Coupe des Dauphins 24.-25. January

Right after my last exam, I travelled together with Martin to Switzerland and to the beautiful city of Geneva for the first time. I was going to compete in the pool competition "Coupe des Dauphins" and Martin judge. We were really lucky to get to stay at the appartment of Christian Maldame, who's not only the team freediving world champion for 2008 (French team), but also a very nice guy! Jarmila Slovencikova from Czech Republic was also staying there, and the four of us had a great time, especially after the competition.

Picture: Wikipedia

I had signed up for the competition maybe mostly for the trip itself, and also to have an easy nice start of the competition year 2009. In DNF on saturday I did a very easy 83m dive. I was very happy to see that I can still do something, even without any training or the perfect shape (I had been sick only a week before). I must have overdone the lung strecthing this day though, because the next day I had pain and discomfort on the right side of the ribcage. I went into the water for the other diciplins, static and dynamic, but it didn't work at all to hold a full breath or having contractions. Well well, next time!

The competition saw some nice performances. Ilka Michaelis did a new national record for Germany with 99m. Both Jarmila and Christian made three good performances and won the overall ranking for the women and men respectivly. All the nice freediviers, the well-running organisation and the good pool made the competition a very pleasant one. I'd love to come back next year...


On monday after the competition, we had maybe the best time of the whole trip. Christian took us to a sauna/bath at the harbour of Geneva. Him and Jarmila got to do some freediving in the lake, cruising through and even under the big fountain! I stayed out because of the ribs, but will sure try this next time.

After spending several hours in the sauna, the turkish bath, the hammam and a dip in the lake (4-5 degrees!), we had a good lunch and headed back to catch the plain home. It was a really great experience and big thanks to our host, Christian!

A new freediving year

It feels a little strange to thing about the fact that 2009 will be my 3rd year competing in freediving. I'm sure it's gonna be fun, just check out what is on the schedual so far:

24.-25. january - Coupe des Dauphins (dyn, dnf and sta) situated in Geneva, Switzerland
21. february - Berlin Masters Cup (dyn, dnf and sta) surprisingly enough in Berlin, Germany
7.-8. march - Oslo Ice Challenge (cwt, cnf and fim), which will be the first competition in Norway and the first ever UNDER ICE! Check it out, it might be the most crazy and coolest experience this year..
Easter time - Hopefully another trip to the diving tank of the Norwegian Navy.
April - Dreaming of going back to Dahab for this years Bizzy Blue Hole. Last year was great!


Now I better go back and finish reading for today. Two exams left before I can leave the last semester behind me. Fingers crossed :)

TV apperance on "I kveld" NRK2, 18.des

I travelled home to Norway on wednesday, mainly for the holiday, but also to be a guest in norwegian tv show called "I kveld" ("Tonight") on NRK2. They showed the little movie Martin made from diving the canyon in April and I was talking about the diving in dahab, training and the freediving disciplines. In the background you see some pictures taken on different freediving trips.

It was fun to see the surprised face of the host, Christian Strand, when I was explaining that we humans also have a diving response like other dolphins or whales. And hopefully I've convinced the opera singer who finished the show to snorkel a little deeper on her next holiday. She might have a great freediving potential....

Newsarticle in Dagbladet

Fredrik Naumann, a norwegian photographer, came to Århus in June to follow me at the Aarhus Triple Challenge and take some pictures. He's working together with journalist Marianne Alfsen in their company Felix Features and producing articles for different newspapers and magazines. Unlike many others, their focus is in-depth reporting and telling the story right.

The result was covering 4 pages + the front page of Dagbladet's Sport Magasin on Friday 28th November. The pictures turned out great, both thanks to the photographer and to the lovely weather we had. I was also very happy with the text. I think Marianne did a good job on describing freediving the way I find it, intriging, safe and still in need of more women.


This kind of coverage is something the really sport needs, as usually we are drowed by soccer, skiing and more soccer. Maybe some day, people will not turn their heads when I wait for the bus with my monofin, or stop up staring at the freedivers training static in their wetsuits. Or maybe not :)

More from Eindhoven

There are a couple of more things worth mentioning about this competition, like the car breaking down on the drive down to Holland. The snowstorm we had on saturday (had no idea the dutch had such weather). And the nice prices given to the winners from the sponsors of the competition. I recieved a throphe, a bottle of vine and the percervation of 500m2 of rainforest in Equador.

Copyright BlueConsult.biz

On the picture: Nanja Van den Broek(2), me(1), Barbara Jeschke(2) and in front Stig Severinsen from BlueConsult

The competition saw 10 national records and one continental record (William Winram with 205m in DYN). Big congratulations to Barbara, Ulf, Will, Ilka and everybody else! Two new nations were represented (I haven't seen them on competitions before...), Irish and Emirati. I was also very happy to see two new guys from Aarhus Freediving Club compete in their first competition and doing very well.

Hopefully I'll get a couple of more pictures here soon.

1.place at the 4th Dutch Apnea Open, 23. Nov

I hadn't really thought I'd get the chance to compete in the 4th Dutch Apnea Open, as I had just been in Berlin the weekend before. But on wednesday 19th I got to know there was a free spot in a car with the danish freedivers driving down to Eindhoven, and I decided to join. And I'm very happy I did!

After the dissapointment at the competition in Lignano Sabbiadoro, I didn't really feel like competing or training much. But after watching the Long Night of Apnea in Berlin from the sideline, I felt something was missing. I was ready to dive again...

I went to Eindhoven with no expectations or goals, only to have fun and enjoy the diving. The only thing I had promised myself was to not quit.

With so many nice people around, a beautiful pool and a good athmosphere, I enjoyed it from the start. I did a 5 min static which I was quite happy with. Contractions at 2.30, fighting hard from 4 min, but not quiting. Big thanks to Martin (who took a detour to say hi) for the coaching here!

I had enough time before the dynamic to eat a little and relax, which was good, as the long drive the day before had drained alot of energy. I went into the water 20min before top to check out the depth, the turns and the markings on the bottom, then sat on the side relaxing and keeping warm. When the dive started, I was in a happy state, not at all stressed or nervous as in Lignano. I managed to keep the good spirit and when I turned at 100m, I knew I had broken that barrier from before. My legs were tired though, and I came up at 136m to a white card.

The rest of the day I kept smiling. Winning the 1st price overall was a great plus to top the whole thing. I've found some of the joy of competing again. Now I'm eager to train and to do more next time, and break down some other barriers. See you in Geneva in January?

Stop bycatch!

I was very happy to be a part of the WWF campain against bycatch. We were six freedivers who got painted like different sea creatures ( I was the whale shark), and got entangled in the net during the underwater photo event to create "a living picture" of the practice we working to stop.


From WWF: "Every year hundreds of thousands of sharks, whales and sea turtles as well as millions of tons of fish die as useless bycatch on hocks and in nets of the fishing industry world wide. They are discarded like waste. In the coming weeks a law should take shape in Brussels that should curtail this wastage. The WWF is calling on the Federal Covernment of Germany to advocate for a stop on these wasting practices."

The event took place in Staatbad Schöneberg, Berlin, on the 3rd of November. I will come back with more info, pictures and video.

Picture: Making of Gabriel+Matthias (bodypainters)
Www.gabriel-lg.de
Www.muschka.de