In the evening we gather in the pool and I meet most freedivers who are competing. It is like meeting old friends and I spend my time sitting and talking instead of what I wanted to do: train! I do try some statics and when I put on my mono and swim 50 metres my legs fill up with lactic acid after two strokes……I decide to go out of the pool and be a photographer for the rest of the time available.

Friday morning starts with a French breakfast and around 12:00 I get on the boat to train. Again it’s a beautiful day and the boat takes us to the blue water of Villefranche sur mer. Although I am one of around 15 freedivers there is more than enough space to train on one of the 4 available training ropes. After Cédric lowered the ropes I get in to the water. When I put my “troubled mind” under the surface I forget about the past 24 hours. The deep blue beneath my fins is what I missed while training in the Netherlands , it feels like home though and I enjoy the few dives I make. My dives feel easy, although my legs are still very tired, my ears feel alright, I have more than enough air and it clears my mind when I dive!

Back on the boat I decide to announce 20 meters , only because I am scared that the tiredness in my legs will make it impossible to go deeper. I am a little disappointed because in Vancouver I reached 21 meters easy, and wanted to go deeper this time. Because this is only my second competition in constant weight I really want to bring up the tag instead of push my limits…..

At 17:00 we have to attend the athletes meeting because we have to perform according to a new set of rules. As of today I have to get use to the surface protocol, which is new in the rules, because I had been jugded 2 LMC’s at the World Championships (protested to both but got only 1 protest granted) in Vancouver I am certain this surface protocol will be helpful for me. Head of jury Luc Wider explains the new rule changes but it is hard to keep listening in this heat. Lucky for us Francois found a lot of pleasure in “keeping us wet” with a hose.......... Our patience is rewarded with a lot of pizza afterwards, and judging by the time it takes us to eat this we were all quite hungry!

It is around 6:30 when I hear an alarm clock in the next room, where Pim, my hotel-mate and one of the judges wakes of to start the day and leaves for the boat. My boat leaves at 14:45 so I have enough time to relax, read and take the bus to CIPA . At 13:00 Pim rings me to ask if I can come and take an earlier boat, but although I hurry, the bus just leaves when I arrive. I take the next bus, but at CIPA I hear that the last boat left at 13:45…….bad luck again! Hélène (a very kind lady volunteer of the organisation) sees my sitting with my backpack, disappointed not to be able to compete, and arranges a boat. Within 10 minutes I have my suit on and I am on the boat to Villefranche….now everything will go according to plan I hope and wish…….I have a lot of time before my OT so I sit at the boat and relax. At 15:45 it is my official top and I am at the line trying to keep my head above the water. I relax, take a few breaths and hear Cédric tell me he will be my coach, that news makes me feel more at ease, moreover because the sea is choppy and I can use a coach! At OT it felt like the biggest wave in Villefranche hit me and because I had my legs wrapped around the rope to keep above water in my preparation, my duck-dive must have been really amusing to watch. After the competition I heard there were even people rating all duck-dives, unfortunately this was not something you could win a prize for. If that were the case, I would surely have won!!

On Sunday morning we meet in the olympic 50 metre pool in Nice for the pool competition. I think due to all the bad luck in the last few days my preparation was rushed and at OT (10:00) I was just finished. I still managed to do 3:31 which was not too bad and my dynamic ended after 64 meters . Not enough to be satisfied about but I enjoyed the rest of the day among my friends, and forgot about my performances.

Sunday evening ended traditionally with Kebab in old Nice and salsa at the boulevard. Pim, Cédric and Guillaume tried some salsa taught by Gaby and Ruth, the rest just had some drinks and watched the guys doing their best to salsa.

Monday unfortunately I had to leave again……with a little heartache……Nice is a beautiful city, the competition was very well organised, I met a lot of old and new friends and enjoyed the weather! Although I had some bad luck, I hope I can return in 2006 and compete again……

Susan Kluytmans, The Netherlands