And the winner is...

Diving isn’t really a competitive sport, yet there are a few occasions when recreational divers can pit themselves against one another in competitive action. On a recent trip to Sardinia to cover a new event designed to promote diving and tourism in the northern town of Palau, I had the chance to enter into competition with other divers for my first stab at an underwater photography competition, and freediving.

The Undersea Palau event in September was the first of its kind to be held, and is typical of the kind of events springing up giving divers and non-divers the opportunity to try something new and add a different dimension to their diving.

The three days of activities began with a presentation of diving equipment by Mares, Nikon, and the Italian camera housing manufacturer Nimar. Divers could try the range of gear, and as we were yet to get our hands on the new Carbon 42 regulator from Mares, I made a beeline to get my hands on one to take for a dive.

Mares kit demonstration
Pick up one of the Carbon 42 regulators and it appears to be aimed squarely at the latest breed of lightweight regulators, the Apeks Flight and the Aqualung Mikron, the lightest regs currently on the market. The Carbon 42 second stage weighs just 190g and is 65 per cent lighter than a metal second stage. The DIN first stage weighs 452g and the International is 646g.

Our regulator group tests are usually performed in single-figure temperatures in the depths of winter, and while the Carbon 42 is designed for cold-water use, it was a balmy 23C when I took it for a dive in Sardinia. It certainly looks like no other reg you can buy; the carbon effect covering on the second stage means it stands out from the crowd. The purge button is large, and powerful when you press it. The exhausts are quite long and sweep back away from the second stage. They are not obtrusive around your chin however, and serve to disperse bubbles really effectively.

As with other light regs, the Carbon 42 has the flexible braided hoses as standard, which improve both on flexibility over normal hoses as well as shedding weight from your set-up. With these weight savings, the Carbon is naturally going to be popular with travelling divers, but its cold-water ability means it’s also a great all-rounder. It’ll be interesting to see how the Carbon 42 compares with rivals when we conduct our next regulator group test early in 2010.

Underwater photography competition
There was around 80 divers in Palau for the weekend of festivities, with around half Italian, the majority of whom were diving with the main event organiser, Scuba Point. I was diving with Nautilus, who catered for the multinational divers, and from a personal point of view it was nice to return to a dive centre I had previously dived with back in September 2007. I’d done plenty more dives since seeing owners Stephanie and Vincenzo Apuzzo two years previously, and I was hoping my underwater photography would also show some improvement with good results in the competition.

It was good to see a large amount of divers get involved in the photography competition. There was a range of camera equipment on display; from impressive DSLRs to divers who simply hired a point and shoot for the day.
We were all dropped in at the same site and told we had 50 minutes maximum in which to get our photos. I was armed with my Olympus SP550 and Inon D2000 strobe, competing against fellow divers in the compact camera section. I’m hugely competitive and basically wanted to win regardless of my own capabilities, although I had no idea what the standard of competition was!

I was on edge during the dive. Competitive diving was a new concept, and I desperately hunted for the perfect subject to nail the winning shot rather than just knuckle down and get on with shooting. It was eight minutes before I even fired off my first image, and finally began to relax. Conditions were perfect, with fantastic visibility – no excuse for sub-standard shots then!

I decided to concentrate on what I knew best, and where I thought my strengths lay; reef shots. The 50 minutes sailed by all too quickly, and while I thought I had some reasonable shots, I wasn’t convinced any of them would be competition winners. Each photographer could enter just one image. Later that day all the entrants gathered to view the final line up at a public exhibition. I didn’t fancy my chances.

Freediving
The freediving part of the weekend was the bit I’d been looking forward to most. Organisers had lined up Italian freediver and multiple world record holder Gianluca Genoni to coach and demonstrate the sport to anyone who wanted to try. It was an opportunity not to be missed.

Seeing first-hand a human seemingly defy what you consider possible by diving to a depth of 40m and returning to the surface looking completely unflustered by the experience is incredible. Gianluca performed multiple dives while us snorkelers watched from the surface. Then it was our turn.

A few were clearly quite into freediving and were already well-practiced. Most, including me, were attempting to breath-hold for the first time. Wearing a wetsuit, mask, snorkel and fins and just enough weight to sink, I waited my turn. Julian was the first to go from our boat. The rest of us watched as he turned upside down and finned into the blue using a line as a guide. He kept going, and kept going. ‘Christ that looks deep’, I thought as he eventually came to his senses and scrambled back to the surface.

Lying face down on the surface staring at the line disappearing into the depths while trying to concentrate on deep breathing to relax, it was hard not to feel apprehensive. I took one last breath, spat out the snorkel, duck dived and began to fin downwards. With one hand on the guideline and the other pinching my nose to equalise, I entered the world of the freediver, where men are at one with the marine environment, swimming gracefully like a fish, or something like that. I think I managed about 8m in my four attempts – not bad for a beginner I thought. While I’m not about to make the switch from scuba to breath-hold diving, I would be up for giving it another go.

To be honest I didn’t feel entirely comfortable. It didn’t feel quite ‘right’ to be heading underwater with no air supply. The fear is always ‘am I going to be able to make it back to the surface?’ When you reach the turn around point it feels and looks deeper than it actually is, and bear in mind you are only half way through the dive. But ascending is actually less stressful then I imagined. I think it’s one of those mind over matter things that with practice only becomes easier. Some took to it like a natural; one woman on our boat managed around 16m.

Final round-up
To finish the weekend, everyone gathered for a buffet of local food and drink while the winners of the underwater photography competition were announced. For the first running of such an event, it was pretty successful overall, and I think organisers are keen to repeat it next year, working out where improvements can be made or things added to the program.

Vincenzo Apuzzo of Nautilus Dive Centre said he would like to see the photography competition feature more heavily, with a practice dive organised, workshops with a professional photographer, and then two competition dives rather than one.

He added: “You should know that this weekend of photo competition here in Palau actually had the highest number of participants ever in Italy, which made us a little proud.”

Maybe two competition photo dives would have allowed me to build up a better portfolio of images, I’ll never know. Look out for this event next year; these kind of weekends help bring divers together to take part in what they enjoy, try something new, or travel to a different place even. You might even surprise yourself and take prize-winning images. If you were wondering; no, I didn’t win. But there’s always next time.

SPORT DIVER VERDICT
Undersea Palau in the beautiful surroundings of northern Sardinia is an event that will surely go from strength to strength.