Tag: Depth

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Winners of UK National Freediving Championship 2012

The BFA would like to congratulate Tim Money and Liv Philip who are the winners of the UK National Freediving Championship 2012!

Each year, the BFA grants a National Championship Award for men and women, to the athlete who has scored highest in STA (static apnea), DYN (dynamic apnea with fins), and CWT (constant weight).


Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven

Liv and Tim both train at London Freediving in Richmond and Crystal Palace Clubs, where they are extremely popular and respected athletes. Tim and Liv are always approachable to the older and newer members of the clubs, offering training advice when asked and willingly sharing their valuable experiences as freedivers.

Tim, a seasoned, strong athlete continues to push the boundaries of his abilities, gaining an easy personal best in the discipline of constant weight at the AIDA Freediving World Championships in Nice, having taken a short break from the sport which clearly did him no harm!

Liv has a wealth of experience as a freediving competitor and performed at various competitions throughout 2012, including the Red Sea AIDA World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh in September. This is the sixth year in a row that Liv has won the UK National Freediving Championship (2007-2012)! Liv is keen to point out that UK based Georgina Miller and Egypt based Anna Parayair were strong contenders for the top spot this year.

Tim Money
STA: 6:03
DYN: 169m
CWT: 60m

Liv Philip
STA: 5:58
DYN: 142m
CWT: 62m

We are pleased to announce that Tim and Liv plan to compete again next year and have included the UK Pool Championships run by Steve Millard and also the Mediterranean World Cup in Greece run by Stavros Kastrinakis in their plans. We wish them huge success in 2013 and we will be sure to keep you posted on their progress.

Next year, for the first time ever, athletes will be able to win the Championship with the scores accumulated from the best they have done in each of the six competitive disciplines (STA, DYN, DNF, CWT, CNF, FIM). This better reflects the changes in the sport of competitive freediving in the last few years, and for the first time acknowledges the no fins athletes’ performances. The scores are counted between the dates November 1st to October 31st and the awards are announced by the BFA at the annual AGM in November.

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Mike Board is Britain’s deepest man – 96m Constant Weight

Monday 10th December 2012; — Mike Board has officially claimed his place as Britain’s deepest man; at the Vertical Blue competition last month he pushed the men’s Constant Weight record of 91m to 92m, 94m and finally 96m. He attempted 100m to become the first Brit to officially cross the line, but despite being conscious on the surface was disqualified for forgetting to remove his noseclip.

Mike had already made his mark on British freediving with two National Records in the discipline of Free Immersion (pulling himself down and up a submerged, weighted rope) to a maximum depth of 83m. These records, and his closest of misses at the 100m, really solidify Mike’s reputation as an outstanding freediver.

The competition got off to a wobbly start as nerves got the better of Mike in this, his first, attempt at the lauded CWT title. On 20th November Mike turned early at 88m on his first attempt at 92m, however two days later managed to pull the record out of the bag with a dive to 92m in two minutes and 50 seconds.

With the record secured, the pressure was off, and things began to get very exciting for the British freediving instructor and owner of freediving school, Freedive Gili in Indonesia. On 26th November, Mike did a far more comfortable dive to 94m one second faster than his previous record, and on 28th he hit an incredible 96m the same depth as fellow Briton Sara Campbell’s former World Record in two minutes 51 seconds.

Buoyed by his success Mike decided to take a risk on his final dive and attempt the magic 100m. To all intents and purposes it was a clean, successful dive, however the protocol of competition requires that a diver removes all facial equipment before giving the ‘OK’ sign to the judges. Mike forgot to remove his noseclip, thereby disqualifying this attempt as an official British record.

Mike said: After having narrowly missed the National Record at the Worlds in Kalamata last year I set my sights on Vertical Blue to really test my ‘depth legs’. Equalisation looked like being my main barrier to achieving it, but with a few tweaks, which clearly worked, any by increasing the speed of my dives to reduce my hypoxia at the end of the dives, I not only stole the record from Dave King, but I broke my own record twice over! The Worlds are being held again in Kalamata next year and you can put money on me attempting the 100m once more officially then! For now it’s back to work in Gili, and training whenever I can find the time and depth.

Liv Philip, one of the UK’s top female divers, was also at Vertical Blue, and came third in the No Fins category with a dive to 50m, and an excellent fourth place overall after a very tough and tight battle with Japan’s Tomoko Fukuda.

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British Freediving Team holds strong at AIDA Freediving World Champs in France

This September (8th to 16th) saw the biggest freediving World Championships so far. To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of AIDA, freediving came home to Nice, France the birthplace of AIDA all those years ago. 120 athletes were supported by a safety and logistics crew of well over 100 people.

