The Angels
The Angels of the Deep ("Angels" for short) are a team of technical scuba and rebreather divers dedicated to providing support to freedivers, mostly at SaltFree, although they do travel to support other competitions and record attempts from time to time.
Headed up by Laura Storm Harris, the Angels have been in action for more than five years. They are able to cover depths from the surface down to the bottom of the quarry using a variety of traditional scuba, nitrox, trimix and rebreather technologies.
Each Angel goes through a thorough training programme. This includes a solid grounding in the sport of freediving - so they can tell what is and is not normal when they are watching us! They go on to learn about the practicalities of diving near freedivers - how to position themselves to be close enough to help but not to get in the way, how to use lights to be helpful to freedivers and not dazzle them, how to support the other members of their own team and most importantly, how to use the "FHOF".
The "FHOF" (Freediver Hook On and Fire Up!) is a modified piece of scuba equipment which is used by the Angels to lift freedivers to the surface. When training with the Angels as support, each freediver at SaltFree wears a small wriststrap with a D ring attached. Should the freediver experience any difficulty getting back to the surface, the nearest Angel will attach and inflate the FHOF, taking the freediver swiftly back to the surface. Not only is this a quick and efficient rescue solution, it's also great fun to practice!
Since the introduction of the SaltFree counterbalance system, we don't have the Angels with us at every meet, but we do train together whenever we can. For our deeper attempts, records and competitions, we'll always aim to have the Angels in attendance - and of course, they are the life and soul of every social event!
For more information on The Angels, please visit their own website www.angelsofthedeep.org or email Laura Storm if you are interested in joining. You'll need to be very, very comfortable diving in UK waters, not averse to the odd shiver and unfortunately, we can't afford to pay you - other than the odd bit of hospitality. That said, we do have a strong team who come back month after month, year after year, so there must be something attractive about it!
