A little late I know, but better late then never. I was actually getting ready to write this blog a few weeks ago with the main subject being 3 times Egypt and no Egyptian tummy, well that thought was unexpectedly demolished by getting sick. I am not sure what caused it, whether it was something I ate or if it was the extremely still Red Sea. Many of my fellow divers got sick as well. The lack of current, although beautiful to look at this sea of glass, made to lack of government infrastructure very apparent when surfacing from a dive you had to swim past a sea of trash.

Okay I’m jumping way a head; let me start from the beginning. After the world championships in Denmark I had 5 different planes to take and a very long time before I arrived in Sharm el Sheik. As soon as I walked in my friend Deb’s front door, put down my stuff, she told me to grab my gear because we were going diving!
Five minutes later with my bikini on, gear on my back and trying to cover myself appropriately to respect the locals during their Ramadan fast, we were off. To be truthful all that I wanted to do was sleep, and after a great lunch on a beautiful boat I had a nice cat nap before some beautiful afternoon diving.
Originally I was planning on heading down to Dahab after a few days, but I was having so much fun in Sharm that I delayed my departure for almost a week and I could delay no longer. I was recreationally diving almost daily in Sharm, but I knew that if I was planning to dive deeper then 30M in the competition that I had better get to Dahab and dive on the line.
Originally my plan with the triple depth competition was to just have a very relaxing, easy comp without any pressure. This year triple depth decided to have a team component to the competition and Alexey Molchanov had asked me to be on his team. Ok so now the pressure to perform was on. Alexey and I arrived in Dahab and we needed to find another teammate. At dinner my suppose to be roommate Kathryn McPhee was also looking for a team, so it was settled. I had three days of training on the line before the competition was to start.
I was training mostly with Alexey. I have to say that compared to him, I don’t train at all. I realize that I am relatively new to the sport but my typical deep training day would consist of stretching in the morning, a couple of warm up hangs at 15m then a target dive. Over the three days I did more training dive then I would typically do in a few weeks!
After training and finishing lunch on the first day, we went for a swim to, then some fun no fins dives going under a swim through at 25M and then a little diving with some scuba divers around 20M. I think the first day I must have done at least 15 dives, and the other days were much of the same.
The first day of competition was static. I hate static! I admire people that can lie down in the water and play dead for minutes at a time and enjoy it. I haven’t come to that place yet, maybe one day. I had no motivation for the pain that day and after two warm up hold of 3 mins and 3:40, I pulled off an amazing 2:40 as my target. Good thing static didn’t count for points towards the main competition. My team mates had nice easy holds and afterwards we came up with our team name. We had been going back and forth about what to call ourselves. There was a mention of something Kiwi and something else Russia and during an afternoon Yoga session and Tiramisu lunch we decided: Sexy, Flexy, Mulha Bandha. I will let you decide who you think each name applies to since we had a few friendly battles over it ourselves.

