Tag: Mike Board

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2017 UK National Champions announced

Georgina Miller

The BFA is delighted to announce that Michael Board and Georgina Miller are the 2017 UK National Champions.

The selection is based on UK and international competition results across all major pool and open water disciplines. Competitive freediving requires an exceptional level of commitment to training as well as travelling across the world to participate in the leading depth competitions.Georgina and Michael have a long history of competitive freediving for Great Britain in individual and team championship events. Each of these talented divers have broken multiple national records and have competed at some of the world’s most prestigious freediving championships. Georgina is a six-times national record holder, with a personal best of just over seven minutes in the Static Apnea discipline. Michael has set sixteen British National records and is the current British record holder in two depth disciplines for Constant Weight at 108m and for Free Immersion at 100m.

Georgina said: “I’m really pleased to get this award. It is pretty challenging to get competition points across all six disciplines, which were gained at just two events, one pool and one depth competition. Fitting in time to train around work teaching free diving is always a tricky balance, but it’s fun to try to practice all the disciplines! The cold waters of the UK are not always the easiest, but it does help to be able to dive as much as we can in the summer. We have a wonderful community of free divers to help motivate and support us and meet some incredible, inspirational people, so I feel very lucky to be able to do this. I would really like to thank Daan Verhoeven for all of his knowledge and endless support, Porthkerris Divers for the space to practice and teach, and my mum for the dog sitting while we are away.”

Georgina and Daan Verhoeven run Aquacity Freediving (www.aquacityfreediving.com) at Porthkerris in Cornwall.

Michael said: “I am so happy to be named UK Champion for 2017, and to have got the final points needed at the Bristol Blue competition in October. Last season was a difficult one for me, after an injury early in the season, I failed to achieve any good results in the rest of that year, I really felt that my performances had plateaued and it left me with many doubts when starting to train for this 2017 season. However, I decided to make some big changes, took on a new coach, and started training at a level that I had not previously managed. It’s been hard work, with many early morning sessions but the results speak for themselves – it has probably been my most successful year since starting to compete eight years ago. The high point for me was coming 3rd place at Vertical Blue earlier this year in the Monofin category, increasing the British depth record to 108m, and ranking 5th in the world for 2017, and then also setting another new British depth record of a 100m in Free Immersion. Being awarded UK champion is a great way to top off this great year. Thank you to all my training partners, especially Kate Middleton and the instructors at Freedive Gili in Gili Trawangan, and to coach Goran Colak for his training and advice.”

Michael Board runs Freedive Gili, a Freediving School in Gili Trawangan, Indonesia (www.freedivegili.com) and is on Instagram @mikefreediver.

Congratulations to Georgina and Michael for their outstanding freediving achievements and we wish them every future success!

Michael Board

Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven (www.daanverhoeven.com)

 

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UK team for the 2017 AIDA Depth World Championships

Former Royal Marine Michael Board extends his British national freediving record. Michael Board and freediver Dean Chaouche set additional national records in two other freediving disciplines.

The British Freediving Association (BFA) is delighted to announce that three new UK national freediving records have been set at the annual Vertical Blue international freediving competition held in the Bahamas which ended on 10 May 2017. The records have now been officially confirmed by the international freediving association, AIDA. Three British freedivers competed at the nine-day competition: Michael Board, Dean Chaouche and Georgina Miller. Key freediving disciplines in the Vertical Blue competition are: CWT = constant weight; a dive with fins or monofin; CNF = constant no fins; a dive with no fins; and FIM = free immersion – the freediver uses a rope to descend and ascend without fins. All three athletes performed exceptionally well during the course of the competition, achieving the following final results in their chosen disciplines:

Michael Board: CWT: 108m (new British national record); FIM: 100m (new British national record)

Dean Chaouche: CNF: 80m (new British national record)

Georgina Miller: CWT: 54m CNF: 33m FIM: 44m (Georgina placed sixth overall at the competition amongst a strong field.)

