Dahab Winter Time

Since two days I am back in Dahab...it is wonderful.
My little sister is living at my house and is doing her PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course.
I did a wonderful 48m freedive back at Blue Hole today. In the evening I went for a night dive with my lil sister. On Scuba :-) well, I have to say it was very nice.

Judge in Berlin

Last Saterday (15.11.08) I was invited to the 11th Night of Apnea in Berlin. Not as a athlete - I was invited as a judge.
For me it was to first time working as a judge and I was quite nervous in the beginnig.
When I arrived at the pool many memories from the past came to my mind.
The first time I was here was at the 2nd Night of Apnea and I was 13 years old...the youngest competitor of the world. Strange...it´s been already 9 years.

I was judging with Christoph Leschinski and Hans Pütz. At the Static Part of the Competition they took me into the middle to see how I was doing. My first athlete was Wolle Neugebauer and a static attempt.
Everything went very good. I just had to disqualify one person because of a wrong surface protocol. The dynamic competiton was also very good and all athletes at my lane did a great performance. It was a very nice and interesting weekend.

Zugspitze

Another beautiful day at Lake "Starnberger See"...in front of germanys highest mountain the "Zugspitze". In a few days I probably go for a fun freedive here.

Bavaria Blue

Yesterday night we arrived at Percha at Lake "Starnberger See" to do some deep dives.

This morning we prepared our platfrom whitch is more like a houseboat with filling station.

It is very nice to be home in bavaria (the south of germany) - The water is clear and the sky is blue. Look like a perfect day!

RTL Report

RTL Report about the record attempt:

Viva Espania - but no time for freediving

Just sitting here in Cadiz/Spain in the hotel lobby. Almost the whole week I was on one of our boats here and unfortunadly I could'nt freedive at all. The reason was that all the time we had to work and no time for anchoring somewhere. Also the underwater conditions in the atlantic are not so good as thought. Aleast I saw some dolphins and this was very great. I never saw wild dolphins before.

Anyhow...we had a great time here in Cadiz and we are very happy to spend the last night in a hotel.

Just got a photo of my new sofa from nikki:

Off to Cadiz/Spain

Just about to finish my packing. Now I´m off to Cadiz/Spain...

5 Minutes

Todays goal was 5 minutes and I reached it again very easy.
I also got this special feeling back after that static session. Almost forgot that static really can be fun :-)
The rest of the pool session I spend with empty-lung-dives down to 5m which felt quite good.
Just came from the gym...had a very nice workout there :-)
Unfortunadly our flight to spain is delayed by two days. the reason is that our diving boat has to fight with very bad sea conditions. the good thing is that I can have some more static sessions until friday. But still - I already can hear the calling of the sea. My monofin is already on the diving boat ;-)

Special THANKS to ELIOS-SUB for my new 3mm Suit

Pool Training and new goals

After work I went into our pool for a static session with my new suit.
The todays goal was four minutes witch I reached easy.
Time to make new goals for the winter...During the winter I will try to reach the 7min mark. It´s gonna be a hard way because I did´nt trained static since almost 2 years.

Official Surface Camera

The official surface camera shots of my record attempt:

Guestbook readded

Just readded my old guestbook. I´ll find it on the side - beyond the blog archive.
Preparing my trip to spain at the moment. We are leaving on the 10th of september.

First Day back in the base

Yesterday I had my first day back in the naval base in Eckernförde.
In the morning I had a appointment with a navy press officer.
He wrote down my story about my training and the attempt.

