Imagine being 50m below the water’s surface, surrounded by pitch black, ice cold water, not a light in sight, silent, bleak and deadly. That’s the terrifying scenario faced by SA’s 11-times champion freediver Hanli Prinsloo when she was living, studying and diving in Sweden.
Hanli had dived down to her designated depth of 50m, where she was expecting to find a torch and a light into the underworld below, but instead there was darkness and the daunting 50m climb to the life-giving surface above.
Main picture: Hanli Prinsloo in the big blue. Picture by Thomas P. Peschak
“Going up is so much harder. It’s really hard work. That was the most terrifying moment I’ve ever had under water.”
Mr Price Pro Ballito 2011. Interview with former world champion Shaun Tomson.
“Then I had a weird moment there, when my mind played tricks on me. For a while I believed I had gone blind. Then I started to wonder whether it might actually not be a bad idea to just stay down and not make the journey to the top. Perhaps the cold was starting to have an effect, it was well below 0C down there. What would life be like if I was blind? That’s the thing about freediving and pushing yourselves to these depths; it’s always a huge mental journey and process, you’re pushing body and mind to go to a different level, a different place.”
Considering I was chatting to Hanli at the Mr Price Pro Ballito on Monday, it’s needless to say she won the mind battle and decided to work her way to the surface.
Hanli, initially a Pretoria bokkie (it’s a long way from Tshwane to the coast), fell in love with the ocean during a school holidays trip with her parents. She got the diving bug while working and studying acting and film-making in Sweden.
Passion for the environment
“I love the Scandinavian way of thinking and their passion for the environment. I loved life there and had the most amazing opportunities to dive and investigate the sea life there.”
But South Africa was calling and she returned home in 2005. Today she is based in Cape Town and trains for events at her base, using pools, with regular yoga and mind sessions. “For me, diving and surfing (she started three years ago) is all about interacting and being a part of the ocean. It’s a living treasure and our legacy. What are we going to leave behind? The ocean is truly our last remaining wilderness. It is so precious.”
Hanli undertakes weeks and even months preparing for specific dives. The mental process of getting the mind ready plays a significant role. Divers compete on three levels, for time, distance and depth. The first two are carried out in swimming pools, the last in the ocean.
Jordy Smith fired up to defend Mr Price title
Hanli recently formed her own Trust, the I Am Water Trust (see contact details below), which is dedicated to spreading the message about conservation of the world’s oceans. The trust is dedicated to sharing “total ocean submersion” with as many South Africans as possible . . . the idea being that a photograph or film can never compete with a real life underwater experience.
So what’s this attractive, articulate world class athlete and ocean eco warrior doing at the Mr Price Pro Ballito in 2011? It’s a long way up from Cape Town, surely she hasn’t come along to check out the waves and hang out with surfers?
“I was invited by the sponsor Mr Price to speak about the trust and to promote my message about protecting the oceans. I’m also giving workshops and one-on-ones to surfers and whoever wants to learn about breathholding techniques.”
Next to where we’re sitting is a heated jacuzzi-ish type pool (thank goodness it’s heated there’s a chilly nip in the air, but these surfers don’t feel the cold do they?) where Hanli will brief interested parties and give them a practical lesson. “It’s deep enough to go under and work on the techniques,” she says.
Ocean ambassadors
Realising that surfers are some of the world’s greatest ocean ambassadors, Hanli started working with big wave surfers in Cape Town (Cape Town is famous for Dungeons, a massive wave that breaks off Hout Bay) teaching them some of the techniques she had applied so successfully in her career. “They are passionate in their love of the ocean. Surfers play around on the top, but they understand just how important protecting the ocean is. There’s synergy between what I’m preaching and their beliefs.”
When out of the water, Hanli is a nature lover who loves rocks climbing and hanging out in the mountains and wilderness areas. “I did the big cities in Europe on my travels, that doesn’t really appeal any more. I’m drawn to space and the wild areas where you really feel a part of this planet.”
Hanli will be at the Mr Price until July 10. Go and visit her at the market near Willard Beach, Ballito.
Important contacts: www.hanliprinsloo.com. Find Hanli Prinsloo on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.
I Am Water Trust online.
South African Freediving records held by Prinsloo:
- 63m Constant Weight, swimming down and back up with a monofin.
- 52m Free Immersion, pulling down a rope and back up.
- 42m Constant Weight no Fins, swimming breaststroke down and back up.
- 150m Dynamic Apnea, distance under water in a pool with a monofin.
- 126m Dynamic no Fins, distance underwater in a pool swimming breaststroke.
- 5min 39sec Static Apnea, length of breath hold time.