Freediver Rubidge

KAROO NEWS - Gletwyn Rubidge (54), our very own national record holder in freediving, has set three new national freediving records in the "free immersion"- and "bi-fin" discipline in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt during the AIDA freediving world cup in May.

Rubidge, born and bred in Graaff-Reinet, set two of these records in the "free immersion" discipline (83m and 88m respectively) and one in the bi-fin discipline (85m).

In the "free immersion" discipline, he dived to a depth of 83m in just two minutes and 53 seconds.

"These dives typically take around two and a half to three minutes to complete," says Rubidge. During this discipline, a diver is fastened to a vertical line and then attempts to reach a target depth by pulling down and up - in one single breath without fins.

The diver must complete this wearing the same weights descending and ascending from the depths of the ocean. Quite ironic if you take into consideration that Rubidge was raised in the arid Gem of the Karoo - a good three hours from the nearest beach.

The world cup is organised by the Freediving World Apnea Center in Sharm El Sheikh (www.freedivingworldcup.com) and takes place three times a year.

Rubidge says the water in the Red Sea has a 40m visibility and is much warmer than the icy, dark and challenging waters that lap Gqerberha. Rubidge laughs when he tells you he enjoyed sport at school level, but never made provincials.

In 1987, after matriculating from Union High, he attended PE Technicon (now Nelson Mandela University) and studied analytical chemistry.

"The reason why I went to study science was because of my teacher, Padre Dixon, way back in the 80s, he inspired me so much. I now do the same in my free time and do chemistry shows, to show school kids the magic of chemistry - I load my bakkie with a pile of experiments and go and make a few explosions and chemical reactions," he says. Today he has a doctorate in analytical chemistry and has been a lecturer at his alma mater since 1991 when he completed his degree.

In his free time, he discovered his love for spearfishing which led him to represent South Africa in the EURO Africa Qualifiers in 2008.

Rubidge later got bored of spearfishing and after watching the legendary movie The Big Blue, he was inspired to explore the depths of freediving.

In 2014 he participated in his first competition in Cape Town, where he set a new South African record, but was unfortunately disqualified because he didn't execute the dive correctly at the end. This didn't set him back and in 2016 he started to compete in Gqerberha.

Rubidge is at the top of his game and looking forward to breaking more records in the future.

Unfortunately, during this year's competition in Egypt, Rubidge received news that his eldest son has been seriously injured in a vehicle accident, and due to the shock and trauma, he decided to withdraw on the last day of the competition and returned to South Africa on Tuesday 23 May to be with his wife and family. He did however dive twice after his son's car crash and managed to set the new record of 85m in the bi-fin discipline. "The warmup before the dive was very challenging and only minutes before the official dive, I calmed down enough to be super focused during the dive, which I dedicated to his recovery.

"I feel good about my achievements, I have achieved 75% of what I came here for, taking home three out of the four records I came for."

Graaff-Reinet Advertiser and all the town's residents are proud of our home boy's achievements and pray for a full recovery for his son.

Visit Glentuyn Rubidge on facebook to see him in action.

Rubidge ascending from 85 meters to complete his freediving record with the "bi-fin" discipline.

From left is Daniel Cameron Becker, Gletwyn Rubidge and Tamsyn Signe. Becker and Signe are fellow South Africans who performed superbly as safety divers in the competition. The safety divers swim up with competitors in the top 40m to ensure that the competitor safely arrives at the surface. Sometimes the competitors may be diving close to their maximum capacity and on very rare occasions the safety divers swim them to the surface.