Michael Board, a former Royal Marine Commando, was the first British man to freedive to 100m in 2013. He owns and runs a freediving school and yoga center in Gili Trawangan, Indonesia called Freedive Gili and Gili Yoga. With his performance, Dean Chaouche is one of the top 10 deepest divers in the world in the CNF discipline. He is a freediving instructor at Team Vertical Blue in the Bahamas. Georgina runs Aquacity Freediving in Cornwall and is a six-time UK national freediving record holder. Commenting on his performance, Michael Board said: “After two years of struggling to find the way to dive deeper, this year seems to be a breakthrough year for me. Vertical Blue was a tough competition this year with so many good deep freedivers from around the world really pushing hard and trying to dive deeper than ever. However, I trained well for this competition. After rupturing my eardrum last year just before the competition started and not being able to compete I was really motivated to come back strong. My training this time focused a lot on being in good physical shape as you would expect, but equally on being mentally prepared with a strong emphasis on meditation. ”

“I started the competition well on the first day (30 April) with a dive to 104m in the constant weight discipline, which was one meter deeper than my British record of 103m from 2014. However, I got a penalty point for losing the tag on the swim up and so it did not qualify as a new record. This was disappointing but gave me confidence as I had achieved the depth and knew I could dive deeper. On the second day of the competition fellow British freediver, Dean Chaouche, dived to 98m in Free Immersion (diving by pulling up and down the rope) breaking my own national record in this discipline by one meter. This threw down the gauntlet and I knew I would have to try and dive deeper to regain it later in the competition. On the 4 May, Day 4 of the competition, I did a dive to 106m in Constant weight in a dive time of just 2’59. This bettered my last British record which was a dive to 103m in December 2014. After the success of this dive I decided to have a crack at taking back the British free immersion record on Day 5. So on 5 May, I did a dive to 100m, adding two meters on the record set by Dean Chaouche just 5 days before on Day 1. Finally, on Day 9 of the competition, the last day, I decided to try for an even bigger dive in constant weight and dived to 108m, also in 2’59, adding a further two meters to the British record I had set a few days before. This also put me in the third place position with a bronze medal in the constant weight discipline – my first podium finish after five years of competing at Vertical Blue!”

Michael Board and Dean Chaouche will be competing again as part of the mixed, six-strong UK freediving team at the AIDA Freediving World Championships in Roatán, Honduras. This competition will take place from 22 August to 2 September 2017.

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Bristol Blue 2017 Competition

Bristol Blue Freediving Competition

November 2, 2017

 

Bristol successfully hosted its second annual international freediving competition, covering the three main pool disciplines.

 

The two-day event, which took place on October 21 and 22 at Horfield Leisure Centre, was hosted by Bristol Freedivers and was supported by the Mares, Saltfree Divers, Dr Apnea, the British Freediving Association, Lobster Freediving Weight, Finisterre, Nomenca, D Smith Flooring, and Blue Water Freediving School. The event attracted experienced competitive divers as well as some new faces, both from the UK and overseas.

 

The overall winners of the competition were:

  • Male: 1st Mike Board; 2nd Aristomenes Vounakis; 3rd Eóin Clarke
  • Female: 1st Lucelle Simms; 2nd Beci Ryan; 3rd Rose Van-Gowler

 

Eóin Clarke set a new Irish National Record for his 137m DNF swim.

 

In the individual disciplines, the winners were:

 

STA

  • Male: 1st Adam Drzazga 6:35; 2nd Aristomenes Vounakis 6:05; 3rd Michael Board 5:46
  • Female: 1st Hannah Thurston-McGowan 5:08; 2nd Lucelle Simms 4:47; 3rd Rose Van-Gowler 4:04

 

DNF

  • Female: 1st Beci Ryan 120m; 2nd Lucelle Simms 104m; 3rd Johanni Nel 82m
  • Male: 1st Eóin Clarke 137m (NR); 2nd Michael Board 130m; 3rd Constantin Timosca 116m

 

DYN

  • Female: 1st Lucelle Simms 134m; 2nd Hannah Thurston-McGowan 130m; 3rd Beci Ryan 126m
  • Male: 1st Michael Board 200m; 2nd Philip Fennell 183m; 3rd Aristomenes Vounakis 151m

Best Newbies were: Male, Paul Sutton; Female: Hannah Thurston-McGowan.

