From the big boys and girls the winner was Herbert Nitch , who did a clean 170
meters like it was 10 meters. The funny thing was that he also swam with his
arms for the last meters like I did, so it was not that stupid after all ;-)
on the female side , a relative unknown Finnish girl broke the world record
with 158m !! (decision pending)
Day 5 : CW competition day 1
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Well, this is a resting day for us, since our toptime is on Thursday. That is
good news , since we are right after the 3 100 plus guys. Martin announced 103
meters and both Carlos and Herbert announced 102 meters. Since the safety
divers can not stay long at that depth , they will return to 30-40 meters after
that. We have received lots of requests from people wanting to be our coach on
that day, since only competitors and coaches are allowed on the rig ;-) Wolle
Neugebauer is going to coach me and Daniel Wieser will coach Patricia.
We used today to do some wet statics , which went ok . I did a relaxed
For the people doing CW today it went nice and easy. Very little sambas and the
whole operation ran like clockwork.
Day 6: CW competition day 2
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Last resting day for us and it seems the heat of 34 degrees every day is
getting to us. I did some statics but had been better of not doing that ;-(.
Then we just slept the whole afternoon, since it was too hot to do anything
else.
From the people arriving back from the boat we heard mixed results. From the
deep guys only Ant Williams (70m) and a Japanese guy (I think Shinomiya, but we
get the oficial results in 30 minutes) did their dive. The rest blacked out ,
sambad or turned early. From the shallower normal humans including our Swiss
friends we heard only success stories, which is what we need for tomorrow. That
all agreed that it is much easier on the competition dive than on the training
dives. Mainly because you can see your tag even from the transition zone and
focus on getting it..... We will see tomorrow. Will be D-day for us and for the
competition . WHO WILL BE THE NEW WR HOLDER !
Day 7 : CW competition day 3
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We did it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We both got our tag and 2 new PB's. Patricia was so relaxed that she banged
into the plate and ended up below it. Then an easy swim up and she showed me
the 25 m tag. Super job that girl of mine. Myself I swam very relaxed down ,
looking up to the safety divers and the sun, to suddenly find my ears blocking.
No worries I thought and made a summersault (360degrees) , which cleared my
ears. While looking down is saw the plate very close and swam too it. Got the
tag and euphoric ascend. We are HAPPY
Just before my official toptime I could shake hands with Carlos Coste in the
water after he did a NEW WORLD RECORD of 102 Meters. Unbelievable.... Martin
Stepanek turned at 99m and Herbert at 88, so Carlos wins this one (as we had
predicted).
Now some food and sleep and tonight we will get the premiere showing of the new
movie "The Freediver" here in the hotel. Also we will see video
footage of all our dives, which where extensively filmed by several cameras.
Lots of media was present at this days events so I am sure there will be some
cool footage of our own dives.
Tomorrow resting day before the final static competition on Saturday
One correction : yesterday I mentioned wrongly that Shinomiya made it. It
should have been Timo Kinnunen from
Day 8: Static Competition day
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Today we did static. This proved to be a very tough last day for most people
since the sun was a blazing 35 degrees plus beating on our backs. Herbert Nitch
had to leave on an early flight so he started before everybody else. This
proved to be a good tactic, since at
Lottal Erikson did a new WORLDRECORD of 6'31'' !!!
Myself I had a head to head with Fred Buyle. I went further that he did but had
to stop at 5'31'' , because the heat was killing me and my head almost
exploded. So no new NR for me this time.... Patricia had similar problems and
did a clean 3'26'', also 30 second below her PB.
Several people crashed under the heat with a samba or blackout. Very pity for
Ant William who had a LMC in the final heat against Timo Kinunen, who also did
not reach his announced 7'30'' (he did 6'30 something).
Anyway, hat was it for
For pictures of this event check out my photogallery at Photo Gallery