Team UK 2012

The team this year consisted of Georgina Miller, Liv Philip (captain), and newcomer Beci Ryan for the women, and Gary McGrath, John Moorcroft and Tim Money for the men. We also had the support of two reserves, James Cluskey and Gary Lowe. Sara Campbell was also there teaching free yoga and meditation to the athletes.

The team was very kindly once again sponsored by top Italian wetsuit manufacturer Elios Sub (www.eliossub.com) and team kit was generously provided by British dive fashion brand SevenTenths (www.seventenths.com). The team is also grateful for sponsorship from Oceanic (www.oceanicuk.com), for providing us with amazing new dive computers by Aeris and lava core wear. This company is in exciting talks with the BFA’s sponsorship officer, James Cluskey for a longterm mutually beneficial relationship and we look forward to being able to announce exciting news in the very near future on this front.

Sevententh Sponsors Team UK 2012

With challenging conditions both in and out of the water a special mention should be made to Gary McGrath for his impressive personal best of 68m in Constant Weight. Tim Money also managed a new personal best in Constant weight of 60m. John Moorcroft who, after over 30 years in the sport is also still pushing his depths to never-before reached numbers – 67m in competition! Beci also did amazingly well, having started the sport this year, she entered the competition with a spirit of courage and endeavour and, despite very unfamiliar and stressful surroundings for a beginner, also delivered personal bests in all three disciplines! In The pool we saw another personal best in dynamic from Georgina Miller of 133m, she also made 6th place overall in the women’s static, Tim Money also delivered a very strong 169m. Liv, George, and Tim are seasoned athletes who also delivered consistent and strong performances, both competing and coaching the less experienced members of the team, which is a tall challenge at such a big and important competition.

A strong captain in Liv Philip, with support, coaching and fabulous photography by Daan Verhoeven and coaching and general care from Stavros Kastrinakis made a difficult event a success.

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Results for the British Freediving Association National Depth Championships 2012 – Hosted by Apneists UK and Salt Free Divers

Well, we haven’t had a BFA depth competition in the UK for a while, and its a nice way for a few of the divers who can’t get out of Blighty to get some points on the board and a very good excuse to meet old friends and make some new ones. So, freedivers.co.uk and saltfreedivers.com teamed up to run an event.

They say the sun shines on the righteous, and there it was, not a cloud for two days pretty much, which meant there was a wonderful feel to the whole event.

As ever the community pulled together and helped judge, safety, scuba, pull ropes, announce, man jetties and pontoons etc for our lovely athletes. Thank you all very very much!!. The athletes shone brighter than the sun and we had a slick showing with no red cards, a couple of National records from Apneists UK Mike Benke (Hungary) and some very very relaxed dives from everyone.

John Moorcroft won with two 50m dives, one was with no fins on. Tim Money finished second with two great Constant weight dives and Mikes two CNF NRs of 34m and 38m saw him finish third overall, and Chris Crawshaw getting the joint second best CNF dive getting the UK third spot. Rebecca Coales the yoga expert of OMdiver fame had a very comfortable dive to get the top spot for the ladies.

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British Freediving Association National Depth Championships 2012 – Hosted by Apneists UK and Salt Free Divers

Entries for the BFA National Depth Championships 2012 are open. The competition will take place on the 26th and 27thMay at NDAC Chepstow in 3 disciplines CNF/FI/CW.

Saturday 26th May – Social dive, and practice hosted by Salt Free Divers. Contact sam@saltfreedivers.com.

Sunday 27th May – National Depth Competition. Registration will be at 9.30am, first top will be 12pm.

To enter you must be an BFA/AIDA national member, hold a valid medical certificate.

For details and entry forms please contact Steve Millard at apneaboy111@hotmail.com.

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British men trash own records at Worlds

Monday 10th October 2011 : – The British men faced their toughest competition for records this year, with three strong athletes fighting for the No Fins title; Dave Tranfield, two-times holder of the title, newcomer Ed Wardle who took the record from Dave this summer at his first event; and Dave Kent, new to competitive freediving, who came through and surprised everyone, including himself.

At the 4th Mediterranean World Cup 1st-14th September athletes gathered from around the world to compete and prepare for the World Championships, taking place from 15th-25th September. Liv Philip shone for the women by taking Silver Medal overall in the women’s with CWT 61m, FIM 62m and CNF 46m.

Liv, who coaches and trains at London Freediving Club in Richmond, said: I’ve been working long hours back home to allow me to compete this summer and it’s been tough to fit training in, so I’m doubly pleased to have got a Silver Medal with so many strong athletes around.

On 14th September, the final day of the first comp, Dave Tranfield, or Tranny as he is affectionately known, although he prefers ‘Sheffield Steel’, and Ed Wardle who had ambitiously announced 65m, went head to head to push Ed’s 55m record deeper. Tranny, due in part to his greater experience, kept his cool and successfully dived to 56m in two minutes 25 seconds, breaking Ed’s former record by one metre.

