Since this weekend, freediver Andy Cabrera Avila has embarked on a major challenge: to cover 52 km by freediving between Hyères and its islands to raise awareness for the cause of the oceans.On the occasion of World Oceans Day 2021, Andy is taking off from June 5 to 11, 2021, for a new unprecedented feat. By linking Hyères, Porquerolles, Port Cros, and Île du Levant by swimming and freediving, he and his team aim to raise awareness about the plight of the Mediterranean through the values of sport. Aboard several boats, volunteers will oversee the event for 7 days and 6 nights. With successive 25-meter dives, Andy will cover 52 km with a monofin, 2 meters deep. Andy hopes to awaken consciousness by transforming into homo delphinus.https://vimeo.com/559933684
Beyond the sporting feat, a waste collection operation is planned along the entire route taken by Andy. By kayak, swimming, at sea, on the beaches, the association Un Océan de Vie, of which Andy is an ambassador, supports this collection to make it a symbol of ocean protection.
June 8, World Oceans Day, is entirely dedicated to a public awareness operation on the island of Port-Cros. Through a large waste collection, the aim is to encourage participants to better know, understand, and comprehend their consumption habits, to start a path towards real long-term changes.
.For divers, a neoprene collection will also be organized to raise awareness about the lesser-known problems related to this material. The collected material will be donated to Captain’ Néo and Teroum, 2 brands committed to neoprene recycling.
“I think freediving is a beautiful sport that can be shared and used for great actions. Thanks to teamwork and everyone’s cooperation, we can achieve amazing projects. I want to surround myself with simple people who are passionate about the sea and defenders of life in the oceans” — Andy Cabrera Avila.
A regular of freediving challenges
For a few years, this freediver has been taking on endurance challenges in freediving for charitable causes that are dear to him: disability, autism, orphan diseases, animal cause, etc.
So on May 22, 2016, he attempted to break Pascal Mazé’s endurance freediving record of 6 hours (set in February 2016 with 374 lengths of 25 meters) by completing 694 lengths of 25 meters (17.350 km) to raise funds to give an exoskeleton to a disabled little girl.
Then, on December 3, 2016, for the Telethon, he set a new world performance of sports freediving for 12 hours with 1,167 lengths of 25 meters, or 29.175 km. For the next edition, he again set two new world records with: 1,238 lengths of 25 meters in 12 hours, or 30.950 km, and 2,134 lengths of 25 meters in 24 hours, or 53.350 km.
Andy Cabrera Avila was born in Cardenas (Cuba) in 1971. He grew up by the sea. As a child, he practiced spearfishing with guns he made himself using a coat hanger and a bicycle inner tube. After his military service, at 20, he became a diving instructor (CMAS and PADI) and practiced in Cuba, Jamaica, the Galapagos, Spain, and Chile for 18 years. In 2000, he became a freediving instructor (Apnea Academy) in Sardinia trained by Umberto Pelizzari. He settled in France in 2006. He obtained the BEES 1st degree (state certificate of sports educator) of swimming and diving in 2010. Then he became MEF1 instructor (federal freediving coach first degree) and AIDA (International Association for the Development of Freediving) in 2011, then MEF2 in 2015, and SSI freediving level 2 in 2016. He obtained French nationality in 2012. That year, he founded the associative Freediving club Aquamundo in Saint-Cyr-l’École attached to FFESSM and AIDA. More recently, he founded the Andy Apnea School.
