William Trubridge has come a long way since his days as a scrawny hippie kid from Hawke’s Bay who got bullied at school.
The UK-born, Kiwi-raised freediving champ is living, breathing proof that being different, dedicated and disciplined can lead to success beyond your wildest dreams.
On July 21 this year, the record-breaker made history again by successfully diving unassisted to a depth of 102m, on a single breath, at the world’s deepest saltwater blue hole in the Bahamas. Known as Dean’s Blue Hole, it’s where Will practises his sport every day.
“It’s the best place in the world for freediving,” the 36-year-old enthused when we caught up with him earlier this year, before his record-breaking dive.
Watch William completing another successful free dive at Dean’s Blue Hole in the video. Story continues below.
“All the challenges you face in normal water – currents, risk of jellyfish, having to moor yourself – don’t exist there. It’s essentially a 200m-deep, calm, warm swimming pool designed especially for freedivers.”
It’s been an epic year for Will. On May 3, he set his 17th world record with a 124m dive, taking four minutes, 34 seconds to reach that distance and return to the surface in a single breath. His proud Havelock North-based artist parents Peter and Linda, both 65, and Wellington-based theatre director brother Sam, 39, were able to travel to the Bahamas to cheer him on.
“That was the first time they were there for a successful attempt,” he enthuses of his close-knit Kiwi family, who he sees once or twice a year and Skypes regularly. “It was great to have them there and celebrate all together.”
The victory was all the more sweet considering Will has recently split from his 29-year-old American wife Brittany, a yoga teacher. “We’ve been divorced for just over a year now,” he says quietly. “I’ve moved on from that. Things are good. I’m happy and thriving.”
Will’s Bahamas home is a three-bedroom concrete pad on Long Island, which includes a guest house for passing friends and freediving trainees, plus a lap pool so he can train as much as he wants. When he’s not diving or socialising, it’s where you can find him meditating or cooking up a storm with fish he spears himself.
Will, demonstrating his freediving lung exercises, is attempting to break his own record later this week.
He lives there with his girlfriend, actress and freediver Sachiko Fukumoto, 34, who he met through his diving business Vertical Blue. The couple have just returned from a trip to Roatán, off the coast of Honduras, and Sachiko’s native Japan. Fortunately, their overseas adventure was without incident this time.
Last September, Will went away for three weeks – hiking in the Himalayas with his dad and brother – and returned to find the Bahamas had suffered a severe hurricane.
“Until then, I’d been growing a lot of fruit in my orchard,” he tells. “The papayas came back quickly, but everything else was ruined, so it’s not looking too pretty at the moment.”
Extreme kissing!
The son of unconventional hippies who sold their Scottish home, bought a boat and sailed to Aotearoa, Will’s Kiwi upbringing was both idyllic and challenging. “My fondest memories of growing up in New Zealand are running around barefoot on the road, eating oysters and mussels at the beach, that kind of thing,” he recalls. “And watching the Exponents play a New Year’s concert in Hawke’s Bay.”
But Will’s quiet, intense persona made him a target for bullies. “It was hard to integrate into regular school life after living on the boat and doing correspondence school,” he admits. “I was bullied a bit, but it wasn’t anything super-tragic. Towards the end, I made some really good mates – some of who still come to support me in my world-record attempts.”
Will sailed the high seas as a child with mum Linda and brother Sam
If anything, the bullying gave him a determination to succeed, which is why, at the age of 23, he threw himself into freediving and quickly rose to the top of the international game, prompting a shift to the Bahamas 10 years ago.
Despite the geographical distance, some Kiwi issues remain a priority. He’s passionate about protecting our country’s remaining Maui dolphins and tries to only eat fish he has personally caught.
Spiritual but “100% atheist”, Will is philosophical about the potential risks of his career. “It’s an extreme sport so the media will always go for the dramatic angle, but in essence, it’s actually quite safe.”
Girlfriend Sachiko is a freediver too.
That said, there have been a few high-profile fatalities. His close friend, US diver Nicholas Mevoli, 32, died during a record attempt in 2013. And last August, the Russian diver Natalia Molchanova, 53, one of the sport’s most celebrated athletes, disappeared during a dive off the coast of Spain.
“We don’t really know exactly what happened, but she was never found,” tells Will. “They saw her surface at a distance from the boat and when they got there, she wasn’t there. They searched for hours.”
Despite the dangers, he’s confident about the next challenge – and more alive than ever. “I really want it,” says Will. “I’m feeling really good – very serene and motivated. It’s unfinished business.”
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