News
BFA announce 2018 UK National Freedive Champions
The BFA has announced David Mellor and Georgina Miller as the 2018 UK National Freedive Champions.
The selection is based on international competition results across all major pool and open water disciplines. Competitive freediving is the sport of diving underwater on a single breath, as long, far or as deep as possible. It requires an exceptional level of commitment to training as well as travelling across the world to participate in the leading depth competitions.
Both David and Georgina are UK based freedive instructors with a lot of experience. Georgina has a long history of competitive freediving for Great Britain and has held multiple national records, while David is a new comer to competitive freediving, participating in his first competitions this year, he has obviously seen a huge success in both pool and depth. Georgina has held her breath for 6.36 minutes and dived to a depth of 56m to win this award and David has dived to 60m deep in the free immersion category, with a breath hold of 5.48 minutes – incredible results.
Georgina said: “I’m really pleased to get this award. It is pretty challenging to get competition points across all six disciplines. Fitting in time to train around work teaching freediving is always a tricky balance, especially as pool space is so limited here in Cornwall, 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 freedivers 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.
David said: “I only really entered my first comp back in March because I thought as an instructor it might be good to have some competition experience. I had no expectations of how I would do but the feeling of euphoria I got after my dives just blew me away. I loved the training and healthy diet leading up to the comp and then meeting lots of really cool supportive people on the day just made for a fantastic experience. I got the bug and was straight on the Aida International website looking for the next comp. In a funny kind of way I like all 6 disciplines, I think you can take elements from each one of them and transfer parts of them mentally and physically and adapt them in a way to give you confidence to achieve your aims.”
Congratulations to Georgina and David for their outstanding freediving achievements and we wish them every future success!
Check out www.britishfreediving.org to find out more about freediving.
News
Dive Worldwide Announces Bite-Back as its Charity of the Year
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Gear News
Scubapro Free Octopus Promotion 2024
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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