Dave said: My dive started badly with a poor duck dive due to nerves and then my neck weight nearly knocked off my nose clip which barely hung on during the entire descent. But luckily equalisation went ok to the bottom and as soon as I took the tag I knew I had the dive. Unfortunately Ed didn’t make his dive, having announced 10m deeper than his former record, and making an early turn.

On 19th September, the first comp day of the AIDA Depth World Championships, Dave Kent joined the action, putting further pressure on Tranny and Ed, and the tables turned in Ed’s favour. Tranny made the most conservative announcement with 58m, followed by Ed with 60m and Dave Kent with 62m. Tranny was up first but didn’t make it. Ed completed a 60m dive, claiming his second National Record in two minutes 19 seconds. Ed said: I trained hard this year and it paid off, I managed to focus and it was as close to a perfect dive as I could have wished for, a solid 60m. Ed’s glory was short-lived as minutes later his record was broken by a Dave Kent, who made a clean and easy dive to 62m in two minutes 20 seconds. Kent, at his first ever major comp said: The world’s were awesome, it was great to meet so many athletes that up until then had just been names from hours of watching YouTube footage. My time in Kalamata has only reinforced my desire to attend further championships, and improve as a no fins freediver.

The other disciplines at the event were Free Immersion and Constant Weight. In the Mediterranean Cup on 13th September Mike Board did a 77m FIM to regain the National Record from Dave King who had set it at 73m in June in France. But on the 24th September the final day of the AIDA World Depth Championships, Mike extended this record by a further six metres setting a new record in FIM of 83m in a dive time of two minutes 55 seconds.

Mike said: “It’s been a fantastic month of training and dive performances for me that far exceeded my expectations. Training went well and I felt strong and confident enough to try new depths on the competition days.”

The team was sponsored by Elios wetsuits (www.eliossub.com) who donated the full team a brand new wetsuit each for the Worlds. Thank you, Elios!

Congratulations to all nine British athletes attended these two amazing events.

Dave Tranfield
Sara Campbell
Dave Kent
Liv Philip
Dave King
Georgina Miller
Ed Wardle
Mike Board
Gary McGrath (Med World Cup)

For more information contact press@britishfreediving.org
For images contact Hungry Eye Images: www.hungryeye.co.uk, email – matt.green@hungryeye.co.uk , tel – 07767 848133

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A new British record in constant weight, no fins free diving set by David Kent at Dahab’s Blue Hole

Only twenty days after setting the British Men’s Constant Weight, No Fins Free Diving record at 62 meters (204 ft) at The World Championships in Kalamata, Greece on 19th September, David Kent, 41, broke and reset his own record by comfortably diving an impressive 66 meters (217 ft) in 2.32 minutes in The Blue Hole, Dahab, Egypt, on 9th October.

To set the Constant Weight, No Fins Free Diving record, Kent was required to descend to a pre-announced depth and return to the surface on a single breath of air and present the bottom-tag to the judges to qualify; He did this without incident and looked clear and focused as he resurfaced, a good indication that there’s still deeper depths he can reach over time.

The discipline Kent specialises in (one of the three major competition disciplines) is often referred to as ‘unassisted free diving’, as the athlete swims to their depths and resurfaces without the aid of fins, sleds, airbag, or any other supplement – using only the combined power and discipline of the body and the mind.

41 year old Sussex Police Sergeant David Kent was given a mini career-break to train for and compete in the World Championships this year. He was coached by Brian Crossland of Blue Ocean Free Diving in Dahab, Egypt, leading up to the Worlds, then returned to train up for and carry out his record breaking attempt, organised and overseen by Crossland. He will no doubt be welcomed back to The Force with a huge round of well-deserved applause as the UK Men’s World Record holder.

Kent has now set his sights on competing in the 2013 World Championships to medal-winning standard.

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NoTanx Dive Off Sept 17th/18th

Every Year since 2005, NoTanx have run a Freediving Comp in Vobster Quay. It has grown, now taking place over 2 days. There are 4 different competitions, such as the guess your depth comp on Sunday. But the main event is the NoTanx depth Comp. Of course, NoTanx is based on experience rather than performance… (enjoyment rather than depth) so it is only right that the winner is voted on by the other competitors. So it is “The Best Dive” rather than the deepest that will win.

This year 1st Prize = an all expenses paid Summer Vacation to Marsa Alam!! (Courtesy of Oonas Divers)

With 50 spaces for freedivers and various other activities, this year is even more of a spectator event. The Team Static is always a favourite with the crowd, where teams of apneists attempt to perform a “relay” of breath holds whilst being “distracted” by the other teams. (Pouring ice cold water on their backs was deemed as legal, as long as it was done from inside the water).

Although the largest UK freediving comp, the entry fee is always low as NoTanx Freediving Club is a non-profit organisation, dedicated to widening participation in this fun and healthy sport.