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.