Day 1: Free Immersion: I had announced 51M, somewhere around 40M I missed my equalization and being the warrior that I am I road it out to the plate and came up clean with the tag and a little sinus squeeze. Kathryn had a clean dive to 55M and Alexey did a ridiculously easy 90M.
Day 2: Constant weight: I announced 55M, thinking that was a conservative and should be nice to my sinuses. I got the tag, returned to the surface, pulling off my nose clip just before and the first thing I hear out of Lotta’s mouth after I say okay is “YOUR BLEEDING” Sinus squeeze day 2 a little worse. What to do? I have no options for rest before CNF the next day and being my strongest depth discipline I wanted to take back the Pan American record but that was two days in a row of a sinus squeeze.
Day 3: Constant No Fins: I announced 53M, the deepest announcement for a woman. A lot was riding on this day for the team competition, if the three of us had clean dives or small penalties we were for sure going to win. Kathryn had a successful dive as did I and Alexey did an easy 75M, but he got a penalty for still holding onto the line when his airway entered to water. I was very happy to have completed my dive, my sinuses had taken a beating this competition and it was time for a rest.
A rest for a few hours anyway, I was heading back home late that night. Surprisingly I ended up placing third overall for women. Another surprise was our team won free entry into next years competition. Things that are free always make me smile, especially when they are useful.
A long journey back home, which always seems to feel like a bit of a war zone when I have been away for a while. Too much to do in too little time, what better to do then wake up on a Friday morning and book a ticket back to Egypt for that afternoon? Ha ha maybe one of my crazier moments but I had 6 days to kill before I had guests arriving so a little vacation is good for a recharge and maintaining my constant state of jet leg.
That brings me to the third time Egypt, serious training for the world championships. I had a wonderful trip, besides the small visit to the hospital, but overall I felt great, the diving was great and I have to say that Egypt is a very nice place to train.
Today I arrived in Nassua, Bahamas and I will spend one night here before I head to Long Island and become reacquainted with the Dean’s Blue Hole and island lifestyle. There are three things that Egypt and the Bahamas have in common; spectacular diving, nice weather and crappy Internet!

Wow, what an amazing competition. Everything was wonderful, the camaraderie, the organization, the steady flow of healthy and yummy food, multiple national and world records being set, laughter, CMAS, friends, and the after party. Of course there is also my personal achievement of setting a new Pan American record in dynamic at 181M, but to share in that with me was the legend Carlos Costa from Venezuela setting a new Pan American record in dynamic with a swim to 215M.



