Finally Comp Season is Over!

Finally competition season is over and I can get my life back! (Meaning straight back to the pool !)

Why did I go to yet another comp just to do 80ish meters dives? I’m not sure I have a real answer to that, but I can try. But first:

⚠TRIGGER WARNING ⚠ If you are triggered by long ramblings continue with cautions, or otherwise just go get a life.

Ever since before my competition in Cyprus I felt that my depth season was over. But the trip was booked and the comp paid and I went anyways with the idea of taking it easy, which didn’t quite work so well. So when it was all over, I decided enough with depth this year, as I have zero desire to be in the water, to be freefalling, to be holding my mouthfill on a long descent, to swim far, to pull slowly, to pull fast, to feel the water on my face, to hear my ears crackling, to feel the thermocline, and then to feel the reverse thermocline, to hear the sound of the scooter, to hear my alarms, to not hear my alarms; I simply despise each and every one of all the little things that made me love deep freediving for the last 20 years.

I know it is only a phase and I just need some rest and especially I need to do something else for a while. But then when I got back home there was this competition taking place in Tenerife, right in front of my window, and all the local freedivers were talking that about all day long, which really made me want to be there too. I still didnt want to be diving, but I wanted to be part of the event, win a medal or two, and let’s be honest, I also wanted to mess a bit with the local ladies, since they started doing some impressive depths (look at the starting lists!- in the gallery below) (but do not look at the result lists…) so they were getting all cocky.

Since I didn’t sign up yet and it was quite late, I secretly hoped that the registration was already closed so that I’d be out, and that would have been the end of it. But no, Omar the Stronzo from across the bay said “of course there is a space for you!” and so I cornered myself into signing up, only for fear of missing out (which now I know is never a good reason to do stuff of any kind). So in the hope of gaining enough points to be first while trying not to stress myself out, I announced 85 meters FIM, which is a depth that I can do in the winter with a thick suit. I was kinda wrong, since it’s not the depth that makes me uncomfortable, but the lack of want, and so 70, 80 or 90 feel pretty much all the same in my head right now, and being in the water thinking about doing a deep dive makes me almost want to cry.

I’m happy I announced shallow though, since there was some current until 50ish meters (you might know by now that current is my n. 2 nemesis, after narcosis). When I got at the line and saw the rope at an angle I told myself, “cool, I now have a good reason to turn earlier!”, and when I started my dive I also started arguing with myself over “how stupid it was of me to be there, and how I was not going to announce for day 2, and how maybe I would ask Omar if I can do safety the next day instead, so I can still be around and have some real fun”. In the meanwhile the other half of my brain was counting my pulls out of habit and when I “heard” 15 I remembered that this is where I charge my mouthfill, and so I did that and then I pulled some more and then I attempted to freefall, which was very awkward because (thank you current) I couldn’t stay next to the line but I also can’t open my eyes (or goodbye mouthfill) so I had my arm at 90 degree angle while freefalling at sloth speed, and while asking myself what the hell I was doing there. I guess it took me so much mental effort to try staying straight along the rope that my depth alarm beeped much earlier than I expected and just to emphasise my displeasure at being there I angrily grabbed a bunch of innocent tags (whose only fault was to be there at the wrong place and the wrong time) and started ascending.

My ascents from shallower than 95m dives are at least semi-pleasurable since I’m narcosis-proof at these depths, and I can decide what the hell I wand to think about instead of drifting towards an unwanted bad trip. I do enjoy thinking about my technique, the amplitude of my pulls, keeping my feet together, and how the lovely current made me stay at an angle as if my ass was floaty and wanted to overtake my head. Anyhow, the rest of the dive was ok and unremarkable and I might even have enjoyed it a little.

Since pretty much all the deep ladies severely messed their dives, I knew I didnt need to do much more than a 60 meters dive to win the overall, so I lowered even more my target for day 2 and announced 81m CWT bifins. I felt a bit stupid doing that, but I just wanted to get to the end of it and have a winter break. They were expecting stormy weather but instead the day was spectacular, flat and sunny and not a hint of current. I felt so much better inside than the day before, and even though I didnt love my dive I did love being out there and I didn’t want to leave, so I stayed and watched a few of the other freedivers.

Even though I still think that I should not have competed, I know myself well enough to know that if I didn’t, I would have regretted it. And of course I would have missed all the prizes that I won! Which is another reason why to come to the 2024 edition of the Atlantic Cup, as it is no longer a common occurrence to win actual stuff at comps like it was in the past. And you get to dive in Tenerife, which is one of the bestest places on earth for freediving, if only the water would be 25 degrees all year round!!

TIP ABOUT DIVING IN THE CURRENT!

the worse disciplines for freediving in currents are, from worst to best:
1- CNF, 2- FIM, 3- CWTB, 4-CWT (monofin).
So at times you may be able to plan your comp dives with a bit of strategy, if you know the weather forecast. For example, on day 1 we were supposed to have the best weather, and day 2 was supposed to be stormy (with more chances of rough sea and more current). So I chose to do FIM first and CWTB on day 2 even though ideally I would have done the opposite. It so happened that the weather forecast was wrong as usual. So I ended up doing FIM in the current and CWTB with no current. But that’s life!