Dear Sam,
I have been a little quiet for a while, sorry about that. Been somewhat busy hauling my furry butt around the world to keep up with freediver antics the planet over. Anyhow, here are some of my memories of 2003 for your site…
2003 was my first full year as an international star of freediving and boy, was it busy for me. Spring and early summer was spent preparing Team Deepest Bear to take the world by storm in Cyprus. Sadly, by the time we got there, they had all rebelled against my slightly overenthusiastic, some might say, bullying, coaching tactics and we ended up scoring two sambas out of three. I have fired them all and am now recruiting a new Team Deepest Bear for 2004 – email me if you are interested.
With the team down, face had to be saved and as they always say, if you want something done – do it yourself! With the help of safety divers Christian and Esme Jones, judges Martin Stepanek and Kirk Krack and my PA – I achieved a new bear world record in static of 3 hours! This was accompanied by the usual media hoo-haa that you might expect with cameras from every country of the world crowding in to distract me as I enjoyed my prize of a pot of Cypriot honey. If you missed the occasion for real, or like me would like to relive it, you can catch it on the DVD that Ambrosia made of Cyprus.
Summer involved lots of jet setting. First of all was a trip to Canada to meet the queen of static herself, Mandy Rae Cruickshank. From there I travelled on to Turks and Caicos for some sun and fun with Tanya. Once again, I made it into the movie and if you watch Tanya’s variable weight video carefully you might see me waving from the bottom of the sled. From there I had a brief spell at home before spending some time in France with my old mates down in Nice.
September was time for a big adventure. Loic Leferme and Guillaume Nery took to the hills for some dives in one of the most spectacular lakes on the planet – Lake Band E Amir, three weeks drive from any kind of civilisation in deepest Afghanistan – and they took me along! You can see a photo on my website.
Naturally being that far from civilisation, it was a while between showers so I am now recuperating back home with lots of sweet smelling baths and long sleeps. Hibernation is nigh but never fear, DB will be back with more in the new year.
DB XXX