There were many swims with honorable mentions, to start Suzy Osler from New Zealand, she was the second woman in the world to swim 200M with a fin, taking a silver medal in the final. There were so many men who swam over 200M that I lost count. Maria Livbjerg from Denmark had a very easy swim in no fins to 147M also taking a silver medal. Natalia Molchanova from Russia made a clean sweep of gold medals in all disciplines, setting two new world records in the process. Kathryn McPhee also placed in all three categories, taking home silver in static and bronze in both dynamic disciplines. Jessica Wilson from the US took home bronze in static.
Guy Brew, who is also a Kiwi, took home two Gold medals in static and dynamic. This was Guy’s first international competition and I think we could all take a lesson in handling nerves from him. Bijarte Nygard from Norway took gold for the men in dynamic no fins with a swim to 199M, very far ahead of the rest of the pack, followed by Martin Petrisko from Czech Republic at 182M and Mikko Pontinen from Finland at 181M. All of these men fought hard on the surface and pulled through to get white cards, William Trubridge finishing a close 4th at 174M. The dynamic final for the men was an exciting race from the qualifying heats to finishing final. The top three athletes in this category were all over 219M. Frederic Sessa from France led the pack with a strong fast swim to 228M, he was turining at 150M when the rest of the pack was approaching the 100M turn, this performance got him a silver medal, followed by Katsuya Hamazaki from Japan @ 219M, Weine Gutavsson from Sweden finishing fourth with a strong performance. The men’s static category finished much as predicted with Alexey Molchanov taking silver and Ulf Dextegen from Sweden taking Bronze.
Amongst all of the excitement from the medalist there were so many more personal glories being celebrated all over the pool, from personal best to records. Maria Hovden from Norway a new diver ended up placing 3rd in the woman’s B final in static with a personal best hold of 5:22. This could mean that next year we will see a strong Norwegian woman’s team with Maria and Elizabeth Kristoffersen. Elizabeth had a great competition going well over 20M beyond anything she has done in training in the dynamic final, finishing in fourth place. Georgina Miller from the UK set a new static record in the qualifying heats. Lotta Erikson from Sweden had a strong competition making the finals in static and dynamic. My favorite up and coming freediver, Nanna Krutamann adding 60M to her personal best in Dynamic, putting her in the ranking for the top 16 women in the world in this discipline.
There were also disappointments such as athletes finishing a strong performance but doing the surface protocol to the wrong side of the pool and the red cards that so many athletes saw. Red cards were common at this championships which could have been for many reasons, nerves, athletes pushing beyond their personal limits, athletes not used to surfacing on a lane rope, fatigue, tougher judging, the list can go on and on.
Something new and wonderful that happened this year, Sebastian Naslund from Sweden was the official announcer. For all events he introduced the athletes, talked about the sport, specific performances, competition favorites and more, thus turning our sport, which to the uneducated spectator is hard to watch or understand, and making it entertaining. Personally I think it would be lovely if we were to have an announcer at every freediving competition, if we did maybe we would start to have a bigger audience, and a greater global acceptance of the activity many of us spend most of our free time doing.
Another aspect of the competition that I appreciated was the Russians beautiful helper Katerina. I first noticed her at the parade through town, dressed like a Russian doll marching through the streets in 6” heels. Then every day she was at the pool with Natalia and Alexey. Katerina would be in full make up, looking nice in shiny clothing, helping get them ready for their performances and the best part carrying their gear in heels. Again I am thinking about the growth of Freediving as a whole here, if we all had a beautiful blonde helper, it may bring more spectators, so be on the lookout. ☺
I must say a special thank you to my brother Jordan Strain for coming with me to the pool and being my coach and safety in the early mornings at 7am. To Kerian Hibbs for watching over me, being my coach on the lines, giving me kind words of encouragement and tips to take home and work with. And finally to Darrell Cottle who came to the Championships with Kerian as a guest and made all of my flat mates lives easier. Darrell carried gear and weights on the journey to and from the pool.
The end of world championships finishes with a fantastic party. After all of the healthy living, restricted diets, bed times, and other restraints that most freedivers put on before a competition, we are ready to blow off some steam. We meet each other on the dance floor and inevitably many us end up in the pool, in Aarhus many freedivers made their way up to the 10M platform for a midnight jump into the blue.
Personally I saw two red cards and one white card at this event, despite the ratio I am not disappointed. I know that I went to the competition and I did my best, representing my country and proving to be amongst the top female athletes in the world. Whether my body, my brain or my breath hold was the problem with my performances I am not sure, now I have some time to figure it out my personal lessons.
As most of you know I am a fairly new diver and I’m still working out things in training. At the competition I learned that I still have a long way to go. I am excited to get back home where I will try some new methods in training and I can focus on my journey into myself through freediving. Freediving is hard work, it takes dedication, “the ability to endure suffering” as Grant Graves always says, an open mind, belief in yourself to achieve what seems impossible in the beginning, freedom and much more.
The beautiful thing is that when you ask a many professional athletes what Freediving is for them, and how they train, you will likely get many different answers. Some athletes train targets, some train none at all, doing maxes only in competition. The bottom line when you speak to any top athlete is THEY TRAIN, and they train hard. If you want to be one of the top divers in the world, it is within your reach, just get wet and train.

Aarhus Denmark
Today I am competing in my first event, dynamic no fins. I announced 103M, I compete at 5pm. The pool is really smooth. I arrived in Denmark a few days ago and last night the jet lag really hit. I’m listening to “Bring me your love” album by City and Colour, getting my Canadian content in, as my brother would say.
I have spent the last 5 weeks training in the mountains in Canada. I am a little nervous about today, but at the same time I am excited. I haven’t done a real target swim since April. Besides my nerves about competition this is the biggest freediving competition EVER, with over 200 athletes! So needless to say I have been reconnecting with many distant friends that I only see at competitions.

I have to say the greatest thing about being around my family is the air quality, although I do have a little suspicion that living in Los Angeles helps my CO2 tolerance and training. Also the constant stream of food, yes I love my family. Maybe Mom tries to feed me so much hoping secretly that the extra food may keep me floating above the water instead of sinking below.

