…and not by starvation of oxygen like in all the other dives. Herbert is putting together details of his record dive to -249 meters near Santorini on June 6th, such as the confusion of waking up while surfacing, wet recompression, transport to Deco chamber, etc. An official announcement will be made soon. Parallel he is intensively working on his full recovery together with specialists.

After his positive response to the treatment received in Athens and sufficient progress, Herbert has now been transferred to a rehabilitation clinic in Germany. There, he will undertake some more tests to ensure that nothing has been overseen in previous assessments. While he is making strong progresses daily, the combination of rest and no visits remains the best for him currently.

We would like also to communicate further information about the dive. Herbert did reach the planned depth of 244m/800ft and even a bit more to set the mark at 249 meters/820 feet. More depth gauges were used than on any other record attempts. Not all made it below 200 meters, but four of them from the same manufacturer provided accurate readings. Further devices monitored  by an oceanic physicist have recorded data with a great sampling rate and precision: it confirms a depth between 249 and 250 meters. The rope was checked again after the dive and backs-up the readings. The difference can be accounted for by the dynamic extension of the rope acting as an absorber when the sled reaches the bottom.

The whole sled concept functioned as designed. As Herbert reached the bottom, the valves flushed air into the upper parts of the sled and the ascent started normally. Analysis of the data shows that the rate of ascent was probably too high in the last 40-10 meters. As Herbert did not react as expected upon reaching the depth of 10 meters, the safety freedivers assisted him to the surface. There, Herbert gave an okay signal, took a mask, his oxygen regulator, and went back down for decompression as he routinely does. Knowingly, he extended his deco phase to a bit more than 20 minutes. Upon re-surfacing, it became obvious that although conscious and breathing, Herbert was still unwell. It was decided to follow the emergency plan and evacuate him to Athens.

In Athens, Herbert was treated as a VIP to the best of their abilities by the dedicated medical personal of the Navy hospital. Both our team member (trained medic) Peter de Huber and Herbert’s friend Alex Sarasitis* were present and supported the theory that Herbert’s condition was not simply linked with hypoxia and a blackout. Along with them, further support was given to ensure Herbert went into chamber treatment as soon as possible. Herbert showed right away positive reaction to recompression and completed further sessions over the following days.

The understanding of data analysis and Herbert’s response to treatment, is that he most likely suffered an air embolism. Although this remains to be confirmed, various experts see it as the most plausible scenario. There is more data to be analyzed and discussed. But it belongs to Herbert. Now that he has left the Navy hospital to fly close to his home, with further follow-ups and proper rest, he will soon be looking at it himself.

In an interview given two days before the dive, Herbert was saying: “This is the first of three world record attempts. After this record, which is going to be 800ft, I want to continue to 900, then 1000ft, which will be my ultimate goal. If I can reach it?… I will find out on the way!”

True exploration means going where no one has been by achieving something no one has ever accomplished. Every time a new record is set in freediving, it is exploration. Whether or not official protocols were followed here does not make much of a difference to us. The benefit of being the first people to reach the summit of Everest, even with assistance, has never been denied to Hillary and Tensing.

Further to all of his other accomplishments in competitive freediving, Herbert has been once again where no one has been before. He set the mark further than he had on his previous World record and made it back alive. He is, more than ever, one of the very few true explorers of our times and that is what we want to acknowledge first and foremost.

www.herbertnitsch.com | www.diveandphoto.net

Official Press Release

“Extreme 800”- Herbert Nitsch

Amazing Recovery For The Deepest Freediver Ever

We are glad to inform you tonight that Herbert Nitsch is headed for full recovery. After three recompression treatments, he has been taken out of intensive care and is now under constant but normal monitoring.

We would like to clarify at this stage that the data collected from five instruments during the dive confirms that Herbert did reach the planned depth of 244m/800ft. Undeniably, he is the deepest freediver on earth.

As Herbert is continuously pushing the boundaries of freediving, we cannot ascertain what exactly happened to him. Assumptions, hypothesis and theories do not bring anything.

