The Island School was honored to welcome William and Brittany Trubridge to Cape Eleuthera. William is the current world record holder for unassisted freedive to 100 meters or 328 feet. He and his wife Brittany, who is an accomplished yoga instructor, spent three days sharing their skill and passion with our larger community. Students and faculty were able to receive instruction in how to maximize their breathing and flexibility and participate on several freediving expeditions to nearby reefs. In the evening William gave a presentation with some background on his journey to become the best in the world.
The audience watched with amazement as he shared a video of his record dive, on a single breath using only his hands and feet (no fins) he went down into Dean’s Blue Hole. The deepest of all the subterranean caverns across the Bahama Banks, Dean’s Blue Hole is located on Long Island in the Southern Bahamas, 200 miles south of Eleuthera. His dive took a total of four minutes and eight seconds and the audience erupted in applause as he successfully showed the judges the tab that he carried back up from the darkness.
Great questions from the students allowed William to share the mental and physical challenges that he endured during this historic dive. It is inspiring to meet someone so humble and at the same time focused and determined to be the best in the world. His sharing left us all with important life long lessons—to follow your passion and do what makes you happy and know that mentally some of the most challenging days can turn into the most rewarding. William and Brittany are off to Europe on a tour that will allow them to share with other communities. Their goal is to build a training center on Long Island where they can both teach and help others push beyond personal limits and gain confidence for life.
Great news is that we plan to stay in touch and possibly host a course here at Cape Eleuthera. We have also offered to help in any way that we can as they work to design a sustainable campus on Long Island. Check out their current web site for more information http://www.verticalblue.net/