In recognition of all those who sacrifice their time and make great efforts to ensure freediving competitions are a success, special prizes were given to Becca Warren for providing Safety and Shirley Turner for coaching.

 

Organiser and founding member of Bristol Freedivers Andy Jardine said: “This was our first two-day competition, covering all three pool disciplines. We had competitors from eight different nationalities and 18 PBs were set, including Eóin Clarke’s new national Irish record in DNF. It’s great that we had six different winners for each discipline, too, which highlights what a strong field of competitors there was. We’re already planning for bigger and better in 2018!”

 

Photos of the event and full results can be found at www.bristolfreedivers.co.uk/photos and at Facebook at Bristol Blue Freediving Competition.

 

*Accompanying photos taken by and courtesy of Neil Wood, Bristol Freedivers

 

Background information on the BFA and freediving 

1. The British Freediving Association (BFA) is the UK governing body of the international freediving organisation, l’Association Internationale pour le Développement de L’Apnée (AIDA). Founded in 1999, the BFA promotes recreational and competitive freediving, ratifies freediving records, and sponsors events for its members. The association also supports a growing network of affiliated freediving clubs throughout the UK. The BFA is a non-profit organisation and its committee is composed of volunteers. www.britishfreediving.org; www.aida-international.org

2. Freediving is the sport of diving underwater on one breath without the aid of mechanical breathing apparatus. The roots of freediving stretch back in time to the very origins of human development where the ability to hold our breath allowed us to gather food and resources at all depths. Today, the sport encompasses recreational activities like snorkelling and spearfishing as well as competitions. Some competitive disciplines include “static apnea” (a stationary breath hold in water), “dynamic apnea” (a horizontal swim underwater on one breath with or without fins) and “constant weight” (a vertical dive to depth on one breath with fins).

As with any extreme sport or sport involving water, freediving should only be undertaken with appropriate training and supervision. Freedivers draw upon a wealth of knowledge from within the freediving community to dive safely. Through ongoing training and education, freedivers develop increased awareness of and control over their bodies and minds. The BFA recommends that new freedivers take an AIDA freediving course.

 

Regular updates and news on UK freediving can be found at:

For further information please contact:

Louise Nelson, Press Officer

press@britishfreediving.org

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2015 AIDA Individual Depth World Championships Team of 8 Fly the Flag for Team GB

John Moorcroft 2015 Team CNF

Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven (www.daanverhoeven.com)

The 2015 AIDA Individual Depth World Championships have now closed and this year were hosted in Limassol, Cyprus from 11 – 19 September, on a spectacular 500m2 barge, with up to 40m visibility. A team of 8 British athletes represented the country: Liv Philip, Georgina Miller, Helena Boudillon and Beci Ryan for the women and Michael Board, Tim Money, John Moorcroft, George Close for the men. Michael Board came to the competition with 2 Wild Cards one in constant weight (CWT) and the other in free immersion (FIM), meaning he ranked Top Ten in the World last year (in those disciplines). All the athletes are self-funded and were grateful to receive sponsorship from Elios, Divesangha and Bounce Energy Balls.

Strong currents and changeable weather effected this year’s World Championship competition. Because the currents had a tendency to build in the afternoon, the deepest athletes competed first, which meant extremely early starts and a change in routine (at short notice) for these elite contenders – this was reflected in conservative announcements and a high level of disqualification for some. But of course the sea is the sea and not known for being tamed so all the athletes had to adapt their performances and announcements and it made for an interesting and not at all predictable competition.

There were three competition days, one for each of the competitive depth disciplines: constant weight no fins (CNF), constant weight (CWT) and free immersion (FIM). Day one was CNF. Sayuri Kinoshita (JPN) and Mandy Sumner (USA) shared gold for the women with dives of 58m, Estrella Navarro (MEX) took silver with 50m and Jennifer Wendland (GER) won bronze and a national record with 46m. Alexey Molchanov (RUS) won gold for the men with a dive of 85m, Mateusz Malina (POL) and Miguel Lozano (ESP) shared silver with dives of 76m and Stig Prys (DEN) took bronze with a 75m dive. The UK’s John Moorcroft came in 8th for the men with a strong clean dive of 64m.

