This year I've entered into an exciting partnership with Tenerife Top Training (T3 for short), a state of the art training center on the main island of the Canaries (Spanish islands off the west coast of Africa).
T3 has provided all the resources I need to prepare for the AIDA World Teams Championships, to be held in Okinawa from July 1-10, where I will be competing for New Zealand with Kerian Hibbs and Guy Brew.

To list some of the features of this incredible facility:

• Two pools (25m and 50m), so I can train both with and without fins in optimal conditions.  The 2m deep pools are equipped with an incredible filtration system (I have never seen cleaner water), and kept at a constant 27ºC, ideal for apnea training.  

• The world's most advanced flume - a water channel with adjustable current to analyze technique and hydrodynamics (similar to a wind tunnel).

• A cutting edge gymnasium with hydraulic weight machines (press a button to change resistance during a set), ultramodern exercise machines and an armory of Swiss balls.

• Tennis, racquetball, squash courts, and two football fields for cross-training, or an active break from freediving!

weight training at the ultramodern T3 gymnasium

What I like best about the venue is the pervading sense of vitality: both pools are outdoors, so the air you tug into your lungs between grueling repetitions of a training table is supplied by a fresh Atlantic sea breeze, and while I row or shift iron in the gym I can admire a beautiful view out over the Atlantic ocean.

T3 collaborates with the ApartHotel Jardin Caleta, which is a short walk away through a field of wild cherry tomatoes.  The ease of access and healthy, comfortable lifestyle mean that I've been able to train as many as three times a day (static apnea at the hotel pool before breakfast, pool training at T3 before lunch, and back to T3 in the evenings for yoga & resistance training).
Tenerife is proposing itself as venue for the 2011 Individual World Champs, so you may be seeing more of it soon, but for anyone who wants to dedicate a couple of weeks to an intensive training camp before then, this is the ideal location.

Also Vertical Blue will be running a course at T3 from September 9-12.  Contact us for more information.

Suunto has been one of my principal sponsors for the last two years, and during this time they have remained the world leader for underwater depth gauges.  Their accuracy, reliability and compact, easy-to-use design has ensured that the Suunto D4 and D9 are used by AIDA as official depth confirmation devices to be worn by competitors.

Recently Suunto released a new series of instruments called the Elementum range, and this includes the Suunto Aqua, for those who spend their leisure time in the liquid element.  The Aqua is both a depth gauge and a luxury timepiece, and it is hands down the most elegant such instrument that a diver can strap to their wrist.  Manufactured from stainless steel, and with a scratch-proof sapphire crystal face, it has a solid heft to it, without feeling awkward on the wrist.
It comes with a variety of different display, strap and colour configurations, and these can all be seen on the Suunto Elementum website
    http://www.suuntocampaigns.com/Elementum/

As a depth gauge it lacks the host of functions that the D4 and D9 are equipped with, but the Aqua is designed as a cross-over timepiece, so that unless you are in a phase of delicate training and need to be able to download your dives at a one-second sampling rate then you can keep this watch on your wrist as you pass from the water to the restaurant.
The Aqua is rated to 200 meters (660 feet), and uses Suunto's super-accurate depth sensor and algorithms to achieve market-leading precision.  Functions include:
    - depth mode displays depth, dive time and max depth
    - measures temperature on the bezel with a simultaneous ºF & ºC display
    - stores last 14 dives (time, depth, and dive time)
    - beautiful LED backlight
    - time alarm

As ambassador for the brand, it's no surprise that I recommend it, but anyone who's seen me wearing my Aqua will know that I'm genuinely proud to be associated with it.  If you want something with modern style, but that still distinguishes you as a diver, then you cannot look past this beautiful piece of Finnish craftsmanship.

This years Freediving World Championships in the Dean's Blue Hole will be the first competition to use an incredible new product that has an enormous application to our sport.
Glow in the dark rope.

In March this year Dean's Blue Hole was covered by a thick layer of seaweed that had blown in from the Sargasso Sea on the spring tradewinds.  It meant the sunlight couldn't penetrate to depth, and any dive past 50 meters was in almost total darkness.  We were assured by the locals that this much seaweed had never before been seen on Long Island, but that didn't help our situation.  I remember sitting despondently on the dive platform and saying to my training partner, "What we need is glow in the dark rope..."
Now that dream has become possible, and although we don't expect to have a problem with light at depth during world championships, this product will have us covered for if we do.

