It' been a while but......

....the long and the short of it is we are both full Instructors; Leif in Scuba and me in Freediving.

We had Christmas in our own countries, New Year together in the UK, Jon and Jodes beautiful wedding in Feb and now we're both in Germany preparing to leave for Egypt again on the 3rd May.

This time it's El Quseir that we are exploring - both above and below the water. Check out www.diving.de We are at the Akassia and Flamenco resorts for the foreseeable, pop over and see us.

But back to the matter in hand. Prep for the trip - well the easy bit is done for me, I had to pack to get to Germany so all my kit is ready and, due to the even hotter climate than Dahab, I will only be taking my flimsiest and smallest clothes with me.

That is where the problems begin. This was me back in my Dahab days, not too shabby even if I do say so myself.



This is no longer the case after all the Christmas / New Year / "Holiday" Style Living. It's not the case at all.

I am not usually a stressy person about my weight, it will fluctuate and that's normal. But the lack of exercise and motivation really have taken a toll and I am not going to fit in my wetsuit when I get to Egypt, and that's not good.

So, I am choosing a drastic (for me) measure. I figure if I expose my problem into the public domain then I will have to do something about it - you know, like a public shame thing.

You see, when I am lay in bed at night I have THE best of intentions. I can plan sooo much training it's surprising that I am not an olympic athlete! But come the morning it all melts away, all the good resolve, all the intention and passionate desire to make the changes I want.

Damn it I can't even stick to drinking at least 1.5l of water a day - I was clearing 4.5l at least at one stage.



So friends,family and the rest of the readers out there, this might not be a pretty picture but I need your encouragement, taunts (although not too heavy eh!) and ideas.
It's going to be more of a training and troubles page for a while, but I know it's the only way.

Oh and to all those giving it the old "it's not that bad, what you worrying about?" line. I know it's not the end of the world, but I also know that as the years progress and the metabolism drops it gets harder to do anything about.

So this is the initial plan; Week 1 and 2:

1.Cycle each morning to pick up fresh rolls for the Schuster breakfast - but actually have a museli cereal myself to cut down on my consumption of bread, meat and cheese. It's lovely but this sort of breakfast is not my friend.
2.Drink 1.5l water each day at least - fill it up in the morning and make sure it's empty before I go to sleep
3.Sleep before 11pm at least 5 days a week
4.Brian Kest's Yoga DVD twice a week - start at the beginners level until I can complete all the positions with control and confidence
5.A jog, once a week, to the woods and back - it's not far, but my hatred of running is immense and any more than this is just not going to happen and would jeopardise the whole thing

I think that's enough for now, start small and add as the program becomes easy - unlike my nightly resolve to fit 5 sessions into each day!

The months ahead

I'm in gainful employment again – yipee!
I am Dm'ing for a dive centre along with my man – well once his hand and knee heal after he fell over a few days back. You see it's not only me!

We have a few weeks scuby-doing, then I am back to Freedive Dahab to do Leif's old job as the Slave – god help me! Leif meanwhile will be preparing for his Instructor course and can expect the same support he afforded me during mine. He was fabulous and I couldn't have done it without him.

Leif's ticket is booked for the 17th of December, and I guess mine will be around the same time. Back to Blighty, back to the Christmas lights and a mad dash to get presents bought, wrapped and sent to Santa in time for the 25th! More importantly back to family and friends who I have missed dreadfully and can't wait to see – get the wine in the fridge ;)

Plans are in place for 2010, but I'll fill you all in once they are finalised. For now I intend to live life here in Dahab to the full. There's plenty of scuba and freediving to be done yet. There will be BBQ's to have, quiz nights to attend, and suntans to work on.

We've had a few visitors including parents on both sides, all very welcome, but a few that had planned to come and play have been unable.

We have the whole house now and are making the most of it. But if you're over this way, pop in for a dive or a steak. You'll be made welcome; even more so if you're carrying a bottle of decent wine or Bombay Sapphire Gin. Coleman's English mustard and Sarson's vinegar are also welcomed with a smile :))) Given enough notice we might even find you a bed. It's still early to mid 30's (that's the temp not my age, we all know I am only in my 20's) and the water is 26 degrees – just right for you pale Brits (and the German contingency) I have plenty of suncream in various factors.