Click here to read the article on marine.de (in german)

Also found this Radio-Interview from Bayern 2 (in german)

Good-Bye-Run

On my last night in dahab I was invited for Dinner by Kate and Dean.
We had fresh fish for dinner and it was probably the best fish I´ve every tryed.
On that evening I started to say good bye to Lotta and Peter.
In the morning I went to freedive dahab and sayed good bye to Natalie, Kate and Dean.
For breakfast I was invited by Alex from Spain. For Lunch I was invited by Akim :-)
My last stop on my good-bye-run was desert divers. I told Nikki to take good care about my house while she is renting it.
In the minibus I felt quite bad when I saw the sign "Good Bye Dahab" outside of dahab.
Yes, leaving is always hard. But it keeps this place special to me.
Then right into the plane and flying for 4,5 hours to munich. Back in germany I rented a car (Alfa 159) to drive to the navel base in eckernförde. This journey across the country took me almost 10 hours. Back in the base I got congratulations from all my buddys... Now I´m waiting for my next adventure

Calming Down

The day after my record dive I used for recovering and for my house.
I got Aircon in one of the bedroom. Unfortunadly one of the workers felt off the roof and was a bit injured. After I did first aid his buddys drove him to the hospital. Poor guy :-(
The rest of the day I spend with friends in el salam. I really felt the energy coming back into my body. A nice day :-)

GERMAN RECORD !!!

Today I woke up with a mixed feeling. I was full of energy but I must admit I was quite nervous.
At 10am we left from Freedive Dahab Office to Blue Hole and the condition on the spot was quite good.
Even my family arrived to watch my attempt.
I went into the water and with every second in the water I lost the feeling of beeing nervous.

I took my time to relax and when I felt right I gave Lotta the signal to start the Countdown (4min)
On Official Top I started my dive down to 71m. Again the fight against the bouyance. I was so used to 4kg weight. Now I doved with only 2kg. I started falling and calmness overcome my whole body. I could feel that dive respond - I could feel the blood shift. After about 30-35m I filled my mouth with air to equaliaze below the point where my lung is compressed to RV.
Down at 71m I took the TAG without a problem. The way back felt very good and when I saw Natalie I knew that the dive was going to be perfect.
Back at the surface....Proper surface protocol....waiting until the white card....THEN CHEERING :-) NEW GERMAN RECORD.........The old german record made by Tom Sietas exaclty 4 Years before (09/08/2004).

After this dive I decided to rest for 1 hour and try for another record in "Free Immersion".
On that dive I doved down to 76m but I gave the surface protocol to the saftey diver instead giving it to the Judge. The rules say that it is not a record because of failing of the protocol.
But it was one of the best dives I´ve ever had. I felt so relaxed. The divetime was 3:24 min and I enjoyed every second of that dive - even when it was no record. After the dive I realised that I injured my foot on the robe...It´s the 2008 scar...I have one from 2006 aswell :-)

In the end I can say that I reached my main goal. 6 Weeks of training...6 Weeks of Up´s and Down´s...6 Weeks of emotions. I was a long journey. Now I feel very tired but on the other hand very released.
Tonight we´re gonna celebrate :-)

Back to Confidence - PART II

Another great day in Paradise...

At 10am Natalie, Akim and me left to Blue Hole for a Training session.
It was about time to get back to the depth after the two failed attempts.

Back in the water I felt that the felling started to come back. For the warm-up I did two dives to about 30m on FRC. A group of scuba divers stayed close to the robe and watched our training. The sound of the regulators was a bit anoying but they left before our deep attempts.

Today I tryed the weight setup from yesterday. I doved with 50 % less weight (only 2kg).
The dive started...
In the beginning I had to fight against the bouyance. I realised that I didn´t start falling like usually. So I lost a few seconds on my descent. But the feeling down was muss stronger - more confident.
The way back felt so easy. It felt so nice to have that much bouyance on the way back.
In the end I reached 72,6m in a divetime of 2:21 min.
Tomorow is the big chance :-)

Back to Confidence

Today I had a very nice day. In the morning my father and me fixed my bike and some new lamps in my house.
In the afternoon I rested and try to focus on what to eat and when to eat. The plan was to go for a training in the back at 4pm with akim.
After we set up the rope I started with my first dive. It was quite strange. The contractions came very early and I felt uncomfortable. Afterwards I changed some of my weight setup and tryed some dives. On my 5mm suit I´m neutraly bouyanced at 16m. It felt much safer. In the end I got all my confidence back by doing a 31m dive with took 3:30 min. I was so happy. Akim had a funny LMC on one of his dives. It´s quite bad to make fun out of such a thing but we both laughed because the face he was making on that was way to funny :-)
After the session I tryed to show my nude behind to the people on the other robe but they didn´t looked :-) Usually the white whale is not spoted in the red sea ;-)