Day two was dedicated to CWT. Misuzu Okamoto (JPN) swam down to 90m for gold; Sayuri Kinoshita (JPN) won silver with 88m and Natalia Zharkova (UKR) bronze with 87m. Liv Philip placed 11th with 64m, Helena Bourdillon 13th with 60m and Georgina Miller came 15th with dive to 51m. Alexey Molchanov won his second gold with a dive to 122m for the men, Samo Jeranko (SLO) and Goran Colak (CRO) shared silver with dives to 108m and George Panaglotakis (GRE) won bronze with 103m. Tim Money came in 16th with a dive to 68m and newcomer George Close swam a comfortable 50m dive at his first World Championships.

The third and final competition day was for FIM. Jeanine Grasmeijer (NED) won gold with an 82m dive, Kate Middleton (NZL) and Hanako Hirose (JPN) shared silver with 76m dives and Natalia Zharkova bronze with 70m. Liv Philip came in 4th with 68m and Helena Bourdillon 7th with 57m. For the men William Trubridge (NZL) took gold with a dive to 112m, Miguel Lozano silver with 107m and Mateusz Malina bronze with 103m. Tim Money came 13th with a dive to 62m and Michael Board had set a new UK national FIM record in the pre-comp event of 97m.

There are two World Championships set for 2016: the AIDA Individual Pool World Championships in Finland and the AIDA Team World Championships (which combines pool and depth: static, dynamic and constant weight).

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A FIM National Record for Michael Board of 97m! At AIDA World Championship Pre-Competition

A FIM National Record for Michael Board of 97m

On Thursday 10 September Michael Board broke his own Free Immersion national record by pulling himself down a rope to a depth of 97m and back again. Michael was taking part in the Pre-Competition to the Individual AIDA Depth World Championships in Limassol, Cyprus and it was the third and final day of the competition. Board had previously nailed a solid 100m Constant Weight dive, using a mono fin to swim down and up, on day one and so was looking in good shape to dive deep in this competition, and as it turns out started and ended on a high note. Mike’s previous record was 96m, set at the prestigious Vertical Blue competition on Long Island in the Bahamas on 15 November 2013.

Of this latest Free Immersion national record, Mike had to say:

“Waiting for the dive today I had a little apprehension as I always do before a competition dive and a national record attempt, and because it was at this stage two years ago that I crashed out of the World Championships in Greece by rupturing my ear drum at a depth of 95m while trying for a national record of a 100m in Constant Weight discipline. It’s hard not to push too far sometimes but hopefully I learnt from that experience and this is reflected in today’s dive! Diving in the Mediterranean is harder for me than in the tropics, and in the previous day’s we have had wind, surface chop, current and a strong thermocline to contend with. Conditions were good today though and I hope I can build on this record and dive deeper in the upcoming days during the World Championships”

With the World Freediving championships now under way Michael Board and the rest of the GB team will aim to build on these good early performances during the final competition days on the 16th and 19th September

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Michael Board’s 103m Constant Weight National Record

Mike Board 103m CW National Record& taking 4th place at World Famous Suunto Vertical Blue Competition

Wednesday 9th December 2014; — On the 2nd December, at the prestigious Suunto Vertical Blue competition, Michael Board pushed his national record in Constant Weight deeper still, from 102m to 103m; at this kind of depth, each meter is like a milestone. Michael lives in Indonesia, on the island of Gili Trawangan, where he teaches freediving courses and training at his, and partner Kate Middleton’s school Freedive Gili (www.freedivegili.com).

