I’m off to Hawaii, Kona to be exact. I’ve left my girls, all of them so supportive but sad at my departure. Zoe told me she’d miss me but that I should have fun. This time she’s not worried I won’t come back; she seems secure. Cacia is too young to understand what was happening but judging from the way she stuck to me like glue this morning, she knew something was up. Kids are so intuitive. Once again, Sarah figured I was crazy to question going, that I need to do what makes me happy, that my doing so makes her happy. Yet, she was clearly missing me before I left, as I was all of them. And again, Mom and Dad have came down to help while I’m away.

In Kona I’ll be taking several courses with PFI. I’ll be working on my competitive technique, I’ll be adding to my water-safety and supervisory skills, and I will be learning to teach basic freediving. This will increase my personal performance potential and give me a way to give back to the freediving community while, hopefully, helping pay for further adventures.

Further adventures. Adventures that will take me away from my family more often…

Of course, my family is the other thing I’ve become passionate about. I have a beautiful and loving wife. I have two adoring daughters. They can drive me crazy and they fill my heart.

One passion takes me away from the other. That is hard. But, I have two passions in my life where, four years ago I went looking for one. When I realise that? Let myself feel that? Tears.

Perfect.

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I’d like to get the following goals accomplished before leaving for Kona on the 20th.

Goal 1: CO2 L9 table
Goal 2: O2 L8 table
Goal 3: Plenty of HR Z2 swimming with fins and w/o fins.
Goal 4: 5:30 static
Goal 5: Daily stretching, including respiratory stretching.

This is a big list considering my other obligations but I think it is manageable.

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It’s nice to see that I made the top three in two disciplines. I made the top ten in two others as well. Complete details Hopefully with some extra work this year I can put in even better showings.

Congrats to everyone who competed this year.

Women

Free Immersion (FIM)
1. Jana Strain
2. Jennifer Balfour
3. Kattie Lussier

Constant Weight no Fins (CNF) and Constant Weight (CWT)
1. Jana Strain
2. Kattie Lussier
3. Jennifer Balfour

Static (STA)
1. Jill Yoneda
2. Jennifer Balfour
3. Yaroslava Timoshenko

Dynamic no Fins (DNF)
1. Marie-Odile Hogue
2. Jennifer Balfour
3. Nathalie Hébert

Dynamic (DYN)
1. Marie-Odile Hogue
2. Jill Yoneda
3. Nathalie Hébert

Men

Free Immersion (FIM)
1. William Winram
2. Philippe Beauchamp
3. François Leduc

Constant Weight no Fins (CNF)
1. William Winram
2. Philippe Beauchamp
3. Greg Fee

Constant Weight (CWT)
1. Eric Fattah
2. Philippe Beauchamp
3. Kevin Sorensen

Static (STA)
1. Eric Fattah
2. Kelly Smith
3. Kevin Sorensen

Dynamic no Fins (DNF)
1. Philippe Beauchamp
2. Dmitry Shirkalin
3. Wade Barmby

Dynamic (DYN)
1. Philippe Beauchamp
2. François Leduc
3. Doug Sitter

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What am I training for? I’m trying to get back into shape for some freediving courses with Performance Freediving International in late February. Additionally, I’ve set a goal to improve my personal best static time of 6:25 by the end of the year. I’m curious to see if I can get it anywhere close to the Canadian National Record.

January Training

In addtion to generally improving my fitness level, I have a few goals for what remains of January.

Goal #1: Complete CO2 Table L8
Goal #2: Swimming 1000m continuous, HR Zone 2
Goal #3: Intro some local divers to breath-holding. Setup some regular get togethers to help each other with our underwater swimming and breath-holding. I hope one or two get hooked enough to train with me.
Goal #4: Static of 5:00 or so.

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Breath Holding World Record (Static Apnea)

In 2008, the year I started freediving, Tom Sietas was the man to beat in Static Apnea, setting two new world records. I remember hearing other freedivers marvel at how easy he made it look, coming up at the end of his holds like he had only been holding his breath for moments. For the women, Natalia Molchanova continued what has become a long period as the world record holder.

In 2009, Stephane Mifsud added more than a minute to the men’s WR time, destroying Tom’s previous record. Natalia added 23 seconds to her own WR.

No new records were set in 2010.

In Canada, Luc Gosselin and Mandy-Rae Cruickshank had held their national records since 2004. In 2009, Julie Bissaillon established the first new national static record in five years, upping the women’s record to 6 minutes and 53 seconds. Eric Fatah took a run at the men’s record in 2010 but fell short.

Dynamic Apnea

Natalia had been posting 200+ meter performances since 2006. In 2008 she raised the WR to 214 m. In 2010 she upped it again to 225 m.