We can however confirm that there should be no long term consequences. Neurological and physical exams reflect the fact that there is no major damage. It is ascertained that the best thing for him is to get as much sleep and as little disturbance as possible. Except for direct relatives and medical personal, no visits are allowed in order to ensure he gets the required rest. Which also means that interviews cannot be considered until further notice and that any such request will be denied.

Doctors are amazed with his current state of health and admit they never expected him to be this far so fast. Hence, we may hope that his further recovery will also happen at a much faster rate than would be expected for any other person in his situation.

We are glad to be able to share these positive news with you and look forward to further updates as soon as we can provide new information. We kindly ask everyone not to assume or communicate anything else than what is being said in the present release and/or not to rely on any other information source.

Again, Herbert, his family and his whole team wish to thank all those who care for Herb’s wellbeing. Had it been anyone else than Herbert, it is unlikely the news would have been this good this fast!

For any questions regarding this press release, please write to management@herbertnitsch.com  or call +43 676 9396858 - Sylvia Ritt (Manager of Herbert Nitsch). For further photos and underwater pictures please contact Phil Simha on phil.simha@gmail.com or +41 79 7863375.

Official Press Release

“Extreme 800”- Herbert Nitsch

Recovering Well After World Record of 244m (800ft)

On the picturesque Island of Santorini, near Thirasia the world record attempt for the “Extreme 800” took place at 2:30pm. Herbert was accompanied by a support team of 5 safety divers, 2 medical specialists and an experienced underwater film crew, all with specific tasks to ensure Herbert´s safety and wellbeing. The warm up and preparation phase went according to plan and he felt very comfortable and clear minded during the initial stage of his final preparation as well as after moving and strapping into his sled.

Herbert Nitsch reached the planned world record depth of 244m (800ft) and reascended without any technical mishap. He did however feel physically unstable upon reaching the depth of 10 meters, which was the planned stop for him to exit the sled and start his decompression routine. According to the drills and safety procedures that had been thoroughly trained and rehearsed, his safety divers then assisted him back up to the surface.

Upon surfacing, he was aware and conscious, took his oxygen regulator as a standard part of his routine and went back down to complete his decompression schedule between 9 and 6 meters. It became apparent during this phase that he was feeling disoriented, although breathing perfectly on his oxygen regulator. As a safety measure, the surface team than requested the emergency plan to be set in motion: as soon as Herbert surfaced again, he was moved onto the safety speed boat and evacuated to the nearest harbor under supervision of a doctor and a medic. In the harbor, the ambulance which was on standby transported him right away to the airport of Santorini; from there, he was evacuated by air ambulance (plane) directly to the naval hospital in Athens.

He undertook an initial decompression chamber treatment within less than an hour after the beginning of the dive. Past this initial treatment, he was put under sedatives to spend the night under intravenous and constant monitoring. After awakening this morning, he was placed back into the chamber for further treatment. Due to the duration of such treatment, he will still be under decompression for a few hours this afternoon and no further comment or update will be provided today.

We would like to insist on the fact that this statement is true to the point. We have no reasons to diminish the gravity of what happened or the positive outcome we are informing you about. Herbert never experienced a massive heart attack as has been communicated by wrongly informed media. We feel it is our duty to communicate accurately on these events, in the interest of Herbert as much as for the sake of the whole freediving community and any diver considering similar feat.

We will publish further information tomorrow and look forward to sharing more positive news. Herbert, his family and his whole team here in Santorini extend their grateful thanks to the emergency team which was on standby in Santorini. Our outmost thanks go to Dr Kelidis, the Divers Alert Network and all of you caring for accurate information on Herbert’ wellbeing.

No man has ever achieved what Herbert Nitsch did throughout his career. No man could have done what he did yesterday and come back alive. Despite the unlucky outcome of this dive, Herbert is and remain the greatest freediver of all times.

For any questions regarding this press release, please write to management@herbertnitsch.com  or call +43 676 9396858 (Austrian Mobile), + 306975941386 (Greek Mobile) – Sylvia Ritt (Manager of Herbert Nitsch). The photo accompanying this release can be used free of charge. For further photos and underwater pictures please contact Phil Simha on phil.simha@gmail.com or +30 6977036237 (Greek Mobile up to June 9) or +41 79 7863375.

