The year ahead

So 2015 is already upon us and I'm looking forward to the upcoming season. After a year off from competing I'm as hungry as ever to return to form and hit new and even greater depths!

2014 was the first year that I failed to increase my depth since I started freediving in 2011. After a couple of tragic events late 2013 and early 2014 and some health issues I decided to take some time away from my own depth training. However, progress isn't always made and measured in meters and I feel that I am wiser from the lessons learnt throughout the year which will ultimately make me a better diver. It was still an action packed year that included coaching Sahika Ercumen to two new CMAS World Records, new National records, acting as Event producer and Chief of Safety for the Worlds premier freediving event Suunto Vertical Blue. There were Safety presentations in Dubai and Cairns, Training camps in the Bahamas, Egypt, Turkey and Australia, Instructor courses in Denmark, Egypt and the Bahamas and a multitude of AIDA courses around the world. There were lessons and challenges for me at every corner and I'm happy to have been able to rise to the occasions. Bar the Antarctic, I also managed to set foot on every continent on the planet!  

So, what has 2015 got in store for me?! Well, after taking a little time out from the sand and sea and bringing in the new year in the mountains and valleys of beautiful Colombia I was straight into running a Training camp in Antigua. Training also started for me here as I taught, with stretching and depth adaptation exercises.

My main focuses for the year will be Vertical Blue in April/May and then I'll be looking to peak for Depth World champs in Cyprus in September. This means a big focus on conditioning in the early part of the year and with depth adaptation being the major hurdle to me increasing depth I will be including a rigorous stretching regime into my training. There will be a lot of time spent in the gym, in the pool, on the yoga mat and in the deep blue ocean! 

There are a couple of smaller competitions which I may use as stepping stones, including Diamond Deep, in Lake Pupuke, Auckland and the New Zealand depth champs. I have performed safety at the NZDC in the previous two years and whilst the much cooler waters of Lake Taupo may not be ideal for setting personal bests, it is a great competition and a chance for me to compete in NZ waters for the first time. 

From a teaching perspective, I will be continuing with running the Training camps which have proven to be so popular in the past years and has produced and been attended by some of the worlds top divers. More Instructor courses and AIDA courses are scheduled for the year as well as specialty clinics in Safety diving, Deep equalization, Relaxation and stress management.

First Training Camp of the year held in conjunction with Adventure Antigua was a massive success! I will be back there in May running more Training camps and Watermans courses!

I will continue with my pursuit to increase safety in the community with free Safety presentations and workshops for freedivers, spearfishermen, surf life guards and the general public. I will be working in with organizers at major events such as the Depth World Champs in Cyprus and Vertical Blue to help ensure that they are firing on all cylinders!

There are also a couple of media projects in the pipeline, potential record attempts(hush hush;)), shark tagging with Shark man Riley Elliot and more global exploration!

With the support of my main sponsors Eliossub and Alchemy it's going to another action packed year! Stay tuned for more news, updates and plenty of tips and tricks!