Welcome to the British Freediving Association Website

F reediving is the sport of breath hold diving in which the freediver descends under water on a single breath of air. Freediving includes leisure activities such as spearfishing and snorkelling as well as competitive disciplines: Constant Weight, Free Immersion, Variable Weight, No Limits, Dynamic and Static Apnea. Freediving has many benefits and can be compared to a martial art. It promotes increased lung capacity, deeper levels of awareness and perception and control over your body.

The British Freediving Association (BFA) is the UK governing body of the international freediving organization AIDA. We promote recreational and competitive freediving, ratify freediving records, and sponsor events for our members. The BFA also supports a growing network of affiliated freediving clubs throughout the UK.

If you are interested in learning to freedive safely, the BFA recommends that you take an AIDA freediving course. A list of AIDA instructors can be found in the education section of our website. Remember that you should never freedive without an experienced buddy with you at all times.

When you join the BFA you gain many benefits: a freediving log book, dive insurance, and the use of the BFA freediving platform at Vobster Quay in Somerset. To join, visit our membership section.

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Latest British Freediving News

22/10/2009: British Freediving Association AGM - Sunday 15th November 2009

This years BFA Annual General Meeting is being held at the Kingston & Elmbridge BSAC clubhouse in Tolworth, Surrey, on Sunday 15th November between 14.30 - 17.00hrs.

The Agenda will be published two weeks before the AGM and will be available on this website. If you wish to add items for discussion to the Agenda, please send a brief description of the topic via email to Emedia by Sunday 1st November 2009.



There are ample parking spaces for everyone. The bar will be serving tea, coffee and light refreshments. Warm clothing is usually advised as November can be frosty and the room does not heat up in the time we have to set up.

21/10/2009: Kingston Sports Achiever of the Year

Alan Barber was honoured by the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames for his exceptional achievements in Apnea, including his 202m Dynamic Record.

At the annual Sports awards, 15th October, Alan (who represented GBR in Denmark this year) was awarded Senior Sports Achiever by The Mayor of Kingston.

Marcus Greatwood (Alan's coach) was also nominated for his fantastic work within NoTanx Club. Marcus' plan to get Freediving recognised by the UK Sports Council takes another step forward.

07/10/2009: Come and try a NoTanx Yang Training session

21st October... Tooting Pool from 8:30 - 10:30 all comers welcome.Just £4 for 2hour session (£2 will go to the BFA and £2 will go the LifeBoats)

Whether you are a rec diver or a competative freediver, this training session will help shoulder and back flexibility, as well as develop the correct finning technique, without straining the muscles.

The correct muscles for Stereo and Monofinning are often overlooked and left untrained by premature use of full size fin(s). Our unique dry training exercises improve the dive reflexes and encourage the body to utilize them earlier in a dive, saving O2.

Bring running shoes and comfortable trousers for the dry session,Bring Mask & fins for the pool session (in case we run out!!!)

22/09/2009: NoTanx Comp - 26/09/2009

Places still available in the biggest UK comp. We have a total of 36 spaces in the NoTanx Comp on the 26th September in Vobster Quay (Only 32 are taken so far)...

1st Prize => Immersion Stream Watch
2nd Prize => Hi Tech Mono Fin Bag (NoTanx)
3rd Prize => Dive Torch (CamerasUnderwater)

The comp is open to any current BFA members....
Disciplines CW, CNF, UFC and FreeStyle
No minimum depth..... :o)

Please contact Mig for more info.

02/09/2009: Bahamas 2009 AIDA Freediving World Championships

The 2009 AIDA Depth Freediving World Championships, in Constant Weight with and without fins is taking place in Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island in the Bahamas this coming November/December. The official Registration and opening ceremony starts on Wednesday the 25th November and closes on the 5th December.

To enter you have to have achieved the minimum of 30mts CNF , 55mts CTW for women, and CNF 40mts and CWT 75mts for men. These need to be AIDA ranking dives after 27th November 2007.

Only athletes who have qualified as the criterion states above or who have been awarded wild-cards by AIDA International may register for the WC.

If you are interested in competing please send your request to chair@britishfreediving.org as an AIDA requirement states the BFA must ratify the individuals qualifications to the event organiser.

If you wish to apply to AIDA before September 6th a reduced fee of 695 USD will be accepted for the entry fee, thereafter it will cost 800 USD with the deadline date of application closing on October 4th.

To find out more about the competition or how to make payment for the event please view the official document by clicking here.

25/08/2009: New UK record!

The Richmond Freediving Club is pleased to announce a new UK record in the Womens Static Apnea discipline.

On Thursday 20th August 2009, at the AIDA individual indoor World Championships 2009, Aarhus Denmark, Georgina Miller completed a static breath hold of 6 minutes 4 seconds.

The new record beats the previous time of 5:46, set in May 2009, also by Georgina Miller.

Georgina has been competing for 2 years and trains at Pools on the Park Richmond, and at Fusion Leisure, Camberwell.

For more information on freediving visit Richmond Freediving Club

17/08/2009: British team selection for AIDA indoor Freediving World Championship 2009

The BFA is proud to announce the team selection for the indoor Freediving World Championships in Aarhus Denmark 2009. The Male captain for the event is Marcus Greatwood. The female captain is Liv Philip.The team members are:

Female UK Athletes 2009

Ruth Griffin

Liv Philip

Georgina Miller

Male UK Athletes 2009

Adrian Hamilton

Stuart Bond

Alan Barber

Martin Ashkenazy-Jones

20/07/2009: Saltfree Double Dip Results Update

The Saltfree Double Dip comp was a success. To find out more about the results please click here to find out more.

