Tag: BFA

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Individual AIDA Pool World Championships Belgrade 2015

GB TeamUK Team Selection

Applications for the UK Team – 2015 AIDA Indoor World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia are now open. The competition will take place from 19th-28th June and will include Dynamic apnea (without fins), Static Apnea and Dynamic Apnea (with fins).

We hope to send a full team of 4 men and 4 women per discipline and a Team Captain/Coach (who may or may not be part of the competing team).Selection will be based on the highest proven performances in the three disciplines. (AIDA world championship team selection will be by AIDA ranked points dated from 18 months prior to 4 months before the competition. In case of candidates wishing to be considered who do not have AIDA ranked points a performance witnessed by an AIDA Judge or AIDA UK Instructor will stand at 80% of the resulting outcome.)

If you are interested in competing for the UK in Serbia, please let us know by 19th February. Please send an email to competition@britishfreediving.org listing your highest AIDA ranked performances since August 19th 2013 in Static Apnea, Dynamic Apnea (with fins) and Dynamic Apnea (without fins) with details of where this ranking was obtained. If you do not have a ranked performance in any or all of these disciplines, please let us know your current best performances in training, and when you anticipate seeing those ratified officially. If you anticipate achieving a higher ranked performance in any of the disciplines in the next few months, please also let us know that in your email. If your geographical location makes it difficult for you to gain a ranked performance, please let us know and we will take this into consideration.If you are interested in going to Serbia as Team Captain/Coach, please let us know you are interested by letting us know your experience in this area, and why you think you would be good for the job. Applications for the Team Captain/Coach position will be considered by the team once they have been selected, and appointed within one month of final team selection.

If you make the decision to apply for the 2015 team, you obviously need to be available to be in Serbia for the dates above. You also need to be sure you can afford your flights and expenses and the entry fee of 525 Euros (which includes 9 days accommodation incl. breakfast, comp entry, training, shuttle bus hotel-pool, ceremonies and an event tshirt.)

In the meantime the BFA will be doing all it can to gather both sponsorship and logistical support for the 2015 team.All competing athletes must be over 18 years old, UK citizens and members of the BFA at the time of the competition.

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BFA AGM 8 November 2014

BFA AGM 2014 bubble rings

The annual AGM was was hosted by Salt Free (http://www.saltfree.biz) at the NDAC (www.ndac.co.uk) on Saturday 8th November and we had a great turn out! Despite the chilly weather some of us even went for a dip before the meeting. It was a beautiful day for a dive and we were treated to 20m visibility. There was even time for a bit of bubble ring blowing to end the session before getting down to the serious business of the meeting. It’s been a great year for British freediving, we can’t mention everything, but to give you an idea we’ve seen BFA members breaking national records, winning international competitions, taking and being the subjects of beautiful underwater photography, there was a short film featured by Redbull and spreads on freediving in the broadsheets. We can’t believe it’s almost the end of the year, but its that time when the committee often changes and so we would like to take this opportunity to say goodbye and thank you to Charlotte Sundberg, our membership officer and welcome in her place Rebecca Coales. Thank you all for your continued support of the BFA and the committee; we hope we may continue to be of service to you and our aim is still the same, to help freediving flourish and grow.

From all of us at the BFA, we wish you a Merry Christmas and lots of exciting, wonderful and safe dives for 2015!

Minutes from the Meeting

Location: Salt Free divers, NDAC

Apologies: Adam, Charlotte, David, Liv, Martyn

Present, George, Beci, Bart, Tim, Rebecca, Luke, Jay and Daan

2013/14 Committee
Chair – Adam Dzraga
Clubs Officer – George Miller
Competitions Officer – Bart Lubecki
E Media Officer – Tim Money
Membership Secretary – charlotte sundberg
Press Officer – Beci Ryan
Records & AIDA Liaison Officer – David Tranfield
Secretary – care taken by Georgina Miller
Sponsorship Officer – Jay Cluskey
Training & Safety Officer – Liv Philip
Treasurer – care taken by Martyn Jones

1) Thanks to Charlotte for her time on the committee and warm welcome to new committee member Rebecca Coales who is the new Membership Officer.