Fish Blues

Yesterday I went for a scuba dive with my family at Lighthouse. We saw a lot of thing and that dive. It was nicer than I thought :-)

The evening before I was freediving at the islands with Akim and he showed me how to attract fishes with noises. He use this for spearfishing. Ofcourse we didn´t used a speargun.
It was very funny.

I really try to get some energy back but it is more difficult than I thought :-) But I feel fine now.

Chilling Down

The last attempt was a mess aswell...The rope was set wrong (or the gauges was wrong), the tag in the depth was a quite stuck, so I had a big effort to get it. I spend 10 sec down at 73m depth. The robe should be set at 71m...well, divetime was 12 sec longer than usual and because of all this I had a small blackout at the surface - AGAIN.
I got the chance to redo the dive in a few days. Time to get some energy back.

Yesterday my parents arrived to do some scuba diving. They should stay at my house but it is way to hot for them without aircon. Well, I moved in into my house yesterday....AND I LOVE IT!!!

Unfortunadly my best trainingbuddy and friend Rahel left for sweden yesterday :-(

Well, I rest for the next days and then I try again. Hopefully without complications :-)

2nd and 3rd Competition Day - Blackouts and Mistakes

Just came from Blue Hole...
I´m so disapointed since 3 Days I work on that german record in constant weight and the last two days was very worse.
During the last two days I had a small blackout at the surface...
The reason for the blackout yesterday was bad ears and massive pain during the dive...I reached the depth but I was very stressed because of that and at the surface...well...BO.
Today I felt much better in my ears. Bettina from switzerland gave me some medication for the ears. It was quite good. During the dive I felt quite relaxed but at the bottom I had a bit of effort to get the tag...it was quite strong :-). Well, I didn´t thought that on this dive I gonna have problems. But back at the surface...BO again!!! I´m so disapointed and I feel very weak.
After the dive two watches showed almost 2 meters more than I annonced....73m.
Lotta sayed in a few days I will get the possibility to make that attempt again.
....
Time to get some energy back.

First Competition Day - No Record....Yet

Today was the first competition day.
The morning started very good. I had a nice long sleep and when I woke up I fixed some of my equipment (wetsuit, ankle weight).
Then I went out to Blue Hole with the first group. The Team of Freedive Dahab prepared the Conter Ballast System and in the meantime I started to do some stretching.
I felt very good and strong.
Sara Champbell was coaching and supporting me in the water and during my warm up´s. With every second more in the water I felt more comfortable. I did two FRC´s and they felt very good. One was to 21m the other one was to 32m.
Then my BIG Dive started. During the first meters my ears would not work properly but after 20m everything was fine and easy. The freefalling felt good and at the bottom plate I reached the TAG easy. The way back was easy aswell and I had almost no contractions. Back at the surface I did a big mistake. My hand touched the bouy before my head was out of the water. The regulations of AIDA say that this is a yellow card and NO NATIONAL RECORD. Well, it was a bit stupid of me and tomorow I will do a proper dive without this mistake.
My computer sayed that I went down to 72,3 m in 2:08 min.
For tomorow I annonced 72m in constant weight...another chance for me.

I want to Rest :-)

The last two days I try to rest from the deep dive training.

But I could not rest so much because I had stuff to do.

Yesterday in the morning my motorbike tyre broke again....but in the middle of nowhere.

Had to do a quite long walk with the bike in the desert until I found a Pickup Truck.

After that I went to the mechanic and told him to fix the bike....AGAIN.

In the evening I went to check how the thing going at my house. Well, again a bit of delay because some workers broke the marble in the kitchen. So now they have to do it again.

This morning started quite good....