In 2008 I had no idea that the world record for dynamic apnea was 244 m. I had no idea who Dave Mullins was. That changed in Sharm-el-Shiehk Egypt when I watched Dave hop into the pool a few minutes before his dynamic performance, swim 248 m underwater, perform a nice clean surface protocol and then hop out like it was nothing; piece of cake.

I had hardly ever tried a dynamic before that competition so I really did not know just how difficult a discipline dynamic is. Alexy Molchanov took the record away less than a month later and his 250 m world record lasted till I watched Frederic Sessa throw caution to the wind and reset the record to 265 m in Okinawa, 2010. Frederic’s WR would not stand for long as Dave Mullins reclaimed his top position in the world of dynamic apnea.

Canadian records are a ways behind the rest of the world. Jill Yoneda was the woman to beat in 2008 and reset the national record twice that year. In 2009 Jana Strain burst onto the scene and also reset the national record twice, ending up at 181 m. For the men, William Winram had been the only freediver setting new national dynamic records for years. However, the national record has not changed since William set it to 205 m late in 2008.

Constant Weight

Natalia Molchanova took top honours in CWT from Sara Campbell in 2008. Sara reclaimed the title in 2009, adding 1 m to Natalia’s 95 m.

The men have been setting new records in CWT at a frantic pace, often 1 m at a time, particularly in 2009. Herbert Nitsch has dominated the field, repeatedly setting new world records in CWT since 2007. Guillaume Néry reclaimed the WR in 2008, as did Martin Stepanek in 2009, but each time Herbert came back to reclaim the WR.

In Canada the Constant Weight national records have been few and far between. Eric Fatah set the national record to 100 m in 2010, destroying William’s 2006 record of 84 m. Mandy-Rae Cruickshank has held the national record of 88 m since 2007.

Static Apnea, Dynamic Apnea and Constant Weight are the core disciplines in Canadian competition. Freedivers have been hard at work resetting other disciplines as well. I’ll cover those in a later post.

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My stomach clenched as I watched William started back up off the plate. That’s negatively buoyant!

Again, congrats William. And thanks for the great video of the event.

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The official announcement can be seen on Vertical Blue.

Apparently the surface protocol was not quite clean, though judged good. A true competitor, William pulled off a 101m CNF the next day with a completely clean surface protocol. Leave no doubt!

Awesome! Congrats William!

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At our first board meeting, I accepted the position of Vice President and agreed to take over as webmaster for CAFA’s official website. The board is comprised of:

President/Media Relations: Andrew Hogan
Vice President: Kevin Sorensen
Secretary: Mandy-Rae Cruickshank
Treasurer: Jill Yoneda
Membership: Eugene Lim
Social Media: Trisha Stovel

This marks the first year where none of the founding members of CAFA are on the board with the exception of Mandy-Rae who has asked to have no voting privileges to avoid conflicts of interest with her family’s company Performance Freediving International. The board is happy she agreed to help us out as most of us don’t have much experience on boards like this.

I’m excited. CAFA has had its share of challenges over the years. After AIDA Canada became the official national AIDA designate, it became clear that CAFA’s board could use some fresh faces, some new blood to invigorate the organization. I think we have that in the new board and I’m happy to be a part of what I hope will be a positive chapter in CAFA’s history.

Several of the ex-CAFA board members will continue their support of Canadian freediving from within the Vancouver Apneist Club. With their time and attention focused firmly on the local freediving scene, that club should benefit enormously. And of course they continue to be CAFA members and are a valuable resource for the new CAFA board.

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Shortly after confirming my registration with AIDA Canada for the training, I was nominated to the board of the Canadian Association of Freediving and Apnea. My entire competitive freediving history came about because of CAFA and, more importantly, several of its members. I’ve had some incredible experiences because of this organization and I did not feel I could refuse the nomination, the opportunity to pay the CAFA membership back for my good fortune.

Unfortunately, CAFA and AIDA Canada have a checkered history. They are both national organizations. CAFA used to be the designated AIDA National for Canada; AIDA Canada took over that role in 2009. CAFA has the bulk of its membership in Western Canada, AIDA Canada in Eastern Canada. I think it can safely be said that AIDA Canada exists today because of member discontent with CAFA policies or practices or personnel that grew until there was sufficient frustrations to warrant the support of a different national freediving organization.

William, is not comfortable training someone who is a CAFA board member. His reasons are not for me to publicly detail; and, they are his own, not AIDA Canada’s who has assured me they see no problem with me continuing as an AIDA Canada member so long as I continue to adhere to their member code of conduct which I have every intent of doing. In what I feel was a great show of character, William called me personally and we spent a good deal of time discussing our feelings on the matter. I understand why William made his decision but I am disappointed; I wish the past did not so readily paint the present.

I’ll continue to watch William’s freediving career with a great deal of interest and I still hope to train or compete beside him one day.

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