2) Apologies were received.

3) Minutes of last meeting were reviewed with no comments or objections.

4) Notification of Committee Members for 2014/15 were announced:

2014/15 Committee
Chair – Adam Dzraga
Clubs Officer – George Miller
Competitions Officer – Bart Lubecki
E Media Officer – Tim Money
Membership Secretary – Rebecca Coales
Press Officer – Beci Ryan
Records & AIDA Liaison Officer – David Tranfield
Secretary – care taken by Georgina Miller and Beci Ryan
Sponsorship Officer – Jay Cluskey
Training & Safety Officer – Liv Philip
Treasurer – care taken by Martyn jones

5) Committee reports, condensed versions were read out.

6) Announcement of Fees – it was unanimously agreed that there would be no change to Membership Fee for 2015.

7) Team Selection for 2015 – AIDA Individual Pool World Championships will be in Belgrade in June. It was proposed that we aim to send maximum number of athletes possible to this event (top three by AIDA ranking plus reserves, captain and coach). Maximum number of athletes is to be confirmed. The individual team members will be chosen based on AIDA Ranked performance from 18 months prior to cut off date. Cut off date 3 months before entry deadline. The Depth World Championships are to be held in Cyprus. Team selection will be the same as for the Pool World Championships.

8) Announcement of UK Champions – Congratulations to Mike Board and Liv Philip. Results gathered by Georgina Miller according to AIDA ranked points (Nov 2013 – Nov 2014)

ChairIt was suggested that the Chairman and Secretary collaborate more closely to ensure that emails and responses are organised and seen through to an end point. It was agreed that the Chairman organise quarterly meetings along with a To Do list for each role.

Membership

To get an operating e-membership system up and running with up to date database to allow membership communication via mail chimp to members from all roles.
Build Membership, invest a budget amount for marketing, i.e. advert in Dive Magazines, a stand at the dive show. A suggestion was made to attend a Triathlon show.
What can we offer our members? It was agreed that a quarterly newsletter go out to members and possibility of a members get together.

Clubs

How to build Clubs and members?
Ways in which to include, or not include, other freediving agencies or organisations on the BFA listings of affiliate clubs was discussed. At the moment we list SSI Clubs only if they have AIDA instructors and are teaching AIDA courses. Should we also include other freediving clubs who do not teach AIDA courses on our affiliate clubs in our listings? The topic was discussed and it was suggested that the Club’s Officer build a proposal to be discussed at a later date.
How can we encourage Clubs to recommend BFA membership to their club members, should this be mandatory? It was agreed that it should not be mandatory but we should invite organisers to encourage their members to join by sending information out to them of promotional offers and / or flyers to hand out (maybe for inclusion as part of a welcome pack if already done so by the club).

Sponsorship

Report was given on this year’s sponsors: Elios, Prawno, Beet-it and Bounce Balls.
Ideas for next year’s National and World Championship sponsors were discussed. It was suggested and agreed that the Sponsorship Officer along with the Press Officer should start targeting potential sponsors for 2015.
It was requested that the following be voted upon:
Should the BFA should cover shortfall in sponsorship – i.e. currently, if there are not enough suits provided for all athletes, the team splits the cost between them to ensure all the team are provided for.
Decision: It was voted that the BFA would not cover the shortfall
Should the BFA cover the cost of any extra bags or weight costs incurred by athlete/s to carry kit to an event?
Decision: It was voted that the BFA should in principal cover the costs of transporting goods but covering the shortfall should be done on a case-by-case basis.
Should the BFA pay for a Media package if offered at a World Championship event, to be used by BFA for sponsors and given to athletes for their use, and our promotional material.
Decision: It was voted that the BFA would vote upon this on a case-by-case basis.