I had cornflakes with honey at el salam restaurant, enjoyed the sea view. It was quite relaxing.

Then I remembered that I have to get a medical statment from a doctor to be able to make the competition. So I borrowed a car from a friend and did the medical test.

It was interesting...I have a Vital Capaticity of 8.14 Lites...I think this is quite good.

So at the moment I´m again at el salam to have some protein (scrambled eggs and a hamburger) and then at 5 pm I have to go to the briefing for the competition tomorow.

Solid Dives - Solid House

Just came from my house :-)
The last two days I was busy as hell!!!
In the morning training and then directly to my house and working there until night.
Yesterday I did a free immersion down to 77m whitch felt very good and easy. And 16kg bottom weight for the first time. It was nice to train on that robe but it was a big hustle to bring it back to surface.
Today the same...
Training after a short sleep (well, more a nap)...bad sinuses... in the end I did a very nice 73m Constant Weight dive. It felt good and solid.
My house it getting ready soon...I can´t wait to move in. That´s for today. Tomorow I might have a day off (maybe two).
A few days till the competition starts...

From Ups and Downs

Today got back on the ground. This is where I actually belong.

On my deep dive today I had several problems but I was stupid enough to keep on free falling the whole way down.
1. The positions of my arms in the beginning of the dive was very wrong. When I reallised it I already was out of conzentration.
2. On 30 - 35m I bumped with my face into the rope. Again I was out of relaxation.
3. On 50m I was falling sideward and not streamlined at all. It cost a lot energy to correct my position.

To end this bad dive I lost consciousness when I was almost at the surface. Thanks to Daan for the professional saftey of this dive. When I was back my computer said 81m...
...now I´m not going deeper anymore. I train for 75m and this I can do proper and anytime.

Well, it happend so fast that you come from very high to very low.....and sometimes it has to happen something like that.

Deep Static

Today I trained out in the Masbat Bay with Akim.

After a good breakfast we took our equipment and went to the dive spot.

It was quite windy and the sea was very choppy.

We did some deep static dives. I went down to 33m and made 3:31 min. divetime.

I think this type of training is very good for free immersion.

Now I just came back from my house.

I HAVE A TERRASSE NOW :-) YEAHH.

Dirty Bloody 80m

Came back from my training session.
The Blue Hole was very calm - almost no current.
It was also low tide...and lots lots lots of people were walking on the reef.
Daan and me got mad at them....one of the egyptians even told us that this is his country and he can walk where he want to walk. Only his friend was clever and told him to step off from the reef.
They simply don´t understand what a reef is built off and that he is acctually killing many animals.
Oh well, finally we were back on training. When I prepared my dive I had still problems with my ears. It is not that they are stuck but it is a major effort to equalize them.
After my warm ups I did my dive and it felt good in the beginning. Down there I was a bit narced. On the way back I felt quite tired in my legs and on the surface I had a small LMC which means I was for a few seconds not 100 % clear.
After I had a look on my computer it told me I was at 80m. I would have been more happy if I would have done a good surface protocol. The dive was a constant weight dive and it took me 2:33 min. 10 seconds longer than my 78m dive.

On the second try

Yesterday on Blue Hole I still had to fight with my ears...don´t no what it is? Do I have a small cold? Anyways,...
On my first try I was aiming for 76m in Free Immersion but my ears weren´t able to be equalized so I was quite disapointed for that training session.
But after the dive I could feel that I have to do another try...so we dropped to bottom weight again to 76m. By the way...it is not smart to do two deep dives on one training session!
Well, on my second try I reached to 76m in Free Immersion and it felt very easy...the divetime was 2:55min.
In the evening I felt very tired because of the 2 deep dives and because of the dropping and lifting,dropping and lifting of the bottom weight. In the evening I had dinner at Lindas flat together with Akim and Alex...ít was soooo tasty. It was something from Thailand I guess :-)
After a coffee without coffein I drove home and felt into my bed. 5 min later I was asleep.