Its greatest application however will surely be in the lakes and quarries of North America and Europe, where light is lost after 10 meters, and deep freedives are conducted in complete darkness.  Glorope only needs a couple of minutes of charging in sunlight (in our tests even a few seconds was sufficient!) in order to stay glowing for hours.  It is true that after a period the charge starts to wear off, but although the line may not  exactly be radiant it is still clearly visible in darkness, which is all that is required.  Furthermore there is even a reflective weave, which makes it stand out like a beacon in any kind of projected light.

Glorope kindly agreed to sponsor the World Championships with a spool of 3/8" (10mm) dyneema glorope.  The dyneema core means that the rope has a five figure breaking strength (>10,000kg!) and is about as stretchy as a brick tower, perfect for accurate line measurements.  They have also sent us sheets of glowing vinyl stickers to cover the base plate so that the black tags are clearly visible.

At $2.33/ft ($7/meter) Glorope is not really any more expensive than standard dyneema rope of its thickness, and the glowing property will last as long as the rope does.
Visit their website at http://www.glorope.com for more information, or to buy online.

Orca has been involved in freediving for several years, and is the wetsuit brand of choice for a large fraction of all the top performing freedivers, including the NZ and Russian mens and womens teams.  Recently I have been collaborating with Orca to develop THE freediving wetsuit.  We had a list of priorities that we would not compromise on, and they have all been met and combined in one suit:
           ORCA FREE...
- greatest hydrodynamic quality possible: realised with Orca's silicon-coated SCS neoprene.
- greatest flexibility possible: using superstretch lining to reduce any resistance to movement to almost zero.
- minimise water entry into the suit: an inner back panel with a hole for the head to pass through funnels any water that enters at the neck back out of the suit.
- maintaining thermal protection while keeping buoyancy to a minimum: 2mm Yamamoto neoprene panels, and a super-tight fit mean this suit can be used in water down to 20°C, but has less buoyancy than a single 3mm jacket.
- stylish graphics: well... judge for yourself!

In these photos I am at Tenerife Top Training Center (Canary Islands, Spain), where as well as state of the art 50m olympic and 25m pools they have one of the most advanced flumes in the world.  A flume is like a wind tunnel, but for the liquid element.

I tested the Orca Free for both DNF and DYN and it's performance was incredible.  With the monofin on we dialed the water speed up to 2.5m/s and I clung to the railing while a river seethed around me.  I expected to be flung against the back grating, but as soon as I let go and started moving I found I was able to stay in the same place, and even make headway into the current.  The incredible silicon surface of the Orca Free meant that I felt like I was invisible to the water - it parted effortlessly around my body.

During DNF trials I was able to complete laps of a 25m pool with 2.5 relaxed strokes, and still maintain a speed of 1.0m/s.  This suit performs, and the clever inner back panel means that you are warmer than one-piece wetsuits twice its thickness.

Now I am back in the Bahamas, and have starting depth training in the lead-up to the AIDA freediving world championships.  Already I have cut 2 ascent strokes off (in an 80m dive) from what I was doing at this time last year.  Anyone who was watching Vertical Blue 2009 might recall I had difficulty in CWT with water entering the neck seal and pooling in the suit I was using, but Orca have solved this problem as well as many other minor details, creating the ultimate performance freediving suit.
The suit will be officially released in January 2010, but Orca are doing a limited run of suits in time for the World Champs, so stay tuned to this space to see if you can pick up an advance model.
You can see more about what Orca are doing for freediving at this link.

A CELLPHONE FOR FREEDIVERS

This year Sonim released its new ultra-rugged cellphone, and the first cellphone with IP-57 certification, which means it is fully submersible to 1m for up to 30 minutes.  Although this doesn't mean you can send texts at 30m you can use this phone comfortably on boats, dive platforms and around the water.  The unit is also resistant to salt, humidity, thermal shock and transport shock (i.e. getting dropped several times a day from up to 1.65m is routine for the XP3).

There is a 2.0 megapixel camera, and ultra long-life 1180 mAh battery that delivers 5.5 hours of talk and over 9 days of standby time.  All this is covered by an unconditional 3 year warranty.

I tested my Sonim XP3 during a freediving course at Marettimo on the weekend, and it functioned perfectly in the boat, and even in the water.  There is a YouTube video of the phone lighting up with an incoming call whilst being boiled in a pot alongside the pasta...

The phone is a little heavier than phones generally are these days, but this in itself is a fashion statement, as are the chunky lines and big buttons that can be used easily with gloves.

Best of all you can buy it unlocked so you can easily swap your SIM card over to the phone when you go traveling or on a dive trip.

Sonim XP3 will be the phone used at the AIDA World Championships by the organisational team and medic.

