Free Diving
Nineteen-year-old VALENTINA CAFOLLA, a freediver from Croatia, has set what she claims to be a new world record for diving under ice on one breath.
CAFOLLA SWAM 125M beneath a sheet of ice 50-70cm thick – beating the previous world record held by Turkey’s Denya Can. She had aborted her first dive but accomplished the feat on her second and final attempt, which took place on the Lago Di Anterselva Lake in the Italian Alps in March.
“I didn’t get the perfect breath before the start and started to panic a bit, so I had to abort it after 75m,” she said of her first bid later.
Her successful dive took only 87 seconds, but when she surfaced Cafolla struggled to stay conscious to fulfil the resurfacing requirement protocol of the international association CMAS, which ratified the record.
AIDA is the official world governing body for freediving, but diving under ice is not one of its disciplines.
“I’m really happy that all the intensive preparation paid off,” said Cafolla. “I’m also happy that I’ll be able to dive into warmer water next time!”
Images of the dive, as shown in this article, were taken by extreme-sports photographer and Subal ambassador Predrag Vuckovic (on scuba!)
Vuckovic used a Nikon D5 camera in a Subal ND5 housing with Nikon 16mm fisheye and 16.35mm lenses, and reported that the water was clear but “really cold” at 2°C.
His biggest problem was the low light level under water because of the thickness of the ice and the large quantity of snow above it. Fortunately, however, it was a bright sunny day, so he was able to make use of what light was available.
A day earlier, 32-year-old Arthur Guerin-Boeri of France had set a new men’s ice-freediving world record – by finning 175m under the ice at the Sonnanen See in Finland.
Photo Credit: Predrag Vuckovic / extreme-photographer.com
