Team Sharkbait

This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

This is the second article in a series about finding a better design for the weight needed in a dynamic pool freediving performance. The first article focussed on my discomforts and dislikings about the current design, which I blindly followed when I first started freediving. This article will focus on the way I intend to solve these problems into new solution and the design around it. In the 3rd article I will focus on the testing we’ve done so far with different setups, to see if they actually solve my problems. The 4th article will show how the design evolved through time by incorporating our findings from the test phases. Finally in the 5th article I hope to present a solution with an easy design, so other freedivers can try and build/buy one of their own and see if they benefit from it as much as I do.

Weight placement
To solve the weight placement, I chose to locate the weight around the lung area. It’s a bit of a tricky location and might be disadvantageous due to the flexing of the chest when inhaling and exhaling. Only tests will find out if I find this comfortable or not and if it doesn’t effect my normal breath-up.

Balancing
One of the solutions for unbalanced tilting that caught my eye is already widely used in the shipbuilding industry and is called a keel. The principle behind this solution is to spread the center of gravity, by placing a weight below the structural keel. For ships the use of a keel brings stability and improves the directional movement of the ship. My interest lies with the stability problem it solves; when a sail ship is sailing, the wind will make it tilt, the keel will counter act this by it’s weight. That’s exactly the behavior I want my prototype to have when I’m doing a dynamic performance. So when I tilt over, due to a slightly rotated push-off while turning, the weight underneath the chest will be counteracting this and ensure my alignment in the horizontal plane. So from the balance point of view it is best to place the weight underneath the body, or at least on the lowest point of the chest.

Optimal arm placement
In the 2 preceding points I opted for the placement of the weight around the lung area and at the lowest point of the chest in the water. This will solve my discomfort and inability to fully stretch the arms over my head as well. Because the area around my neck will be clear of any objects what so ever. Ofcourse the question remains; “Will the new weight placement introduce a new discomfort or is it easier to live with?”.

Commence the Testing
As we’re already testing and have been testing with a few different setups, I’m going to continue to test for a while longer to see if he new approach really brings what it should. I will report about my findings in a 3rd article as soon as I think it’s a good point in time to share it with you all. I’ve already shared some insight from my setup through pictures, but my experience still needs to increase a little more to share. How would you like to see the solution tested in comparison to the neck weight? Please leave your ideas in the comments and I’ll see if I can include this in the tests.

PS. Current design lacks the safety feature, so I cannot compare this in the tests.

This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

This is the first article in a series about finding a better design for the weight needed in a dynamic pool freediving performance. This article focusses on my discomforts and dislikings about the current design, which I blindly followed when I first started freediving. The next article in the series will focus on the way I intend to solve these problems into a new solution and the design around it. In the 3rd article I will focus on the testing we’ve done so far with different setups, to see if they actually solve my problems. The 4th article will show how the design evolved through time by incorporating our findings in the test phases. Finally in the 5th article I hope to present a solution with an easy design, so other freedivers can try and build one of their own and see if they benefit from it as much as I do.

The prototype I had recently tested, started out with an idea to get rid of my discomfort in wearing a weight belt around my neck. There are a few reasons why I dislike the neck-weight solution; Read more…

This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

The other night I was coaching Jorg while holding his breath at the hottub pool in the Tongelreep Eindhoven. He was experiencing his normal barrier and trying all kinds of different preparation techniques to break out of it as you can read here. As we know from our previous competition and other training sessions in the hottub, it can be very hot in there . This high temperature poses a range of problems which seemed easy to explain why they happen, but it turns out I was wrong about 1 of them.

When I was coaching Jorg, the time I spent in the pool doing nothing but coaching increased to a range of 25 minutes orso. That’s when I started sensing the same thing as when I’d have vasoconstriction. But although I assumed it was a free pass into having the vasoconstriction, I learned that it is actually vasodilation and thus the exact opposite of the thing you want happening with freediving.

To prove the theory I decided on doing a schedule to counteract the vasodilation and see after how many times the tingling sensation would fade away. So I did 1 minute 30 seconds breath holds and in the last 5 seconds I’d release all my air, after that I’d surface and immediately take one deep breath again and do another 1m30s. Normally with this schedule you would get the vasoconstriction kicking in at around 6 or 7 times.

The test showed us, that after only 3 times into this schedule the vasodilation was counteracted and I didn’t have the tingling feeling anymore. Theory proven and a lesson learned .

This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

In freediving air intake, consumption and efficiency are key factors in reaching longer breath holds in both dynamic as static performances. Although you might think that the more air intake you do will equal a longer breath hold, this is only partly true. There are a lot of other variables in play which make it a specialism to master as a freediver. Consider the difference between a dynamic and a static freedive on the level of aerobe or an-aerobe. Or even simpler, consider the difference in a dynamic pool freedive and a dynamic depth performance. In this article the focus is on the air intake.