22:00 : The last information received from Athens, is that Herbert was conscious and speaking fluidly at the time he was taken to the hospital. He has been taken into the recompression chamber and is undergoing treatment. Due to the nature of such treatment, which may ongoing for a few hours, we might not be able to provide further updates tonight.

We expect to receive detailed information within tomorrow, Friday June 7th before noon and will provide further update as soon as possible via the usual channels.

Herbert, his family and the team in Santorini wish to thank all those who care about Herbert’s well being.

14:35 : Herbert felt unwell whilst ascending. On the surface he was conscious and communicating, and requested oxygen, following his standard decompression protocol. He went back to a depth of 6-9m with pure oxygen for approx. 10-15mins. Upon resurfacing he still felt physically weaker than expected. The emergency chain was set in motion and Herbert was taken to the airport of Santorini from where he has now been flown to the naval hyperbaric chamber in Athens. An update on Herbert’s health and wellbeing is expected within 2-4hrs, and all further information will be made available as soon as possible.

14:30 : Dive started.

13:00 : Officlal top will be 14:30. Should be final!

11:00 : All set, we’re now preparing for the dive.

10:00 : Dive time official top moved from 12:00 to 14:00

09:00 : Boat drifting, we have to pull the buoy in and set anchor again.

The night has now long fallen over Santorini.

Today we spent a bit more time with the press, receiving the visit of CBS News 60 minutes team for a full interview on board. Specially arrived from New York, the legendary Bob Simon came in person to interview Herbert. Nothing less than the most honored journalist in international reporting, a further token to the dimension of what we’re doing here and what Herb is about to achieve in a few hours from now.

The day has been spent otherwise in final preps, some minor last adjustments to the sled and setting up all the cams that we’ll have to shoot the dive from under every possible angle.

And finally, I must say, despite all your wind killing dancing efforts, the waves did get too threatening on our beloved spot under Ias to ensure easy going procedures tomorrow. Hence, we figured that nothing beats a little last minute stress, decided to pull our mooring buoy out of the water (bah, just 300 meters of chain and rope, what’s the big deal eh?) and move to another location across from where we’ve spent the last few days…

At the time of writing and posting, some guys are still in the water, the last tests are being made. We won’t leave anything to chance and this team is doing an amazing job finalizing all little details. I can’t begin to tell you how whacked we all are, but just the same, the energy level has never been this high.

Herbert is close to going to bed. We’ll follow suits as soon as we’ve cleaned up the place… A few hours of sleep and the day we’ve all worked towards will come as well deserved reward.

Tomorrow, we’ll try to keep you posted as soon as Herb is back on the surface. Unless the weather plays big tricks on us, dive time is set for noon. Stay with us, and please, please, do a bit more dancing to keep the winds away. As soon as Herb is back, we’ll join you. And dance the night away!

www.herbertnitsch.com | www.diveandphoto.net

As you’ve now realised, we’re not diving today. The positive side of it is to allow Herbert plenty of time for personal interviews and this day has turned into a series of talks and chats with various reporters from all over the world. It really is a good opprtunity to underline again how much this adventure, at the very edge of human and physiological exploration, is getting attention.

In the freediving community, for example, Crystal Clear Apnea, probably the most visited website dedicated to freediving, has seen its traffic increase daily since we’ve been sharing posts about the preps via facebook and other channels. Obviously, diveandphoto.net also benefits amazingly from the following, with over 111’000 visitors in May and close to 18’000 already just in the first 2 days of June. You cannot imagine how much this means to all of us!

But then, we also have media such as CBS News 60 Minutes show spending time with Herbert and preparing a full feature on the Extreme 800 project. If you’re not familiar with that show, let’s simply say that it is probably one of the largest audiences worldwide when it comes to televison and documentaries. In a way, you could say that Herbert has already reached a certain stature in glory simply via his achievements in freediving. But seeing media such as 60 minutes or Stern, the largest German weekly, coming down here twice to follow progresses, sending serious production teams and amazingly professional reporters or photographers… And not even mentioning the 50+ media accreeditations delivered for Wednseday… Waow, we never doubted that Herb is worth the attention, but seeing it happen to such an extent, we’re so thankful for such recognition and the support it provides to the project!

