World Record Diary -- Part III
Posted By Tanya Streeter on 9 July 2003
Friday, June 27th, 2003
With a couple of guests on the boat to watch the morning’s dive, we set out just after 8am. The sky was gloomy, and the wind was whipping up the sea. At the mooring the sea was choppy and dark, but the clarity was great and horizontal visibility the best we have had so far. Gilles decided not to bring his camera, preferring to see how things worked out there and get re-acquainted with freediving again. He hasn’t been in the water since this time last year when he covered the No Limits record. Phil brought his second camera while his other one is…..drying out! With the great visibility, I think he got some great shots today! John and Carol were at 90m, Ariane was joined by another of John’s former students Tom, who (like Claire yesterday) has offered to dive for us on his day off, and they were at 50m. Finally Mike was faithfully first in the water to set the deco bottles, supported me at 20m and then last out of the water once the deeper divers were safely through deco stops.
The dive went very well again – 90m in 2 minutes and 30 seconds. I can’t figure out why my timing is so different! So far I have done 80m in 2:13, 85m in 2:10 and 90m in 2:30 – it doesn’t make much sense, but it all feels fine. I am using a Stinger as depth gauge but I don’t have the capability to download and study the dive on my computer, so I don’t know how long the descent is taking versus the ascent. As far as I know, the Stinger does not have the ability of reviewing the dive on the watch itself, like the Apneist. (If anyone reading this can tell me a way to see the dive on the watch I would love to know!!!) Anyway, we have decided the increased dive time today might be because I descended quite a bit slower today which is possibly due to my lung capacity increasing as my rib-cage becomes more flexible with these dives. I would not normally “pack” extra air into my lungs for these depths, but on the way up the buoyancy of that extra liter or so of air volume certainly helps!
This might be a case of “too much information” for any men reading this, but I know I will feel some empathy from the women, but I was doubled over with cramps about 30 seconds after surfacing from the dive. Throughout my 6 years of freediving there have always been times when I have had to dive deep at the wrong time of the month, (I have set 4 records with my period and I think girls should get a few extra meters added on for that!!!), but I have never experienced anything like this! I guess it must have something to do with suddenly sprinting and being under pressure. Whatever it is, I know it doesn’t make diving any easier!
At the beginning of their deco, the divers were treated to a great view of schooling skipjack tuna and a big wahoo, but didn’t capture any of it on film unfortunately. Once I had a brief rest (and a painkiller) on the boat, I got in the water again to do a Constant Weight Without Fins (Breaststroke) dive and did a comfortable 30m. Then Gilles had a little 30m drop on the sled and has got his apnea groove back!
The team ate lunch together as usual and I am so glad we get to do that each day. It’s so much nicer than us all immediately going our different directions right off the boat – it gives us some nice time to go over the dive, and to talk about something other than diving! It’s good bonding time for us all. The tennis at Wimbledon was too good to miss this afternoon, so I only got a short nap before Gilles, Paul and I planned to head to the beach to shoot some underwater video off the shore. The guys wanted to use the opportunity to get used to their cameras, and I was happy to play with my monofin again. But unfortunately there is a “no tanks off the beach” policy here, so we took a roadtrip to pick up some goods from the hardware store and supermarket. Mike, our 20m diver, was at the store so we headed back to the beautiful home he is house-sitting for a drink together. A very cute dog comes with the sitting responsibilities, so I was happy to stay for a while!
It seems all we do is eat……….! After a great dinner in the French Village we went to a local restaurant to meet with new friends from Turks & Caicos. It was a nice change of scenery and good company for a quick drink before finally getting to bed.
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