Air intake
One of the variables that make a difference – in any type of freediving – is the air intake and how comfortable you are with the ammount of air in your lungs. I am not even discussing the difference in lung volume different freedivers have. I’ll dissect the air intake into three topics:

• Optimizing air intake
• Comfortable vs. Packed
• Increasing lung volume (advanced techniques)

Read more…

This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

Sanne swimming with the Leaderfins Flyer mono-fin.

…or actually how we think we should choose a mono-fin. As Jorg  and I were training last week, we tested a few different kinds of mono-fins. We wanted to see the difference between the fins in areas like;

• if they were comfortable
• how they performed
• what the efficiency is
• how the balance is using the mono-fin

The tested mono-fins were three kinds, two were from Leaderfins and one was from Special fins.

1. Leaderfins Freediving Sport
2. Special fins ‘Dolphin‘
3. Leader fins Flyer

Read more…

This is a post by Sanne Buurma.

Sandi Bitenc

First and foremost I’d like to say that Sandi Bitenc earns great respect from me and any freediver…actually. Last weekend he pulled off the amazing 24 hour marathon dynamic freediving for the Guinness book of World Records. Jorg and I set out to meet up with him for the event and we would do some reporting from the event. But what started as a somewhat small reporting schedule, soon grew into a (almost) 24 hour live stream of footage from the event.

Sanne & Jorg

How we did all this…
Jorg and I were at a small cafe near the pool (with some free wifi of course ) preparing for the event and it popped into our minds that we had the opportunity to use live-streaming from a mobile phone to do the coverage report. As these services have been growing lately, we agreed to just go for it and see where it would go. We started reporting with the idea of just streaming the every hour the first few hours, half-way through and at the end. But it was so much fun to do and the reactions coming in from the freediving community made that we went for the coverage of the whole event.

Left writing, middle video streams, right video editing, front live stream phone

We had a seperate office from the swimming pool for our headquarters to be setup. In this office Sandi had setup the streams of 4 camera’s from each end of the pool, the whole lane and a screen featuring his progress. He needed this to record all his actions for the Guinness committee, so they can verify his record and thus this will take some time for them to go through . In this office along side the pool we had the perfect overview of all things happening and so we agreed to go for full coverage. Every hour I picked up the mobile phone and Jorg walked with me for the comments on what the progress of Sandi’s attempt was at that time. In between the hours we streamed the view of his total progress from the screen. This left us with just enough time for Jorg to update the shark-freediving blog and for me to shoot photo and video material to edit, mount and upload to youtube in between the hourly reports. As we progressed into the night, at some point we took turns in the reporting alongside the pool, as one of us took a small sleep, the other could report the event. In all we both did not get more sleep than 1 hour and 20 minutes maybe…but that’s worth it!

Hardcore Sleeping

Final 6 hours
The last 6 hours of the event Jorg had to be the formal witness for the event and could not walk alongside the pool anymore, so I walked the camera around and commented where I could, returning to Jorg for his comments and to relay the messages from the freedivers watching the live stream. Seeing all the responses and Sandi receiving all the good luck wishes and congratulations was great to be a part of.

From a freediver point of view to get a real good impression what Sandi was doing, I joined him in the pool to do a few dynamic laps with him in the lane next to him. I mounted the GoPro camera on my head and started freediving with him…. It’s just an grueling schedule what he was doing. To be honest after six lanes I would have to say I was getting short on breath, of course I was using bi-fins and not all to streamlines, but this is really intense and deserves my greatest respect! What an athlete!

To keep awake we've got our own branded energy drinks!

Difficulties
Of course we had some difficulties as it was our first ever live reporting event. Sometimes the sound would drop from the live feed, or the feed would stutter…and of course this would happen on the most important moments So for the final hour we really put all our efforts in to show you what we were experiencing and for the viewers to see the final laps from the event!

Concluding
Apart from the small problems, we had a great time reporting and we do hope everybody who’d joined us liked the live-coverage as much as we enjoyed the event.

close-up of HTC TytnII phone record 1 of the 4 live streams

Jorg and I congratulate Sandi on the very impressive performance and would also like to thank him for having us over and taking good care of us, even though he was in there doing the dynamics he really thought this thing through, organized it into detail and thus making it an awesome event with an even more awesome result! 51,1 km’s > 1022 laps in a 50 meter pool… Hard to grasp, but a stunning world record!

To find all ins and outs about the event and our stories during the live event, check out http://www.shark-freediving

Ever since I started freediving I’ve had a great time doing so. Only thing that is actually bothering me to explore the unexplored, is the fact that fear sneaks up on me. This totally chips of the relaxing edge of my freediving style.

