LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — When you think of Las Vegas, professional divers may not be the first thing that comes to your mind.
For Rachel Novak, it's a way of life. She is a freediving competitor, instructor, professional mermaid, and stunt double that is based in the valley. You may have seen her work since she was a stunt performer and part of the marine unit on the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She was one of the underwater doubles for actress Mabel Cadena, who played Namora.
"I originally got into mermaiding while working as a fire dancer and circus performer to add another skill set to my performance repertoire. Eventually, I stumbled on the sports of scuba diving and freediving," Novak said. "I became a divemaster and freediving instructor to further my career in underwater performance."
Novak is taking her talents to the international stage and will be representing the United States at the Confederation Mondiale des Activites Subaquatiques Freediving Depth World Championships in Roatan, Honduras next week. This year, she said 17 U.S. athletes will be competing and they come from Hawaii, California, Florida, Oregon, North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado, and Nevada. It's the biggest team they've ever had.
In freediving, athletes take one deep breath before diving below the surface. They go as deep as they can, grab a tag from a platform that is placed at the targeted depth they're aiming for, and the athlete kicks back towards the surface. When they reach the top, they have to take off their goggles and nose clip and they have to give the sign that they're okay.
There are four different disciplines in freediving. Constant weight is where athletes wear one fin and dive down without using their arms, Constant Weight BiFens where athletes have a fin on each foot and don't use their arms, Free Immersion which is when the athlete pulls themselves to depth with the arms by using a dive line, and Constant Weight No Fins where the athlete swims down using a modified breast stroke.
Novak said her personal bests are holding her breath for just over five minutes, diving 158 feet down in the depth competition, and 115 feet in Constant Weight No Fins. She trains and holds classes at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and said it's a unique place to train.
"We are very fortunate to have Lake Mead to train in. We easily have access to as much depth as we could possibly need to train for line diving," Novak said. "Some of the challenges include a thermocline between 13 and 17 meters, where the water drops a few degrees. This can actually be a benefit [because] you can determine the water temperature by how deep you are even with your eyes closed and it lets you train for conditions you might experience in competitions."
Competitions are held around the world in places like The Bahamas and Egypt, which have clearer water. However, Novak said Lake Mead has other advantages.
"We don't have currents like you would have in the ocean and since it's fresh water rather than salt water, your freefall of the dive happens fast and early," Novak said. "It's one of my favorite parts about freediving in fresh water. It feels like you're flying underwater."
She said her favorite part of preparing for the World Championships has been learning and improving in her sport.
"It is definitely intimidating to come to a competition like this where the deepest freedivers in the world are competing. I came here with the desire to focus specifically on improving my depth diving and to surround myself with knowledgeable competitive freedivers to give myself a stronger competitive freediving foundation," Novak said. "I consider it continuing education for being a freediving instructor."
Novak added that because the sport is newer, it can be hard for athletes to afford their travel, training, and competition costs.
"Compared with full-time athletes who are sponsored by their countries, athletes from the U.S. organize community fundraisers or paid for competition and training fees out-of-pocket," Novak said. "I want to give a thanks to Jeremy Stephan of the USFF for organizing the U.S. Team's official GoFundMe and to SurfFurs who sponsored us with dry bags and team shirts. We are so incredibly grateful to the people and organizations who supports us in our endeavor to represent the U.S."
When she's not competing, Novak teaches beginning freediving classes at Lake Mohave.
"I teach Performance Freediving International Freediver courses, which give you the skills and knowledge to safely perform up to a four-minute breath hold and dive up to 66 feet. [Those courses come from] the same training agency that is responsible for training U.S. Special Forces, Red Bull extreme athletes, and actors," Novak said. "I usually teach the courses in Lake Mohave as we have shore access and more accessible depths for new freedivers. In addition, we can sometimes get visibility up to 50 feet below the Hoover Dam, which makes for good conditions for freedivers to capture video and photos of their technique and form."
She said new freedivers come in all shapes and forms.
"I've worked with a wide variety of students including first responders, underwater performing artists, scuba divers, adventure sports enthusiasts, and people wanting to engage in an activity to help them manage stress," Novak said. "You don't have to be a deep diver to enjoy the activity. I always tell students that it's about your personal journey rather than chasing the numbers or comparing yourself to other freedivers."
Novak said in the future, she also plans on organizing a free clinic to give back to the community and help people be more knowledgeable about freediving safety.
If you'd like to follow Novak's journey, the CMAS Freediving Depth World Championships are scheduled to run from Aug. 19 to Aug. 27. Novak said the competition will be shown online and a DivEye underwater drone and camera will be able to follow competitors on their dives. All of those updates will be posted on the U.S. Freediving Federation's Facebook page and on the competition's Facebook page.
