Between April 1-11 William Trubridge and Team Vertical Blue set new world records in two of the three competitive depth disciplines in freediving.
Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) 86 meters (282 ft) April 8, 2008
The purest form of freediving, involving an entirely unassisted descent and ascent.
Free Immersion (FIM) 108 meters (354 ft) April 11, 2008
Perhaps the most pleasurable of the disciplines: the freediver pulls on the line to descend and ascend.
Both world records were set at the Vertical Blue 2008 Invitational Freediving competition, held at Dean's Blue Hole, on Long Island in the Bahamas.
Vertical Blue is also the name of William Trubridge's freediving team and Apnea Academy freediving school based on Long Island, in the Bahamas, running courses from introductory to high performance freediving in the stunning waters of Dean's Blue Hole, the deepest blue hole in the world.
The love of the diver for his world of wavering light. His world of pearls and tendrils and his breath at his breast. Born as a plunger into the deeps he is at one with every swarm of limegreen fish, with every coloured sponge. As he holds himself to the ocean's faery floor, one hand clasped to a bedded whale's rib, he is complete and infinite. Pulse, power and universe sway in his body.
- Mervyn Peake