Press

It was suggested that we should get sponsorship offers out to members. This could go out with renewals for membership? Offers could also be shared on the Face Book page and website.
A vote was requested on the BFA covering the costs of dive shows.
Decision: Yes but on a case-by-case basis but only with enough information and plenty of time to organise. It was also stipulated that the data base of personal information and contact details go back to the BFA ONLY and not to individual clubs. It was proposed that the BFA pay for one dive shoe and one tri show.
The possibility of a media page for the website was suggested.

Training and Safety: A report was read out at the meeting.

Treasurer: Statement was emailed to committee members on-line. It was decided that rather than set budgets in advance, decisions on finances would be made on a case-by-case basis of proposals. It was agreed that quarterly statements would be very useful to help consider spending. Report on monies spent.

Competitions

The first competition grant was awarded to Apnea Revolution, a London based club. This was their first competition. The first competition grant generated new membership to cover the cost of the grant. The grant and competition were deemed to have been a success.
Grant maximum amounts were agreed:
Pool Competition Grant (maximum £250 Grant)
Depth Competition Grant (maximum £400 Grant)
National Championships Grant (Pool or Depth, maximum £250 Grant each)

AOB:
The possibility of organising an outdoor happening in the summer for freedivers to meet, take part in workshops and take part in games. Bart and Rebecca agreed to have a look into this and report back to the committee.It was proposed and agreed to have a meeting every quarter via Skype to ensure ideas and projects run smoothly and are progressed efficiently.

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Apnea Revolution Cup BFA Pool Competition

Apnea Revolution Cup - Lucy HannelApnea Revolution Cup - Deividas
A day of Firsts for Apnea Revolution and the BFA

Thursday 6 November 2014; — On Saturday 1st November, Apnea Revolution (www.apnearevolution.com), organised their first pool freediving competition: the Apnea Revolution Cup BFA Pool Competition at the Queen Mother Sports Centre (www.better.org.uk. Apnea Revolution received sponsorship from BFA in the form of a pool competition grant, which is the first time the competition grants system has been introduced. There were some fantastic performances all around. Tim Money (UK) won with 154m DYN out of the men and Beci Ryan with 134m DNF for the women; in second place were Eoin Clarke (IRE) with 107m DNF and Rebecca Coales (UK) a very close second with 130m DNF; in third place were Deividas Stankevicius (LTU) with 105m DYN and Ana Vadillo (ESP) with 104m DYN, both personal bests.

Twenty athletes signed up to compete in either Dynamic with Fins (DYN) or Dynamic No Fins (DNF) in the beautiful 25m pool in Victoria, Central London. There were 11 countries represented with freedivers from 4 clubs across the UK.

Apnea Revolution is run by a group of experienced freedivers, made up of competitors, instructors, safety divers and judges. An ideal group to organise a competition, the team worked together seamlessly, from start to finish, creating a relaxed and fun environment for the athletes, many of whom were competing for the first time.

It was a beautiful if unseasonably warm afternoon as the athletes congregated around the pool to register for the competition. After a brief by the organisers on how the competition would run and a review of the rules, the athletes drifted off to stretch and mentally prepare for their ‘Official Top’ (the time of their dive). There was wonderful air of calm with an undercurrent of excitement as the experienced and new athletes mingled and prepared, offering one another advice and coaching when needed.

In the pool, there were no shortage of safety divers on hand to keep an eye on the athletes, helping to alleviate nerves and boost confidences in the water – eight safety divers were in attendance no less! The safety team were always there when needed but never in the way, their hard training clearly paying off.

There were some brilliant performances and it wasn’t necessarily the bigger swims that were any more enjoyable or impressive to watch than the not so big. Competing can be both a terrifying and exhilarating experience and it was great to see so many new faces braving the water under official conditions.

Apnea Revolution have already expressed an interest in hosting another pool competition and the BFA will be sure to keep you updated with any news. The next and final competition of the year will be run by Apneists UK (www.freedivingcompetition.com) and will happen in Stockport on Saturday 29th November.

Apnea Revolution and the BFA would like to thank all of the staff and lifeguards at the Queen Mother Sports Centre for not only allowing us to use their wonderful pool and facilities, but also for making everyone feel so welcome.

