ANDREAS GÜLDNER

Depth Reloaded

// Juli 11th, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für Depth Reloaded // No Limit

On The 9th July I spent my morning in Dahab. I was driving my motorbike and enjoyed the day. Around noon I went back to Sharm el Sheikh for serious training. Even thou I was just one day off but I missed the blue water a lot.

When I arrived in the Divecenter I changed into my wetsuit and went into the sea. I really enjoy my warmup dives a lot.

For the Deep Dives we went first 60m then 80m and then finaly 100m again.

It was very important for me the redo the 100m and they felt really nice and smooth.

Day Off in Dahab

// Juli 9th, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für Day Off in Dahab // No Limit

I spent my Day Off (8th July) in Dahab to see some friends, make my laundry and fix some Things in my House in Dahab. The Aircon in the living room needed to get some gas refilled and some parts of the water pump needed to be changed.

It was a very relaxed Day where I had the chance to try a Enduro Motorbike in the Evening. Later on I had Dinner with Lotta, her Brother Alex and Memo, a freediver from Turkey.

But now I was lazy enough…I need to get back into the BLUE! :-)

My Dream came true! 100m Depth for the first Time!

// Juli 8th, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für My Dream came true! 100m Depth for the first Time! // No Limit

Yesterday (7th July) was a amazing day.

On my training I was again working on my mouthfill so we did dives to 60m then to 70m and all mouthfilling happen on 10m.

I managed to keep konstant pressure on the equalisation on both dives.

After those dives I asked…How deep is the lind? My coaches sayed well you did that before..around 90m.

Well okay for me thou. So instead of having my computer on my noseclip line I put it in my hood.I put one alarm on 20m for my mothfill charge and one on 78m to know that the end is coming soon. During my breathing I felt very relaxed and I finaly went down into the blue abyss.

I was wondering…there was no alarm on 20m so I screwed up the mothfill. I keep refilling and refilling but there was no alam. Part of the air I swallowed back into my throat which is not good. Then I didn´t hear the alarm in 78m either. What is wrong?

Well I finally hit the bottom of the line and it was easy. I inflated the ballon and took my way back to the surface. I looked at my computer and it sayed 4,5 m Depth. It sucked vacuum on my skin so it was not measuring. Very funny.

Then my coach Andrea told me that I reached a new Personal Best with a Depth of 100m. It always was a dream since I started freediving to reach that magical depth.

In the end I was very happy that I reached the 100m and they felt nice even with all that issues.

In the evening I was driving with my friend Sameh to my house in Dahab to have a Day off.

Back on 90´s

// Juli 7th, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für Back on 90´s // No Limit

During my Training yesterday (6th July) I had a wonderful warm up. I´ve been down at 13m enjoying the BLUE and then I resurfaced after a dive time of 3:20min.

Before I went to a greater Depth I did 50m / 60m and a 70m. Always charged the mouthfill at around 10m.

Then Marco set the Line on around 90m Depth. I was so looking for that Dive. Since 91m is my personal best I was wondering how it would feel like. It´s 3 Years ago since I was down to that Depth.

On the Dive I felt very relaxed. I charged the mouthfill when I heared the alarm at 20m and then I just … enjoyed the ride… :-)

Then I hit the Bottom…91m and it felt wonderful. Even thou a bit air left in my mouth. But still I know that I have to work on my Mouthfill Technique. I need to get more air for equalisation.

They way back was very fast. It was a nice ride.

In the evening I enjoyed a Burger at Il Mercado and went to bed.It was sooo good. At 1:30 am I woke up very thursty. Well, I use to sleep without aircon and I was very hot in my room.

Of course I forgot to buy some water… so I put my clothes on and went to the super market to get some Water. I felt so sleepy :-) Then finaly I rehydrated myself and found some sleep again.

The first Ride

// Juli 5th, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für The first Ride // No Limit

The morning (4th July) started lazy. I slept long – had some breakfast – then I was watching a movie.

