Freediver Harry Chamas has set a new British record of 105m depth in the Variable Weight discipline. The dive took place in Kalamata, Greece, on Friday, 14 October.
This form of freediving involves descending on a weighted sled before swimming back up to the surface. Chamas’s dive exceeds the previous record of 80m set in 2007 by Mark Harris.
Chamas started freediving in Australia seven years ago but this year became a staff instructor at the Freediving Club in Greece, giving him regular access to the sort of depths necessary for record attempts.
“Most of my time I have not had access to depth below 30m, but it was all I needed to learn how to put myself into deep states of relaxation and to master my technique,” he said. “Visualisation can be just as valuable as diving for your training. Being confident is the key.”
Chamas was head of safety at the recent AIDA World Championships in Kalamata (Divernet News, 1 October), but he had no wish to be a competitor. “I’ve never enjoyed competition; I don’t handle the nerves very well, and the idea of doing an official attempt did make me nervous,” he said.
“But each time I thought about the attempt and would get an adrenaline rush, I would use it as an opportunity to control myself and used meditation to drop my heart rate and enter a place of peace, which was fantastic training.
“On the day of the attempt I was in a perfect place mentally and was well rested, the ocean was calm, and I was among friends. “It didn’t take me long to get prepared – in fact, I didn’t have any nerves”.
Following a “perfect descent”, he said that he felt “fresh as a daisy” after the dive.
Chamas dedicated his record to his grandfather, and thanked support-team Stavros Kastrinakis, Roxane Nicholls, David Tranfield and Brian Crossland for making the dive possible.
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17-Oct-16