The BFA are offering a number of Grants to promote freediving in the UK, the following grants can be applied for pool, depth and national championships. The grants are discretionary and may be awarded dependent upon the review and acceptance of an application submitted by the competition organiser.
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BFA 2014 Annual General Meeting

The committee would like to say thank you to David Tranfield for his time as records officer over the last years. We are sad to see him leave and wish him all the best with his diving in the future. Also we should say another big thank you to Charlotte Sundberg, who will be stepping down as membership Officer. Your help will be missed!

It’s that time of year again. This year’s British Freediving Association Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Saturday the 8th You are all very welcome to come to the AGM, listen, take part and give your views. We will meet first for a dive session at 1100 am and the AGM will be after that. So please come along have some fun! Diving is open to anyone qualified to AIDA 2 Star or equivalent. Please sign up at http://www.saltfree.biz/8novag letting us know what kind of maximum depth you’d be diving to (max on the day is 50m). Please note there will be a £7.50 entry fee to NDAC on the gate and £5 payable to Saltfree on the day. You will need to have your own kit, including a lanyard. If you need to hire anything, please contact sam@saltfreedivers.com who may be able to help out.

The AGM is your chance to find out what the British Freediving Association has been up to over the past year and express your views on what it should be doing in the year ahead. Most importantly, it is your chance to stand for a Committee position and get involved!

We need to fill quite a few gaps in the BFA Committee this year and really hope you will use this chance to give something back to the sport you love. Without the BFA, we may not be able to compete at International level or organise recognised competitions, will struggle with teaching insurance and won’t get our records recognised properly. If the Committee positions are not filled, then there is a good chance the BFA won’t be able to continue – so please consider whether you might be able to give an hour or so a week to give something back. To continue, according to our Constitution, we must appoint at least a Chair, Membership Secretary, Training & Safety Officer and a Treasurer. There are lots of other roles to fill! At the moment we desperately need a membership officer, records officer, treasurer and secretary, there are others standing for the other roles but if you are interested do stand up to be counted! The Committee posts can all be managed wherever you live, as long as you have internet and email access a couple of times a week. Whilst it would be helpful, to us and to you, you do not need to attend the AGM to stand for a position.

The BFA Committee positions are:

Chair – Currently Adam Drzazga, who will stand again. The Chair manages the organisation of the Committee in terms of the AGM, leads discussions on new developments for the organisation, keeps a bit of an eye to make sure all the Committee members are fulfilling their post’s requirements and generally keeps email and other discussions under control. The Chair sometimes also ends up covering roles in the short-term when vacancies arise and acting as a point of contact for other Committee members when they are on leave.

Clubs – Currently Georgina Miller, who will stand again. The Clubs Officer manages the recognition of BFA affiliated clubs, answers questions from club organisers and members, supports the clubs in developing their activities and advises on how to set up new clubs.

Competitions – Currently Bart Lubeki, who will stand again. The Competitions Officer supports anyone in the UK organising AIDA-ranked competitions, oversees the competition from the BFA’s point of view and may work with the E Media and Press Officer to help promote the competition. If organisers do not come forward, the Competitions Officer may be required to proactively seek out and encourage members to organise competitions.

E Media – Currently Tim Money, who will be standing again .The E Media Officer runs the BFA website and e-communications. This is the face of British freediving!

Membership – Currently Charlotte Sundberg who will be stepping down. The Membership Officer keeps track of who the current members are, processes membership applications, sends out membership e-cards and works with the Sponsorship Officer on building member benefits. Some IT knowledge is a help in this role.

Press Officer – Currently Becky Ryan, who will be standing again. The Press Officer liaises with the media (mostly the UK dive press and dive websites) to publicise records, competitions and other freediving stories and acts as a point of contact for media with queries about freediving. A new appointee will be provided with lists of contacts but it would be helpful if they had some previous PR or writing experience. The Press Officer needs to work closely with the E Media Officer and the Sponsorship Officer, to ensure all stories are covered on the website and that Sponsors get sufficient coverage in return for their support. They also manage the face book page- Phew!