Besides keeping up with the press today, Herb is still on training, even though he’s not in the water. A huge part of his training is the breathing exercises. The main goal of these is to teach his body and brain to perform always further despite the oxygen deprivation. Most people, whether freedivers or not, have played breatholding sometimes during childhood, right? And for most people, breathholding starts with taking in as much air (which means oxygen of course) as possible before to start turning very red while seeing how long they can do it. Okay.

Now, if you’re Herbert, you start by taking in as much as possible, just like anyone. In his case, that’s 10 liters of lung volume (as opposed to an average of 4-6 litesr for a normal adult of his size), plus another 5 gained through packing. But, as explained in a previous post, Herb’s technique involves emptying his lungs into the Equex bottle at a depth of 16 meters before heading for the deep plunge. Which means that he is actually diving on empty lungs and that’s radically different from breathholding on full lungs: without an amazing level of static breathhold training (essentially laying on his bunk while here), there is simply no chance for the human body to tolerate what Herb is imposing on his physiology. Even scientists have a hard time understanding what’s going on there, as this is way beyond what a radical mind would tolerate. And scientists hate not understanding things, which, in my opinion, makes the whole thing even more fun!

Alright, enough for today, but before to leave you this evening, we’d like to thank AIDA for the positive stand they’ve taken today regarding Herbert’s decision not to have his dive sanctioned by the organization. For those of you not totally familiar with competitive freediving, AIDA (International Association for the Development of Apnea) is the governing body and the worldwide reference for freediving athletes and performances. Usually, most records are validated by AIDA through the presence of judges who witness the dive and assert that all relevant rules have been respected. So far, all of Herb’s records, whether during official competitions or in the no-limits category, have been sanctioned by AIDA. But on this upcoming dive, various issues have made it more difficult to follow the usual procedures and the decision was finally made not to have AIDA judges on this one. AIDA could have reacted in a negative way on this decision, but as their own statement shows, what Herbert does is beyond the “usual stuff” and a positive reflection seems to develop out of this situation. We are really grateful to the board of AIDA for their open minded attitude towards this, as much as for their wishes for a good and safe dive!

Last, but not least… Please, please, get back to the ritual wind killing dances, it looks like we might need your help once more in that respect!

www.herbertnitsch.com | www.diveandphoto.net

An important decision was made today. It might feel like a deception for some,  but we all feel like it was a good decision!

“I felt so good on training in the last dives I did, that I see no need to raise the exposure level further. What’s the meaning of doing the 215m/700ft dive, when we all know that is just a meter more from where I left it 5 years ago. I don’t want to waste any more energy now. I just want to focus, concentrate and prepare for the current ultimate challenge, the 244m/800ft dive I’ll perform on Wednesday. After all, the final goal of this series of the dive, the name of the project itself is “EXTREME 800″. That’s what I want to focus on. That’s what we’ll achieve on Wednesday.”

There it is, in Herb’s own words. Tomorrow’s dive is cancelled and we’re now all looking forward to Wednesday. It surely wasn’t an easy decision to make. Everything was set-up and arranged with the press and Herbert does not want to disapoint anyone either. But, again, it shows how much risk awareness has been a key factor throughout this project. Over exposure under pressure of satisfying the media would be going exactly against the philosophy implemented since day one. A tough decision, but without a doubt the right one.

Talking about safety. Today’s training plan included running a full emergency drill. To let Herbert stay cool and keep relaxing, Markus used the opportunity to ride the sled himself and get his own feeling on the last modifications made these past two days. He did a cool dive to 80 meters and then simulated a blackout on the way up when exiting the sled at 20 meters. The blackout is basically one of the two dangers facing Herbert, together with decompression problems. To address these issues, our emergency plan now also includes a 7.40 RIB with a 250PS engine, kindly made available by Rent-a-Rib, a partner of our catamaran sponsor Multihull Yachting (thank you so much, Vasilis, for all the support provided throughout the project and for allowing us to turn one of your cats into a great surface support unit!).