This latest national record is number 8 for Board and it seems that even at the top of their game, experienced freedivers face challenges, set backs and even knocks in confidence. A former Royal Marine, it is not surprising that Board did not allow any obstacles to stand in his way for long and was gracious enough to talk with us at BFA, at the end of the competition on Long Island (the location of VB2014) to share his experience, not only of the competition but of his year training and diving at depth:

‘I am very happy I dived to 103m and set a new British record in Constant Weight as it has been a challenging year for me in depth diving in general and also a difficult competition here in the Bahamas as well. I struggled to match my performances from last year in both the AIDA Euro Cup in Kalamata and the 2014 AIDA Team World Championships in Sardinia earlier this year, some of this was due to being unaccustomed to the water conditions but I also discovered that it can just be hard work getting back down to these deep depths again.’

Board had done several 100m dives in training before arriving in the Bahamas, and had pushed this up to 103m in training on Long Island just before the competition started. However he suffered a big setback on his first attempt at 103m in the competition:

‘The weather changed drastically with strong winds and cooler water catching a lot of us unprepared on that day in our thin tropical wetsuits. I was shivering 15 minutes before my dive and could not relax properly, but chose to dive anyway, perhaps the wrong decision in hindsight. I managed to reach the bottom but had a lot of narcosis, was slow on the ascent and then suffered a black out just short of the surface after being assisted up by the safety divers.’

His confidence bruised but not broken, Board announced the same depth 3 days later, sensibly giving himself a chance to recover and recuperate for a second attempt, for which he was well rewarded:

‘I knew I could do the dive, I just needed to stay warm so I delayed getting in the water this time until the last moment. The dive went well, I reached the bottom plate relaxed and the narcosis did not hit me too strong this time so I managed to think clearly and tell myself to ascend from depth faster, as it happened maybe a little too fast. A good dive to finish the season with, only 1 meter up on last year, but happy to end the year on a high and moving in the right direction.’

Board came an impressive 4th at the end of the competition, with a Free Immersion (FIM) dive to 95m and a Constant No Fins (CNF) dive to 56m. Also at the competition were top British Freedivers with some impressive results: Chris Crawshaw, also of Freedive Gili who placed 8th (75m CWT, 70m FIM, 68m CNF) and John Moorcroft of Apneists UK who placed 10th (71m CWT, 63m CNF).

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Team GB at 9th AIDA Team World Championships

Team GB at 9th AIDA Team World Championships

Sponsored by Elios Sub, Prawno Apparel, Beet-it and Bounce Foods

Sunday 12 October 2014; — From the 16th to 27th September, the ninth AIDA Team World Championships took place in the Gulf of Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia, organised by Blue World Apnea School (www.blueworldchamp.it).

This year the UK was represented by a team of 3 men and 3 women: Georgina Miller, Liv Philip, Beci Ryan, Mike Board, Tim Money and Adam Drzazga. Jay Cluskey acted as a fantastically organized and supportive coach to all the athletes; attending the daily Event Committee meetings, keeping everyone up to date with competition news and ensuring people had what they needed throughout.

The team had fantastic sponsors in the form of Elios Sub (www.eliossub.com), Prawno Apparel (www.prawnoapparel.co.uk), Beet-it (www.beet-it.com), and Bounce Energy Balls (www.bouncefoods.com).

Team events takes place every other year (alternating with the individual events), and as one of the UK team put it this year, the team event is a very different kind of beast! Being a member of the team requires thought and work both before and during the event – tactics and intentions need to be discussed openly and honestly, for example are individuals aiming for personal bests (therefore increasing the risks of a yellow or red card), or are they open about working together, setting aside their own goals and potentially pulling back their performances in the hope of gaining a place on the podium?

Because of rough weather at sea, the competition started with Static (STA). Ordinarily Constant Weight (CWT) is the first event, followed by STA and ending with Dynamic (DYN). The change in order put everyone on their toes, the athletes because they thought they had plenty of time to practice STA in between the other disciplines and the Organiser because it was uncertain when the CWT would fit in, if at all.

On the evening before the announcements for STA, the team sat down together. Each person was given a chance to talk about their expectations and aspirations of the event; by the end it was agreed that athletes be given the freedom to go out and do own best performance under their own judgment. The idea was to then reconvene after the first performance day had finished and re-evaluate the situation accordingly.