Records and AIDA Liaison Officer – Currently David Tranfield, who will be stepping down. This position is responsible for liaising with the AIDA International Board and AIDA Judge list, sending information on any AIDA International Level votes (about 10 a year) out to the Committee, monitoring responses and sending back our reply. This post also handles the management and recognition process for UK records, based on the UK record rules you can download from the BFA website, and liaises with the Press and E Media Officers to make sure the records are publicised. It would be helpful if the person appointed to this post were an AIDA Judge.

Secretary – currently care taken by Georgina Miller. The Secretary manages communications with members, takes minutes at the AGM and provides secretarial support to the other Committee members as required.

Sponsorship – currently Jay Cluskey, who will be standing again. The Sponsorship Officer manages our relationships with sponsors and builds new sponsorship agreements. Sponsorship normally relates to the UK Team but it would be great to achieve more general sponsorship for freediving in the UK.

Training & Safety – currently Liv Philip, who will be standing again. This post oversees freedive training within the UK, working with the AIDA Education Committee to advise instructors on matters of training. It also has a wider remit, usually working with the Clubs Officer and sometimes with the Competitions Officers, to advise on matters of safety and is responsible for keeping the Open Water and Confined Water BFA safety advice sheets up to do date. The Training and Safety Officer needs to be a qualified freedive instructor.

Treasurer – currently Martyn Jones, who will step down if a replacement can be found. The Treasurer produces the annual BFA accounts for the AGM, keeps an eye on our finances, makes a final decision with the Chair on major expenditures, runs the BFA bank account and PayPal account. The treasurer ideally would have experience of keeping accounts, or accounting qualifications.

ALL the Committee members are actively involved in voting on AIDA International matters, discussing and putting forward the UK’s views on the development of the sport through AIDA, selection and support of the UK Team at AIDA International competitions and supporting the BFA in various ways in its purpose of “promoting freediving recreationally and competitively, in safe environments”.

Voting Process – In line with the BFA Constitution, anyone who wishes to stand (or re-stand) for a post, should send an email submission, stating the post or posts for which they would like to be considered along with a short CV or manifesto explaining why they think they would be suitable. This should be sent in by the 18th committee@britishfreediving.org. Where more than one person stands for a post, it will go to a majority vote of BFA members. Any vote will be sent to all BFA Members by the 25th October. You have two weeks to vote and the results will be announced at the AGM on the 8th November.

Thanks again for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

British freediving committee

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Team World Championships 2014

UK Team Selection

Applications for the UK Team – 2014 AIDA Team World Championships in Sardinia, Italy are now open. The competition will take place from 16th September until the 26th and will include Dynamic apnea (with fins), Static Apnea and Constant weight (with fins).

We hope to send a full team of 3 men and 3 women per discipline, plus up to 2 additional athletes of each gender as substitutes, and a Team Captain/Coach (who may or may not be part of the competing team).

Selection will be based on the highest proven performances in the three disciplines. (AIDA world championship team selection will be by AIDA ranked points dated from 18 months prior to 3 months before the competition entry deadline. In case of candidates wishing to be considered who do not have AIDA ranked points a performance witnessed by an AIDA Judge or AIDA UK Instructor will stand at 80% of the resulting outcome.)

If you are interested in competing for the UK in Sardinia, please let us know by the 15th April 2014. Please send an email to competitions@britishfreediving.org listing your highest AIDA ranked performances since the 15th October 2012 in Static Apnea, Dynamic Apnea (with fins) and constant weight (with fins) with details of where this ranking was obtained. If you do not have a ranked performance in any or all of these disciplines, please let us know your current best performances in training, and when you anticipate seeing those ratified officially. If you anticipate achieving a higher ranked performance in any of the disciplines in the next few months, please also let us know that in your email. If your geographical location makes it difficult for you to gain a ranked performance, please let us know and we will take this into consideration.