For team training, the most critical situation is definitely the blackout. Kostas picked Markus up as he faked fainting, closely followed by Manthos, our newly arrived team member (an amazing freediver as well!). Keeping the airways open in a very clean manner, he  carried Markus back to the surface, where the chain sets in full motion. Peter (who is also a professional emergency responder) jumps onto the RIB, where an oxygen tank and resuscitation bag are also ready to be used. Markus is pulled on board and the RIB flies at full power over the water to reach the port of Athinios, where we have an ambulance on standby.

From the point where Markus reached the surface, to arriving in the harbor, 9 minute only have elapsed – a great performance. For today, this is where we stopped the drill. But on Wednseday, there will be an evac plane ready to take off and fly at low altitude to Athens and a recompression chamber, should anything happen to Herb.

As mentioned yesterday, we firmly believe that by anticipating all possible situations, including worst case scenarios, we deploy a protection shield that will keep all bad things from happening. It is this outmost sense of safety, again, which lead to the wise decision made today. There will be one dive only. And it will be a success.

The scenery tonight is amazing and the rising moon makes us all feel at peace with the universe. We know we are living and sharing a great and unique adventure… Back to you tomorrow with more fresh news from the deep deep blue!

www.herbertnitsch.com | www.diveandphoto.net

A wonderfully nice and relaxing day for us here in Santorini!

Everything should speak for increasing tension, but it is actually quite the opposite. Herbert is only working on some dry training today, the team uses the opportunity to do some freediving training and rescue training.

A team, which by the way, has now been reinforced by French apneist and photographer Francine Kreiss, who was a member of the French World champion team two years ago and has since then quit competitive freediving to dedicate herself to travels and imaging. Francine will be with us both as a member of the freediving team and as part of the imaging team. Mind you, the poor girl never realized that she’d be landing in the middle of a bunch of freaks wearing tight rubber suits who have been stuck on a boat for some weeks now… Yes, she is getting a fair amount of attention you could say. But then again, she deserves it and you can easily tell she’s been there before!

As promised yesterday, I wanted to take you today through a complete run down of the dive planned by Herbert and of what goes down in his mind while he’s racing into the abyss and back. I asked him to close his eyes and just speak out every step of the descent and ascent phases as he visualizes them. There it is, just for you, in Herb’s own words.

“First, I see that all my diving gear is together and that when I’m ready I don’t have to start looking for stuff. Once I’ve got my suit on, my relaxation starts. From that point onwards, I try to move as little as possible and do some warm-up dives. Exhale dives going to 10-15 meters, with totally empty lungs. Then I do some reverse packing (packing is the way to overfill the lungs by gulping in 5 more liters of air; reverse packing means emptying the lungs beyond what their normal emptiness would be). I do this between two and four times depending on how warm I am. Then I move to the sled and remove the weight belt I need for the warm-ups. Once in the sled, I run my own checklist and control that everything is ready and alright with it. I verify that all is correct and that the Equex is in the right position. I then ask for confirmation from the team that all safety systems are ready and functional, before giving the signal to start the countdown. We’ll probably stick with the two minutes we’ve worked with so far: I’ll confirm to the team that I’m ready and approximately two minutes later –not according to a watch!– I’ll finalize the packing to get as much air as I can into my lungs. Most likely I’ll slow down the packing to counteract the risk of a “packing blackout” (which we experienced once in training, by the way).

Then I’ll give the signal to release the sled from the water surface where a safety line keeps it out of the water to facilitate my breathing. On the boat, Peter is in charge of initiating the descent and will let it drop. First, I experience a short quick descent to the level where the air still contained in the upper part of the sled (“the lift bag”) slows it down. The first drop is smoothed down by a bungy system so that the shock is not too brutal, which would force some air out of my lungs – the last thing we want to start with! Stelias then helps the sled go past that point and I then descend to a depth of 16 meters, the sled still attached to the safety line. At 16 meters, I exhale into the Equex bottle and then reverse pack again until there’s zip left into my lungs.

