Support free diving?
Now, if you ask a man who makes his living by selling compressed air such a question,
you're bound to get a hesitant reply – if any! However, throwing caution to the
winds, I listened further. It soon became clear that what these guys really wanted was a
team of tanked up Tec divers, standing by in the wings, as some lunatic took a deep
breath, grabbed hold of a lump of metal and plummeted to the depths of the ocean - without
a tank. I was even more astounded to be told that the same lunatic was expected to return
to the surface alive by literally climbing back up a rope. All this, but still no tank! I
said I'd happily lend him a tank, or even two, but he didn't want them. I felt totally
unqualified in the field of suicidal psychology and shook my head. This guy doesn't need
support, or even a psychologist, he needs a guardian angel, an angel of the deep. He needs
Oceans Angels…………..
Carlos Coste has history. He's a
really nice guy too. At that particular point in time he only held a mere 6 world free
diving records. That was going to change. He wanted another one. In the free diving 'Variable Weight' category, the
diver descends to, hopefully, the target depth on a metal 'sled' which runs down a
weighted rope. The divers' ankle is also attached to this rope by a cable and shackle, so
if anything goes wrong you simply pull up the rope to find 30 kgs of sled, 50 kgs of
weight and a rather annoyed free diver dangling on the end. The only problem being that
this rope was 140 metres long, because that's how deep Carlos wanted to go. On one breath.
Without a tank. They already had a counterweight system in place, but these have been
known to fail. Now, that's something Tec divers know all about – backup, redundancy
and then, just in case, a bail out plan.
Our plan was this: 2 Deep Support
divers would descend, just over halfway down the rope, to 75 metres breathing trimix. They
would be carrying bottom gas in the twin tanks on their backs, two different deco gasses
in side slings, rope clamps, lifting bags and independent inflator tanks. Truly, toys for
boys. Carlos should plummet past them about a minute later and expect to return to their
depth around 2 minutes after that. If he didn't, Dave and Martin would clamp a karabiner
onto the rope and inflate 130 kg lifting bags to raise the whole thing up to their level.
They would then attach another lifting bag to a 'D' ring we had previously strapped to
Carlos' left wrist and shoot him up the rest of the way. Can't fail. Just in case, we had
John and Tim hovering around in 45 metres in deep air rigs. They could assist Carlos
further or, in true Tec fashion, backup
the Deep Support.
The big day arrived, the countdown
began. At 'T' minus 3 minutes the Deep Support team dropped straight down to 75 metres,
swiftly followed by the Intermediate Support to 45. Carlos Coste entered a place that only
he knows, filled his entire soul with air, free air too, and majestically glided down 140
metres on his steel steed of the deep. 4 minutes and 14 seconds later he popped back up,
alive and well, having paused momentarily on the way to smile at the Deep Support boys. 53
minutes later, having carried out their decompression schedule to the letter, Dave and
Martin returned from their 75 metre vigil to be greeted by yet another big smile from
Mr.Carlos, the new world record holder of the Variable Weight discipline. Not only had
they witnessed the making of a new world record, but also had the rather bizarre
experience of diving at 75 metres in full Tec gear, only to have a 'snorkeller' go down
past them.
Carlos Coste will be coming back to
Sharm in September. He wants another world record now, the ultimate "No Limits"
record. Serious stuff. He also wants exactly the same Oceans Angels watching over him too.
We'll be there Carlos. Respect.
Oceans Angels:
Chad Clark – Gas, equipment, logistics, warm and dry.
Martin Baker – Deep Support – Control.
Dave Summerfield – Deep Support – Out Of Control.
Tim Pickard – Intermediate Support Mothership.
John Kean – Intermediate Support in a Helmet.
Jim Dowling – Backup Support.
Christine Tyson – Backup Support. |