When I arrived at the center Andrea and Marco still had another student for training. When they finished Andrea came by and he told me „We´re gonna play“!

That ment that it was my first training day in the Sled. At around 16:00 we went into the water. We had the sled with us und the robe. While Andrea and Marco prepared the sled I started my warum up with a several dives to 15m – waited there until the first contraction came and then I resurfaced. The longest warmup dive was 3:03 min.

When the sled was ready they gave me a intruduction for the sled. There are two tanks on the sled for inflation the ballon – one main tank and one spare tank. The brake will stop the sled imidiatly. Beside that there is a safety lanyard fixed above the sled.For filming they fixed one of UK GERMANY´s Go Pro Housings on the sled. The whole construction is just amazing. Finaly I prepared myself and when the 2min countdown finished I went into the blue sea.

I had to do the mouthfill in 8m and use only this air without refilling. It was a very nice feeling but the ride was quite short. Then I hit the 40m. I opened the valve of the tank and looked at the ballon how it inflated. Then I made my way back to the surface. At about 15m Andrea touched me. That was the signal for opening the quickrelease of the lanyard. I was free and the sled went without me. The last meters I did myself. It was a amazing first ride.

We kept on diving first to 50m. Then another dive using the brake. On each dive I had to focus on my position during ascent and descent.The first day on the sled is to get used to it. On my last dive for the day my Scubapro Meridian Diving Computer sayed: 61,5m and that dive was for sure sooooo easy.

Back in the center we were watching the on Board Clip to make some troubleshooting. What we found out was, that I could be a bit more streamlined on the sled puting my arms more close to my body. And I have to work on the position of my head cause I was kind of looking up during the ascents.

Can´t wait for the next session.

In the evening I made a call home and had some dinner. I really needed to eat cause I only had breakfast and two eggs during the whole day.

I missed the Sailfish

// Juli 3rd, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für I missed the Sailfish // No Limit

When I woke up in the morning (3rd July) my pain in my middle ear was as good as gone. I had breakfast and then I drove to the center.When I came in Andrea did some maintainance on the diving sled.

My training started with a „dry session“. They call it a mouthfill workshop. Andrea explaned me all the organs in my head which are involved during equalisation with the mouthfill technique. Again I learned a lot and I got a better understanding of this method. We did some exercised to make sure I can move all the organs in order to keep the mouthfill and use them properly. It was amazing! Before I simply did what I thought was right. Now I wondering how I could reach 91m without knowing all this stuff before. Now I´m able to improve the amount of air even more.

On the water session I did the same warmup as yesterday and I managed to do a dive almost 3min long with only one contraction. After that I did a 40m dive with a full mouthfill around 8m. I had more air left down there :-) Then Andrea lowered the rope to 50m and I doved down the same way. Again I had air left down at 52m. On my 3rd dive down to 50m Andrea told me to refill my mouth at a depth of 25m to see if I can manage to do a proper refill at this depth. Well, I could refill even deeper. On my way back from this dive I missed a sailfish of 2,5m length…shit. I should use my fluid googles and keep my eyes open. That would have been my 2nd sailfish within a few days. It´s incredible how beautiful the red sea is those days. In the evening I met my friend Sameh from Dahab who is lifing in my house there. It was nice to see him. We had dinner at a delicous sea food place in Sharm.

First Day in Sharm

// Juli 3rd, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für First Day in Sharm // No Limit

On my first day in Sharm (2nd July) I arrived at ONLY ONE APNEA CENTER and I was welcomed by Andrea and Chiara. I´ve been introduced to the Diving Center and prepared myself for the first Training Session.

We went into the Water and Andrea set the rope to 40m. On the platform I encountred with a huge barracuda. Andrea sayed she is our friend. her name is „Luda“.

On the warm up I should focus to surface at the first contraction. I managed to do 13 m dives with a divetime of 2:32 min. After that I should do the mouthfill at 8m and descent with that amount of air without refilling.

Down at 40m I had air left but not as much. After my 4th dive down to 40m I improved my mouthfill a lot and I had a bigger amount of air down at 40m.

