40-year-old Ian Whitfield dived into the pool at David LLoyd Gym in Darenth Road, Dartford, UK, in his business suit after being told he had to serve three months notice to terminate his membership. He and his partner had missed the deadline with a few days, and faced with having to pay £300, he starting handing out leaflets at the gym, warning other people to be on the lookout. The manager took him into his office, told him they could discuss this, but since nothing happened, Withfield decided to throw himself into the swimming pool fully clothed. He drove home soaking wet, and then received a call telling him the notice period would be waived as long as he did not step foot in the gym again. “I’ve won the battle”, Whitfield said. Read This is Local London
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Christy Healy first man ever to swim 10 km underwater without surfacing
A 10 km underwater swim undertaken by 40-year-old Irishman Christy Healy last month has now been confirmed as a world first by the Guinness Book of Records, and also raised over €14,000 for the Share a Dream Foundation for terminally ill children. It took him 6 hours 21 minutes to make the record, on the second attempt after 3 weeks earlier having to abandon the dive after 9.4 km. Read the Irish Times here and here and see the Facebook page 10k Guinness world record dive attempt
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State Insurance – Swim Promo
Cool promo video here, I guess promoting the State NZ Ocean Swim Series
State Insurance – Swim Promo from Gemma Heyes on Vimeo.
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Sleep-swimming with the E-man
That video is gonna haunt him at his wedding ! :-)
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USA Swimming – Rome 2009
A trip back memory lane, courtesy of Bourbon Street Productions
USA Swimming – Rome from Bourbon Street Productions on Vimeo.
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Federica Pellegrini ‘dumped’ by coach Bonifacenti
Warning, my Italian is really lousy (/non-existant), but according to Taiwan News, Federica Pellegrini has split from her coach Federico Bonifacenti, third coach since the death of her former trainer and mentor Alberto Castagnetti in October 2009, adding a quote from her website: “Unfortunately it is not easy to work with me”. Google Translate quotes her for writing on her blog: “I was hoping not to be dumped in 2 weeks from the Europeans, but it’s ok”.
Picture courtesy of Simona Dalla Valle, cc by-nc-nd 2.0
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This much water !
This much water is enough for an infant to drown in. If you care, share!
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Man survives bushfire by going scuba-diving in a swimming pool
Now that is a twist on life saving that I didn’t expect: While others in the town of Margaret River, Western Australia fled their homes, Peter Fabrici got his wife to safety and then went back to fire-proof his home. Seeing houses in the distance going up in flames, he donned an oxygen tank and goggles, and jumped into his neighbour’s pool when they got too close. And apparently it worked, the fire didn’t destroy his home, and the scuba-gear saved him as well.
“Without the clear vision and without a clear source of oxygen, there’s no way of staying in a situation like that. But as it turned out, it all worked beautifully and the house is still there and I’m still alive.”
Via Nothing To Do With Arbroath (see video link if the one above doesn’t work)
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Orcas kill Great White, eat its liver, no news on the nice Chianti
Off the coast of San Francisco, whale-watchers witnessed a stunning act of nature as a killer whale rose to the water’s surface with a great white in its mouth and held it there for 15 minutes, upside-down in a state of tonic immobility, until the shark suffocated. It and another whale then ate the liver of the shark, before leaving the rest to the birds. Bad-ass! Read National Geographic Daily News