I am writing this blog to share on of the greatest moments of my life with the rest of the world. I drank directly from a wild stream. It is a simple pleasure really, but one that I didn’t think would ever be possible in my lifetime without serious consequences. Maybe I am jaded, growing up in a city and living in LA for the last eight years, plus one of my earliest memories is my brother coming home from a scout camping trip, where he drank the water, and got really sick with beaver fever.

We came across the stream on a short hike through a field of tall grass on our way to a pond filled with rainbow trout. The stream was a small one, coming off of a mountain in the back of my Brother’s property. My family had a laugh while I tried to get my face in the water, they suggested I use my hands like a cup, but for an experience like this, I think any freediver would agree, you have to get your face wet.

Vertical Blue 2009

Vertical Blue has come to an end and it was an incredible competition! Five world records were broken and around 30 national records. There were 9 days of competition with 20 athletes competing. There was great photo coverage by Fred Buyle and video coverage by Blue Eye FX. Link the link below to see some picture, daily news updates, with top times and realized performances.

I felt very lucky to be amongst the elite athletes who were included in this exclusive competition. Going into the competition I tried to have minimal expectations for myself, and in the end the competition could not have been better for me. I did 5 dives total and all were awarded a white card (meaning a perfect performance).

My first dive was in CNF to 46M completed in 2: 05. I was nervous very nervous for this dive since it was the first of the competition and I had been having equalization problems since I arrived. However the blue hole was very clear and inviting that day and while preforming constant no fins I feel very connected to the water.

Next I decided to do FI 55M completed in 2:35. I chose this to work on my equalization and relaxation at depth. I was so relaxed on this dive that I went really slow, it took me 1:30 just to get to the bottom plate.

Then the big dive CNF 51M completed in 2:17. My personal goal for this competition was to do this particular dive. Not only is it a Canadian national record, it is a Continental record and a Pan American record. After I finished this dive I could finally relax, which I did, taking three days off and resting and enjoying the beautiful experiences that have been so graciously given to me here in the Bahamas.

Itching to get back to the blue I decided to put on my fin and play around with a CWT 55M completed in 1:44. I actually felt a little rushed and impatient on this dive. When I surfaced Eric Fattah told me followed me down for the whole dive and saw me kick the last couple of meters to the plate. It is really nice to get pointers from the worlds top athletes. Eric is know for FRC (exhale) diving and I watched his 72M dive, he did one kick off the surface then sank the rest of the way down, amazing.

Then today the final day of competition I did a CWT 60M completed in 2 minutes. Today the blue hole was really dark and I had a hard time finding the tag on the bottom plate at 60M . I thought going into the dive that I will probably turn early because of some last minute changes to my suit and not adjusting my weighting. I kicked to about 30M and the next thing I knew I was at the plate, GREAT DIVE. After I surfaced I turned to my coach Kerian Hibbs and said that was the best dive of the entire competition. Not only was it incredibly easy, but it was the qualifying depth that I needed for Worlds in November.

There are so many people that I would like to thank to start William Trubridge for inviting me to the competition and giving me access to one of the best places in the world in train depth. I would like to thank all of the freedivers who spend time working with me in the water and giving tips on how to be a better diver, Fred Buyle, William Winram, Kathryn McPhee, Walter Steyn, Eric Fattah, Liv Philip, Georgina Miller, Ilaria Molinari, Davide Carrera, Rob King, Herbert Nitsch, Mads Jorgensen and Sara Campbell. A special thanks to Kerian Hibbs, for being the best coach ever, helping me completely relax before my dives plus giving me some get exercises and also making me realize that compared to him I actually don't train that hard in the pool. Frank Pernett for being an inspiration and also bring me my fins that were delivered after I had already left for the Bahamas. Thank you to Megumi Matsumoto, Walid Boudhiaf, Leo Muraoka, Tomoko Yamanouchi and Ryuzo Shinomiya for being part of the competition and such great examples of the sport and dedication.

Also I would like to give a special thanks to the amazing Italian safety diver team, who I was always happy to see, my judges Grant Graves and Linden Wolbert and Joy Cottle, our medic and timer.