Shark Freediving

Today there was a Freediving Guinness World Record set in the Garda Lake in Italy. “La Scuola Del Mare 2″, The School of the Sea 2, organized this record and managed to complete it by gathering 284 freedivers who then dived down together at the same time. Impressive sight to watch!

The underwaterchannel has made a good video of the 101 meter world record from Natalia Molchanova. Unfortunately they stick to their stupid content lock-in method and only make a short version of their complete video available on youtube, so that I can embed it here. If you want to see a full version you have to go to their website. Old fashion way of delivering content…

Below the video also a graph of the dive.

Two days later and another world record for Russian Natalia Molchanova. Today she did a free immersion dive to 90 meters. That’s 5 meters deeper then her own former world record from 2008.

AIDA International recognizes her as the athlete with the most world records behind her name, beating Herbert Nitsch with 1 world record, who stands at 25 world records.

Congratulations to Natalia and her outstanding new record and complete list of accomplishments. The dive took place in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt during the Ruler of the Deep competition organized by the Only One Apnea Center.

Today Natalia Molchanova (Russia) became the first woman to freedive to a 3 digit depth on her own strength. She made a 101 meter constant weight freedive in a time of 3 minutes and 50 seconds.

The dive took place in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt during the Ruler of the Deep competition organized by the Only One Apnea Center. World record number 25 for Natalia and who knows what will follow.

The old record was in the hands of Sara Campbell with a 96 meter dive, done earlier this year.

Karol Meyer

On July 10 Karol Meyer from Brazil did a static of 18:32 minutes with the help of oxygen. She planned to take the Guinness World Record with this time. And while 18:32 minutes is indeed 29 seconds more the Gianluca Genoni his Guinness record set in november 2008, it is not more then the current oxygen static record.

Guinness record validation works in a slow way, so Karol Meyer probably asked Guinness what the current record was and got the response that Gianluca’s record was the latest. However, Nicola Putignano already set a new oxygen static of 19:02 minutes during a TV show in Italy in may this year. You can find more about his record here, and a video of the tv show here. This record is probably still in the big ratification queue at Guinness, but as there was a Guinness official present during the Italian TV show, my guess is that  Nicola record is the real deal.

Still 18:32 minutes  is a big number and because  she already did it twice (also in training), my guess is that she’s capable of breaking the 19 minute barrier as well. Below the video of the attempt.

And now for  something completely different. Most of you know about all the different freediving disciplines that are out there, but I guess some of you don’t know about the freediving discipline called Jump-blue.

When freediving records were getting deeper and deeper and CMAS was still certifying freediving records in constant weight, a lot of CMAS people suddenly said it was enough with these dangerous depths and there should be a sportive solution for it. So they combined constant weight with dynamic and they invented the CMAS discipline Jump-Blue, also called the cube. Take a look at the following video which displays the discipline.

In this discipline freedivers dive to 10 meters depth and from there on dive around a square with 15 meter long sides, until they have to come up and swim 10 meters back to the surface. Most people agree it is a pretty dangerous discipline because of the perfect shallow water blackout you can get from this discipline, but that’s another discussion.

Monica Barbero

Yesterday it was time for the Italian championships in this discipline and Monica Barbero set a new CMAS world record for the women in this discipline. She swam a total distance of 143,33 meters. That is 10 meter down, 8+ lanes (or 2 complete squares) and coming back up again. Former world record was in the hands of Katty Macias from Ecuador with a distance of 142,28 meters.

Michele Tomasi was the winner with the men with a distance of 147,77 meters. Devrim Cenk Ulusoy from Turkey is the current men’s world record holder with a distance of 159,54 meters.

Complete results of the Italian championships below.

All info, interviews, photos and videos will be place here!

Sandi Bitenc from Maribor (Slovenia) started yesterday at 18:00 hours with his grueling quest to do as many meters underwater as possible in 24 hours time. Today at 18:00 he finished this taks with a distance of 51.100 meters. That is a totaal of 1022 laps in a 50 meter pool!

We do an interview in half an hour or so. Exact time will be published here soon! Will be live streaming.

LIVE INTERVIEW STREAMING ON INTERNET AT 18:45

Previous parts can be found here: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Watch the video’s: introduction / 6 hour video / 12 hour video / 18 hour video or subscribe to our youtube Sharkchannel

15:00-16:00
15:00 Sandi is at 46km/920 laps after 21 hours. He got his crew working on him right now. foot massage, oil, neck, shoulders, gelfood, drink…
15:20 he made an unexpected stop at 46400 meters. skipping 2 cycles. he ate a sandwich! The first solid food after 4 days!
15:44 time cycle up to 1:35.
15:47 small stop for an interview for local tv. but only for 1 minute.

16:00-17:00
16:06 After 22 hours he has done a distance 47.700 meters/954 laps. Estimated end distance: 52 km.
16:30 only 1,5 hour to go! he’s at 48.500 meters.
16:50 he’s at 4900 meters.

17:00-18:00 Last Hour
17:00 entering the last hour he’s at a distance of 49.350 meters/987 laps! He’s coming out now for a small break and prepares for the last hour.
17:18 @49800 meters
17:24 he just arrived at 50 km! 1000 laps… I say it again 1000 laps….
17:50 50800 meters, only 10 minutes to go!
18:00 FINAL DISTANCE 51.100 METERS!!!!

