News News News…….
Hi everyone,
Well I said that I would try to keep these updates regular but things have been a little hectic so here comes the next intstalment. Better a little late than a little never.
We left off at the beginning of the season. The weather has been incredible this summer, for Freediving at least. Perhaps not for those working in hospitality I can say from experience, it was sweltering and even visitors from Dahab were saying it was more comfortable back there. Day after day and night after night of clear skies, and windless conditions. Not normal actually, the sea temperature was rising way too fast, until about 2 weeks ago you could find yourself in 30 degree water in some of Ibiza’s little bays. 28 is normal, 29 is HOT, 30 and even 31 is just ridiculous. Something isn’t right that’s for sure.
It’s been a busy summer, interest in Freediving has definitely grown and there has been a constant stream of nice people. More this year were really motivated and informed to learn and there were a lot more certified divers coming here to train and get to know Ibiza’s underwater scenery. I think the stigma of Ibiza as just a party island is finally shifting. It still remains a party island and rightly so, with record numbers in the clubs and some really cool stuff in amongst the excess and the Bling, but I’m happy to say that people are starting to realise how good it is here for Freediving and all sorts of pursuits apart from raving it up all night. Nothing wrong with raving it up all night mind you.
I’ve had the privilege of training with top UK divers Ruth Osborn and Gary McGrath in prep for their competitions. You may have heard that Gary recently broke the UK depth record for Constant Weight (CWT) with a Monofin with a clean and awesome 112m in the Bahamas. Quite an emotional journey as anyone close to him will know that the road to this goal has been a rocky one. Well done Gary! It was a privilege just be in the inner circle of this happening. Wow. My first ever instructor and Safety Diver guru Louisa Collyns was in town as was Harry Chamas so to sit and watch the drama unfold with the finest of Freediving minds was an added privilege.
Here’s Gary about to go training at Punta Galera with the sea like glass, and top Freediving photo journalist Nanna Kreutzmann seen here doing a bit of modelling for Saltfish at Vertical Blue bless her….
In the final episode of ‘Let’s Stop Gary from going to Vertical Blue’ Gary’s last challenge was for Easyjet to lose ALL of his equipment, FOREVER, just as he arrived in Ibiza to work on their retreat and get some valuable depth training done. I have to say he handled it well and with my stuff we managed to get him kitted out for the month. We managed to shrug off the COLD water spring conditions and do some valuable drills down to a workable training depth of 55m. Without realising it I was laying myself a solid foundation for my own depth progression and conquering the dreaded Thermocline, but more on that in a minute. By the time he and Lynne left I had managed to stretch my Monofin to fit him and he was able to take it and use it for the record attempt in the comp. One more big headache off the list. One condition though, was he was to stick a very large Saltfish Freediving Logo on the fin, or else it was flippers from Decathlon for our hero.
(Mind blowing pic of Dean’s Blue Hole by Daan Verhoeven)
Our hero turns triumphantly in the inky blackness of Dean’s Blue Hole at 112m and even has the presence of mind to make sure my logo is in shot
At least someone has now taken my Monofin down past 100m. Maybe it will help guide me down there if (no WHEN!) I try it. If I ever get it back. He’s off to the Worlds in Turkey with it now.
I have also been buddying for ‘Ruthie’ Osborn in preparation for her appearance in the World Championships in Kas Turkey and ‘Freediving World’ Comp in Sharm el Sheikh afterwards. I have never seen such dedication in someone training. Around a demanding work schedule she fitted in regimental sessions in gym, depth and pool week in week out. We wish her well, boy does she deserve it. I made a note of her sessions in the pool in case I suddenly develop a passion for pool training………But really I have learnt a lot this summer, teaching, training and in my own personal journey as a Freediver. I haven’t made any earth shattering discoveries this summer, but I feel like my diving has hit another level somehow and I think it may be just good old fashioned ‘experience’. You just can’t rush these things. I also feel like there is also a nice little Freediving Family growing here. It’s just growing organically, no fertiliser!
Here’s Ruth in full flow, focused? Just a bit…..
So summer has been busy busy so far, lots of great days teaching with lovely people, some awesome days out at the top dive spots here. Cave of Light for example. After swimming 5m through a submerged archway 3m down on a very remote cliff face, you emerge in a giant cavern, with golden rock walls, luminous blue water underneath and a huge skylight where the sunlight beams down and creates a 15m shaft of light going down to the seabed. It’s hard to imagine something like this exists here. Close by are the islands Ses Margalides. Two islands with arches very similar in dimensions to the Blue Hole Arch in Dahab. Except you don’t have to go down 60m to see these, they are at 4m down to 40m. Good training for the real thing, or good for just pretending more like. Either way, spectacular. ‘Dahab Freediver’ Diana García Benito came to visit for this epic day out, great to see her again.
