profile Pascal Bernabé A conversation with diver for the free dive even before that event, technical diver and champions, Pipin Ferraras we were working together and , so while they trained for depth record break- there are several fac- the record attempt. For er, Pascal Bernabé. tors behind it. It was also a cave diver like me, it a matter of pushing the was something very new Pascal Bernabé has just frontiers. It was exciting to and different and also held a press conference go places where nobody kind of a dream coming at the Moscow dive show had ever been before. It true because of the cult answering questions from wasn’t out of competitive movie, The Big Blue. Before an enthusiastic audience reasons, in order to be the I went to see that movie, I about his 330 meter record best, go the deepest, or had never dived. But after dive. The soft spoken anything like that. I did it I watched it, I wanted to Frenchman seems relieved just for my own sake. experience the same sen- to slip out of the uncom- sations and kinds of chal- fortable limelight on the For the exploration? lenges. I then got to meet stage. Having escaped Yes, and for fun—although Pipin, and we developed the massive attention for that record dive did not a very good relationship a while, he grabs a chair leave all that much room that has lasted to this day. beside me, and we begin for having fun—and to to converse about the be the only one, besides So, it was a mix of sport meaning of it all. commercial or military and challenge? divers, that has ventured Why do you dive so deep? that deep on scuba. You can say that, and it Is it for seeking adventure, was very different from exploration, or developing But working as a safety . Once, I was equipment? diver for Pipin Ferraras and also a coal diver in Tunisia. Andrey Mestre is some- So, I have had a lot of dif- Actually, it is about all thing completely different. ferent experiences. But of those good reasons. a core issue has always Above all, I am a cave This goes back a while. been that I never wanted and wreck explorer, and it The deepest free dives at to be a Kamikaze diver was because of the caves that time were Pipin’s and either. I tried to make the that I started diving deep- Mestre’s dives to 170m. deepest parts, where the er and deeper. I also hap- It took place off Cabo diver is subjected to HPNS pened to work as a safety san Lucas in Mexico. But and everything, the safest

A talk with

Text edited by Peter Symes Photos courtesy of Pascal Bernabé A Cool Teacher Peter Symes and Andrey Bizyukin 41 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Bernabé Who are Franscisco profile “Pipin” Ferreras & there is like a third of a kilometre equipment and plenty Andrey Mestre? back to the surface”? of tanks. It should also be mentioned that I Ferreras was born on the My first sensation was fear. This is keep fit through a lot northern coast of Cuba, and normal experience also on cave of physical exercis- began to practice free-diving dives. I naturally also had some ing like running, biking at the age of five. “Pipin” was stress before the dive, but soon all and swimming. I also use his nickname from childhood. these emotions get replaced by relaxation techniques and Little is known about Ferreras’ . However, when, on visualisations. life in Cuba before his freediv- the bottom, one of my instruments, ing career. From the late 1980s imploded, the fear came rushing It depends Can ‘normal’ recreational and onward, he made a name back, because I became afraid on the type scuba divers and holiday makers for himself in the so-called that I was about to suffer an acci- of dive and learn anything from your insights “no-limits” discipline of freediv- dent. Aside from that, you become what kind of challenges and experiences. Would being ing where he established his very focused on what is at stake. I lie ahead. The year before more fit and eating right give the first known world record of did have a few tremors during the the 330 meter dive was one long average diver a much better div- 112 meters (367 feet) depth in dive, but it wasn’t preparation. One month prior, I ing experience do you think? November 1989. Shortly here- much. went to 150 meters inside a cave, after, he defected to Italy and possible. I brought lots of gas, What do you perceive when which was very challenging, and The idea should always later migrated to Florida, United much more than was really you are down there? Do you How do you while it was a completely different be to make every dive, States. Through the 1990s, he es- necessary. I did rapid descents, feel clear in your head? Do mentally pre- type of dive, it helped in the overall regardless of depth, the tablished a long series of world but very slow ascents. For my you perceive that you are pare to go so mental training. safest and best possible experi- records, often in close rivalry first deep dives, I brought an 330 meters deep? ence by all possible means. Every with Italian . incredible amount of tanks. down and So, it is essentially all your training dive comes with some level of risk. go, “Oh, and getting acquainted with your So, be fit and use the best pos- In 1996, he met French-born equipment that instills confidence sible equipment you can afford. Mexican-national Audrey before a deep dive? In my case, I applied these prin- Mestre who turned out to be a ciples to move my limits. But, in natural freediver herself. In 1999, I also try to get the best possible essence, there is no difference. they married, and quickly the two became a regular record- breaking couple in the sport of , dividing men and women’s records between them.

On 12 October 2002, Mestre died in an attempt to break the no-limits world record (this attempt was a bid to break both the men’s and women’s record) in a setup that was widely criticized within freediv- ing circles. Much of the criti- cism went to Ferreras who had X-RAY MAG’s organized all of his and Mestre’s Russian editor, record attempts for years. ■ Andrey Byzuikin, Source: Wikipedia assists Pascal Bernabe with translations during X-RAY MAG’s publisher the Russian dive Peter Symes with expo Pascal Bernabe 42 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED profile Bernabé