If you are interested in going to Sardinia as Team Captain/Coach, please let us know you are interested by letting us know your experience in this area, and why you think you would be good for the job. Applications for the Team Captain/Coach position will be considered by the team once they have been selected, and appointed within one month of final team selection.

If you make the decision to apply for the 2014 team, you obviously need to be available to be in Sardinia for the dates above. You also need to be sure you can afford your flights and all expenses and the entry fee of 250 Euros (which excludes hotel costs).

In the meantime the BFA will be doing all it can to gather both sponsorship and logistical support for the 2014 team.

All competing athletes must be over 18 years old, UK citizens and members of the BFA at the time of the competition.

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BFA AGM 15 December 2013

The annual AGM was held via Skype in Sunday 15 December. It was great to have some more BFA members take part. So, it’s the end of another year and it is not quite all change, but the BFA are saying goodbye to some key committee members. We would like to say a huge thank you to Steve Millard, Martyn Jones, Gary McGrath & Ed Wardel. Without the hard work and support all our committee members give, the BFA could not function and it’s been a successful year thanks to team work. We would like to say an extra big thank you to Martyn Jones who as E-media officer has given so many years service to the committee and always with such support, warmth, enthusiasm and energy. And in saying goodbye, we welcome Adam Drzazga, Bart Lubecki, Tim Money and Charlotte Sundburg.

From all of us at the BFA, may we wish you a very Merry Christmas & may 2014 be full of beautiful blue dives!

Notes:

Agenda

Apologies

Dave Tranfield, Ed Wardle, Martyn Jones, Jay Cluskey, Gary Lowe,

Present, George, Beci Ryan, Gary, Steve , Adam, Tim, Benedicte

20012/13 Committee

Chair: Steve Millard
Clubs Officer: Georgina Miller
Competitions Officer: Ed Wardle
E Media Officer: Martyn Jones
Membership Secretary: gary lowe
Press Officer: beci ryan
Records & AIDA Liaison Officer: David tranfield
Secretary: ary mcGrath
Sponsorship Officer: Jay Cluskey
Training & Safety Officer: Liv Philip
Treasurer: Gareth Cantin care taken by martyn Jones

1) Thanks to Steve, gary lowe, gary mcgrath, ed, and gareth for their time on the committee and warm welcome to all the new committee members, Adam as chair, Bart as competitions, tim as emedia, and charlotte as membership.

2) Apologies

3) Minutes of last meeting : any objections? If not, continue

4) Notification of Committee Members for 2012/13

Chair: Adam Dzraga
Clubs Officer: George Miller
Competitions Officer: Bart Lubecki
E Media Officer: Tim Money
Membership Secretary: Charlotte Lundberg
Press Officer: Beci Ryan
Records & AIDA Liaison Officer: David Tranfield
Secretary: care taken by Georgina miller
Sponsorship Officer: Jay Cluskey
Training & Safety Officer: Liv Philip
Treasurer: caretaken by Martyn jones

5) Statement of Income and Expenditure

6) Proposal that accounts should have independent report

7) Committee reports : Full reports will be online.

8) Constitutional Changes :to have 3 signatories for finances from committee as treasurer, chair and membership. Agreed.

9) Rule Changes : none

10) Announcement of Fees : no change to Membership Fee for 2013

11) Team Selection for 2013 :

AIDA Individual depth World Championships will be in Sardinia in September 2014. Propose: aim to send maximum number of athletes possible to this event (top three by AIDA ranking plus reserves, captain and coach),choose the team based on AIDA Ranked performance in 18 months prior to cut off date. Cut off date 3 months before entry deadline.

To try to run ranked competitions in all disciplines in the UK in time for the selection date .

Teams selected at the event according to ranked points with reserves.

12) Announcement of UK Champions :Congratulations to Tim Money and Liv Philip. Results gathered by Georgina Miller according to AIDA ranked points.

13) Key mission for 2012/13 : get up to 300 members so we can aim for more recognition from UK Sport. By paying for a stand at the dive show open to all clubIdeas welcome on how to grow membership, and membership lists becoming available to committee members to use for their roles..

