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 The Blue Lagoon, in Port Antonio, Jamaica, is the location of the newest FREE Training Station. Joining previous locations in Florida, USA, and Kas, Turkey, the Blue Lagoon is a small inlet that boasts easy access from shore, warm temperatures all year round, no waves and a bottom of 51 meters/ 168 feet. A square wooden platform has been permanently moored to the bottom. The platform allows for up to 12 divers to be seated on it at once, making it ideal for teaching courses or deep water sessions. Several chairs can be attached to the sides for constant ballast dives, while a sled can be hooked to main structure for variable ballast dives. The station was designed and built by Master Instructor David Lee, who also runs the facility and conducts and supervises dive sessions on it. This is the perfect location for a specialty course such as "Unassisted Constant Ballast", taught by former champion David Lee himself, or a "Sled Experience" dive or simply a training period under controlled, safe conditions for a dive team or individual. Safety divers are provided with all diving sessions. To reserve the location, or for more information, contact David Lee at david@apneablue.com |
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On May 3rd, 2008 two new instructors have joined the FREE family, Nahkle Hado from Lebanon, and Kynan Cooke from Jamaica. Both Nahkle and Kynan have many years of experience in freediving, mostly in spearfishing, and they will teach in Jamaica, where they reside. We welcome these two professionals to our family and wish them successful and safe dives in their upcoming courses. They can be contacted at nakhle@divingfree.org and kynan@divingfree.org |
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  Monica Ganame (Argentina) and Eusebio Saenz de Santamaria (Spain) have been recognized by FREE as Instructors of the Year for the period between July 2006 - July 2007. Upon completing their instructor course on June 2004 with Instructor Trainer Rudi Castineyra in Turkey, Ganame and Saenz de Santamaria wasted no time in openning a freediving center in Koh Tao, Tailand. This center, "Apneatotal" (www.apneatotal.com), has quickly become one of the busiest and most popular FREE centers in the world, with their instructors certifying hundreds of Freediver and Advanced Freediver students since its creation. Not only have Monica and Eusebio excelled in quantities, but also in the quality of their courses, with a commitment to safety and performance second to none. It is instructors like these who have helped FREE earn its reputation as the worldwide leader in freediving education.
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 The LearnFreediving.com Team of multi-world record holders Yasemin Dalkilic (Turkey), David Lee (Jamaica), their newest team member, 2-time olympic champion Olga Novokshchenova (Russia) and their trainer Rudi Castineyra are getting ready for several world record attempts in October of 2005. FREE has received the official request for verification from the team, and will be sending two judges (to be named) to cover their attempts, which will take place in Turkey. The categories in request are Equipment Assisted Constant Ballast (female), Line Assisted Constant Ballast (female, male) and Unassisted Constant Ballast (female, male). The athletes have been preparing for the events for several months and their coach reports that they have met all training parameters and pre-record tests successfully. FREE will use these attempts to test the implementation of several new procedures in the judging arena in view to make them standard for all future attempts. We wish the team them success on their quest, and as usual, we will post the results of the event immediately after they happen.
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 Master
Freediver Olga Novokshchenova (Russia) has won her second
gold medal at the Olympic games in Athens! A member
of the Russian synchronized swimming team for the past
three games, Olga had won the gold in Sydney and has
now doubled the feat four years later, the only repeating
member of the team, a testament to her talent and dedication.
FREE Master Instructor and multiple Wsorld Champion
David Lee was in Athens supporting Olga personally,
while the rest of our team followed closely her progress
on TV. With only two teams to go, the Japanese swimmers
performed a seemingly unbeatable routine, leaving everybody
feeling that silver was not a bad thing after all. However,
when Olga and her teammates got in the water, it was
clear what their intentions were, and their routine
earned them a total score of 99.501 points out of a
possible 100, securing the victory.
After 8 months of 9-hour training days, 6 days a week,
Olga is taking a well deserved rest, but is already
getting ready to dive deep into her other passion, freediving.
She had passed both the Advanced and Master courses
in 2003, managing to set a national record along the
way, which prompted trainer Rudi Castineyra to offer
her a spot on the LearnFreediving.com team, which she
happily accepted. Olga will be preparing for a world
record attempt together with David Lee and Yasemin Dalkilic
in the following months. Congratulations Olga!!!
