30th March 2014
DNF Competition AIDA, Suunto, We Freedive
Judges - Richard Wonka
Sarah Whitcher
Safety - Yann Dumas
Competitors - Walter Johnson (USA)
Azam Hamid (MYS)
Richard Marsh (GBR)
Melanie Long (GBR)
My Official Top - 9.50am
Announced Performance - 30 meters
Realised Performance - 43 meters
Card - White
Penalties - N/A
Points -21.5
Personal Best -43 meters
So Today was the big day for the competition. I had only done 2 training sessions for DNF ( Dynamic No Fins ) This is how far you can swim horizontally on one breath without wearing fins. You rely on your ability to propel yourself through the water using arm strokes, leg kicks (pushes) and being streamlined in body position and posture.
I arrived in plenty of time - all athletes must arrive minimum 1 hour prior to their “Official Top” ( starting time for their dive ) this is so the competitor does not breathe pure Oxygen before the dive - enhancing their performance.
I was using a 1KG (2.2LBS) neck weight along with a bibbed hood, sharkskin rashy and bikini, which gave me nice neutral buoyancy the whole way long ( the pool changes depth so I was happy not to be all over the depth scale)
You get 45 mins in the warm up lane - some people choose not to get in the water till closer to the Official Top, but I wanted to do a practise run and work on my kick glide. I got in with about 30mins till official top and got nice and comfortable in the water. Each competitor must give an announced performance which is the minimum you expect to complete on the dive ( if you dive less than this you get penalty points ) you can dive further than this of course if you feel like it. I had announced at least 30m and decided to do 1 warm up dive just to be sure. The rest of the time I spent getting my heart rate down and relaxing in the water gearing up for my dive.
2 mins before the official top, you move into the competition lane, here I stood in a relaxed stance against the wall doing my breath up.For some reason my heart was beating out of my chest, I was so nervous yet I had just done a really smooth warm up dive ! I guess the pressure of the competition was in my head lol You must begin the dive ( submerge your airways ) within 10 seconds of the official top time, any later than this and you get penalty points. Once it was time for me to dive I took my full breath inhale and submerged, I got a nice clean kick off the wall and made the most of my glide. The pool is 25m long so I knew after I did my turn and glide I would make my 30m AP. I was feeling pretty comfortable and enjoying gliding along so I decided to go for another arm stoke and leg kick ( may have been an extra 2 , will need to watch the playback when its released)
I came up at 43 meters, a personal best for me, I started the surface protocol ( keeping my airways out of the water - re submersion results in penalty points - although it was close ! ) Mask off, give the OK sign and say “Im Okay” you must then wait for the judges to show you a card - Red card = Disqualification, Yellow card = Penalty Points, White card = Clean Dive. I was very pleased to get a White Card, which in turn meant I won 1st place in the female category ( I should add I was the only female competitor lol ) and I won 2nd place overall.
After we had all competed we got our pictures taken for Suunto, who are sponsoring the big prize at the end of the competition ( a Suunto D6i dive computer ) We then had some interviews with the local TV News channel and headed out to have a big breakfast ! ( I was told not to eat before freediving as your body uses oxygen and energy when digesting food - therefore making your breath hold not so efficient)
We then got our prizes for the comp and my coach Walter and I won very nice freediving nose clips ! ( Golden ones XD ) - this means you don’t have to use your hands to pinch and equalise when depth diving or for doing dynamics.
- We then had a presentation from Richard Marsh ( AIDA Freediving Instructor Candidate ) on the History and Future of Freediving within the Koh Surin Moken. It was very touching and filled me with so many emotions, I hope everyone can take the time to check out www.projectmoken.com and help preserve this tribes traditions and way of life ! I hope I can help them in a more hands on way since I am here in Thailand and will keep you guys updated on it - will possibly make a new thread for the Moken.
I was thrilled to bits with the outcome today and can’t wait to take part in the next comp DYN ( Dynamic with Fins )
Now I am a registered AIDA athlete and have a ranking on the database ( or I will be once the results are released ! )
I hope this inspires you guys to give it a go if you can - you would be surprised what you can achieve if you try !
I will keep you guys updated with my training in the lead up to the next comp and if anyone has any questions, Im happy to answer them as best I can!
xxx
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! Keep up the training, and, most important, stay safe.
Yes for sure about the safety ... actually when Azam ( Malaysian competitor ) surfaced he actually had pushed himself a little too far and he blacked out, which was pretty scary, i was to dive after him so I think seeing that got my heart pumping a bit faster lol not worry he was fine about 20 seconds later and the safety diver was there to help him ( support him in the water on the float, remove mask, nose clip, then performed BLOW>TAP<TALK procedure) such a shame Azam was going for the National Record, his personal best was 81m and he had to get 82m for the record ... but he pushed himself to 87m and he said it was that last arm stroke that was maybe one too many. Unfortunatly is you blackout you get disqualified from the competition, but I'm sure he will rock it next time ! 
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