19/07/2009: The Laurie Comp Results

The NoTanx Laurie Comp '09 went off without a hitch... 21 Competitors gave us plenty of performances to judge, film and analyse! The winner (voted for by the other competitors) was Lucy.. Her day is blogged on YouTube.

She won an Immersion Dive Watch, "Well Done Lucy".In joint second Alan Barber and Sue White went away with brand new O'Neill Wetsuits...

Unfortunately some people made some silly mistakes leading to lost points and a couple of DQs.Kevin won the Boobie prize for the silliest mistake (A dip BEFORE official top.. and Coach Touch!), but even this wasn't a bad prize... the most expensive snorkel in the world supplied by Aquanaut Divers. All in all lots of smiles and fun.. and a big thank you to the Officials and Judges.

Keep an eye on the BFA site for the NoTanx Lake Comp in September....

10/07/2009: The Laurie Comp - 11th July 2009

The Laurie Comp is being held this Saturday 11th July at Tooting Leisure Centre. Looking like its going to be a good event, 20 competitors and lots of first timers (which is what it is all about).. All being run by volunteers from the NoTanx Club.

As always the winners will be voted for by the Competitors... 1st Prize is a Shinny New Immersion Dive Computer Other Prizes include DVD's, Masks, T-Shirts etc.

Everyone is welcome to come along and watch/help out from 2:30 til 9:30....

22/06/2009: Saltfree Double Dip - 18th - 19th July 2009

The BFA is proud to be sponsoring this years Saltfree Double Dip, the UK's freediving depth championships takes place over the 18 and 19 July at the National Diving and Activity Centre in Chepstow, near Bristol. Entries are welcome from athletes of all levels, from new graduates of the AIDA ** star course to those of you who have been competing for years. The maximum depth is 76m and there is no such thing as "too shallow"!


Saltfree Double Dip 2008 - Photography by Laura Storm

Athletes can choose to compete in two disciplines chosen from Constant Weight, Constant Weight No Fins and Free Immersion. The entry fee is £85.

For more information, to download the entry form and pay your entry fee - visit www.saltfreedoubledip.com.

If you have any questions or would like to come along in a capacity other than athlete please email sam@saltfreedivers.com. We still need safety divers, photographers, judges' assistants and the many other crew members that make these things happen.

21/06/2009: 3 New Womens Freediving National Records in One Day!

The BFA is pleased to announce that 3 new Women's National Records were set on Sunday 31st May at the 2nd Great Camberwell Breath Hold in Camberwell Pool, Central London. The Freediving pool competition, organised by athlete and UK record holder Liv Philip saw freedivers from all over the UK and the world, compete in static, dynamic and dynamic no-fins disciplines.

In the run up to the World Indoor Freediving Championships in Aarhus in Denmark in August, some of the athletes were using the event for valuable competition experience and rankings. Alongside them were many new athletes who were competing for the first time. Organiser Liv Philip says 'we wanted to create a competition with a different atmosphere that would be motivating and encouraging for athletes and give the as near perfect an environment as we could to help the atheltes stay relaxed and produce good performances'. The girls especially took full advantage of the calm atmosphere - reflected by the result of 3 New National records being set during the day.

The first record of the day went to Georgina Miller who did an excellent static breath hold of 5:46 putting, 11 seconds on Livs existing record, well deserved after some months concentrated training on this difficult discipline. The next record went to Mandy Buckley with a wonderful swim of 140m to set a new Dynamic-with-Fin record. Both athletes gaining their first National record and beating there male counterparts by some measure. The final record came right at the end of the day seeing Liv Philip break her own existing record and swim 106m dynamic-no-fins to gain her 8th National record in Freediving. 'I was very happy to do it as it was tough combining competing and organising - now Im looking forward to going home and sleeping!'

Camberwell Breath Hold 2009 - The three new national record holders

The overall Winners with combined scores from 2 disciplines were Georgina Miller for the Women and Chris Holmes for the men, who was competing for the first time in a national competition, completing a static of 4:51 and a nice dynamic of 133m. Other athletes in the overall placings were Barbara Jeschke from Germany experimenting after swappping onto monofin for the first time and Martin Ashkenazy-Jones with a first rate no-fins dive and PB of 104m taking him into 3rd place overall just behaind Alan Barber who had broken his Dynamic record the day before. There were over 15 pbs in competiton at the event.

Athletes can now try to transfer their pool skills to depth as one of the next ebents on the UK freediving calendar is 'SaltFree Double Dip' competition held at NDAC in Chepstow www.saltfreedivers.com . Athletes get to choose 2 freediving depth disciplines over two days.

The event was supported by Fusion Lifestyle, Diving Matrix, Eat Natural Bars and the British Freediving Association.

30/05/2009: NoTanx Comp

On May 30th NoTanx held a small comp...

The objectives were two fold...
1. The opportunity for some of UK top athletes to attain AIDA points.
2. To test the organisation for the NoTanx Laurie Comp in July.

Everyone had a thoroughly good time, and although there were only 8 competitors, 4 of them gained places on the National Team.

Alan Barber set a New UK Dynamic Record of 202m.(congratulations Alan)

Thank you to the NoTanx members for running the comp, MT, Steve G and Gad for judging and to Immersion.

20/05/2009: AIDA indoor Freediving World Championship 2009 - Aarhus Denmark

The BFA is happy to announce the next Freediving World Championship. There are 3 disciplines DYN, DNF and STA for male and female athletes, and three places in each discipline - that is 18 places max.

To find out more about the championship you can visit the official website by clicking here.

The BFA will choose athletes on the basis of their performance in competition in the last 12 months. Athletes who wish to compete representing the UK should fill in this form and send it to the Chair by June 1st.

Any statement in the form will be verified, with particular regard to performance in competition that should have been officially recorded.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further details, and get filling in the form.