All dives should be made as safe as but we really don’t have so many occurrences of prob- possible. options to choose from. At a cer- lems and cases of tain depth, you just need so many DCI seemed to spike. What other knowledge do we gain tanks. Also HPNS starts to become from deep dives? Do we learn an issue, which you will then have So, pretty much all the something new about physiology or to find ways to manage. I have also factors, from equip- technology. taken a closer look into dive pro- ment, physiology, men- files and experiences of other deep tal aspects, seem to The circumstances of a dive seem divers such as the late , change at that same to change significantly around the , etc., and from the point? 250 meter mark. Down to this, every- logged stats. It seemed to me, once thing usually feels okay to me. dives went past the 250m mark, the Yes. It does not feel extreme Is there something until like a barrier at that 220-230 particular depth? meters. But And why 250m? after that, you have the At this point, there sensation of is a huge increase pushing limits in in the amount of every aspect and equipment needed. being in a game of What’s HPNS? Even if you dive Russian Roulette. , also if High nervous syndrome (HPNS) is you have a double How do you feel after a neurological disturbance that may , it is my such an experience? ally result fom a high-pressure opinion that you also Do you get the sense not quite mixture of helium and —such need open circuit. of having achieved or sure myself as as or —under high pressure At these extreme conquered something? to why I wanted to for an extended amount of time, putting depths, the breath- It is funny, because make that dive. It was only much a physiological limit on deep technical dives. ing performance of after all my biggest later that I started appreciating rebreathers can be cave dives, I just felt the dive more, and that was for “Helium tremors” were first described in the early 1960’s by quite poor. happy. During the a number of other reasons, too. It among others, Royal Navy physiologist, Peter B. Bennett, stages, I opened doors for me. It helped in who later founded the . The term They get hard to felt elated and relieved getting sponsors, which is not very high pressure nervous syndrome was first used by Brauer breathe? of stress. However, easy to get when you are a cave to describe the combined symptoms of tremors, electro- You might recall after the getting out of diver, as many sponsors do not encephalography (EEG) changes, and somnolence that the sad accident the water, I would also want to get into that area. Having appeared during a 1,189 foot chamber dive in Marseilles. that happened to feel exhausted, have set that record has given me new David Shaw in the headaches and feel a opportunities, for example, to do Symptoms of HPNS include tremors, visual disturbances, cave of Boesmangat bit empty. As a cave master classes and get equipment nausea and dizziness, and decreased mental perform- in South Africa a explorer, your purpose for my next projects. ance. It is not likely that HPNS can be prevented entirely, couple of years is not to break records, but there are effective methods to delay or change the ago (see X-RAY so when someone tells What would you want to do with development of the symptoms. Slow rates of compression, MAG issue and the me that the record fame, now that you got the recog- or adding stops on the ascent, have been found to prevent YouTube video on dive was sort of a stu- nition? large initial decrements in performance. Also, the levels of our X-RAY MAG pid thing to do, I can nitrogen or hydrogen in the gas mix seem to play a role in website). This was understand where that Pretty much the same. Explore preventing the onset of HPNS. The susceptibility of divers to a tragic example, comes from. I am actu- caves and wrecks. There are some HPNS depends on the individual. ■

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good wrecks in the Mediterranean that I can now explore, since I have now found a sponsor for a rebreather and other equipment. I like caves the most, but I would also like to explore the wreck of Kirk Pride that rests at a depth 238 meters off Grand Cayman. It is deep, but the conditions there a good. It will, however, require a lot of equip- ment. I also want to do a number of projects with Jim Bowden, the deepest cave diver and dive legend.

How do you define which risk levels are acceptable, and how do you The movie, Big Blue (1988) by French manage risks? director Luc Besson, has inspired a lot of divers. While it became a cult I am not sure, movie Europe, the film was a com- that just because mercial failure in North America you dive deeper or penetrate fur- bringing backups. Experience, ther into a cave, good planning, and organisation that your risks are are also essential contributions necessarily great- towards reducing risk. er, or you are Make sure that you exercise forced to accept enough. That does not necessar- higher risks. I ily mean twice a day, but at least have had friends make sure you have the sufficient that died unnec- fitness for the dives you plan to essarily, because do. they did quite stupid dives. They What are the best experiences didn’t have to diving has given you? die. If you take a closer look at some of the decom- into it and make some choices. I have many good ones, in many pression software that is around, You can go on an extreme dive different areas—especially with you will see that you can choose and experience no problems, cave diving. It is not the biggest conservatism and risk levels for and then have an accident on dive projects, but the ones where i.e DCI. You can’t completely a shallow dive just because you everything just works perfectly. remove all risk, but you can mini- didn’t think. Discovering a 50 or 100 meter mize it to an acceptably low level. As regards to equipment, it gallery in a virgin cave ranks up So, you have to put some thought can fail, but you reduce risk by there. After such an experience, I

44 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED profile Bernabé can walk on clouds for a couple is not a sport where one should mal recreational dives not going of months. I also appreciate all push at all. It is about enjoyment under 40m. We had a marvellous the great people that I have met and having a good time. time, where we relaxed and were through diving, and the friend- able to enjoy a couple of beers ships I have made. I value the My general advice to all divers is in the company of good friends conversations we have had and to enjoy the experiences that div- after the dives. the opinions I have heard. The ing can give you and don’t make coral diving I did in Tunisia was matters too complicated or seri- Enjoy it! ■ in a place where there waas ous. Last year, I spent time with nobody else around, and the my team doing a series of nor- Pascal Bernabés latest underwater mountains there title—so far, just in French were of magnificent beauty. Diving with Pipin and Audrey was also special. I like people.

So, you like teaching, too?

My main profession is actually being a primary school teacher. So, yes, I like it. I like teaching cave diving, too. There is nothing like seeing the happy expressions on the faces of your students after they have completed a cave dive.

What do you tell your pupils in the school where you teach? Do you tell them about all your exploits and adventures?

They know already. They bring me magazine articles about it. But they are very natural about it. I can sense a little admiration, but they also make jokes about it.

It must be a cool thing to have a teacher who is a famous diver and record breaker. Do you encourage the kids to take up diving?

Not at all. They are too young and will have to arrive at mak- ing their own decision and only much later. I have an 11-year-old daughter myself. She has tried diving a couple of times, and if she wants to pursue it, it’s up to her. I don’t want to push her. It

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