This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

Good news! We found our dedicated training place. A place where they respect freedivers and where we get room to train and play. Even better, it’s in the same pool as we used to train between the recreational swimmers, our beloved 5 meter deep, 25 meter pool.

We joined the Scubacity diving-team, which consists mostly out of scubadivers. And now that I think of it, probably only of scuba-divers, and Sanne and I are the first freedivers over there.

The owner of Scubacity, Thomas Koppelmans, is actually the guy that gave me my scuba open water course in ’97, so it’s fun to return to my diving roots.

The great thing about this all, that we not only have a dedicated part of pool for ourselves every Thursday between 21:00 and 22:00, but now we also have the hot tub available again for some statics. We tried it yesterday and it was much warmer than usual with a 37 degrees temperature, but the fact that we are very happy with this solution made us do some easy statics.

And as an added bonus, we now also have training time available on Wednesday at Uden and Tuesday in Almere. So if there are any freedivers in that region, let us  know!

Back to some static, technique and monofin training sessions! Inspiration is sky high!

This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

Excellent pool session today. We went a little bit later, so that we could do our thing in the 50 meter long/2.20 meter deep training pool. Sanne brought a bunch of weights, so that we finally could figure out how much we each needed to keep horizontal in the water.

I’ll let Sanne tell his own story. But for me it turned out that I need a 2,5 kilo neck weight to do the job. This so I don’t have to swim down every time I make a stroke. And also making sure I’m slightly positively buoyant for security reasons. So time to make a neck weight. And of course we’re going to make a special design, trademarked by Team  Sharkbait!

My daily static routine is going shit. I don’t know why. I really want to do them, but somehow I just forget to do them. They aren’t on my priority list, so I should probably do them everyday on the same time. It’s only 10-15 minutes. The times that I did them (around 8 times this month), it was most of the times fun and a good feeling afterwards. So new start tomorrow for this part.

This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

Yesterday evening was pool session again. And while it wasn’t as busy as last time, it’s clear that if we want to grow as freedivers, we need dedicated space to practice.

Freediving between recreational swimmers is just not possible anymore. We can’t use the monofin. We can’t train rescue techniques. We can’t film properly and do our thing.

So time has come to find dedicated space again. Tonight I’m going to visit a new diving club, where my son will start his snorkeling lessons. Maybe they have a lane to spare!

Dedicated lane = constructive and scheduled training!

This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

Weather wasn’t good, so instead of going outdoor we decided to take into the pool again. Summer vacation is over and the pool is crowded again. Many many kids yelling and screaming around during swimming and diving lessons. Lucky enough we found 1 lane to practice our dynamic without fins technique in.

Sanne decided to go hardcore again and do a pretty intense schedule to start with. He made it anyway, because he’s a monster. I’m really wondering what 23 days of training will bring to him in Wiesbaden. But maybe he’s start to do some work in the 16×50 discipline, which could suit him pretty welll.

Anyway, while Sanne was almost puking in the pool because of the high intensity, I decided to work on my dnf technique and take it easy with the rest periods. So I did around 4 25 meter laps with full lungs, 4 with half full lungs, 4 apnea crawls and some tests with doing static for 15-30 seconds on the side before leaving for the lap.

When Sanne was ready I decided to do one attempt until I could feel the  first contraction coming. Which brought me to 35 meters. At the same time I really have to work on my streamlining and have to look into neck weights and weight belts again. I’m using way to much power by pulling myself down. Oh well, enough to look  at for next time.

On a side note: I already did 2 static sessions this week and it felt pretty good. On Monday 8 times 1 minute with 1 breath in between. Pretty high co2 and a headache afterwards, but a small improvement. Yesterday I did a max static until contraction which brought me to 2:18. If I can work this up to 3 minutes without contractions I’m pretty happy.

This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

That’s the nice thing of vacation and turning off your mobile phone. You’ve got time to think! Put everything in perspective. Not only in 10 minutes, but in a few days time! And that’s when things get to you.

