A Record in 24 Hours For 25 Dollars
Posted By Deron Verbeck on 19 June 2006
By Sunday April 30 I had all but given up on attempting to break the U.S. National Free Immersion record of 51 meters/167 feet held by George Lopez of Laguna Beach. In less than a week judges Matt Charlton and Jade Leutenenegger, who were here in Kona, Hawaii visiting my training partner Will Winram, were scheduled to go back to Canada.
We'd tentatively scheduled my attempt for May 2, but I was unsure if I'd be able to get the day off of work. I was also having trouble finding the EMT required by safety protocols, a deep scuba safety diver, a fast evac boat, bottom and surface videographers to comply with USAA (which is our governing body for freediving in the US) protocols and an O2 bottle- another safety requirement. All these things were proving difficult to coordinate for the same day.
In any other place on the planet it would have cost me thousands of dollars. I'd put some calls out to friends who had video equipment that might be available and two stepped up: Rob White of Blue water Hunter and Glennon Gingo, the ex-President of AIDA USA and my team manager for two of the three years I've been on the U.S. National team. Rob would shoot the surface video and Glennon would be the deep videographer. Glennon would also act as the deep safety in case of an emergency.
Will and I train with a counterbalance system and we'd employ our own hardware for the record attempt. The issue of work was one of the main challenges. Finally I received a call from a co-worker who agreed to cover for me. So now that work was covered I had to focus on the EMT.
I started making calls to EMT-qualified guys I knew at the fire department, but none of were available. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, my girlfriend Mouna was making calls of her own. She was able to contact a local pediatrician, Bob Laird, who was unable to attend himself but advised her to call the Kona Hospital and tipped her off that anyone working the ER that day not be on duty the next day ! I'd spoken with Glennon the day before and he'd told me about a guy named Charles that worked at the hospital, but didn’t have his number. Well, when Mouna called the hospital on Sunday Charles just happened to answer the phone. She asked if he would be interested and he agreed.
EMT secured, now for the boat. I call my friend Brett LeMaster, who works for Dolphin Discoveries, and asked whether he'd be around attempt site at game time. He told me he could make it so.
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