PFD Cayman 2004: March 22 Update
Posted By Paul Kotik on 22 March 2004
In Association with
Performance FreeDiving
Late last night, at the Cobalt Coast Resort’s WiFi –equipped Duppies Bar, a real duppy laid a hand on the Performance Freediving Cayman 2004 event. The duppy is a Caribbean spirit being, one who is, shall we say, not always benevolent. And so it happened that late last night, not long after I’d filed yesterday’s story, there came a setback in the form of a terse email from AIDA.
The bar is where we do our internet-ing. We’d retired there after splendid victory dinner, Mandy and Kirk still triumphal and glowing from her world-beating constant ballast dive earlier in the day. Martin sat apart from the others, considering his failed attempt on the 100- meter mark, preparing himself for his next. Screening video rushes on his laptop, Kirk idly opened his email program from time to time, working his way through the very, very large number of inbound messages that pile up during a long day on the water. Especially on a day like this, where congratulations are in order.
And there, insinuated between the kudos, was the bad news: AIDA would not recognize any Free Immersion record by Mandy during this event. A close audit of the regulations had discovered the indisputable fact that Mandy’s prerequisite dive had been done before the 3-month window in which a record attempt must be done. Prerequisite dive and record dive must be done within 3 months, full stop.
Very bad news, indeed.
Years of dreams, months and months of arduous training and sacrifice, not to mention the considerable personal expenses she incurred in pursuing this goal, all melted away in a heartbeat in a tropical seaside bar with reggae sounds counterpointed by crashing surf.
Oh, well.
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