Jamboree DAY 4: About Blacklists and Double-Daisies

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All good things come to an end. Today was the last day of working on perfect freediving with William Trubridge and Freedive Flow on Gili Air. Now, it will be up to the freedivers to implement everything they’ve learnt during the Jamboree to push themselves to the next level.

It’s a wrap! All participants of the FREEDIVE JAMBOREE – GILI AIR 2016. 

20140416-untitled-OpenWater1Freedive Flow’s boat, the Oma Cornelius, can fit 16 divers comfortably, and carries emergency oxygen and water onboard. Today we had some new faces on board. It was great to see that Will made time for everyone, to join and film their dives, and give constructive feedback. Trubridge isn’t about ego. It is rare for someone at the top of their game to display such constant humility, patience and genuine interest in people and the environment. This is a legacy to be proud of: a legacy that inspires people to do better for themselves and for the planet.

Most divers tried no warm-up dives again, while others chose to work purely on technique. Will demonstrated the most efficient duck dives for constant weight and no fin dives. The open water session yielded 3 PBs!

Will introduced a “blacklist” on Day 1. Actions that resulted in your name appearing on the list included:

  • being late
  • losing gear
  • turning early
  • getting a PB.

The offenders’ punishment is paying for everyone’s gelatos. Will also made it to the list but Stanley ended up generously footing the bill for everyone. Terima Kasih!

This afternoon’s workshop was highly anticipated by participants. The mental aspect of freediving is huge and freedivers are always looking for ways to tap into their potential, and caging that “monkey on the back.” Will talked about visualization, affirmation and mental anchors. You can read more about this on his blog.

He also explained how to schedule a training plan and how to adapt training tables to varying intensity levels to keep the body on its toes. When a table starts feeling easy, it needs to be replaced by something more challenging.

IMG_5720In his final evening talk, Will gave the audience a very intimate insight to his mind during a deep dive by taking us all, step by step, through his ground breaking CNF dive to -101m in 2010.

During the Jamboree we learnt that pros also have problems sometimes, after all they’re only human. Over the last four days, Will:

  • had a fogged-up mask
  • got stung by jellyfish and FELT it
  • learnt how to double-daisy chain a rope
  • is still learning how to make bubble rings at the surface.

Some other random facts about Will:

  • He used to play chess competitively
  • He used to row competitively
  • His lowest heart rate is 27 bpm

I would like to thank William Trubridge for making the FREEDIVE JAMBOREE – GILI AIR 2016 an unforgettable reality. Freedive Flow wishes you the best of luck in and out of the water. Selamat jalan! And to all of you out there, we hope to see you for the next Jamboree!

Jamboree DAY 3 ..blew the other two right out of the water!

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William Trubridge is a clever guy. While his intense sessions with Freedive Flow on Gili Air he likes keeping the training plan a secret until just before the participants get in the water. Maybe this way, no one has time to worry about trying something they’ve never done before. No warm-up dives and deep training tables were the order of the day! Surprise!

Open Water Session: A freediver, a buddy and a world record holder that takes footage for further analysis   

Most freedivers have a set routine that they rarely vary from. Warm up dives with hangs and FRC (passive exhale) dives usually precede the actual deep attempt. Today, Will encouraged everyone to try for their PB in their chosen discipline and do it with no warm up. He warned that they might feel contractions on the way down, and perhaps much earlier than they’re used. He added that you should not be put off by this because it means that the Mammalian Dive Reflex (MDR) is kicking in and your ascent will feel much easier than normal. Some divers felt a bit nervous about trying this for the first time but knowing that the relaxation phase would be three to four minutes really helped getting the mind in the right place. Everyone hit their target and there were even two new personal bests (PBs) in the group. What an incredible confidence boosting exercise! It is never to late to switch up your freedive routine, play around with new things and see what really works for you. It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut because of an irrational fear of the unknown.

The second part of the session, deep training tables, were also fun, but fun of the “no pain, no gain” variety. Doing CO2 training benefits your body and mind because you will also feel more confident after each table you complete successfully. Since the mental aspect is huge in freediving, it’s imperative to replace “I can’t!” thoughts with “I can!”.

Sunrise Yoga Session: Maite introduces Fly-high Yoga techniques as an very effective form of stretching  

A perfect way to prepare for an open water session is a dedicated yoga practice. In this morning’s sunrise yoga session our yoga teacher Maite Mendez worked on participants’ chest flexibility using straps and short breath holds. Chest flexibility is important for deep dives: it improves comfort, safety and equalization.

IMG_9167The afternoon session began with video analysis of the morning dives. Will highlighted the importance of hypercapnic and hypoxic tolerance training as part of a freediving regime. If you don’t have a coach, it’s easy to take it easy on yourself by making training tables too easy. You need to step back, think about your goals, commit to them by staying disciplined and challenging yourself. When your body adapts to a certain table, you need to make it harder. The key is to keep it tough but attainable. A decent training table should take between 15 to 20 minutes in the pool.

Will lead a workshop on lung stretching exercises that benefit thoracic, diaphragmatic and rigid airway flexibility needed to deep dives. Then it was back in the pool for another, more challenging training table.

The reward for everyone’s hard work was a stop at the local gelato joint, for some well-deserved sugar. No, Will didn’t have any, just in case you were wondering…

The evening’s talk centred on a lighter subject: Freediving through swim-throughs, including a freedive through the famous Blue Hole Arch in Dahab.

