Sara Campbell- World Champion Freediver To Attempt Dangerous New Dive

4 months ago 29th Feb 12:32

One of Britain’s most successful athletes, Sara Campbell, who created a sensation at the end of 2007 by setting three World Records within 48 hours just nine months after starting the extreme sport of freediving, will exclusively announce at the London International Dive Show (LIDS, 8/9 March, ExCeL, London) that she will this year attempt to become the first woman ever to swim the The Arch in Dahab’s Blue Hole using just a monofin for propulsion.

The Arch is famous among scuba divers as one of the most exciting and challenging dives in the Red Sea. Reaching from the bottom of the Blue Hole at 100 metres, it is a huge archway, or tunnel, connecting the Blue Hole with the open ocean. The top of The Arch is 55 metres below the surface of the sea, and the shortest passageway through to the other side is about 35 metres.

Sara will attempt to be the first woman in the world to swim through totally unassisted, using only her monofin for propulsion. And on one breath. Sara said: “It will be a huge challenge for me. The depth is obviously no problem, but maintaining focus on the swim-through, when I know there is absolutely no way back to the surface for over 35 metres, will be extremely tough. It is very dangerous and no other woman has ever attempted to do this dive.”

Sara will require a large safety team for this attempt, consisting of technical divers who are able to wait for her at over 50 metres, and safety freedivers who will meet her at 30m on the outside of The Arch to bring her to the surface immediately should anything go wrong. The whole attempt will be filmed for television, as it will be one of the most exciting freediving stunts of the year.

The Arch has been conquered by a number of male freedivers over the past few years, and last year both Will Winram and Will Trubridge completed the dive swimming breast-stroke with no fins. Russian Nathalia Molchanova, who had three of her World Records snatched from her by Sara last year and lost out to her again at the World Championships, has completed The Arch in Variable Weight – using a sled to descend and then swimming through and up with the monofin. As the descent is one of the most physically challenging parts, this makes the dive much easier.

Sara dives not only because she finds it such a rewarding and challenging sport, but also because her position as the world’s top female freediver puts her in a unique position to make a real difference in areas that matter to her, such as the environment: “Since moving to Dahab, the beauty of the landscape, both mountains and sea, have not diminished for me in the slightest – I still have my breath taken away when I sit on the beach and watch the sun set on Saudi. However, I am equally horrified by the waste and rubbish that litters this unique environment.”

Working as an Ambassador for the BLUE Climate and Oceans Project, an initiative of Sport Environment Ltd, Sara aims to use her attempt to freedive The Arch, to make people aware of the environmental issues in Dahab, and to motivate and stimulate change. One of the main problems is drinking water – Dahab residents do not have the luxury of clean tap water, and therefore rely solely on bottled water, consuming around two 1.5 litre bottles a day. A programme to encourage residents to use larger 20Litre bottles and eco friendly shopping bags would greatly cut down the amount of plastic pollution affecting Dahab’s beautiful underwater world and desert landscapes.

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