more pbs

Just realised that I haven't updated this for a while. I think that Christmas chaos has really taken hold. I have discovered that I've been doing much better when I have a big steak and a glass of red wine the night before, which seems to go against a lot of the info I can find.

I've had a few weekends away. The first to PN where I caught up with Rachel who is back from the USA for a few weeks. Her grandmother is not doing particularly well, and Rachel is pregnant and suffering from pretty extreme morning sickness, not to mention that her hubby is in Afganistan cooking for the troops. It was nice to catch up. Mikey has grown so much and is much more like a real person now (he was about one last time I met him, he's three now).

The following weekend I went up to Auckland to do a bit of diving in Lake Pupuke. I had some airpoints and got a pretty cheap grab a seat fare. It all was looking to go a bit pear shaped when I arrived at the airport a mere 8 minutes prior to the plane departing though. However I managed to get on. Was a bit worried about the fins that they just totally ignored being fragile and came out on the conveyor belt with several bags on top, but they were ok, thankfully. Training probably would have been better in Wellington where the sea was dead flat. There always seems to be a storm when I make plans to go anywhere to dive. Didn't do anything fantastic. I forgot how horrible the lake is. Got to the end of the 31m line with my monofin on and to about -26m without fins. Worked on technique, but have a few issues to work through. Haven't really ever used a mono for constant weight before. We really just got blown around in the intense wind (while I re-iterate that the "windy capital" was dead calm). Mono made quite a good sail in the wind after.

Last weekend we went up to Taupo. It was absolutely stunning. The lake was dead calm -don't think I've ever been there in such good conditions before. We drove up Saturday morning (it's 5 hours away), set up camp, dived, did dinner, a game of rhummy, slept, dived and drove home. Luckily there were four of us because Kerian got a tummy bug and couldn't dive. He had a go on Sunday, but threw up a few times and couldn't go past -25m as the pressure was mving things around inside him. The sun was shining and I'm now sporting a pretty flash sunburn beard from the gap between the hood and the mask. I decided to work on constant weight with fins to try to help my hheadspace, and just do one big no warm up dive, which seems to be working for me in other disciplines. I did -43m the first day and -47 the second. We had the rope set to 50 and I'm a bit disappointed I didn't make it to the bottom as I could see it. Probably means my head was in the wrong position... Didn't have any real issues. Did hit a thermocline, which I reckon is the reason why I turned. Had a lot of negative thoughts around 20m but managed to stop myself from turning back. I definitely feel there's more in me. Pleased to have gone that far as I need to calm my brain for constant weight without fins. Did a few technique dives without fins but nothing over 20m. Having problems with the freefall - falling to the side. Also I'm incredibly buoyant in my 5mm suit (and being a floater, and learning how to pack). It's taking forever to get off the surface then I keep losing my mental space. Hopefully I'll sort that out soon as it's mostly in my head. I've ordered some fluid googles too, which should help a lot. The lake is fairly warm at the moment. We had 21 degrees in the shallows, 18 on the surface, 15 at depth and probably a couple of degrees less past that -45m-ish thermocline. I'm looking forward to trying my Orca suit for no fins as I don't think I'll need any weights. Goal for Jan is -45m no fins, 55m with mono, and to learn the mouthful equalisation technique (and remember to do it on time!). I'll be doing a national record attempt on 13 Jan for no fins (currently mine at -31m). Just need to work on my fitness a little over the next few weeks as it's pretty shocking at the moment. I think I was puffing for about 5 mins after my max attempts, depite feeling fine while diving as far as having enough air went. Looking forward to Will's stage in a few weeks time. It'll be nice to be coached for a change.