Scuba Diving club,
Southern California
Sea Sabres
Tanya Streeter
does a 1 breath, 400 feet: Free diver sets world record
BY TIM AYLEN
|
|
|
BUBBLY: Tanya Streeter
holds a bottle of champagne after descending on a single breath to 400 feet
off the Turks and Caicos Islands. AP PHOTO |
PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and
Caicos -- World champion free diver Tanya Streeter, on a single breath, plunged
to a depth of 400 feet off Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands on
Monday, smashing the previous womens world record by almost 90 feet and even
surpassing the mens previous best of 394 feet.
Using a weighted sled, she
dropped along a line dangled from a boat and kicked her way back to the
surface. She surfaced after 3 minutes 58 seconds, giving two thumbs up before
swimming back to the boat.
''It feels really good!''
Streeter, who opened a bottle of champagne, told The Associated Press. ``I'm
feeling fine, feeling tired.''
This was Streeters eighth
free-diving world record and the fourth time she has beaten the men.
Last year, also in Turks and
Caicos Islands, Streeter broke the no-limits world record (in which she was
assisted both down and up) with a dive to 525 feet.
It was this record that
Audrey Mestre, 28, of North Bay Village, was attempting to beat last Oct. 12
when she drowned in the waters off La Romana, Dominican Republic. Mestre had
ridden a weighted sled down a cable 561 feet deep, but her ascent, using a lift
bag inflated with gas, took longer than expected and she floated unconscious
off the sled.
Young fans and tourists at
the Beaches Resort, where Streeter and her team was based, lined the dock and
clapped and cheered as she made her way to the dive boat. Streeter posed for a
few photographs and then boarded the boat to begin her mental preparation of
listening to music and watching the horizon.
Squad leader John Garvin
briefed her 15-member team on the top deck while she donned her seven-millimeter
wet suit and prepared for her entry.
|
|
|
|
On the Sled going down.
She rides this device down to her marked depth. |
ON HER WAY BACK: Tanya Streeter, at a depth of 150 feet,
continues her swim up to the surface after descending on a single breath to
400 feet. AP PHOTO |
Streeter carried a pair of
long fins and a nose plug that she wore when she entered the water 40 minutes
before plunging to 400 feet. She also carried a snorkel and mask, which she
used for the first 30 minutes of her preparation.
Meanwhile, in contrast to the
relaxed state Streeter was developing, activity on the boat reached a
controlled frenzy as two-man dive teams equipped themselves with advanced
technical diving gear, prepared for every type of emergency.
Many of the divers in
Streeter's support group used rebreathers that recycle the air they breathe
underwater without venting bubbles.
The support divers also
carried two extra-safety scuba tanks to be used as backup, along with a
decompression computer and other safety gear, such as lift bags in case
Streeter needed to perform an emergency ascent.
Streeters husband and
manager, Paul, dove down to about 60 feet and followed her up, surfacing right
behind her.
Then they embraced, and
Streeter pumped her fists in the air.
''On the way up,'' Streeter
told the Associated Press, ``I looked at the divers, and I gave them smiles.''
Tanya’s
story in her own words
Posted July 22, 2003