Gord and I found time before our game yesterday to tour the Bogota Botainical Gardens. We spent 3 hours there and really enjoyed seeing a large diversity of plants. A few of the smaller exibits were closed for maintenance work. It was a good way to start the day.
Saturday started with dark grey sky and heavy rain, which stopped only at around 9 am. First 2 dives were from the shore. Temp varied from “almost balmy” 18C on the surface to not so hot 12-14C at depth. My 5 mil Elios did very well and it was more the enough to stay in water for a long time. Feet would need some extra protection though. We checked Little Tub in the morning and Lighthouse point mid day where fog was setting pretty heavy at times, so we were not sure if boat trip was indeed happening, but at ~3pm Francois got a call from boat operator and we headed out off shore to check on 2 wrecks at 4 pm. First one was JAMES C. KING at Depth: 7 to 30 m and second – HILO SCOVILLE Depth: 7 to 30 m. Both are listed as “recommended for advanced divers only”. Visibility was pretty good, at least 10-12 m, and when sun showed up it became even better. Skies cleared up completely by the end of our boat excursion with picture perfect sunset to enjoy.
I was not diving on Sunday, but pretty sure everybody had a great time at Grotto. Looking forward to do this again (and again, and again!)
We picked up the boat on Saturday after some minor delays. It was a great day to sail it to Toronto. I am Looking forward to some training and recrational diving. I hope to get out every Wednesday this summer. Hope to see you one the water.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p2Qdlc6oLM]
The first 2010 open water freedive trip was scheduled for May 8-9th to Tobermory Ontario. The air temperature reached a high of 3 Deg. C. The water temperature was closer to 2 Deg. C. That would not normally be enough to put us off diving but the wind were gusting to 100 Km/hour and it was snowing. So we decided that it was time to move on and focus on the next scheduled trip.
So as a reminder for June:
June 5th – Big Bay Point, Lake Simco (BBQ on the point after the dive)
June 26-27th – Tobermory (Camping and Freediving)
To wet your appetite for Tobermory with the help of Chris Kanavos we put together a quick video of a previous Tobermory trip. Enjoy!
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb0MONlaJZg]
Phase one of the Freedive Toronto Mini Comp was held this Monday March 8th 2010. It was a great success and attended by 10 divers competing in the discipline of dynamic with fins.
For several of the competitors it was the first competition they attended, and it gave them the chance to try to prepare for a competition, get their weighting tested and practice surface protocol after the stress and fatigue of competing.
Yaroslava took first place for the woman with a solid performance of 78m. Unfortunately there were only one woman competing, but we all know Yaro can do a lot more and I think she will do very well in her next competition.
Dmitry ended up winning the event for the men with a solid performance of 100 meters which was very impressive since he was over weighted and twice had to use his arms to swim away from the bottom.
Second place was taken by Aaron Wood, who came up with lots of air left and a very solid surface protocol. Aaron said he was a bit tired that day and wasn’t sure if he could go further and it is better to get less points than none.
Third place went to Wojciech who also had a very clean surface protocol and I think he also left room for improvement at the upcoming nationals.
Two people made mistakes on the surface protocol and will need some practice, because both were clean and could have pulled it off with more experience. We had a single LMC, which was Graham’s first and provided a little spice and entertainment to the spectators, since he still finished his surface protocol and gave the camera a big smile.
The event safety was Doug Sitter who had no issues keeping the competitors safe.
Thanks to everyone for competing, and I hope to see you all next Monday the 22nd for Phase II.
Soren Frederiksen
Results: http://freedivecentral.com/a-results.php?num_competicao=89