14) AOBTo ask committee members to create handover packs for next generation committee.To create a collaborative workspace and file sharing space for committee.

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British Team Fly the Flag at the Freediving Depth World Championships in Greece & Liv Philip brings home a Medal!

Sunday 29th September 2013; — Between the 15th and 22nd September the AIDA Individual Depth World Championship took place in the deep waters of the bay of Kalamata, Greece. Around 150 athletes from more than 30 nations took part to challenge themselves and compete for the deepest dive in Constant No Fins (CNF), Constant Weight (CWT), and Free Immersion (FIM). Each discipline stood alone and encouraged specialists in each area to excel.

Great Britain was represented by a team of 10 divers, many of whom have sprung from the busy freediving clubs around the UK. The first competition day was CNF, and athletes awoke early to find a cloudy, chilly day in contrast to the sunshine of previous days. Competition was scheduled to run from deep to shallow for safety reasons allowing the deeper dives to commence early, when conditions are generally better. After a fast transfer boat five minutes from shore, athletes arrived at their allotted time to prepare for their dive in a fantastic set-up provided by Stavros Kastrinakis the Organiser. An incredible crew of safety divers watched over the divers on the warm-up lines, towed them to floating dry areas to relax, and onto one of three competition lines which were manned by teams of AIDA International judges.

The surface water temperature had dropped by two degrees from previous days and was dark and shadowy because the sun was hidden by thick cloud. This did not deter the Brits however as although many of the team had spent some months training in Dahab, a large number had travelled direct from the UK having had limited training in the cold quarries back home. Two such athletes represented Team GB in the challenging CNF event. John Moorcroft completing a valiant 61m dive to be disappointed by a DQ for an unfortunate pull on the line which the rules do not allow in this event. Liv Philip, a London based athlete decided to go for a tactical depth with a dive to 50m: ‘I knew this would be a challenging but safe dive and I had to factor in such things as conditions, and the water had been getting colder by the day’ Liv explained. This paid off as Liv surfaced from a strong dive to get a white card from Californian judge Grant Graves. She beat competitors from Russia and Japan to bring home her first bronze medal from a World Championship. Liv said ‘I’m really happy, getting the medal gives a nod of recognition for all the hard work and dedication of all the UK self funded freedivers, plus I really like bling!’. Natalia Molchanova did it again setting a new World record and winning gold with a dive of 69m, and Morgan Bourchis of France did a beautiful 87m dive to take gold in the men’s competition.

After two days allowing athletes to rest and train, the tension of CWT day built as the announced performances were published. Two men, Dave Mullins (NZ) and Alexey Molchanov (RUS) announced World records of 128m adding to the excitement. The sun came out and the conditions started off calm, but slowly conditions got bumpy, testing the athletes who could best deal with the nature of this ocean competition. There were good dives from London freedivers Gary McGrath 67m, Liv Philip 62m, and Georgina Miller 47m and from John Moorcroft who put a fin on to dive 67m for the northern contingent. The Biritsh divers held their own in rough seas and showed great strength of character. The British athletes were keen to point out that their much liked team mate Mike Board, who looked on-form to be the first British man to 100m in CWT ‘is really strong and we know he will be back to do it next time” after he suffered an ear injury during the pre-comp. The CWT was won by Alexey who set a new World record, and his mum the Russian grandmother, proved unbeatable yet again in the women’s category!

By the final day, many of the athletes nerves had subsided, and the ocean rewarded them by giving them perfect conditions to take part in the final discipline of Free Immersion. Gary McGrath had a beautiful dive to 70m bringing him a white card, an excellent 10th place and a wonderful days diving to remember. John Moorcroft dived to 61m showing what a strong all round athlete he is by completing all three disciplines. Newcomers Richard Bevan and Louisa Collyns both dived to 56m and Chris Laycock to 36m with excellent results in their first World Championship. Liv Philip completed her run of white cards with a PB of 66m bringing her into 7th place in this discipline. The gold medals were taken by William Trubridge and Natalia Molchanova.

