AFA Depth Nationals 2023

Camotes, Phillipines. 30 August-5 September, 2023.

The Australian Freediving Association is very excited to announce that the depth national championships will once again return to our competition schedule. We are very pleased to be partnering with Camotes Freediving.

There will be four days of competition (31 August-4 September) with 2nd of September being a rest day and the 5th of September being held in reserve in case of poor conditions. Athletes will be required to attend rego and a pre-competition briefing on 30th of August.

This will be a World Record status competition with a maximum depth of 150m.

The AFA will also be running an AIDA Pool & Depth Judge course before the event details further down.

Competition format

The competition will be an AFA sanctioned competition, registered with AIDA International, and run under AIDA rules. There will be four competition days. Overall standings will be determined by adding points from each discipline (points will be allocated as per the AIDA rules, which is 1 point per metre of depth, less any penalties). The Australian women’s and men’s champions will be the Australian female and Australian male athletes, respectively, with the most number of points.

Athletes may choose to do any depth discipline on any day, and therefore may choose to do one discipline more than once, however, only the best result in a given discipline will count towards the athlete’s overall points tally.

Athlete in-list

Registration, fees, and withdrawal policy

The number of athletes is limited to 30. All athletes must have AFA membership.

Registration for Australian athletes and Australian residents who must be members of the AFA is now open till the 13th of May.  Current AFA members can also register after 13th May.

Registration for all other athletes will open on the 14th May, unless all spaces are sold out prior. (Note: Australian citizens and Australian residents must be full financial members of the AFA; non-citizens/residents may pay $25 to obtain a temporary competition membership)

The competition fee is AU$650. Full payment is required to confirm your place in the competition. Withdrawal before the competition will result in forfeiture of 90% of the competition fee.

Cancellation policy: If the competition can’t go ahead due to COVID-19 or if an athlete can’t attend due to COVID-19 there will be a full refund of the entry fees.

Registration Registration is now open. Click here to register

Competition fees include:

• Entry to the 2023 Australian Depth National Championship,
• Boat transport between beach and the diving platform,
• Post dive O2,
• On-site first aid personnel,
• AIDA fees and entry into the AIDA ranking system, and
• A competition T-shirt (we may choose to change this to a different merchandise item without notice)

Competition fees do not include:

• Accommodation,
• Transport to/from Camotes,
• Medical and evacuation insurance or expenses,
• Meals,
• Pre-competition training, and
• Drinks at the closing ceremony on 4 September (or 5 September, if there are delays due to conditions).

The competition is open to athletes who are 18 years and older.

Limitation on announcements

The AFA will be following the AIDA guidelines for the limitation of announcements (see rule 5.2.1 of the AIDA competition rules). At the athlete briefing on the 30th of August, athletes will be required to certify their maximum depth in competition or training for each discipline in the prior three months. Athletes will be limited to announcements that are within 5m of these depths. In the instance that an athlete has not done a performance in a discipline in the preceding three months, the announcement will be limited to 50% of the athlete’s maximum performance in the AIDA ranking database.

Required documents

At the athlete briefing on the 30th of August, athletes will be required to present the following paperwork:

• A signed “medical certificate of non contraindication to freediving” written in English (see rule 4.1.3.3). The certificate must be signed and dated by a medical doctor. It may not be older than one year, and an athlete may not sign their own certificate. Furthermore, the contact details of the doctor must be present on the form. AIDA No longer has set medical forms. The last AIDA medical form may be downloaded here. The previous AIDA medical form may be downloaded here.
• Passport (or national identity card) of the nationality the athlete is competing as.
• Each athlete will be required to certify their maximum depth in each discipline that they have done in training or competition in the preceding three months (see above section on limitation of announcements).

Athletes must bring their lanyards to the pre-competition briefing on the 30th of August for inspection and testing by the judges. Athletes must use an AIDA compliant lanyard in all competition dives (including warm up dives) and pre-competition training.

Athletes must obtain their own medical and evacuation insurance.

Official competition hotel

There will be no official competition hotel for this year’s AFA Depth Nationals.

For information on options for accomodation you can check the Camotes Freediving website here

Pre-competition training

Camotes Freediving will be offering discounted pre-competition training and coaching to all athletes. All arrangements for pre-competition training should be made directly with Camotes Freediving.

Pre-competition training options are;

Autonomous training on a buoy: 10$US per session per person : 1h30-1h45 in the water. 3 people maximum per buoy. Maximum depth 85m. Oxygen for decompression is charged 5$ per session per person (10 min at the surface).

Training on a buoy with a safety/coach: 35$US per session per person: 1h30-1h45 in the water. 3 people maximum per buoy. Maximum depth 85m. Oxygen for decompression is included (10 min at the surface). Limited to instructor availability.

Training on the platform : warm up on buoys and then deep diving from the platform with the competition set up (available 10 days before the competition excluding the day just before the competition). 40$US per session. Oxygen for decompression is included (10 min at the surface).

Pre-competition judge course

The AFA will be running an AIDA Pool & Depth judge course in the lead up to the competition. The course will run 24-28 August. There will be morning training sessions and afternoon/evening judge course sessions to accomodate any athletes who wish to do the course.

Anyone completing the judge course who is not competing at the AFA Depth Nationals will have the chance to gain competition judging experience at the competition if they wish.

The course will be subsidised for AFA members.

Course fees are $375 AUD for AFA members and $450 AUD for non AFA members.

Register for the judge course here.