I really lerned a lot and improved my mouthfill skills alot. Never focused a lot on that so much :-) But I am happy to improve my skills.

Back at the hotel I went a bit in sharm. This area where I am is quite boring. Not much people around. Back at my room I went to bed.

The pain in my ear got me up at 3am in the morning. It was hell. After some ear drops and a pain killer I finaly got some sleep again. I hope that my middle ear gets better quickly.

Good Bye Soma Bay

// Juli 3rd, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für Good Bye Soma Bay // No Limit

On the 1st July I had my last day in the lovely Robinson Club Soma Bay.

I basicly spend the whole day packing my diving gear and the stuff in my room. At noon we did some more photo shots. We planed to do one last pool session but we skipped it because there was no time. We had a meeting with the general manager of the club.

Then I sayed good bye to everyone who supported me so much.

Thank you all for that very nice time! Thanks Matze you did so well these days! Keep on Training!

At 18:00 I left the Club and headed towards the airport.

The flight to sharm was sooo quick. just 30 min :-)

When I arrived at the airport I not feeling like going into a hotel. So I decided to visit Dahab. After I arrived there I met Lotta Ericson and her Brother. We were watching the finals of the EM Football Game. After that we went to pharmacy to Get some eardrops because my ears were itching. Then I went to bed to be rested for the upcoming Day.

Last Training in Soma Bay

// Juli 1st, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für Last Training in Soma Bay // No Limit

30th June 2012

At 9:30am we´ve got picked up with our freediving gear for a final training at ABU SOMA GARDEN. It was Matze, Birga and me. Since there was a strong wind we had to deal with a choppy sea. After a few warm up dives Matze managed to go down to 32m. Another Personal Best for him! Yeahh!!! Birga focused on relaxed dives and I was able to do some FRC´s down to 32m. On those dives I focused on Equalisation.

In the evening made another „on land shot“ for a promotional movie.

Afterwards Matze and I did some CO2 Tables in the pool. I started with intervalls of 3:20 min. breathhold time. Then Matze did his intervalls with 1:45min. In the end Matze was so relaxed and so he decided to do a max. Static attempt. He reached 4:03 min. Another Personal Best for him. Now I´m gonna pack my gear since I´m almost ready to fly to Sharm el Sheikh to ONLY ONE APNEA.

Day Trip

// Juni 30th, 2012 // Kommentare deaktiviert für Day Trip // No Limit

Yesterday (29th June) we met early to start our day trip with two famous dive sites. First ABU KAFAN and then SALEM EXPRESS.

It was a bit windy for proper freediving but after we reached ABU KAFAN the conditons were good.

I always wanted to become one with the ocean. No suit, no fins – nothing but me.

Recently I´ve heared about SKANDALOPETRA Diving. A ancient way of freediving.

Here you dive down with a stone with a weight of 8 – 12 kg. The stone is connected with a line leading back to the surface. The buddy is pulling the diver back to surface after reaching his depth.

There I was. Just me and my beloved sea. A man, a stone and the sea.

The first dive was down to 30m to check if everything working fine. It was superb!

Another dive to 30m to make sure everything is okay and then I prepared myself to go down to 60m on SKANDALOPETRA.

The sea was calm and I was deeply relaxed. One last breath and I went down into the blue abyss. My heartbeat was strong and slow. I felt the connection with the sea. Down at 60m I could see the bottom of the reef at around 85m. I pulled the line and the lift went up.I had two safety divers down there. One was Birga with her new Rebreather, the other one was Nik, the underwater filmer.

They were pulling fast. The whole dive was 1:47 sec. and I had no contractions at all. Thanks to the whole crew of the Boat „Toshka“ for supporting.

After lunch we made our way to the famous wreck of the SALEM EXPRESS for some underwater shot. The visibility was great but we had a bit currant.

It was amazing to dive this wreck!

After one hour of filming underwater we had some awesome clips and I had another beautiful memory.