06/15/2016
CONGRATS KURT CHAMBERS!
Hawaii freediver becomes ‘America’s deepest man’.
West Bay, Roatán, Honduras. Kurt Chambers, a resident of Kailua-Kona, has just set a freediving U.S. national record of 101m/331ft, which is the deepest dive ever accomplished in competition by a U.S. athlete. He performed the dive on day five of the Caribbean Cup, a prestigious annual freediving competition that attracts many of the world’s most elite freedivers. The performance surpassed the previous record of 100m/328ft held by the late Nick Mevoli, which had also been accomplished at the Caribbean Cup three years ago.
The Caribbean Cup attracts athletes from around the world for many highly favorable circumstances, such as the flawless ocean conditions Chambers was offered on the morning of his attempt. After his single massive breath and plunge below the surface, a tense conglomerate of judges, safety divers and spectators were able to monitor Chambers’ progress with a SONAR-equipped fish finder mounted on the competition platform. “Fifty meters!...Sixty meters!”, an official shouted, fueling the anticipation of onlookers rocking on boats connected together to form a makeshift arena around the platform. Meanwhile, as Chambers sank deeper than most would dare even SCUBA dive, he was not experiencing the favorable management of equalization he had hoped for: “It wasn’t easy, but I had tricked myself beforehand into thinking it would be, which helped me relax before the dive.” As the official observed Chambers’ blip on the fish finder screen reach the end of the guide rope extending well over a football field in length below the platform, “TOUCHDOWN!” was yelled to exuberant cheering from everyone, including the other athletes. Though Chambers was only halfway through the dive, “I knew I would make it after grabbing the tag, as my main challenge was equalization and I had not gotten significantly hypoxic yet in this comp.” Two minutes and fifty-two seconds after departing the surface Chambers re-emerged and it was clear to everyone, almost immediately, that he had achieved the record. Everyone, even his coach, was quiet---no one needed to remind him to breathe as is customary when a freediver is wavering on the edge of consciousness. A quick and confident “I’m OK” uttered by Chambers demonstrated that he indeed had a comfortable margin from the dreaded hypoxic ‘limit’ that can confound an athlete even after surfacing. Promoting an air of suspense, he slowly removed from his hood the tag he had to retrieve at the bottom plate, proving without a doubt that he had reached the record depth, which elicited celebratory cheering and splashing that could be restrained by the spectators no more.
Freediving is a popular pastime in Hawaiʻi, commonly employed by spearfishermen, but not well recognized locally in its form as a competitive sport. Chambers initiated himself to breath-hold diving out of a motivation to try spearfishing when he moved to the Islands from Texas over ten years ago. His athletic background lured him to the competitive side of freediving practiced by a small contingent of enthusiasts in the deep waters of Kona, where Chambers is now based. The sport is comprised of multiple disciplines sharing the general goal of maximum distance swam underwater on a single breath (i.e., using no breathing apparatus as in SCUBA). All disciplines share the requirement that the diver remain conscious for the entirety of the dive, including at the surface after the dive when a surface protocol demonstrating coherence must also be performed within 15 seconds. Losing consciousness due to lack of oxygen, also known as ‘blacking out’ or ‘shallow water black out’, is common in this sport, but is managed without accident through a system of close supervision and effective protocols rehearsed and practiced meticulously in these events.
As competitive freediving is still miniscule in comparison to other professional sports, never offering prize money, Chambers will return to his day job after leaving Roatán, to save up for the journey to the next exotic setting where a depth competition will be staged. Not surprisingly, Chambers is employed as a local freediving instructor, operating his own school Hawaii Freediving and offering courses throughout all the islands. He feels gratitude for being fortunate enough to get to enjoy his passion as his work: “I am grateful to all the students I’ve had the last several years, as they have kept me in the water a lot and funded my trips to these international freediving competitions, which I like to think of as ‘continuing education’ for myself.” Having exhausted all of the formal freediving education opportunities offered in Hawaiʻi some years ago, Chambers yearned for more and had no choice but to venture abroad to continue his progression. “At the competitions I get to rub elbows with the best freedivers in the world, as well as share what I’ve learned myself. The camaraderie at these competitions is what will keep me finding a way to attend for as long as I can.”
Chambers shares his media, training resources, and class dates through his page at http://www.facebook.com/hawaiifreediving.
photo: Alex St. Jean. the official photographer for the Caribbean Cup 2016.
