Jim Lawless Breaks British Freediving Record

Jim Lawless , one of the most popular inspirational after dinner speakers , has broken the British Freediving Record.

He is the first Briton to dive deeper than 101m on a single breath. That’s slightly higher than the height of Big Ben with a London Bus and a London Taxi on top of it but beneath the ocean!

Jim claimed the National No Limits record in Sharm el Sheikh at the Only One Apnea Center.

Here’s Jim’s personal take on the experience, taken from his Taming Tigers blog:

“So, we managed to do it. And thank you so much for all of the emails, social media comments and financial donations to Sparks from around the world. Each and every one will be replied to over the next few days but with the press aftermath and the travel and with speaking commitments back in the UK this week, I have fallen behind a little.

“The last blog was written in Sharm El Sheikh the day after failing the dive on the first attempt (see “Don’t Swallow Your Mouthfill” below for a description of how that happened) and the morning before the successful dive. The battle was still raging between the Angels and the Tigers at that stage. After the blog was posted I spent two hours practicing Kundalini Yoga and then went to the sea. I warmed up in the water with my training parter and coach Andrea (a male Andrea – he’s Italian/Swiss) for about an hour and then got onto the sled. I dived to 60 and then 80 metres to test the corrections in technique that I had made. I still had a lot of air in my mouth at 80 so we went for it and won. I had a fair bit of air at 101m still (without packing) so things look good for the next depth.

“I will write about what happened in the sea and the dive itself over the next few days.

“It has been very peaceful since Sunday and the feeling has been one of gratitude and contentment more than elation or celebration. The gratitude is to all the people who believed and to the sea. A number of people believed I could do it and took the trouble to tell me so and keep on telling me so. My gratitude to the sea is something very personal. Suffice it to say that the sea is a mystery, like so much of our planet, and it took care of me, as the planet often does. The contentment is that I set myself a goal that many (including me some mornings – never evenings – odd) thought impossible. I met the Tiger many times and in many forms, I followed the Ten Rules, all of them but especially Rules 2,3,4,5,8 and 9, and it worked. Thanks also to my partner Anita who came all the way to Sharm to support me – and who wisely went scuba diving with friends on the day of the record breaking dive rather than go through on Saturday what she had already been through on Friday!

“The other big question I am being asked now is “What next?”. The answer is: much deeper.”