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Monica
Ganame (Argentina) and Eusebio Saenz de Santamaria (Spain)
have just completed the Master Freediver Course and
the Instructor Seminar taught by Instructor Trainer
Rudi Castineyra in Kas, Turkey. Monica and Eusebio had
previously completed the Advanced Freediver Course with
South African instructor Bevan Dewar and, after manifesting
their desire to become instructors, had completed all
requirements for instructor eligibility. Monica and
Eusebio have been residing in Thailand for several years
and felt that the local community is ready to start
learning the sport in an organized and safe manner.
They are in the process of openning a freediving dedicated
dive center calld "Apnea Total" on the island
of Koh Tao, where they will teach Freediver and Advanced
Freediver courses, conduct guided freedive tours and
training sessions and provide freediving equipment.
FREE congratulates them on this important step and wishes
them professional success. |
 FREE
Instructors Rudi Castineyra, Yasemin Dalkilic and Damir
Musin have just completed an intensive 3-week training
cycle where they conducted two Advanced Freediving courses,
one Master Freediver Course and an Instructor's seminar.
The first of the Advanced courses took place in Moscow
and the rest in Kas, Turkey. A total of 14 students
graduated from the Advanced Courses, 5 from the Master
course and 3 instructor candidates successfully completed
their seminar. The names of all the students can be
found under the "FREE Divers" link on the
"Affiliates" section of our website. A photo
gallery from these courses can be accessed from the
website: www.LearnFreediving.com
on the "Photos-Videos" section. FREE congratulates
these freedivers and wishes them safe and enjoyable
dives in the future.
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 Jamaican
David Lee has, once again, become the deepest freediver
in the world, in the category where it is most difficult
to do so, Unassisted Constant Ballast. Lee, who held
the distinction of being the first diver ever to set
an official record in this category, as well as the
first human to surpass the 50 meter barrier in it, has
however not been successful last year when he attempted
to break the 60 meter FREE mark held by Topi Lintukangas
and the 61 meter improvement set by Stig Severinsen
under AIDA rules. On June 5th, however, Lee drove the
standard 2 meters deeper by reaching 63 meters/207 feet
in a time of 2:05 minutes, and then, not satisfied,
tried again on June 10th for 65 meters/213 feet, which
he accomplished in 2:14 minutes. Both records were verified
by FREE Level-4 Judges Gianluca Cora (Italy) and Arthur
Zaloga (Lithuania), who acted as surface and bottom
judges respectively, witnessing the diver’s compliance
with all the pertinent rules. Lee was also joined during
the attempts by Yasemin Dalkilic, who also established
new female records on this category. FREE congratulates
David Lee on these records, his 4th and 5th and wishes
him continued success in the future.
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 Turkish
Freediver Yasemin Dalkilic has reclaimed her spot at
the top of the freediving records list after a two-year
absence. Dalkilic just reset the Unassisted Constant
Ballast record twice in a row, first with a dive to
42 meters/138 feet, to improve on her old FREE record
of 40 meters as well as the AIDA mark of 41 meters jointly
held by Mandy Rae-Cruishank and Anabel Briseno. Two
days later, on June 6th, she added a further 4 meters
to her result with a dive to 46 meters/151 feet. Both
dives were done in identical times of 1:57 minutes,
in the crystal-clear waters off Kas, a small town on
the Turkish Mediterranean. FREE Level-4 Judges Gianluca
Cora (Italy) and Arthur Zaloga (Lithuania) acted as
surface and bottom judges respectively, verifying the
diver’s compliance with all the pertinent rules.
Dalkilic was joined by Jamaican freediver David Lee,
whom also set new male records on this category. A detailed
account of the team’s experiences was kept on
a “Record Diary” and can be found on the
website www.learnfreediving.com FREE congratulates Dalkilic
on these records, her 7th and 8th and wishes her continued
success in the future.
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 The
Learnfreediving.com team of freedivers Yasemin Dalkilic
and David Lee and their trainer Rudi Castineyra has
announced an unprecedented coverage for their upcoming
world record attempts starting on May 31st. The team
will keep a day-by-day journal of all their dives and
activities while on location in Kas, Turkey, which will
include accounts from all three members, as well as
photos, videos and computerized graphs of their dives.
The team has also promised that many of the techniques
of their revolutionary training system will be openly
discussed at length through this forum. Furthermore,
in a pioneering effort to share their experiences with
as many members of the freediving community as possible,
the team will present this journal in four different
languages: English, Spanish, Italian and Turkish. To
round up the coverage, Learnfreediving.com has invited
Stephan Whelan, chief editor of the reputed internet
diving portal Deeperblue.net to visit them during this
time, and upon confirming his participation, Mr. Whelan
has also announced that his own personal account of
the event will appear as a Special Feature on his site.