AIDA Freediving Instructor Course

What they told us was expected of us:

AIDA 2,3 and 4 star exams, at least a 90% pass rate in each exam.
Final Exam Part 1 and part 2at least 75% pass rate on each part.

Performance requirements
1 dive to minimum 40m maximum 50m
1 dive to 30m lasting for a minimum of 1.30 minutes
1 minute breath-up, diver descends to 15m and hang for an unknown time (45 sec-1 min, which is determined by the IT), then they have to rescue a freediver from BO from that depth
Stamina test- max 1 min preparation, 5 dives to 20m with 1 min surface interval.
Rescue from 25m followed by recovery at surface and 50m tow
Static breath hold – minimum 4 minutes
Demonstration of other disciplines; DNF- no minimum requirement
Demonstration of other disciplines; CNF- no minimum requirement

Practical Teaching Exams :
Classroom
Confined and Open Water
Breathing
Stretching
Set-up and Knots

20min Oral Presentation plus 1500-3000 word handout

They didn't warn us that during the 3 weeks there would be times we wanted to quit, lots of tears, moments of confidence that could be squashed in the blink of an eye and despite it all, a lot of laughs!

We're through the other side now, I got here with 2 lots of tears, a middle ear barotrauma and a crushed thumb nail. Others had blackouts and LMC's so I think I did quite well considering.

I passed everything except 2 of the water performances, but now I can get back in the water I will train for those and get the full qualification very soon. For now I am known as a Pool Freediving Instructor, amongst other things :)

Triple Depth 2009

Each year Freedive Dahab holds a competition covering the 3 main deep freediving competitive disciplines; Constant Weight, Free Immersion and Constant No Fins. This year was no different and I was lucky enough to be involved.

Whilst I finished my last couple of days at Dive Urge in the office, Leif was official camera for the Static competition (i) (stationary breath hold in water) that also took place in the run up to the main comp.

One of my fellow instructor candidates, Josie, had her first coaching experience here too. Shall we just say that she now knows the signs of a static Loss of Motor Control (LMC which can indicate an impending Blackout B/O) much better – never mind John, no brain cells damaged!

The only floating pyramid in Dahab took it's journey from next door to our house to the Blue Hole – Dahab's infamous dive site; a 90m plus hole in the reef table with an arch way at 57m in the reef wall that leads to the open sea (check out Will Trubridge on you-tube for a spectacular freedive through it without fins!)

With the platform in place we had 3 wonderful days of competition. Dean, Katia, Leif and myself took turns safety diving (ii) for the competitors and on the platform taking official video or adjusting the depths.

In between times we enjoyed many a “Disco Break” with the Israeli competitors – see the film Don't Mess With the Zohan and you'll understand. These were mainly led by the saintly and satanic duo, Lotta and Linda, who's official job along with running the show....

(who am I kidding, it was really run by Mr Peter, long suffering husband of Lotta, who kept everyone in line, shepherded all the competitors and made sure it all ran like clockwork!)

…. was Judging (along with Katia) and deep water safety for those lunatics who insisted on diving between -60m and -90m. They also managed to include a acrobatic display (iii), much to the confusion of the scubies passing by!

We had many national records smashed and only a handful of B/O's – 2 of which were divers that Leif and I did safety for. My first ever B/O recovery left me shaken; I had hesitated before grabbing her and knew I shouldn't have, but she was fine and very thankful to us for the assistance to the surface.

The days were long and hot, but totally worth the sun burnt neck and the crispy salt filled hair.

What really topped it all off was the after comp party where the satanic one eventually got married to one of the competitors! We think John may have been a bit oxygen deprived during the static incident from before, but seemed quite up for the whole thing.

Despite all the energy expended during the comp there was no rest for the wicked, Josie and I had the impending instructor course to prepare for........

Ouch!

The bicycle and I have had a strained relationship - partially because I have seen too many of them dismanteled and "improved" in my dining room or kitchen!!

I could never get comfortable on one, shoulder ache, wrist ache but mainly bottom ache! Tried all the fancy gel saddles, the ones with strategically placed holes cut out in them to relieve pressure - all the tricks.

But out here in Dahab you need the independance a bike can give you. I bought over my trusty Specialized Rock Hopper and was really starting to appreciate it......you can hear the BUT can't you.