Somehow along the way I might have picked up a few drops of fear for the unknown, or even the things I’m not able to control. Why is it that when I dive down in the blue depths of Egypt I have no trouble to find my equalizing limit at about 40m’s deep, but back in the Netherlands when I try to dive down to 35m’s in Panheel I get stuck at 33m’s deep returning with a small lung squeeze caused by the stress of it.

Pinpointing the culprit
Jorg and I have analyzed this and concluded that it has something to do with a feeling making me uncomfortable at Panheel’s depths. What could it be that triggers this phenomenon?

• First thing that comes to mind is the colder water, which makes it harder for me to equalize at depth. I found out by doing a CNF to 15m’s in only a swimming short. Equalizing stopped at 8-10m’s just because of the colder water on my face.
• Second thing I can think of is the strange feeling I get in the dark and murky waters of Panheel; Fear! It’s a strange feeling and god knows why it’s triggered, but it’s a hell of a tormentor.

Fear analyzed

Staring into the abyss...

When it’s a fear thing, why do I fear the things I love to do;

• Could it be that whenever I’ve done it once, I know what it is and the culprit is kicked out forever?
• Would that mean that the fear is triggered by not knowing?
• Or even by the fact I can’t control the outcome?
• Could it be I had an earlier experience, which triggers these feelings?

My theory to my fear is that I’m having a fear from not knowing, I know for myself no one can control the outcome. You can influence it but never control it, I’ve accepted that a long time ago. It might be that it’s one event that keeps haunting me, but as I discussed it with Jorg, this didn’t seem to be the culprit. When I relate it to my freediving past, there are several items which also trigger that same feeling; I have the same feeling about exceeding my limits, the unknown… Maybe by writing it down in this blog makes me realize I shouldn’t fear a thing which is uncontrollable and just let go and hold on to my motto with freediving; Just do it!

So next time we ride out for Panheel, I’ll surely have to try and freedive with my eyes closed to give my theory a go…

As Kostas joined up for training and freediving with us last year, I’ve asked him to write a small report on his journey to Greece last Christmas. Enjoy the story:

When I returned from Greece after my Christmas vacation I was completely blown away. The reason was that I went for the first time spear fishing during winter and it was an amazing experience. When I told Sanne about it, he asked me whether I could write a short story about it so he can upload it on the site. Well, it’s been four months since I was in Greece for Christmas and I am about to keep my promise…

The most incredible thing about the spear fishing trips was not the depth of the dives, nor was it the fish we saw or speared. It was in fact the realization that we were experiencing all this in the middle of the winter, the season I used to sit in a warm place and watch the sea from a distance.

Having been used to visit the sea during the summer holidays, I was thinking of winter as the time of the year when weather conditions, the temperature of the water, were making water activities, especially spear fishing, a thing for a few life defying people. How wrong I was…

The plan of going for spear fishing during our holidays in Greece was already fixed in our heads months before, but we were still not quite sure about the sanity of it. As we left Thessaloniki on our way to Chalkidiki the sky was changing between clear and cloudy and Karin and me where wondering what we would confront once we arrive. We were already tipped about three spots we should visit. The first location was windy and high waves were hitting the shore. Not ideal. We moved to the second but conditions were still not good.

After being two hours in the car, having rejected two out of three locations and being almost convinced that this will not happen today we arrived at the third one. We drove off the main road and down a narrow curvy one surrounded by dense green vegetation that would take us to the small port. Curve after curve as we were getting closer to water the excitement, as to what conditions we would find, was rising. Taking the last curve the landscape revealed itself: a bay surrounded by green hills, and in it, secluded, a small port with a small beach located at its left and a rocky formation on the right. To the south-east the horizon was clear and the sun was shining above us. The water was as calm as I have seen it during any nice summer day. The sight was thrilling.

Acceleration… we couldn’t wait to get into the water. Gear out of the car as fast as we can, putting it on in no time and into the water. Here we were, floating in cold water. Visibility was 15-20 meters and coping with the cold was no issue with the 5mm wet suit. We stayed in the water for almost two hours, saw plenty of activity, and even took an octopus home weighing almost 2 ½ kg. One of the greatest things during our stay in the water was the complete silence. No motorboats around, no boats at all as a matter of fact, something that is just unimaginable to experience during summer in Greece, especially if you don’t own your own boat to take you to remote locations.

The first experience was so positive that a second trip was planned after five days already. This time Karin stayed back and a friend of mine, Kostas (very popular name in Greece), joined me. He was already wound up to the extreme from the story of the first dive. This time however the weather was worse and I was less optimistic about it. The sky was cloudy, it was raining slightly and the forecast was talking about winds of 4-5 Beaufort strength. We drove off, telling ourselves that in the worst case scenario of forbidding conditions we will have a coffee and drive back and consider this as a nice short road trip.