Previous parts can be found here: Part 1 / Part 2

Watch the video’s: introduction / 6 hour video / 12 hour video / 18 hour video or subscribe to our youtube Sharkchannel

10:00-11:00
10:05 after 16 hours he has done 36.200 km/724 laps. Estimated end distance 54300 km/1086 laps. he has to do 881 laps to break the record so he has to do 157 laps before reaching that!

11:00-12:00
11:05 he’s tired, but also very determined. 38.300 meters after 17 hours. That’s 766 laps underwater. Estimated end distance: 54050 meters / 1081 laps. He will reach the current of 44 kilometers around 13:00 GMT+1 if he continuous like this.
11:50 he’s now at 40 km! The same distance as Andy le Sauce in 2000. 4 km to go!!!
11:53 at 12:00 my official role as guinness witness starts. Pretty impressive paperwork to do for validating this record attempt.
11:55 Sandi asked to change the schedule from 1:15 per lap/rest cycle to 1:25!

12:00-13:00
12:05 Sandi has 6 hours left. In 18 hours time he managed to do 40.400 meters/808 laps. Predicted final distance: 53850 meters. But probably with the longer timeline it will drop to around 51-52 km. 73 laps to go for the record. Will he continue after that???
12:42 Sandi started with a 2kick/1glide cycle. doing 50 meter laps in 21 kicks and a little bit less then 45 seconds. After all these hours he’s getting tired and his kickcycle went up to 29 kicks and no glide anymore. he’s making very small kicks, which cost him less energy. Time of 50 meters went up to 51-52 seconds. That is also the reason the total cycle is up to 1:25 instead of 1:15.
12:57 Sandi just did an underwater marathon in 18:57 minutes….

13:00-14:00
13:02 Already 19 hours have passed and Sandi has done 42.400 meters/848 laps. Estimated end distance: 53.550 meters. 43 laps to go before he has the new record. 13:45 I guess….
13:30 he’s at 43300 meters in 19:30 hours.
13:39:30 he’s at 44km!!!! 19:49:30
13:50 new world record 44050 meters and he still has 4 hours to go.
13:53 he’s out of the water now. taking a break. Standing again. wow.

14:00-15:00
14:05 and he’s back in again. new cycle time of 1:30 min. so a little slower, but for sure he will go over 50 km!!!
14:10 if anybody wants to send a personal message. You can video skype me and I can show you sandi directly on the side of the pool. Just add jorgjansen to skype and give me a call.
14:22 we’re getting a lot of messages. as Sandi arrives at my side of the pool I transfer them to him. He says thanks to everybody for the support. It makes it somewhat bearable.
14:32 he’s at 45 km.
14:55 Sanne just made a new video. Hours 12 to 18. Have a look.

We continue in part 4 here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNUQtT0VhUo

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghmkLnwxGF8

00:00-01:00
00:05 This is part 2 of the 24 hour freediving attempt. Read the first post over here. Sandi has already done 14 km in 6 hours. With this pace he will get to 56 km. Photos and video are on their way!
00:45 Unexpected stop! His right toe is hurting like crazy. they put a little bit of neoprene on his toe and after 2 minute he’s gone again.

01:00-02:00
01:10 he skipped the one hour break because of the early break in the last hour. so next stop will be at 2:00
01:50 he has reached 18 km! Getting ready for the break.

02:00-03:00
02:08 after 8 hours of swimming he’s at 18600 meters. That’s 372 laps! Projected end distance with this pace:55800 meters! He’s way above schedule, but he’s starting to get physical problems. During the break he said he could manage it, but he looked much more tired then the hour before.
02:19 Sanne has just uploaded the video compilation of the first 6 hours! go have a look in the first post about this attempt or click here to see it directly.

03:00-04:00
03:05 After 9 hours he has done 20600 meters. Projected pace 54900 meters. Rest was one cycle longer, around 4,5 minutes. But he looks much better then an hour earlier. shortness of breath is gone, and the body doesn’t hurt that much anymore. For now!
03:35 he’s at 22 km!

04:00-05:00
04:05 after 10 hours he has done 23.100 meters. Projected in 24 hours: 55400 meters. 462 laps!
04:10 he is now at 23.225. that is the first record set in May 21 1991 by Francis Bruchini in Francija
04:40 he’s at 24.400 and going strong. we did some underwater footage and he still had time to make some funny faces!
04:45 with the current pace he will break the existing record after 19 hours and 6 minutes. That’s 13:06 local time!
04:50 estimated underwater time after 24 hours with this pace: 13 hours and 50 minutes.

05:00-06:00
05:05 Sandi is swimming for 11 hours now. He looked more tired then the last break. 4 minutes rest and he was gone again. Distance covered 25.300 meters/506 laps! With this pace he will reach 55.200 meters after 24 hours. Average speed is 2,3 km/hour including rest.
05:10 without the rest periods he has an average swimming speed of 3,8 km/h.
05:20 he just passed the 26km. This was the 2nd world record in this discipline. Done in March 13 1993 by Jean-Francois Noël.

06:00-07:00
06:05 he is halfway there! 27.600 meters done/552 laps. Estimated end distance 55.200/1104 laps. Wow!
06:10 we have to stop the live stream for around 10-20 minutes. The battery is getting too hot and can’t be recharged at the moment. so we let it cool for some time now.

07:00-08:00

08:00-09:00

09:00-10:00
09:05 After 15 hours he has done 34 kilometers/680 laps! he’s getting tired, you can see it clearly now. but it’s amazing that he can keep going. Estimated end distance now at 54.400 meters.
09:45 he has done 35km 575m, which is the old record from Stéphane Francois done on December 7 1996 in Reunion Island.

We continue in part 3.