So after carefully thinking about all aspects in my life that need attention, focus and commitment (damn, this list is getting long!), I present you my newly made commitment to statics. Dry statics that is!

On my first workday after vacation, Monday September 7, I will start 4 weeks of doing static everyday. 7 days  a week, and if I miss one and do 6 a week that’s is barely tolerable, but no physical punishment yet. Really simple and short static schedules. So no excuses to say I didn’t have the time.

In short I’m going to do max 15 minute schedules (including preparation). Stuff like 8×1 minute with 1 breath in between. FRC static schedules. Full lung max stuff without any pain.

In general focusing on tolerating co2, but mixing it with other stuff to keep it fun. No strict schedule to see which schedule to use on which day. I’m going on feeling this time.

Let’s see where this will bring me after 4 weeks. And if I still like it then, I will maybe throw in 1 or 2 contractions. Let’s make it crazy!

This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

That was fun! Sanne still had the scooter in his possession that he borrowed, so we could do some more underwater racing and playing this week in the somewhat deep waters of Panheel.

Besides the fact that racing down to 23 meters in full gear speed and going up gives me the feel of doing no limits again, I also didn’t have any problems this time with regards to equalizing and the speed.

Lots of play and fun and also some good and serious training dives. Sanne is looking pretty relaxed during these dives and is making pretty pauzes at the bottom of the lake. That guy can go so much deeper then he thinks…

After the usual 23 meter sand sitting on the bottom I also did a RFC dive. It felt pretty good! 18 meters without any problems. It’s hard work, but feels really easy. It’s very clear were my urge to breath come from, damn co2!

Next week vacation for me in France and when I come back Sanne and I will starting in the pool again. Vacation time is over, almost!

This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

Our scooter was a little bit smaller...

Today was another excellent training at  the depth of Panheel. This time things were quite different because Sanne had borrowed a underwater scooter from a friend. Playtimeeee!

After ripping my suit in several pieces I had no choice to put on my 5 millimeter submarine wetsuit. The water was actually pretty hot, so after entering I immediately flushed my suit with water and decided to take of my gloves.

Arrived at the 10 meter buoy it was time for some scooter testing. Fun to do, but hard to equalize and keep the speed up. After several dives it became easier and we really got into it. So that meant time for the 23 meter line.

It’s so relaxing to use a scooter to bring you 200 meter into the lake without having to kick for yourself. The difference in relaxation is really there so first things first: some easy free immersion dives to the bottom.

It is really time to find a deeper place. Staying at the bottom for around 20 seconds is the limit with regards to safety and it still feels so easy. We really have to make our own buoy with line to continue our training in the deeper parts of the lake.

After the serious training it was scooter time again. I decided to do a dive to the bottom with the machine, but my ears didn’t agree. Too fast going down, too late equalizing. That was also the end for my ears for the complete session.

Sanne and I did an easy ride back to the shore and decided to get our own scooter. Only the use as a transportation system to get from the shore to the far away buoy and back make it worth the investment.

This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

The pool has done it again! It is summer and they’ve got a new schedule. And in this schedule they moved away from our favorite 5 meter deep and 25 meter long training pool. Too bad! Now we have to train in a 3 meter deep, 50 meter long pool. As our main objective is not length but technique and static at depth, it’s become impossible to do a good training in the pool at the moment.

So for the next 2 weeks, no pool training for me. After 2 weeks I have a little family vacation and then when we come back we can start again with some hardcore training on Thursday on September 10. Really focusing on some 50+ meters in the coming months. Technique with the monofin.

At the mean time we’re going to do some deep freediving. In a month or two, the water will be too cold again to have fun, so we will have to do some good dives in the coming weeks. I still have the desire to go somewhat deeper with a good safety setup, but for the moment I’ll stick to my 23 meter and FRC dives that are still fun to do.