For all the details, visit: www.Learnfreediving.com
and/or www.deeperblue.net
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The
third edition of the successful F.R.E.E. Master Course/Deep
Training Camp, run by the Yasemin Dalkilic - Rudi
Castineyra team followed on the footsteps of the previous
ones when two of the participants set 3 new records.
Ant Williams from New Zealand reached a depth of 60
meters/197 feet in a time of 1:46 min. to set the
new Equipment Assisted Constant Ballast record for
both his country and the continent of Australia-Oceania.
South African freediver Bevan Dewar followed suit
by setting a new mark of 70 meters/230 feet in a time
of 2:11 min. in the same category, and then adding
a new record to his resume by reaching the remarkable
depth of 55 meters/187 feet in a time of 2:15 min.
in the Unassisted Constant Ballast category, both
dives becoming the new African and South African records.
The records were verified by F.R.E.E. judges Yasemin
Dalkilic (Turkey), Damir Moussine (Russia) and Rudi
Castineyra (USA) who were positioned at the surface,
mid-water and bottom levels respectively, and who
verified not only the athletes' compliance with the
rules but also witnessed the ease with which they
performed the dives. Renown freediver Topi Lintukangas,
who was starting his season training at the camp,
was the first to congratulate the divers on their
results. A total of 17 divers from 10 different countries
attended the two week event, their safety and performances
monitored by a team of 4 F.R.E.E. instructors/judges
and 5 safety divers.These results confirm the deserved
reputation these camps have earned in the freediving
community. The next round of the Master Course/Training
camp combo is scheduled for July on the same location
of Kas, Antalya, Turkey. For more information contact
the organizers at info@learnfreediving.com
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Freedivers Yasemin Dalkilic (Turkey) and David Lee
(Jamaica) have submitted a joint request for verification
to FREE for attempts in the Unassisted Constant Ballast
category in June 2004. Both Dalkilic and Lee are accomplished
unassisted freedivers, having been the first to set
official records in the category back in 2001. Dalkilic
has been away from competitive freediving for over 2
years after dedicating 2002 to a documentary series
and loosing 2003 to injuries, while Lee indeed attempted
to retake this record last year but failed his dive
to 63 meters. Both divers are understandably eager to
claim the record, and their trainer Rudi Castineyra
confirms that their training level is at their highest
ever. The attempts will take place in the town of Kas,
in Antalya, Turkey. Several international magazines
will cover the dives, while underwater production house
Ideas in Blue is contracted to provide extensive video
and photographic coverage of the event. For details
check their websites: www.YaseminDalkilic.com
www.ApneaBlue.com |
FREE is happy and proud to welcome a new member to
our growing family. On September 20th, 2003, the FREE
Board of Directors approved the application of FREE
instructors Damir Mousin and Mihkael Artamonov to jointly
represent our organization in their country, Russia.
Mousin (left) and Artamonov (right) appear with FREE's
president Rudi Castineyra (center) in the photo after
signing all official documents. The first project proposed
by the new members is the Horizontal Immersion All-Around
Competition to take place in 2004 at a Russian location
to be announced, and open to a maximum of 60 international
competitors, which under current rules qualifies it
as a World Championship. For more details visit www.divefree.ru |
We are happy to announce that during the Advanced and
Master Freediver courses taught by our instructors Rudi
Castineyra and Yasemin Dalkilic in Kas, Turkey, 3 of
our students have set new national records for their
countries. Valentin Lutzkanov set a new Equipment Assisted
Constant Ballast record for Bulgaria, with a dive to
45 meters/ 147 feet during the Advanced course. Later
on, during the Master course, divers Pavel Kazankov
and Olga Novokshchenova followed suit with new Russian
records. Mr. Kazankov set a new Unassisted Constant
Ballast record to 43 meters/ 141 feet, while Ms. Novokshchenova
set a new Equipment Assisted Constant Ballast mark with
a dive to 53 meters/ 151 feet. While Kazankov is a veteran
freediver, both Lutzkanov and Novokshchenova are relatively
newcomers to the sport, although Ms. Novokshchenova
is no stranger to high performance sports, holding the
distinction of being an Olympic Champion from the Sydney
2000 games! All 3 records were verified by instructors
Dalkilic and Castineyra, both of whom are active F.R.E.E.
judges. Congratulations to the athletes on their accomplishments!
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53m EACB
New Russian Record
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43m UCB
New Russian Record
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45m EACB
New Bulgarian Record
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NEW FREE INSTRUCTORS CERTIFIED - 05.05.2008
