It'll be overlooked by many, given that freediving is an obscure sport with a niche following, but William Trubridge's recent plunge to 328 feet, on a single breath and without fins or any type of assistance, ought to be regarded as one of the more remarkable feats of human achievement in 2010.
I spoke with the New Zealander on Dec. 13, the day of his record dive at Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas, and posted a story on the GrindTv.com outdoors blog. It briefly made the Yahoo homepage and received more than 1 million views, so Trubridge at least gained some mainstream notoriety.
I'm mentioning this because Trubridge today released a video of his dive, and it's worth a look. Consider that he set the new unassisted freediving record -- breaking his own record -- and cracked the historic 100-meter mark using no weighted sleds or balloons. Then try to imagine yourself swimming to 300-plus feet, and back up again, using only your arms and legs for propulsion.
The dive lasted 4 minutes, 10 seconds, but I'm guessing it felt like an eternity. Enjoy the video:
The HECTOMETER freedive from william trubridge on Vimeo.
-- Pete Thomas
Photo of William Trubridge after his dive is courtesy of Igor Liberti
This is truly inspirational stuff. William's achievement in setting this record unassisted is just fantastic.
Posted by: Mike Semple | Aug 08, 2011 at 06:27 AM