Jamboree DAY 2: Morning Bliss and Pool-Workout

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If you have to wake up for 6:30 AM yoga there are worse places to do so. Mandala Blue’s yoga shala offers a breathtaking view of the ocean, and the sun rising from behind Lombok’s volcano, Mount Rinjani.

Day 2’s open water session with William Trubridge and Freedive Flow on Gili Air focused on improving free immersion (FIM) and constant weight no fins (CNF). Will emphasized that during your base training, you should practice at a comfortable depth in order to concentrate purely on technique. The idea is to cement technique into muscle memory. After learning a new turn technique and implementing yesterday’s feedback, everyone’s dives felt easier and more efficient .

Freedive Flow is the only freediving school on the island with a custom-built two lane, 20m pool. It’s perfect for practising dynamic and no fin swimming. The No Fins workshop started off in the classroom, with video feedback and an explanation of how your dive stroke rhythm should be adapted to changing depth and buoyancy. Then everyone got into the pool for some CO2 tables. Everyone thinks that low Oxygen levels make you want to breathe but it’s actually high CO2 in your blood. CO2 tables helps your body get used to high levels of CO2 so that you can change your discomfort into tolerance.

Afternoon Workshop at the Freedive Flow Pool: Advanced CO2-Tables combined with no-fins efficiency training 

During the evening talk, Will turned the spotlight on plastic pollution. This is possibly the most underrated yet most serious threat to our marine ecosystem and planet Earth as a whole. Will spoke about the Pacific Garbage Patch, an actual island of rubbish twice the size of Texas.

Here in Indonesia, plastic bags and straws are used without thought and sadly most of this will end up In the ocean. Plastic absorbs toxins like DDT, break into small pieces that are ingested by fish, crabs, turtles, whales and seabirds. Animals either die as a result of eating plastic, or accumulate toxins moving up the food chain. Studies have shown that fish that eat plastic show stunted growth and are lethargic.

It is up to every tourist to minimize the impact left behind on Gili Air. It is no longer acceptable to use single use plastic. Use alternatives: cloth-bags; re-useable containers and straws. Please join us in saying “NO” to plastic.

Bahasa Indonesian phrases

“No plastic bag.” = “Tidak plastik kantong.”

“No plastic straw.” =“Tidak pakai sedotan.” or “Tidak plastik straw”.

Evening Talk: William giving a speech about Plastic Pollution in the Oceans and what we can do about it.

DAY1 @ Jamboree Gili Air 2016

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Miguel Lozano trained here before his Free Immersion world record attempt in May. Less than a month ago, Alexey Molchanov set an unofficial Constant Weight Record here. William Trubridge is currently visiting Freedive Flow on Gili Air. What is it about Indonesian waters that draws the big names in freediving? Depth, perfect water conditions and ease of access.

Oli Christen, the founder of Freedive Flow, believes that it is time to put Gili Air on the map as a world class freediving destination. Why should these great training facilities be kept a secret?

William Trubridge first met Oli six years ago in Switzerland. Now, after an intensely busy competitive season, Will went on a break, visiting New Zealand, and Japan. En route to the Philippines, he sent Oli an email along the lines of: “Hey Oli, I’m in the hood on my way to the Philippines. Still wanna do something?”. Cue the Freedive Jamboree Gili Air 2016. The four day event focuses on yoga, pool training sessions, open water sessions and evening talks presented by William Trubridge and hosted by Freedive Flow, the best freediving resort on Gili Air.

The first day started with a sunrise yin yoga session with a Pranayama focus, beneficial to freedive training. Yoga enables participants to warm up their muscles and get their minds in the right place for the open water session.

IMG_8960William gave a run-down on the focus of the open water session: warm ups, then a shallow depth focus on free immersion (FIM) and constant weight no fins (CNF) technique. The participants included Stanley Sradaputta, Indonesia’s depth record holder and represented all levels of experience: from beginner level to Stanley’s senior status in the sport. In this sport, there’s always something new to learn, a technique to perfect, so one’s level is pretty irrelevant.

The surface of the ocean was a mirror as we headed out on the boat this morning. Flat seas and good visibility always guarantees smiles and set the tone for a great dive session.

The buoy set up was intimate and practical with a maximum of three divers per buoy. It was great to learn a new warm-up position that allows you can keep your body relaxed and get a really good in- water static experience.

Some divers focused on their FIM technique, others on CNF. Will spent quality time with everyone individually, observing and giving constructive feedback on technique. It’s quite surreal coming up from a no fins dive and “OK-ing” the world record holder.

Most freediving courses don’t place much emphasis on no fins technique, so it was great to learn about the right rhythm, recovery, glide phase and the duck dive, which is completely different to a duck dive with fins! In keeping with Freedive Flow’s professional service, everyone’s dives were filmed for later analysis on a big screen TV.

Jamboree-Workshop at the spacious classroom of Freedive Flow @ Oceans 5: William Trubridge explains how to set the neutral buoyancy for deep freediving. (photo: Saki Ono)

The classroom session focused on proper breathing for freediving, including an explanation of what hyperventilation is and why it should be avoided. Will expanded on CNF and FIM technique and analysed the morning dives. Everyone got to practice proper FIM pulling and recovery technique on a rig set up for purpose.

Finally, Will gave a talk on diving to 100m and beyond. The talk was open to everyone on a donation basis, and all funds raised will go to a local charity that deals with the plastic pollution issue in Indonesia.

See you tomorrow for another update!

Jamboree – Evening Talk : William has a large audience on the edge of their seats with a very personal story about his journey to the latest World Record dive to -102m without fins (photo 1 and 3: Feisal)