Once ready, I give Stelias the signal to release the safety line and close the valve at the top of the sled which allows the air to flow out for positioning. He then pulls the quick release carabiner to allow the real descent to start and I start dropping down. During the descent, I pull air sip by sip out of the Equex to equalize as I descend. This requires outmost control in terms of inhaling efforts as equalizing on such a dive is something that goes totally over the edge and is the key to a successful dive. I have to try and prevent from breaking the descent, as this may induce some confusion for the surface team who needs to work on a second-tight timing. If they think I have already reached the bottom before I actually do, they have to perform their task and start the winch which normally only serves as a back-up. Should this happen, as it did in training, the confusion results in an early abort of the dive and a failure of the attempt.

The deeper I get, the more harder it gets to equalize and I might have to stop a couple times to do that. So the most critical part of the whole process is really to balance between the amount of air contained in the Equex, the volume required to equalize my airspaces in order to prevent an injury, and maintaing the speed of descent to stick with the planned runtime and not confuse the surface team. At some point, the Equex bottle will be totally empty of air – or totally full of water, depending on what your philosophy is: I personally consider it empty, as there is no more air inside and you can’t really equalize airspaces with water! Basically, once I get salt water into my mouth instead of air, I know the Equex is empty and i’ve got nothing left to equalize further. I then spit the Equex tube out of my mouth and further compensate with the bit of air left in my mouth. At this stage, all going well, I’m deep enough to achieve a couple more equalizations: even though the ambient pressure keeps increasing, the variations in pressure are not as important down there as they are closer to the surface. This normally allows me to keep on going a bit further down, probably twenty to thirty meters more from that point.

According to plans, that is when I reach the bottom and the sled hits the end of the line, causing the air valves connected to the two tanks inside the sled to open automatically and start releasing air into the upper part of the sled which acts as a lift bag to pull the sled back up to the surface. Should I need to stop before reaching the bottom, then I have the option to open the valves manually, which is not my favorite scenario even though we’ve also covered that many times in training. The most difficult part of that procedure is for me top pull the lever, which has to be really hard in order to prevent an accidental opening of the valves during the descent. The downside is that this procedure requires a tremendous effort for me to counter the incredible resistance at this depth and any effort at this stage burns a huge amount of energy, hence, also lots of the precious oxygen left in my vital organs. Both physiologically and mentally, this would be extremely stressful on top of the wasted energy and oxygen, it also means part of my mind starts wondering if we eventually missed the record. So, all going well, everything works out as designed, I reach the bottom and start going up with no extra effort. There comes the next difficulty as the ascend speed is so high that my body is shaking all over and it requires outmost concentration to feel at which depth to start slowing down the ascent. The water flow is so strong that I have a hard time feeling the brakes handle which induces again stress and burning more precious oxygen.

The sled finally has to be stopped at around 10 meters so I have time to get out of it smoothly, event though I’m prepared to eject as well if needed. The key point there is to be able to swim up very slowly for the last few meters, under surveillance of Kostas, so as not to allow the residual nitrogen in my body to cause a decompression accident. During these last few meters, I will try to already remove my goggles and nose clip in order to anticipate on the surface protocol: this way, after surfacing I only need to give an okay signal and not blackout for another 30 seconds for the dive to be validated. At this point, the goal has been reached and we have a record! And as soon as this is confirmed, I’ll grab the oxygen regulator and drop back down to 10 meters for an extended decompression, always under supervision of my safety freedivers and the imaging team who is on scuba. Finally, later that day, despite the tiredness, trust me that we’re going to have great party altogether!!!”

Be honest: did you just hold your breath while reading this? Well, what more is there to say for today as the sun sets down on the permanent postcard landscape of Santorin? Tomorrow, we’ll also give you an insight into the emergency plan we have set-up here. We belong to those who believe that rain is guaranteed if you don’t have an umbrella. So we’ve assembled a serious chain to face any emergency as well: knowing that every scenario has been envisioned and anticipated is the safest way to ensure that we only experience the best case scenario: a successful dive, a safe return to the surface and a new world record for Herb. Nothing is left to chance: the only thing which matches the dangers faced by Herbert is the level of risk management implemented throughout this project.

Back tomorrow. Don’t hold your breath yet, we still, have a bit more to tell before to go diving!

www.herbertnitsch.com | www.diveandphoto.net