Great character is not formed when seas are calm and tasks are easy. It’s carved out of the need to make the right call on painstaking decisions, regardless of the gravitational pull of investments of time, heart & soul over the better course of a year. It is forged as you stay the prudent course even though a tsunami-sized wave of disappointment may crash over you, as you make the call to cancel a competition because of natural elements beyond your control. But in freediving safety always comes first, and yesterday when an erratic series of wind, weird weather and storm-surge continued to plague the south east coast of Protaras, Cyprus the team leader at Infinity Freediving Cyprus, Pavlos Kourtellas, made the correct call to cancel the competition to ensure the safety of the athletes, volunteer crew and safety divers.
Despite the heartbreaking disappoint of the organizers, all of the competitors and participants completely understood.
“Nature is nature,” said AIDA Judge Sasa Jeremic, and as it turned out mother nature was not being very cooperative of the official schedule of the Infinity Depth Games III.
“When I first heard that there was a weather delay, I was getting nervous because I was supposed to do a no-fins dive. Then when I learned that the comp was canceled because of the deteriorating conditions and strong current, to be honest I was a bit relieved because I put a lot of pressure on myself in the lead up to the comp, which is not a good thing”, said Helena Beninger of Austria. “This trip has been a good learning experience for me and I am very grateful to Pavlos who consistently offered me reassuring support and sound advice. Not to mention how simply amazing the training conditions were; I’ve never seen water so blue! I will definitely be back for next year’s competition,” promised the 2x Austrian national record holder in FIM.
“I still can’t believe this happened!” exclaimed event coordinator Nicole Karsera. “So many people have gone above and beyond to help make this event a success and we just didn’t want to let anyone down. The silver lining is getting to meet so many wonderful new people (locally and internationally) so it has not all been for naught.“
The appreciative sentiment and affection for one another was universally shared by all of the crew and athletes who are marking their calendars for the Infinity Depth Games IV, to be held in October 2018. Stay tuned to Deeperblue for official dates to come.