Check out the Sonim page on http://www.sonimxp3.com for more information

In February we opened a competition (see Suunto "Pick the World Records" challenge for the original post) to pick which, if any, world records would be broken during Vertical Blue 2009, by whom and with what depth.  The closest entrant would receive a new Suunto D4 freediving depth gauge and a Vertical Blue team shirt, second prize would receive the team shirt.

 AIDA judge Grant Graves checking the depth on the official depth gauge for Vertical Blue 2009, a Suunto D4.  Photo courtesy Frederic Buyle.

Vertical Blue saw 5 world records in 4 events, and the correct answer in the competition, for total of 14 possible points was:

male CWT: broken, Herbert Nitsch, 120m
male CNF: broken, William Trubridge, 88m
male FIM: broken, Herbert Nitsch, 109m
female CWT: broken, Sara Campbell, 96m
female CNF: unbroken
female FIM: unbroken 

Two entrants both finished with 11 points: They were LEONARDO D'IMPORZANO from Italy, who picked:

male CWT: broken, Herbert Nitsch, 114m
male CNF: broken, William Trubridge, 88m
male FIM: broken, Herbert Nitsch, 111m
female CWT: broken, Sara Campbell, 96m
female CNF: broken, Sara Campbell, 61m
female FIM: unbroken 

and STEFAN DROGUET, who picked:

male CWT: broken, Herbert Nitsch, 115m
male CNF: broken, William Trubridge, 90m
male FIM: broken, Herbert Nitsch, 111m
female CWT: broken, Sara Campbell, 96m
female CNF: unbroken
female FIM: unbroken 

Leonardo: 3:21
Stefano:   3:37

The Vertical Blue team polos have arrived, and one of the only ways to get your hands on one of these limited edition shirts is to enter the Suunto Pick the Records competition

Have your entry in before Sunday the 29th of March for a chance to win a Suunto D4 and team shirt (first prize) or a team shirt and Orca swim cap (2nd prize). 

 

  ...broken/unbroken???

This year at Vertical Blue Suunto is giving you the opportunity to win a Suunto D4 freediving computer worth $500 as well as Vertical Blue team shirts.

All you need to do is accurately predict whether any world records will be broken during the Vertical Blue event, and if so to whom and with what depth.

Athletes of both genders will compete in three disciplines, so there are 6 records that can be potentially broken.  Current world records are:

mCWT male constant weight 113m Guillaume Nery

mCNF male no fins   86m William Trubridge

mFIM male free immersion 108m William Trubridge

fCWT female constant weight   95m Natalia Molchanova

fCNF female no fins   60m Natalia Molchanova

fFIM female free immersion   85m Natalia Molchanova

So start studying the 20 Vertical Blue athletes, whose profiles will be uploaded to this site.

Follow the links to their websites and personal blogs, and keep your ear to the ground for any secrets or inside information!

This competition is open to the public, but not to anyone participating in the Vertical Blue event, families of the athletes, or to employees of Suunto.

Entries must be made before 9pm EST on Tuesday March 31.

IMPORTANT: only entries made as comments to this blog (click "comments" underneath) will be accepted.

For each record you need to list whether you think it will be broken, and if so who will hold it at the end of the competition, and with what depth.

If you select "unbroken" you cannot also select an athlete and depth!

Please also list your estimated dive time for one (and only one) of the world records (to use in the event of a tiebreaker).  For example:

mCWT broken Hercules 114m

mCNF unbroken

mFIM unbroken

fCWT broken Oprah 99m 3'05" dive time

fCNF broken Catwoman 61m

fFIM unbroken 

The winner will be selected by the following method.

1. correct prediction of whether the record is broken or not = 1 point

2. if broken, correct prediction of athlete who retains record at the end of VB = 1 point

3. if broken, correct prediction of depth of record at conclusion of VB = 1 point

1st prize: Suunto D4 and Vertical Blue team shirt

2nd prize: Vertical Blue team shirt 

For the last 3 years I have been using Orca wetsuits exclusively for training and record attempts.  At first it was a personal choice to use the wetsuit that I considered most effective for constant weight freediving, now I am fortunate enough that Orca have also become my sponsor.

Although they are originally developed for New Zealand's world-beating triathlon team, Orca's suits are currently better than anything else on the market for freediving, especially for no-fins disciplines, where a high performance suit is critical.