All that was left to do was to thank the organisers, judges and safety team, collect the medals and PARTY down on the beach until the small hours under the shadow of the Kalamata mountains and next to the big blue sea that had kept all the divers safe throughout their dives!

The BFA would like to congratulate all the Freedivers who took part and entering into the spirit of this fantastic bi-annual event. We hope they all enjoyed the experience and have a greater understanding of the sea as a result. We would also like to thank Elios wetsuits on behalf of the British Freediving Team for their support (http://www.eliossub.com/index.php/en/).

Full results can be found on the British Freediving Association Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfreediving/).

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AIDA 2013 Individual Depth World Championships, Count Down to the Start of the Competition

Sunday 8 September 2013; The Individual World Championships are less than a week away, so the countdown is on! The World Championships (www.aidaworldchampionships.com) are being organised by Stavros Katrinakis of Freediving Club Greece and are taking place in Kalamata, Greece. The first official competition day is on Monday 16th September starting with Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) followed by Constant Weight (CWT) on Thursday 19th and finishing off with Free Immersion (FIM) on Saturday 21st. Many of the UK team members have already arrived and are taking advantage of the pre-competition training, with some taking part in mini competitions on Monday 9th, Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th September.

The BFA are pleased to announce the UK team members are: Richard Bevan, Mike Board, Louisa Collins, Alison Crawford, Dave Kent, Chris Laycock, Georgina Miller, Gary McGrath, John Moorcroft, Anna Paraiyar, Liv Philip and David Tranfield (Coach).

We wish each and everyone one of our athletes enjoyable and successful dives!

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BBC Science & Environment talk to Adam Drzazga, UK Team Member, about his Breath-holding Secrets!

Adam Drzazga, a member on the British Freediving Team and Blue Water Freediving School, worked together with the BBC on a documentary about oxygen consumption in mammals.

Click on the two links below to find out more about this fascinating project and to hear what Adam has to say:

Man v Seal: www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22870944

Freediver Reveals Breath-holding Secrets: www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22876741

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The Madchester Challenge Competition 2013, Hosted by Apneists UK. – by Rebecca Ryan

Saturday 11th May was the Madchester Challenge Competition, hosted by Apneists UK. Compared to the annual Great Northern International Pool Championship, also run by Steve Millard of Apneists UK, it was a small competition, but what it lacked in size it made up for in atmosphere and personality and attracted athletes from all over the UK. The whole day had a very relaxed and almost informal feel to it.

The idea of the competition was that the athlete choose one discipline to compete in and the highest point score won, simple (there was an opportunity for people to choose a second discipline if they wished to do so as well). No prizes were up for grabs just Northern love – this was a competition done for the chance to compete and for the sheer fun of it.

The winner of the day was John Moorcroft, an Instructor for Apneists UK ( www.freedivers.co.uk ) and UK Team member, who did a very comfortable and impressive 154 meter DNF swim. John used to hold the DNF record and by his own admission had not done a huge amount of training, making the swim that much more impressive! Coming first out of the Women was Georgina Miller of London Freediving, another UK Team member and National Record Holder who completed a huge static of 6 minutes 15 seconds. George then went on to do a big 104 meter DNF swim, finishing off her day in style. It was great to see George do so well, especially after a freak accident with her toe, which prevented her from competing just moments before her starting time at the Great Northern International earlier in the year.

There were many other notable performances, some from seasoned athletes and some from brand new divers. Please see here for details of performances: Madchester Challenge (the link is here )

The pool was provided by Wright Robinson College and as you would expect with Apneists UK, there was a strong team on hand ensuring the smooth running of the day. We had a fantastic crew of safety divers swimming around looking after the athletes, wonderful judges Mandy Buckley and Gary Lowe watching the Official Tops, as well as photographers and other volunteers. Well done to Steve Millard and Apneists UK for pulling another competition out of the bag and providing athletes across the country to gather, compete, and generally have a lot of fun!