This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

Yesterday it was time to go out and do a outdoor freediving session again. Since I’ve been back since Thursday I haven’t been in the water yet. This is also the fault of the ear infection I got on Saturday. I have no idea were it came from, but it hurted like hell.

On Sunday it was so bad I couldn’t hear anything anymore on my left side. So when the problem still maintained I made a doctors appointment on Monday and of course, because I wasn’t an emergency, I could come in on Tuesday. On Tuesday it was already somewhat open again, which meant the dizziness was already much lighter. But the cleaning of the ears together with the ear-drops made everything much better again. So much better that I was ready to go out again on Wednesday. Or so I thought…

Together with Kostas and Sanne it was time to visit Panheel again for some light and easy training. Arrived at the site I decided to try my 2,5 mm competition wetsuit. Unfortunately, after not using it for 2 years, I tore a big hole in the top part. At that point I was so fed up with the delicate material and all the repairing we already did on these suits I decided to kill it completely and ripped it of my body like the Hulk does with his t-shirt. Too bad we didn’t film it… My next suit will be one with a lining in it.

In the water everything felt okay at first. Some simple and fun dives and the underwater playground and blowing some bubbles. Sanne and Kostas were having fun as well. After that we went to the 10 meter buoy and I started with a easy free immersion dive with a static at the bottom. With no gloves, a 2,5 mm bottom and 5 mm top and no weight-belt, I really felt like shit down there. Somehow I managed to do a pretty good static of 1 minute at the bottom and my first dive was 1,5 minutes, which due to circumstances I was pretty happy with. Ears also felt good.

Sanne also made some nice dive, showing of his mastery in the secret art of underwater bubble blowing. He has for sure surpassed his sensei in this one! Always a joy to watch! Kostas also tried to do some dives to 10 meters but was hit again with his equalization problem. We tried all kind of different things but somehow he couldn’t go down further then 5-6 meters. For sure we will find a solution to this in the near future.

Because this session was not to be a deep training session we decided to visit the underwater habitat and watch some fish. Unfortunately after arriving we didn’t see the big ones, but the smaller ones together with the divers who were swimming by without noticing us made it all fun again.

During these shallow dives I noticed my ear was getting in trouble again. Equalizing was getting more difficult and I was somewhat feeling dizzy again. So I decided to get back to the really shallow side of the lake and look at the somewhat smaller fish and life over there.

After 1 hour we left the water, which is somewhat shorter then usual, but it was a nice session nonetheless. The parking lot was suddenly completely filled with divers, so we were out on time again. Because of the ear we’re skipping tomorrows pool session and wait for next weeks sessions so that everything will be going well again. The sun and great water made it a good session again!

This is a post by Jorg Jansen.

Greece is great! Beautiful country, nice people, good food. Too bad the underwater life is boring! I’ve been in the sea a few time, even did a boat trip, but nothing spectacular to mention. I even deleted the few underwater photos I made in the sea, because there was simple nothing to see besides water and a sandy bottom.

Don’t get me wrong! Visibility is great and if I had a line into the depth I probably would have had a great time together with some other freedivers. But as it turns out, I didn’t have that to my availability, so nothing fun to say about the sea.

I went to see Kos-divers to ask about some scuba diving. After the honest guy behind the counter asked my certification and I said I was a scuba instructor, he told me not to spend any money on scuba diving in Kos. Wow, that was honest and unexpected! He even told me that I could dive for free to see that there was nothing out there for me to see.

To clear things up: if you’ve never snorkeled or dived before, it will still be interesting! There are a lot of small fish swimming around, but if you are an intermediate or higher diver, don’t bother.

So, in the end my only real freediving I did was in the pool. I trained every day for a half hour and it was fun. Some breath hold crawls, some underwater laps and turns. All in all I’m very motivated to get back in the pool in the Netherlands and to Panheel where I can dive into the deep again next to a line!