Long Island, Bahamas — Day two of Vertical Blue has manifested yet another national record for Simon Bennett. The freediver from Santiago, Chile completed a dive to 48 meters free immersion taking his new national record deeper by another three meters. Although the AIDA judges handed him a white card for a solid performance and a clean surface protocol, Simon acknowledges that his 48m FIM was tougher and that he felt the tension in his preparation. Nevertheless, a little discomfort won’t deter the determined freediver from attempting even greater depths. ” I just really want to nail that equalization so bad. Tomorrow 51m attempt. Lets see!” said Bennett.
New Zealand’s Dave Mullins did not fare as well in his attempt for a national record in constant weight, as he mis-fired on the surface protocol. But Alfredo Romo Hernandez of Mexico, Junko Kitihama of Japan, and Carla-Sue Hanson of the United States all delivered excellent constant no-fins performances in each of their attempts, achieving 48m, 47m and 43m respectively along with the cherished approval of white cards from the judges.
Stay tuned as tomorrow concludes the first half of Vertical Blue with a record attempt from the host of the event, William Trubridge, who is seeking to secure his third square number record (after 81m CNF in 2007 and 100m CNF in 2010) with a Free Immersion dive to 121 meters. (The current FIM world record of 120m is held by Austrian Herbert Nitsch.)