Our destination was the same location and it seems that it is a good one as conditions where unbelievably good. The water was even calmer than the previous time, almost mirror smooth, and the visibility unchanged. It was raining during the whole dive and some waves picked up as we were leaving. This time my friend took an octopus out for dinner (the octopus was the dinner).

What an eye opener! All these years the thought of going into the sea during winter seemed to be so daring. How wrong I was. Given the right weather conditions, a protected location and good gear, freediving or spear fishing during winter is just as fun, if not more, as during summer. Having the chance to experience this made me think of all the miss beliefs  I might have about many things in life and that the only way to overcome these is to get out there and try them out.

I took the time to think lately, not only about where I’m at in freediving, but also what the rest of life brings me. As this isn’t the topic of freediving which I share on this blog, I set up a blog for myself here.

Besides those topics, that are filling my mind, I still like freediving very much. Although posting about it is a bit hard, when the thoughts are bit scattered and without focus.

I do have a few things I want to share from this thinking I have been doing. I’ve been discussing these things with Jorg, Kostas and Yugyug as well, which made me realize a few things. As the time passes – in a period where competitions are far away from me – I can’t help but notice that I start to get a feeling that I actually like doing freediving competitions because of the training for these competitions.

I’m not giving in to this feeling just yet, as I want to be sure that it’s not the fact that I’m missing the structure & continuity it brought into my life. I really get a lot of joy just by freediving or reading about it on other blogs. I try and analyze how I feel when I read Eric van Riet Paap is doing over 8 minutes, that Daan Verhoeven is in Egypt again for the Bizzy blue hole. Analyzing these thoughts tells me why it feels good to take a step back, as the back of my mind still has the competition spirit going.

I’m getting there, but not just yet. Kostas has been trying to convince me to go back into competitions again, just to show ourselves what we’re capable of. A teasing thought and with the right ingredients that will work, as long as I can block out that I’m doing it to show the world what I can do.

As yugyug joined up for training and freediving with us last year, I’ve asked him to write a small report on his journey to Australia. Enjoy the story:

Hi Sanne, here is a little bit of news about my trip back to Australia over the new years break. It was really fun and I felt like I really needed it, coming from winter in Eindhoven. In fact, I went to the doctor for a medical check when I was in Sydney and was told I had low vitamin D in my blood, from lack of sun! I was determined to go to the beach as much as possible, but actually I never got very tanned , because every time I went to the beach I went spearfishing, covered up in a wetsuit… The Australian sun kills far more people from cancer each year than sharks anyway, so I probably chose the healthier option.

The spearfishing turned out to be a lacking in big catches though. I had been hoping to catch my first australian kingfish, and I speared a big one, about a metre in length on Christmas day, but the fish was actually too big for my gear. It fought like hell for a minute, bent my spear out of shape, then tore off. Damm! Fun, but a shame I didn’t land it.  This was at Bondi beach, in Sydney. The photo of the spearfishermen with the kingfish is not me, but a guy I’ve been spearing with a few times in Australia, his name is Scubapete.

One of the nicest things about Sydney is that you can go spearing easily almost anywhere. Bondi and many other beaches are 10 or 20 minutes from the centre of the city, and you can even jump in and spear inside the harbour if you want. Mostly the conditions were a too rough for deep diving, so I was diving less than 15m,  which is actually fine for most fish in Australia. Only once was the sea calm enough for me to feel relaxed enough to dive more than 20 metres, but I didn’t have a buddy so couldn’t really push it.

Later I went for a trip down south to the country town of Pambula, where I caught a fair bit of bream and whiting, including a rare blue morwong, which are very delicious, one of my favourite fish. Unfortunately I lost my camera a few weeks before, so don’t have many photos. My friend Oli took this one photo of my girlfriend and I in our wet-suits, just before we dived down the Pambula river, looking for flathead. It was pretty fun, we used the currents to take us down, and also take us back when the tide changed. There were lots of big sting rays around. I used FRC diving so I could drop below the surface silently by simply exhaling. Sinking down like this would not disturb the fish and was easy enough because were not spending energy swimming.

Oli and I made it all the way up the river to the lake mouth and relaxed until the tide changed, lounging around eating wild oysters off the rocks. But my girlfriend had gotten cold and got out halfway down the river to warm up in the sun. But the sun was hidden behind clouds and she couldn’t warm up. There was no way to walk back to the car as we were really far out in the bush. Freezing, she eventually managed to wave down a passing boat and they dropped her back at the river mouth. But then she discovered that her car keys, which she had tied to her wetsuit zipper, had fallen off in the river! So while Oli and I were cruising back down with the current, having fun eating oysters and shooting bream and whiting, my girlfriend spent the next 2 hours using an old piece of wire to open the door of her car. She was a bit annoyed when we eventually came back! But you can’t stay mad long when you have a summer night, a crate of beer and a bucket load of fish to enjoy

cheers! yugyug