New Year Honours: William Trubridge follows in father's footsteps with recognition
William Trubridge has plunged to world record depths, but he has now reached the heights of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM).
The world champion freediver, who grew up in Havelock North, said it was a "huge surprise" to receive the recognition for services to freediving.
It comes a year after his father, renowned furniture designer David Trubridge was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM).
"It definitely means a lot. It is a huge honour and especially to be following in my father's footsteps so soon after him."
Speaking from Japan, where he based with his young family, Trubridge said it is a "little glimmer" in what has been a challenging year.
Despite not getting to spend as much time in New Zealand due to the less than ideal conditions for depth training - "the water is too wild and cold" - Trubridge says he is "proud to be a Kiwi and fly the New Zealand flag" wherever he goes.
"I feel I am always away from New Zealand so I wonder whether like back in New Zealand I am recognised for what I'm doing but this definitely a sign that it hasn’t gone unnoticed so I’m really grateful for that and whoever nominated me and approved it, thank you.
Trubridge began freediving in 2003 and in 2005 became the first freediver to dive at Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas. There he broke his first world record in the discipline of CNF (Constant Weight No Fins) in 2007, diving to 81 metres.
In 2010, he became the first human to descend to 100 metres with no assistance with his hectometre dive and furthered this record to 102 metres in 2016 - the current world record. And he also set the world record in Free Immersion in 2016 with 124 metres.
In 2019, he completed an 'underwater crossing' of the Cook Strait as a series of 934 breath hold dives.
As well as holding seven world championships and 18 world records Trubridge founded Vertical Blue, which is both the most prestigious annual freediving competition as well as a freediving school in the Bahamas, for which he is Course Director.
He has advanced the development of the sport internationally through the school and events. In 2011 and 2012 he received the World's Absolute Freediver Award. He instigated Project Hector in 2010, to raise awareness of New Zealand's critically endangered Hector's and Maui dolphin species. He is an ambassador for the Ocean Recovery Alliance, an organisation working to find solutions and raise awareness of the plastic waste epidemic.
Trubridge believes his love of the water, and diving was "always there". He spent the early part of his childhood living on a boat, sailing with his family from Europe to New Zealand before they settled in Hawke's Bay.
"The water was just part of my life for as long as I can remember and we were snorkelling and playing in the water and that just evolved into diving. So it feels like it's always been a part of me."
Trubridge says he is proud of all the records he has set. But if he were to choose one, it would be the hectometer dive in 2010.
"That was a big milestone and a huge challenge and the first time that I actually did a free dive for a cause that was beyond myself - to also raise awareness for the Hector's and Maui Dolphins in New Zealand that are threatened with extinction."
Outside of his record attempts, last year's under-water crossing of Cook Straight stands out. "I had no idea if I was capable of doing it so to succeed in that was something I was proud of."
Now 40-years-old, he still has his sight set on going "deeper", but is also looking to what the future holds for him. He is based between the Bahamas and Japan, but travels worldwide for competitions. etc.
"I feel like I've still got a few good years left in me yet but I'm aware of the fact that I can't continue to do this indefinitely and so I'm already transitioning into what comes next and part of that is the kind of work that I have been doing in conservation and using my voice and platform to raise awareness for those issues.
"But obviously that doesn’t pay bills so I'm also looking at kind of using the tools, the methods and the techniques that I've developed in freediving in dealing with the kind of high-stress situations that are involved in holding your breath and going deep and applying those to other areas in life and business and I've seen so far that they are highly applicable.
"We can use the same mental strategies that are used to cope in a deep dive and apply those to stressful situation in personal life and business and so that part of what I'm doing with transitioning after free diving."
