Safety Team
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MARCO COSENTINO
Marco Cosentino is an Italian Freediver involved in competitive freediving since 2007. Vastly experienced as both Professional Safety Freediver and Freediving Master Instructor, in the last decade he participated in some of the most important freediving competitions worldwide, to mention: Chief of Safety of Vertical Blue editions 2018-2022 and VB safety since 2009, Trainer\Supervisor of the AIDA Safety Team in the Individual Depth World Championship Cyprus 2021, Chief of Safety in the CMAS Depth 2019 World Championship, Senior Safety in the Roatan AIDA Individual Depth World Championship 2017, Chief of Safety Team in the Nirvana Ocean Quest Competition in 2015. He currently holds the position of AIDA Safety Commitee Officer and he is the founder and director of the “Professional Safety Freediver”®, a Vertical Blue Educational program. Marco trains Freediving year-round, and has personal bests below 60m in all Freediving disciplines. He is also an experienced sailor and passionate spear-fisher. Marco is based in Rome where he runs his school ASD FreeDiversItalia and teaches freediving, spear-fishing and sailing.
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ROBERTO BERTO
By Popular demand Roberto Berto returns for his 6th addition as a VB safety diver. He is a passionate waterman from the tropics of Australia and uses the Great Barrier Reef not only as his workplace but also his training ground where he strengthens his desire for a deeper experience. Roberto has completed dives in free immersion to 91 meters, constant weight with bi fins to 77 meters and constant weight no fins to 63 meters. A spearfisherman at first is what drives Roberto to pursue the depths and challenges of freediving.
From the Days of scuba instructing on the reef, he has been involved in many different facets of the marine industry, from skippering vessels, to commercial diving and guiding spearfishing adventures. Roberto currently works as an Offshore Tug Master, and choses to teach Freediving purely for the enjoyment of sharing his passion with local watermen. An avid handyman, Roberto seeks relaxation working with timber and crafting all things coastal in his spare time.
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KATHLEEN GREUBEL
Kathleen is a German Freediver, SSI and EFR Instructor and lifeguard, and returning to the VB Safety Team for the second time this year. She has been part of the Safety Team of the 2019 Caribbean Cup and CMAS World Championship in Roatan with Marco and Kristine as well as in the 2021 CMAS World Championship in Kas with Daniel. Last year she started to join competitions as an athlete as well and represented Germany in the AIDA World Championship in Cyprus and participated in the 2022 Caribbean Cup. Kathleen has been living, teaching, and training in Honduras, Spain, Mexico, and Germany over the last years and is moving around a lot. She is also an SSI Scuba Instructor although she is rarely seen with a tank anymore these days. Out of the water, she enjoys rock climbing and horse riding and has a history in competitive kickboxing.
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KRISTINE ZIPFEL
Originally from Norway, Kristine is based in New Zealand, where she started her freediving journey in 2014. She has been involved as a safety diver since 2018, when she worked as a safety diver in Kalamata for Freedive Club Greece. In 2019, she was on the safety team for the Caribbean Cup and the Roatan CMAS World Championship. She has also worked as a safety diver in Cyprus and New Zealand.
Apart from safetying, she is also a competitor holding several Norwegian records, an AIDA instructor, spearfisher, underwater photographer, and underwater stunt performer, having worked on movies like Alita Battle Angle and Avatar 2.
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DANIEL ARIAS CORDOVA
As professional freediver, Daniel Arias has developed both sides of the line: athlete and safety with the same calling. Since 2013, at each competition he has been involved, he dedicated time to support and participate in safety teams. With the years, he became a passionate safety freediver with scooter experience, safety trainer and safety chief, being involved as member of safety teams in AIDA Competitions in Chile, Honduras, Mexico and Colombia, and CMAS World Championships in Turkey 2018-2021. Daniel is psychologist, Hatha Yoga instructor, Divers Alert Network Instructor, and the founder of SoloApnea Freediving School in 2011. Currently he is instructor trainer for CMAS, and Instructor and Judge in AIDA, but his first instructor school was Apnea Academy International. As athlete, he participated in both international competitions and world championships, setting several national and Pan-american depth records. Daniel also enjoys organizing courses, competitions, and freediving camps around south pacific cold waters and caribbean spots.
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OMAR MOURAD
Omar Mourad has been manager and AIDA Instructor Trainer of Apnea Canarias since 2014. He has extensive experience in the water, as a lifeguard, Master in Scuba Diving and Freediving Instructor Trainer. Furthermore he is a first aid Instructor.
Omar is the organiser of the ''Atlantic Freediving Cup'' competition and managed its safety team. In 2018-19, he was in charge of the deep safety team at The Authentic Big Blue freediving competition in Amorgos, Greece.
In the last few years, he has been giving courses on Stress Management in Emergencies to the Spanish Air Force and Army.
Omar lives in the Canary Island where he freedives all year round. He also has a very strong spear-fishing background, with great knowledge in this field of the sport. He loves Climbing and Trail Running.
Medical Team
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Leigh Baker
2018 will be Leigh's fifth year as the medical component for Vertical Blue. She lives in Western Washington State, on an island located in the Puget Sound, and enjoys camping and kayaking on shorelines, surf waves, and rivers. At home, she juggles her attention amongst three short and energetic basset hounds.
Leigh has been a Respiratory Therapist for almost 15 years, and before that was a Paramedic for 12 years. She has been trained in and performed in a variety of environments, and is accustomed to the unique challenges that will be potentially presented during the competition. Her curiosity and understanding of the physiologic processes involved with freediving are a tremendous asset to the competitors and the safety divers.
Platform Manager
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SAM TRUBRIDGE
Platform Manager Sam Trubridge is a performance designer, artist, and director with The PlayGround NZ and The Performance Arcade festival on Wellington Waterfront. His work and projects have been shown across Oceania, Europe, and the Americas.
Since 2012 he has been platform co-ordinator for Vertical Blue. In 2015 he directed the Deep Anatomy symposium, bringing artists and freediving together in dialogue on Long Island during Vertical Blue. The event has been followed by two publications and an exhibition at Silo Park in Auckland, NZ in 2017.