BUT....then I took tumble. Not a bone breaking one. Not a bike crunching one. But a confidence knocking, ankle wrenching, I can go in the water with these holes in my toe (flip flops - I know!) one.

I took my concentration off the pot hole riddled roads of Dahab for a second and down I went. It didn't help that I had my poorly protected feet in toe clips, that held my foot in place as I fell and did most of the damage.

But the real bugger of it is I can't dive! I am off the crutches now and get about without a support bandage most of the time, but if I do too much -which apparently going into work for 2 hours is - my foot swells up too much to get my shoe back on.

So, patience and planning is the name of the game. I am relegated to the boat again for Sara's record attempt, but at least I will be there. And I am being looked after well - although I am sure Leif will get bored with that soon (x)

So here's to a pain free foot, a bruise free bottom and knee and a less stroppy Nikki who can dive again.

Competition

The weeks move so swiftly over here. I go from one event to the next in a haze of blistering sun, cool waters and quiz nights.

Bizzy Blue Hole competition came and went. Dahab was injected with freediving champions, yoga sessions, strings of buoys across the Blue Hole and “The Duck” took to the water again to keep them all safe.

Next came the Mini Comp, with national record attempts and even more freedivers, local celebs and newbees all on the same lines diving into the deep blue.
I was official video for the surface protocol on the first day – perched in a blow up boat in a tan through bikini and my cowgirl hat!
On the second day I swapped with Leif; he got a blocked ear on day one while safetyingon the warm-up lines. So I got to safety dive and chat to Sara Campbell – the GB champ – while she warmed up for her 75m dive.

At the end of this month Sara is going for the Women's World Record in CW (Constant Weight.) She announced 100m, and it's a race between her and Russia's Natalia Molchanova to see who makes it first. And I will be there, actually in the water with her when she makes her dive. I estimate she will be down for 3 ½ to 4 minutes; 75m takes her just under 3minutes.

She assured me that she isn't interested in the variable weight record (there isn't a GB depth set for women), sooo I intend going for it in September in the Triple Depth Comp. Training for my instructor depth in CW of 40m will get me part way then it's a mind and equalisation game to any deeper, but if it was easy............well you know the drill.

The UK and back

The flight back to the UK gave me mixed feelings, it was going to be wonderful to see everyone again, especially as little sis was back too. But I had left people back in Dahab that had become unexpectedly special.

The Ladies Night at Lodge was everything we hoped it would be. Everyone pulled out the stops and looked wonderful, Mum's speech went especially well and we were all very proud of her and Dad. Far too much wine (and tia maria Tracey) was consumed leading to a rather expressive dance session - too funny.

I managed to catch up with as many friends as possible, but the fact that I don't know when I will return to the UK made the goodbyes harder than ever. I can only hope that people can make it out to the sunshine soon.

Back in Dahab everything feels right and the smile on my face is huge when I see all that I missed.

I had an impromptu day at work as soon as I got back, a mix up meant that I was needed to take 3 guys to Canyon and Ricks Reef. Without boring you with all the details it was a day of fun with everything a DM has been trained to deal with thrown in – wrong tanks for regs, spare kit needed but doesn't fit, personal equipment failure, missing the exit on the second dive! But we all came back laughing and had a thoroughly great day.

I did suffer a reverse block though on the second dive and have to stay dry now for 3 days – just as well I haven't got any dives planned til the 24th.

I bought the Red Rock Hopper with me out here. It's amazing the difference a decent bike makes. Suddenly I have 21 gears and handling for the sand and rocks that has resulted in me throwing the bike around even more than I did before – very skiddy this sandy stuff!

I have established that my mobile phone doesn't love the water as much as its owner though – it's in Salem's shop being looked at, but it doesn't look good, think I may have an expensive bill for a new phone coming up, so if you are trying to call me, that's why you can't get through.

On the plus side it means that the incredibly stupid and annoying man from Cairo/Hurgarda or what ever place he chooses to make up, can't wake me at 3am as he has been for the last 3 days. I will get his number blocked.

So now I look forward to each new day, I am a great believer of living for the moment. I don't have a master plan and have no idea where I will be in six months never mind this time next year.