One of the two submerged Arches in Ses Margalides with local heads Martin Schatzmann, Cosmi Noguera and Diana García Benito. Martin is my ‘weather frog’. He lives on the cliffs of Cala Salada where I teach and gives me weather updates as I pack my car down south near the airport.
I’ve also been training with local deep diver Cosmi. He has grown up spearfishing and is a talented and super fit Freediver. He is preparing for the upcoming Spanish Championships in Lanzarote and in the meantime I am creeping up on the 80m bi fins depth I achieved last winter in Egypt. With a serious drop in temperature deeper down, this depth in the Mediterranean is a little more challenging but the journey there has been smooth this summer, so I hope this is a base to take things further this winter. A ‘dive for the sheer joy’ approach has worked well. Harry Chamas at Freedive Passion has a great episode about this particular attitude when training for depth on his excellent You Tube channel. This channel was my Freediving Bible when I started out and I still go back to these videos all the time for reference. He updates it regularly, have a look.
It was actually the only option whilst teaching, training, Djing and going about normal life in summer here in Ibiza, which can be hectic. No pressure, just deep diving for the good feelings, the ‘Me’ time and with no pressure to hit numbers. Instead of the whole day being about that one dive we treated it as a treat, a release, something to just enjoy, very often choosing what depth based on the sensations in the warm up dive, and this approach has worked well.
What else has been going on? Aha THAT thing! Okay.
About two weeks ago the actress Emma Watson released to the world a short film for PRADA which she wrote, directed and produced. Why am I telling you this? Because back in May Saltfish Freediving got the job of Freediving Instructor for her and consultant for the shots, wardrobe advisor, safety etc. I was sworn to secrecy by way of an NDA and so up until the release 2 months later I had kept it very quiet by only telling everyone I knew (oops). It was a surreal couple of weeks where I was immersed (literally) into the top end of the world of film making. Unbelievable on many levels, the professionalism of these people, the creativity, the way something relatively commonplace can look positively EPIC on screen, with the help of someone who knows how to look amazing on camera, top creative technicians and a camera worth a quarter of a million euros. Startling as well was the budget which this brand was willing to put into the promotion of a bottle of perfume. After two weeks of training, sourcing top equipment, teaching Emma and extravagant use of locations and resources, just a few seconds of Freediving footage was used. This is not to take away any value from what they did, I guess it’s just an insight into how these people work and the effort and cost that goes into big productions and how so much never makes the final cut. Either way it was a great experience and Emma was very nice and pretty cool for someone who has been in that world of movie production since she was ten, as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies. I should also mention that help was on hand in the ‘Emma Watson’ shaped form of our dear friend and local Freediving Instructor Sara Gonzalez Tur who on the day of the shoot made some beautiful shapes in the water as Emma’s ‘body double’ when the pressure was on. Sara is an awesome photographer as well, check her work out here…..
https://www.instagram.com/sarah.g.tur/
Here are some grainy shots of the Prada shoot. We weren’t supposed to take photos so lots of screen shots from other sources I’m afraid.
The full length PRADA film and the making of it are on You Tube. It’s hard to miss with about a squillion views.
So the great conditions are holding here, September and October look great, I’m hoping to get some ‘max’ dives in before the summer winds up and hopefully see some of you at some point. I’ll be teaching and training here well into late October so please get in touch if you’re coming this way. Even if you don’t wanna dive I can point you to the nearest bar, restaurant, walking route or after hours party, I may even be playing there.
I’ve managed to keep a balance between Freediving and Djing. My focus is totally on Freediving now but every now and then my body taps me on the shoulder and says, hey, we need a night out mister. Luckily I still get Djing offers and so every couple of weeks I go out and Dj and cut loose a little. I come from decades spent working and living that lifestyle and my passion for Djing and that life was as strong as the the one I have now for this new activity. I think it’s a mistake to try and leave everything behind, you can’t change what you are and Djing is like a musical instrument (it IS a musical instrument but that’s a whole other debate right there) I can pick it up and play it at any time and I love having that available to me still.
A few great Dj gigs are on the horizon actually with a few in my old stomping ground of Switzerland including the top club in the country, Zurich’s HIVE and Zukunft and the legendary Pikes Ibiza Halloween Party, before it’s Dahab time once again.
Here’s a couple of live sessions from last year. Don’t try and go to sleep to these………
https://www.mixcloud.com/djdavidphillips/halloween-2021-at-pikes-ibiza/
Hope you enjoyed the update. Dive safe kids!
DPx
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