With funny ears down to 77,7m

The day started very good.
I woke up with Bob Marley and his song "Three little birds"...but my ears felt a bit funny.
Usually when I take a hot shower my ears are getting free again...so I took a hot shower witch is like hell when you are in egypt and the air is 45 degree.
Well, after that they got a bit better.

Back at Blue Hole I still had to fight with the equalization and my ears made funny sounds during that.
During my warm ups I managed to do a 31m dive with almost emty lung...it took 1:40m
I felt ready for the big AIM.
During my big dive I felt very relaxed and I really enjoyed the free falling part. The turn down there was "okay" but still I should work on that.
Back at the surface I was very clear and happy about my 77,7m I reached. Another happy personal best for me. The dive time was 2:23min.
After that Daan managed to do a personal best in constant weight aswell...he reached 46m!!!

Make it safe

Today was another good training day.
I did the 76m again and this time it felt quite easy.
The divetime was 2:21min.
The most anoying thing on blue hole is the people who don´t care about the reef.
almost every day I have to shout and scream at people to not step on the reef.
On the way back I drove the jeep back home. it was so much fun - OFFROAD.
In the evening we had a small motorbike accident...nothing big-but we learned our lesson.
Now we are starting to watch LOST...Sesson 4

Constant Weired 76m

The dive today at Blue Hole was interesting.
I fell down to the end of the line but I lost it.
I tryed to get the bottom line back but I grabbed two times wrong...because I don´t wear a diving mask.
Anyhow, I spend way to long time downthere at 76m for getting the TAG.
But I was all clear at the surface and very happy for a new Personal Best.
The dive took 2:19.
This time I was listen to my buddy. I was breathing oxygen for a couple of minutes to get rid of the DCS risk and for a faster recovering of my body. Thanks to Kristin from DDU for the oxygen.
Now I´m back home at Peters house and enjoying the AirCon.

Day OFF

Yesterday I woke up in the morning and I know...today I can rest for a bit.
But the sea was calling me. I decided to go down to the bay for a swim. It was wonderful and the temperature was perfect.
After that I took my book "The Swarm" and ordered a orange juice.
Live could be so easy.
I spend the wohle noon at the bay.
Then I went back to Peters house (where I life), put the Aircon on and had a nice nap.
They "forced" me to join them for a small training session in the bay.
So we went down with my motorbike...three people on that thing is a bit tricky.
Back in the water I trained a bit "unassisted" and FRC. Unfortunately my ears started to become a bit funny so I went back on land.
In the evening we had pizza and we watched "LOST".

Back on Free Immersion

Today we were going to the Blue Hole one hours earlyer and everybody looked a bit tired in the morning.
It was another quite good training session...well...
In the beginning I made a variabel weight dive down to 51m (by holing the bottom weight) and it was very nice to have time to look and enjoy the ARCH.
After a few warm ups I made myself ready for the DEEP ONE.
Today I made a Free Immersion dive down to 75m...witch took me 2:54min.
Well usualy I´m faster and I think I was not falling streamlined...this took a lot of time and energy....Well what should I say... This dive felt not so easy and I was fresher back at the surface on my other dives.

I know where I have to work on...Tomorow I will have a day OFF.

Found something on Youtube....for my navy fellas :-)

Youm Assel , Youm Bassel

There is a saying in egypt: Youm Assel , Youm Bassel
this means: One day is like Honey and the other day can be like onion.

Well, yesterday I had my "onion day".
I could´nt concentrate, I lost my mouthfill at 60m and I wasn´t relaxed at all.
It ended up in a 70m Constant Weight in 1:55min. I was quite disapointed because my aim was 75m.

TODAY I had by HONEY DAY (Youm Assel):
Everything felt good. I was rested and had some nice warm-ups.
And I finally did my 75m Constant Weight Dive - YEAHHHHA it took me 2:18 down and up.

Tomorow I will train Free Immerison again...I never thought that I got so stuck on the disziplin "Constant Weight".

Glide Fin Reloaded

Just came from Blue Hole...