It was a real mixed day for both UK teams as everyone did valiant performances, with some huge holds. Michael Board held his breath for 07:01, Tim Money for 05:55 and Liv Philip and Beci Ryan did competition personal bests (PB) of 06:05 and 04:58 respectively. Georgina Miller did a massive hold of 06:30, however the surface protocol (SP) stood in her way for a very minor error. Adam Drzazga did a brave hold of 07:15 but he too lost out to the SP. I think it’s important to say that both athletes had the full support of their teams for their fantastic efforts.

There is a silver lining in receiving a red card for the teams, in that it allows athletes the option of going all out for personal glory for the rest of the competition. The Brits were not the only team to receive red cards, five other countries also got them – the Italian team got two, both in women’s team for the touch rule (it is forbidden for an athlete to be touched by anyone upon surfacing), which is especially bitter as both athletes did clean performances and nothing wrong, it’s rather like the home goal rule in football.

Next up was CWT and the competition day saw near perfect conditions in the beautiful blue waters of Sardinia. The harbour, a short walk from the hotel, had a host of speedboats scheduled to ferry the athletes to and from the dive site where two competition lines were setup to ensure a slick and speedy day of diving. The competition started with the deepest divers and ended with the shallowest and second up to dive that morning was Michael Board who went down to 95m; Tim Money did a solid swim to 61m and Adam went to 55m and came back with a PB. Liv swam an impressive 70m, another PB for her in the competition, Georgina swam with ease to 50m and Beci to 40m. Everyone received white cards and there were smiles all round.

The third and final competition day was reserved for DYN. This is always an exciting discipline to end on and is often when the goal posts for podium places change, this World Championships was no different. Usually if a team receives a red card at any point in the competition they forfeit the chance of a medal, yet the Russian Men’s team proved an exception to the rule by taking home gold! The UK men’s team put in fantastic efforts with Michael pulling out a big 201m swim, Tim Money a PB of 176m and Adam Drzazga 175m, which is a long way to swim and a lot of turns in a 25m pool! Georgina Miller swam a comfortable and easy 126m, but both Liv and Beci were not so lucky and got red cards. Beci Ryan received her first red card in competition, she swam 168m, which is a big distance, but failed with her recovery breathing upon surfacing.

Overall everyone walked away deservedly pleased with their performances. New boundaries were discovered, lessons learned and training and freediving relationships cemented.

Competition season is not over yet for this year, in fact we are pleased to announce that there are two pool competitions happening in the UK next month: the Apnea Revolution Cup BFA Pool competition (www.apnearevolution.com), in London on Saturday 1st November and the 3rd BFA Madchester Classic (www.freedivingcompetition.com), in Stockport on Saturday 29th. Both competitions have benefited from the BFA’s newly introduced Pool Grant aimed at promoting freediving in the UK.

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Liv Philip Wins 2014 Euro Cup

Michael Board and Georgina Miller take 2nd Places

Liv Philips wins AIDA Freediving World Cup Curcuit 2014 Georgina Miller 2nd place AIDA Freediving World Cup Curcuit 2014 Mike Board 2nd place AIDA Freediving World Cup Curcuit 2014
Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven (www.daanverhoeven.com)

10 Sept 2014; — Liv Philip wins the 2014 Freediving Cup Circuit and AIDA Euro Cup!

Liv Philip has done it again and taken first place at the AIDA Euro Cup in Kalamata, with strong, confident dives across all the competition depth disciplines and even managing to pop in a personal best at the end with a big Constant Weight (CWT) swim of 67m, showing that Liv has not yet reached her limit.

For those who are not familiar with the freediving depth disciplines, CWT is when a freediver swims down a rope, to a pre-agreed depth with the use of a monofin, without pulling on the rope and without changing weight.

British athletes Georgina Miller and Michael Board took second place on the podium for the women and men. George competed in all of the depth disciplines, even putting in a competition personal best to 51m in CWT. Mike Board is on form with dives in the 90’s in CWT, one to an impressive 95m. With the World Championships in Sardinia a mere week away, and Liv, Mike and Georgina making up half of the team, these are exciting times for the British athletes!