The main reason is the minimal neoprene used in a one-piece suit.  With less neoprene, and therefore less buoyancy, the freediver can get away with less ballast weight, and will have a reduced buoyancy change during the dive.  Now most one-piece suits on the market are worthless to freediving due to the amount of water they let in, but Orca's exceptional neck seals and streamline zip cover mean that you stay completely dry inside the suit.  Also, leaving the neck and head exposed to the cold water will enhance the dive reflex (not to mention make it easier to hear your dive alarm!)

 past, present and future?

Orca's developments for triathlon seem to bring them closer to the perfect suit for freediving also.

The first Orca suit I bought was a Pflex, but this has since been replaced by the far superior Apex2, the suit used in my recent 86m CNF and 108m FIM world records.

Amongst its many advantages, the Apex2 has such an incredibly flexible underarm panel that there is almost zero resistance to arm extension in the recovery phase of the arms.  Other benefits include:

- tapered neck seal: this is not only watertight, but airtight too!  That's right, you have to lift the neck seal to let air bubbles out of the suit!

- SCS silicon coating: the surface of an Orca suit has the best hydrodynamic properties of any neoprene.  Wearing this suit I can complete a 25m length in 1.5 strokes (push-off, armstroke, legkick) - this may sound infeasible, but I assure you the Apex2 just keeps on gliding!

- foolproof stitching & seams: what other wetsuit manufacturer offers a warranty on their stitching and seam work?  In 3 years I have yet to have a seam open or split, and we are talking delicate panels of 1.5mm neoprene.

The Apex2 is a composite suit, made up of panels of 1.5mm, 3mm and 4mm neoprene, giving the benefit of weightless arms and legs but a warm core.

However if you are diving in very warm water (more than 27ºC or 78ºF) then I would recommend the RS1.

This is Orca's newest arrival, a suit made entirely out of 1mm neoprene.  With the RS1 you benefit from the hydrodynamic properties of the SCS coating, but with an almost zero buoyancy suit.  Water can enter to a certain extent through the stitched seams, but I find this prevents overheating in dynamics or in the excessively warm water of the Red Sea in the summer.

When I started doing Free Immersion dives shortly before Vertical Blue 2008 I knew I was going to need a deeper gauge to read below 100m.  Suunto stepped up to the plate, and altered one of their D4's - the new model that has replaced the D3 as specialised gauge for freediving.

There has already been talk about its sharp design and quality materials, but what impressed me most with the D4 was its functionality: accurate, intuitive programming, and attention to details, including:

- The buttons are easy to find, and, compared to most dive computers on the market, very easy to depress.

- To enter dive mode takes just a single button press, and to turn dive mode off (so necessary for when you are safetying and need the stopwatch, or spearing/playing in shallow water and don't want to clog up the dive log) is just two clicks.

- There is a 'depth notify' as well as an alarm, and both are very audible, so for those who need to mouthfill at exactly 38.5m, you won't miss it again!  A surface interval alarm makes it easy to set recovery times for training tables.

- The D4 comes with a clear plastic sticker which can be applied to the screen (like an ipod) to protect from scratches.  Big improvement on the D3's chunky plastic guard.

- When viewing the dive profile (which is displayed on the screen as a graph), you can stop or speed up the replay at any point.  The water temperature is graphed so that you can see how it changes with depth.

- The display can be backlit with green light: essential for when you are diving in murky water, or when doing naked statics in the pool at Long Island Breezes on the last night of Vertical Blue 2008...

Since I first started training as a freediver I have always used the Cressi Minima, which has a low internal volume and fits me well.  However over the last year I have been regularly hitting an equalisation barrier with the Minima at around 90m. Unlike the plastic Sphera (which collapses onto the face, and therefore doesn't need to be equalised after 30m), the Minima has a rigid frame and requires regular equalisation.

Although it's nice to be able to see clearly I knew that if I wanted to tackle any depth discipline other than CNF I would need to switch to fluid-filled goggles and a noseclip.  This proved a lot more difficult than anticipated, mainly trying to deal with the air expanding against the noseclip (I can't stand rebreathing expanding air during the ascent!).  I solved this problem by trading in my Paradisa noseclip for a $3 Speedo clip, which supplies just enough seal for me to equalise on the descent, but is leaky enough for expanding air to escape in the ascent.  It's also a lot more hydrodynamic!

The fluid goggles came from friend, freediver and kiwi entrepreneur Kerian Hibbs.  They are a simple but very effective, with a design that doesn't require gluing, and the nose-bridge piece can be varied for a perfect fit.  Underwater vision is excellent, and the goggles are very comfortable to wear.

The results on my training have been instantaneous, and the other day I landed my first 100m dive in FIM, although the rope was getting a little bouncy at that depth...