Yesterday was a AMAZING Day. I felt really good and I decided to try for a new personal best in Constant Weight.
After some warm-up dive I went down to 74m...NEW PERSONAL BEST and 4m more than the german record.

Yesterday night we did some night dives at Blue Hole aswell. It was funny and a bit scary to.
We doved down to "the Bells" witch is a small tunnel in 26m depth.....so many flashy-blinky stuff down there.
It was beautiful......

Remembering Constant Weight

Today I had to wait until 15:00 until we could go to Blue Hole.
I had so much time to do things. It was quite nice.

The day startet with a bottle of water and a hot chai (indian tea).
After that I went to the pharmacy to get rehydration powder and sport tape (for the monofin).
Then I went to my house and had a look if somebody is working there today...(of course not)

Then my tire of the motorbike was flat. (AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Finially at 15:30 I was at Blue Hole to set up the training for akim and me.

Akim did a 31.2m dive.
And I did my first serious constant weight training since the world championships December 2006.
For my own surprise I went down the 67m and it was so easy. I spend 8 seconds at the bottom.
The german record in constant is 70m....So I´m just 3m away from that.

I thought I couldn´t go deeper thant 55m in constant since I had no training in constant weight.

Now I´m very tired.

Adapting

The last two days I worked on my depth adaption at Lighthouse. The Masbat Bay was really nice during the last two days. Almost no wind witch makes the air very hot.

Today I was training with Akim and we had very nice dives.

And we trained safty procedures witch was quite fun.

I reached 34m on a FRC Dive...and I could feel that my body is adaption quite good to the pressure.

In the entry of the Lighthouse there was a BIG stonefish and we had to take him away because there was a lot of chirdren around. Stonefish is a very poision fish.

Reaching 70m

The training day in Blue Hole yesterday was quite good for me.
Good conditions and a bit of nice wind. This is how the day started.
Finally Ali did a freedive session. He is the owner of the restaurant we use to stay at blue hole.
After a couple of warm up I managed a 70m Dive...it took me 2:37min down and up.
Today we're probably gonna have a day off OR do some FRC's at "Lighthouse"

Broken motorbike but still going deeper

Yesterday was all about my motorbike. First the innertube of my bike broke. I had to bring it to the mechanic. In the evening I was stoped by the police. But I came out of that situation without anything...Puhh Today we was at Blue Hole again...we had another freediver Akim with us.
He used to train a lot in Thailand and today it was his first day at Blue Hole.

The Training went fine...reached 67.8m in 2:22 min.
I think in a few days I´m trying for the 70m.

A rose-red city - as half as old as the time

Yesterday after watching Indiana Jones 3 we decided to go to Petra...well 6 hours later we were on our way. It was 5.00 in the morning.
First stop was Taba - witch is on the egyptian-israelian border. It took us like 1 hours to pass the border. We would have been faster but this security guy slowed us down by asking stupid questions. Finaly we were in israel. After that we hitchhiked to the jordan border witch is 20km away. after another visa hustle we were finaly in the main capital of jordan - Aquaba.
Another 2 hours in the car and we finally arrived Petra.

Petra City is beautiful. We went to our hotel and checked in, then lunch and finally we went to see the old nabatean city of petra witch is made into the rocks.

More about Petra you will find on Wikipedia.

It was amazing to walk in this old city. The red stones, the light - it was incredible!
We felt like Indiana Jones - exploring a old lost city.

After many hours in the burning heat we decided to go back to dahab and cancelled the night in the hotel.
Again it was a BIG HUSTLE to pass all the borders. But after that we finally found a taxi witch drove us home to dahab.
24 hours after we watched the movie we were back in dahab with a lot of incredible experiences.

So deep, so good

Another day at the hottest place on earth.
Well, atleast we have a reason to stay in the water.

Today I managed to do a 66m dive witch felt good. The dive was a bit to fast. 2:17min.
Amazing how fast my body is adapting to the depth.

Big Steps!!!

The Training is going to be AMAZING!!!
Yesterday at Blue Hole I managed to do a 60m Dive and it felt really easy.
I probably could go down to 70m already but I don´t want to force my luck.