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Michael Board’s journey to 100 meters under the Sea. First Briton to 100m in the discipline of Constant Weight

Earlier this month Michael Board competed at the annual Vertical Blue (VB) competition held at Dean’s Blue hole in the Bahamas, where he became the first Briton to dive, in competition, to over a 100 meters in the discipline of constant weight (CWT).


Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven

The VB is extremely popular worldwide with freediving athletes and always attracts those at the very top of their game. The attraction of this competition is not just down to its stunning setting, but also because of the meticulous organisation, brilliant safety divers and experienced AIDA judges.

From the start there was a huge amount of pressure on Mike’s shoulders from both himself and other people. All eyes were on him to see if he could make it down to that golden 100 meter mark. All he had to do was swim down vertically, the length of the marked rope, with the aid of his monofin, pick up a tag attached to the bottom plate, and swim back, complete his surface protocol and hey presto, National Record. But of course it is not that simple and a CWT dive to 100 meters is no mean feat. For a start, the dive is done on one breath, lasting approximately 3 minutes; add to that the huge exertion of pressure on the body which builds at depth and the water temperature which gets colder through the thermo cline and then the fading light into darkness. Experience is vital and key.

In Mike’s words “it was a good competition in the end even though I had a shaky start. After my initial attempt at 100 meters CWT on Day 1, where I blacked out on the surface for a few seconds at the end of my dive, all of my other dives were solid with clean surface protocols and no signs of hypoxia, so it really does look like the pressure of the first dive of the competition and the weight of my own and lot of other peoples expectations just got to me. I actually tested my heart rate on the beach before my dive and it was 10-15 beats higher than my normal resting rate, so definitely some pre-dive jitters!”

Being an experienced diver, Mike planned his dives over the next few days with thought and care. His second dive in Free Immersion (FIM) was to a deliberately low (for him), 91 meters. This ensured a relatively easy dive where he felt relaxed and strong, giving him confidence going in to the next 100 meter attempt. There was the added bonus of setting a new National Record in the discipline, adding 8 meters onto his previous record of 83 meters back in 2011.

During the course of the competition, Board deliberately swapped between FIM and CWT to give maximum rest time for his legs between big dives. Going into the 100 meter record attempt on the 13th November, his second go at it this competition, he felt that strength and confidence as hoped. Board says “I pulled off a really nice dive that only took 2 minutes and 54 seconds. I had finally cracked some equalization issues which had plagued me since my first attempt at the 100 meters the year before and which caused me to rupture my ear drum in Greece just 9 weeks ago at the World Championships.” Mike was now on strong form and with equalization to spare at the bottom plate and clean surface protocols he says “I was excited to see how far I could push it. Still I rested my legs for the next dive and chose to do a FIM on the 15th November with a dive to 96 meters in 3 minutes 32 seconds, another National Record.”


Picture Credit: Daan Verhoeven

With the pressure now gone on the remaining two dives, Board decided to do them just for fun. On the 17th November he decided to announce only a 2 meter increase for his next dive and go for 102 meters CWT, “as I was keen to continue coming up clean on the surface rather than just making it. I completed the dive in 3 minutes 1 second and it felt strong, and I again felt I had more in me, which is a good way to feel after a dive!”

However, Mike’s joy at having achieved the dive was short lived. He told me “I stayed in the water to watch Nick Mevoli’s dive and cheer him on and by now everyone knows what unfolded. So it has been a real journey this year with some significant setbacks and injuries, some real lows as well as the recent highs, but I could not have hoped for a better end to my season in terms of personal achievements, but of course it has been tragic end of the season for freediving in general.”

Nick Mevoli lost his life at the end of a competition dive on the 17th November at the Vertical Blue. Nick, an America freediver, was a silver medallist at the 2013 World Championships and Constant Weight National Record holder; he was well known and loved by many of his fellow athletes. The cause of his death is under investigation.

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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.