MASTER OF BREATH: DR GLETWYN RUBIDGE

It’s the day of the infinity depth games, a free-diving competition in larnaca, cyprus. you’ve travelled abroad and are ready to get into the zone. the only problem is that you’re late, your luggage is nowhere to be seen, and you don’t have your equipment. while many would surrender, dr gletwyn rubidge, a south african chemistry lecturer who doubles up as an accomplished athlete, took to the water with nothing but a speedo – and came out victorious.

Rather than relying on breathing apparatus such as scuba equipment, free-diving relies on mastering the art of holding your breath. From having travelled the world extensively with this sport, to being awarded South African colours for both freediving and spearfishing, and breaking three South African records at the international competition in Cyprus, Dr Rubidge is an unstoppable force who overcomes challenges with nothing but breath and the wit of a chemistry mega-brain.

InFlight: Please tell us a bit more about yourself.

Gletwyn Rubidge (GR): I am an adventure-loving 50-year-old. I was brought up in the Karoo region near Graaff-Reinet where I grew up on a farm as one of a twin. It was a fantastic time – freedom and lots of adventure for young boys, exploring the big wide-open spaces, often with my pet dog and a rifle over my shoulder.

I am married to Chevonne Bishop and have four kids aged 10, 13, 16 and 26. After school, I studied my favourite hobby: chemistry. My occupation is lecturing and researching analytical and environmental chemistry at Nelson Mandela University [in Port Elizabeth]. Another component of my job is doing science shows for school children with the emphasis on making science more interesting and fun for both scholars and teachers.

InFlight: Chemistry or diving – which comes first?

GR: Well, that’s a tough one. Chemistry was the first to emerge. This came about when I was only five years old. For our enter tainment, my dad often burned some of the gunpowder that was used for blasting on our farm. However, the sad day when he burned the last lump was when my chemistry career started. My twin and I vowed we would make our own gunpowder. It took some years of wading through the Encyclopaedia Britannica and multiple failed recipes before we finally managed. By then, I was dead set on chemistry as a career.

The diving only arrived a few years later when we swam in a water reservoir on the farm and this, combined with seeing a movie about a submarine, saw us boys deciding to build our own submarine. Fortunately, my parents stopped this adventure – or we would have surely drowned ourselves. Currently, there is a close rivalry between chemistry and diving – either one can drag me away from normal existence to my passion zone.

InFlight: What are the dangers of free-diving, and how do you mitigate them?

GR: Since free-diving is a newish sport, it is still evolving, and during such evolution, the rules of the game are established and adjusted to make the sport safe.The obvious issue is to run out of air – blacking out and possible death are the end results. So, the interesting aspect about the sport is that we need to find out where the limits lie.

This cannot be determined accurately by theory alone, because we are all different and our ability to operate on one breath varies depending on many factors such as diet, fitness, state of health, technique in the water, skill level, equipment, water conditions and even altitude, which influences the amount of oxygen in the air. So, most importantly, the free-diver has to get some education such as a free-dive course during which all the dangers are covered, as well as how to mitigate them.

You should advance to new depths, times or distances in small increments, and use a suitable wetsuit to keep you warm and protect you against sun and marine lifeforms that can sting or burn. If sharks are a perceived problem, then take a sharpened

broomstick or speargun – not to shoot the shark, but to fend them off should they come too close. Use a large, bright float to avoid collisions with boats or jet-skis, and dive with a competent person who can be your “lifeguard” should you need assistance. InFlight: Do you have any rituals before diving?

GR: I will often carbo-load two days before the event and may do some stretching or physical yoga for relaxation about 45 minutes before diving. On the day, I drink the juice of two large lemons in a cup of water, and then I do two to four warm-up dives in which I exhale most of my air before descending to a depth of about 10 to 18 m.Then I relax by listening to music if conditions allow for it.This gets me in the zone about 15 to 20 minutes before the planned deep dive.

InFlight: What is your favourite diving destination, and why?

GR: All destinations have their pros and cons. I like Dahab, Sharm El-Sheikh (near the Red Sea), Mozambique, the Azores, Mauritius, Bali and Cyprus. Though I often complain about the diving conditions in Port Elizabeth (PE), it is my home water and with its inconsistent conditions, it makes us South African divers tough. InFlight: Does your knowledge of chemistry help you in any way to excel in free-diving?

GR: Chemistry and science knowledge certainly helps. One can study the effect of the many variables that influence success in a fairly precise manner to see what works and what does not.Also, a knowledge of chemistry helps to understand what is happening in our physiology. Food and supplement labels make much more sense [with this knowledge]. One simple example is knowing that the bitter polyphenols in green tea can leach out some iron from our systems, so if I drink a lot of green tea, I take iron supplements. InFlight: What lessons have you learnt from spending so much time underwater?

GR: As my dive buddy Fanus Gerber says, “You won’t know if you don’t go!” Don’t give up too soon – we are often knocking on the door of success but we tend to quit just a bit early, and miss out on the critical final few training sessions or dives that you need to succeed.

Perhaps, most importantly, I have learned that we humans are damaging the marine environment through our activities – most particularly through our plastic products and plastic waste. In my time at sea I have assisted in some cleaning up of plastic and ropes, and freeing entangled animals such as eels, tur tles and even a humpback whale that was tangled in ropes and floats from a deep-water cray-fishing operation. A dive buddy, Mark Jackson, and I cut free this entangled whale with just our wits and a small paring knife. From this encounter, I have learned that as individuals, we can make a difference.

InFlight: Now that you have broken a number of world records, what’s next?

GR: I may have broken the records but the glory fades fast. It gives way to updated goals. Next, I will break the records further. I achieved a depth of 90 m at the Infinity Depth Games in Cyprus and I would like to reach the magical 100 m mark.There are ten disciplines in free-diving, so I will also seek to increase my skills in each. One other goal is to explore diving under ice without a wetsuit.