The Mermaid Diaries : Volume II
Posted By Sam Kirby on 26 September 2005
As those of you who have been following these diaries will know, SaltFree Divers have spent the last few months seeking out top new female freedive talent in the United Kingdom. Our ultimate aim is to find someone who we feel has lots of potential as a great freediver, to train her up and see what happens. Along the way we've met lots of characters and had lots of fun!
Right now, we still have a few girls to see in the lake and we hope to make a final decision in October. For now, here are the thoughts and words of a few of the girls who have come along to the pool and open water tryout sessions.
First up – Kirsty, who came along to the Bristol pool session and then to NDAC. Kirsty is a 29 year old surfer from the West Country who is studying for an MA in Film. She was one of the very few applicants who had never scuba dived.
Kirsty: “For some time now I’ve considered myself a bodyboarder, albeit a rubbish one. Only now, I’m not so sure. Two evenings after the first round of the Mermaid Challenge I'm in the sea and I'm tossing aside my board. Forgetting I'm there to surf, I'm kicking around instead with my suddenly oh-so-short bodyboard fins ...just to try that dolphin thing ...one pool session, my first ever venture into all things freediving, and I think I’m hooked!"
"I had no clue what to expect on that Tuesday evening, and although I thought I might enjoy whatever it would be, I was surprised by quite how much fun it was. Initially I was nervous (made worse by having our mugshots taken and warnings of watery wobbles) and it took a few moments of water time for the nerves to ease. Fellow West Country girl Daisy and I suffered giggles and an utter inability to keep time before we got down to the serious business of holding our breaths – which we achieved, though now, reading around, I see my breath hold would be a mere pause to a real freediver!"
Kirsty continues: "Next,some finning. I loved this. Why have I never tried these fins before? They’re so cool! We all crashed into each other, and flapped about at the ends of the pool, generally enjoying this new-found feeling, before it seemed more sensible to clear the pool for just a few people to try at one time. Sitting around poolside got a little chilly, but we soon warmed up again when we finished with a mayhem game of water hockey. Like a pack of starving piranhas we descended on the poor puck … On loosing a fin I had a chance to catch my breath and contemplate what Sam and the boys were looking for. I guess they could see through our frenzied behaviour?"
"A great fun night. Thank you, guys … now bring on Chepstow!”
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