Cressi-sub Apnea@Altitude 2008

The Cressi-Sub Apnea @ Altitude 2008 freediving competition was held in Lake Taupo over a long weekend from 7-9 March. It was the first year in the history of AIDA NZ running depth competitions that we have had perfect weather to compete in. The competition was run so competitors had the opportunity to select their depth discipline each day from constant weight, constant weight without fins or free immersion to a maximum depth of 90m. Most competitors chose to attempt constant weight dives each day. For me it was the first time I had competed in constant weight for two years and only the second time I had had the opportunity to compete in this discipline. On day one of competition I decided to have a go at breaking the existing New Zealand women's record of 51m. My previous best in training was only 50m, but it had been an easy dive, however we hadn't managed to train to any reasonable depth for the five weeks prior to the competition due to poor weather in Taupo, and before that it was another three week break from my first session of the summer. I decided to take a risk and nominate 56m. I knew I had the breath hold and lung capacity to sucessfully complete this dive, the only thing that could let me down was the cold and the anxiety of being at depth, both of which tense up muscles reducing the ability to equalise. I prepared for my big dive at the camp ground in Motutere on the edge of Lake Taupo with body stretching, lung and diaphragm stretches and visualisations. I visualise my dive in its entirety and all possible senarios so that once I have submerged everything is preconsdiered and just happens without too much thought. The sun was shining and there was not much wind. We waited on the wharf for the inflatable to come and pick us up and ferry us out to the Ocean Hunter boat, which had enough space to hold all the divers before and after their dives, and prodived us with a place to view the competition from. The dive platform had been set up in the lea of the island to minimise any waves. There were a lot of people in the water. For each dive there are at least two safety divers, a camera operator and three judges, plus we had a film crew from 20/20 there recording for a segment on freediving that they plan to air around mid-year and our medic on the boat. Quarter of an hour before my offical top or start time, I got myself suited up and organised my gear. Orca had just sent me a brand new Apex2 wetsuit which I was wearing for the first time. I knew that it would be cold in this thin suit with only a bathing cap and no hood, but it is so streamlined and flexible, and minimises my bouyancy at the surface, making for a much easier dive and reducing the need to wear as much lead. Being the only woman competing on day one it was a pleasure to show off the rather femine pink sleeves of the new suit. Tim the boat driver dropped me off as close as possible to the line so I could avoid any undue exertion directly prior to my dive. I put on the two official Cressi depth guages and slipped into the water about two and a half minutes before my top time. It was very cold. It took longer than expected for my nose clip to seal my nose appropriately enough to be able to equalise against it, then fill my special googles with lake water. I was only ready to dive with approximately 30 seconds to go until top. Luckily we are given 30s in depth events to commence our dives as it takes me about 40 seconds to completely fill my lungs with air using a technique called packing that forces additional air in once you can no longer suck any more in. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to take the few deep relaxing breaths that would have helped me overcome the nerves I was feeling. The dive itself was rushed and almost panicky. I would not say it was my best dive ever even though I did achieve a personal best depth. I did a nice duck dive and kicked off the surface quickly to overcome my bouyancy. The freefall from around 15m was rapid and straight and I focussed on equalising and not worrying about where I was. At about 30m there was a huge thermocline, but it did not phase me. I had assured myself during the visualisation that I would be warm. Around 50m it became hard to equalise and I started to ride my ears. I think this must still be from anxiety at depth rather than a lack of air as I did not feel any compression through my sternum or trachia and was still easily able to put air into my cheeks for mouthful equalisation. I managed to drop to the base plate without hurting my ears, pulled the tag off the line, gave a good pull on the rope to assist with commencing the upward momentum and started kicking towards the surface. I have always found the ascent much easier than the descent. There is very little to focus on in comparison: you just need to swim until you reach the next breath of air. I swam for the surface, rose up, grabbed the line and completed my surface protocol easily within the 15 seconds available. It was the first successful dive of the day and earned me a new New Zealand record of 56m. It also gave me the confidence that I will soon be able to further this record with some minor alterations to the way I dive and through spending some more time at depth.

For day two of the competition I decided to challenge the constant weight without fins national record of 31m. In training two months earlier I had achieved a fairly easy 40m dive, and had ironed out a few of the issues I was facing at that time, so I decided to nominate 43m. My body and mind felt pretty good and I was confident I could make it. I followed the same process as the previous day but slipped into the cold water from a very hot sun filled boat with about 4 minutes until top. I had less troubles with my nose clip and had some time to relax on the surface. I was quite cold already before my dive started. I really struggled to get off the surface and had to do about 50% more strokes to what I was expecting. My freefall was slow and difficult. I was determined to get the tag from the base plate and would not allow myself to turn early. Records can not be set with penalties. Finally I saw the base plate right in front of me, I had been so focussed on zoning out that I had missed the rope markings at 1.5m above the base plate. I grabbed the tag, gave a good pull on the line and started swimming breaststoke up the line towards the surface. I remember thinking “I hope the surface is close” and just kept on going, as you do not have much choice when you are deep under water. I then had a really fantastic deep dream that I do not really recall and awoke back in the lake with lots of people fussing around me. I had blacked out under the surface and been pulled up by my safety diver Mike. Luckily I had not inhaled any water and had come back around in a reasonable period of time. I felt incredibly relaxed after, like my body had been re-booted and totally refreshed. I went and breathed medical oxygen on the boat for a while as a precautionary measure. Later we looked at the three depth guages and they all read 44.8m, which with the calibration of an additional 3% to read accuartely in fresh water would have meant the base plate was sitting just under 46m, 3m deeper than I had nominated. I do not expect that I would have completed the dive any more successfully if the depth had been accurate, however I do feel that I might have blacked out on or nearer the surface rather than at about 7m under.

The critical ingredient that I had overlooked on day two was the fact that I had recently increased my weighting in the pool by about 1kg. This means my total lung capacity had increased since I had last dived in the lake, which in turn increased my already ample buoyancy at the surface and meant I needed more lead to assist me. On day three I borrowed a neck weight that was half a kilogram heavier. I felt confident that I could complete the no fins dive sucessfully. I had had a good night's sleep and my body felt great and I was ready to dive. Unfortunately, the officials decided for safety reasons that I should not go to my day three nomination of 42m and asked me to reduce my nomination to 36m to which I reluctantly agreed. It was a very easy dive. The additional weight meant I had a very easy entry, got up enough speed in my freefall to stay nice and straight, and was not too much to make the ascent a struggle. I grabbed the tag at the base plate and started an easy swim up. I glided the last 10m to the surface and completed the surface protocol, to take my second national record of the competition.