Today I was out at Lighthouse to do some FRC´s (FRC = Dives with half filled lungs).
It went very good...I managed to do a 30m FRC.

Arriving and 1st Training Day

I arrived in Dahab 21:00 in the evening because my plane was late. Also my taxi driver was already waiting for me for so long.

Well, it was anyway to late to go into the water, so I had a talk with Peter Ericson and Johan Dahlström from Sweden.

After a long sleep we started to our Journey to Blue Hole. Rahel is going to be my training partner until 5th of August and Johan had his last training day in blue hole before he was going back to sweden.

The Weather was fantiastic...well hot - but no wind and good underwater visibility.

After my first and second dive my ear was going to be a bit funny.

Then it was Johan´s turn - He managed a 88m Constant Weight Dive witch is a new personal best for him - CONGRATULATIONS.

After a bit of rest I was going down to do another attempt. My ear was fine again and the feeling was very good so I was falling down to 55m with no problems at all. After 2:09 min. I was back at the surface.

I felt very very good...kind of strange for the first day. Usualy it takes longer to adapt to this depth.

This is a very good beginning - I´m very motivated.

Sponsoring

Since 24.06.2008 I´m proud to be Sponsored by www.tiefenrausch-shop.de !!!

ALL MY THANKS TO DIRK ASSMANN, OWNER OF THE SHOP AND ALSO MINE CLEARANCE DIVER.

Preparation

This weekend I have to spend my time "on board". Got the weekend guard :-(


Oh well, at least I have now sooo much time to get my SETUP for my training in dahab ready.


I´m working on my lanyard and my new ankle and neck weights.


10 Days to GO - Then I´m back at the "golden nugget" of egypt. DAHAB....

Dahab Rush

Just came home from Dahab...strange feelings rushing inside my mind.
It was a unforgetable week.
I met old friend witch I didn´t saw since the bombing in dahab exacltly two years ago.
Sam Still from UK was one of these. He only stayed for a few days in dahab but he managed to perform a new personal best. Very impressive!

My main reason for this trip was my house. What can I say?....IT´S ALMOST FINISHED...and it looks GREAT. At my second day I went to the carpenter with my good friend and architect Mr. Peter Ericson. There I made all decisions in questions of furniture for the bedrooms. On the same day I bought Mr. Peters motorbike witch is quite wicked. It is a ?chinese dayun 150cc?. It feels like freedom when you can cruse in dahab city without beeing anoyed by all the taxi drivers :-)
From the 3rd Day on I started training back in Blue Hole with Rahel Zemoi from Eritrea, Dave and Ben from UK and Sara Champbell.
I recogniced that my body was adapting quite fast. On my first trainingday I could managed a 55m Free Immersion dive. The following days I focused on easy freediving...freediving for the mind and the heart. One of these nice dives was a 40m Dive with took 3min back at the divespot “Lighthouse”. The other lovley I´ve done yesterday at Blue Hole....There I saw the arch and I enjoyed doing the safety dives for my friends. It´s nice when people are surfacing with a smile in their face.

In the end it was a way to short but GREAT Trip to dahab.

First Steps in CAD

This weekend I had soooooo much time while I guarded our boat. I decided to make something creative for my house. In the internet I found a freeware CAD Program.
This is what I did during the last night. On the picture you see my house in Dahab and how it should look like in the future.

I love my spleen

This is a picture of my spleen and how "she" works under apnea action.
Thanks to Dr. Erika Schagatay who did the tests during the world champion ships in hurghada (Dec 06).

Working at SEA

Since two days I started my work on the mine clearance boat "Dillingen".
During the next weeks we start our journey to norway to train all skills of mine hunting. In august we are going to a NATO mission called "SNMCMG2". Then we are 5 month in the mediterian sea.
I wonder how I can train freediving with all that work. It´s not a easy job to work as mine clearance diver in the german navy.
Hope everything is going well and I can do some freediving training aswell.