Just six weeks after the Minicomp I set out to Dahab again for the Free Dive Dahab Triple Depth. I was very much looking forward to do more depth competitions than the year before. Diving in the clear and warm red sea is always a special pleasure, specially in such monumental places like the Blue Hole.
The time between the two competitions was full of work and spare time very precious. Just one training in six weeks and off I was again heading for the sunny side of earth. This time Gregoire Folly was also coming to Dahab, just days after my arrival. So I spent the first two days snorkeling and frightening the SUCBA divers at the Lighthouse and enjoyed a bit of a holiday which I dearly needed.
The conditions were very good apart for the wind, the waves and the current on some days. I was amazed when I realised that my aircon in the hotel was set to 30°C and I actually ejoyed it. The water temperature was around 25° at the surface and still around 22° in the depth of the Blue Hole. Our training began on Wednesday, one week before the comp in the Blue Hole. I was back at my depths very quickly and could start to progress on the second day. For Greg things didn't work out properly. He had problems with the equalisation which he couldn't get rid of until but the day he left. I was able to add a few metres every day and although I didn't plan to go for a national record it suddenly drew near. We did two sessions on most days, for me deep dives in the morning and lazy dives in the afternoon, sometimes only safetying or snorkelling.
The Aqua Marina was getting more full every day. Lots of athletes kept arriving from all over the world. We counted up to 14 buoys, one day. The deepest hanging right in front of the arch and then decreasing in depth as they withdrew. Still it is electrifying to hang in front of the arch and to catch a glimpse of the fish dwindling in the light flooded opening to the sea! Unfortunately my camera housing doesn't withstand that depth.
As the days of the Competition drew near, we also had to decide on our depths. Free Immersion would make the start. Since I had decided to give the Constant Weight national record a try, I wanted to announce a safe depth for the first discipline and make sure I get there with a white card. The 76m FIM dive was no problem and I got the white card for it. Greg did also well and made it to 40m despite his struggling with equalisation! Together with Wendy Timmermans, our Team was on course :-)
The second competition day was constant weight. I announced 78m, just one metre below the current national record to make sure it would not fail on equalisation. But just after the first kick of my dive I realised that I forgot to let go the rope before I put my head in the water and I'm going to have a yellow card and therefore no national record for sure, even if everything else worked out fine (national records are to be white card). But I decided to go for the tag anyway and enjoy the dive as another dive down into the amazing abyss. Apart from that, the dive went very well and I reached the surface with the tag and took the yellow card for "grabing". The ending of the 2nd day was a bit disappointing. Having gotten the tag with no problem at 78m but getting a penalty for doing something stupid like this was not to my liking. But that's the rules. Wendy turned early so we all got penalties except Greg, who's turn was again early in the morning. He made his second white card of his triple-40 announcement.
Constant No Fins was the last discipline on day three. Having gotten over my yellow card, I was happy to do the last dive and for the comp soon to be over. Never training no fins, I had just done one test-dive to 42 metres on my resting day before the competition started. I saw that despite my bad technique it wasn't a big deal and I felt quite comfortable to announce 46m for the competition. This time making sure to clearly let go the rope before I turned downwards, it turned out to be a very easy dive and I still felt like climbing the top of the pyramid when I reached the surface. White card, both Wendy and me. This time it was Greg's turn for a yellow card, he turned early at 37m because his ears were blocked. So we all had our share on penalties.
After the Competition we met at Rush for the price ceremony and a big party. The relief was visible on everybody's face, the tension gone and it was a chattering evening until the early morning hours. Although I got 5 points penalty for my stupid mistake, I made it to the 2nd place behind Miguel Lozano and just before Santi "Jackass", both from Spain. Wendy took the 2nd place with the women behind Sara and our Team "CHUCHICHAESTLI" (which is Swiss-German for "kitchen cupboard - this happens when you're forced to state a team name in one second at the registration; and in case you ever happen to be in Dahab, ask Lotta to pronounce it;) made it to the third place!
The time was over to quick once more and I had to fly back to Switzerland the next day. I brought a lot of good memories and feelings back home and I'm looking forward to the next time I'm competing in Dahab! Thank you very much to all the people, the organizer, the athletes and of course the safety team for the good time we had. And a special thank you for my new shiny lanyard I got at the ceremony from Free Dive Dahab because they thought my old rusty, supposedly-stainless-steel one is not suitable for any more dives;)
Pictures: Gregoire Folly, Ali Okab, Free Dive Dahab, Michael Naef