Denis Grosmaire was raised in the pacific island nation of French Polynesia, travelling for island to island as a kid with his mom, growing up in the ocean from a very young age.
However, he didn’t dive deeper than 30m or take a freediving course until he was 39 years old. After that he very quickly rose up through the competition ranks and now dives well over 100m.
Denis also has a fascinating relationship with sharks. He spends hours and hours in the waters of French Polynesia with Tiger sharks and has fought hard to win some amazing conservation victories there.
VIDEO VERSION:
In this episode we discuss:
Denis was in Dahab in August 2022 for training in preparation for competition.
Denis is based on a remote island in French Polynesia called Tikehau.
Denis grew up on many islands in French Polynesia.
Selling a house and giving up and office job to become a freediving instructor.
Long background in spearfishing and diving but didn’t take a course until age 39, and didn’t dive deeper than 30m!
Opening a school in French Polynesia in September 2016.
The difficulty of being a freediving instructor on French territory.
A stressful first competition in 2018.
The difficulty of training in Tahiti.
Next competition was Vertical Blue in 2018 and got into the 90s!
Denis had achieved 105m in FIM at the time of recording.
Mental coaching.
The importance of meditation and visualisation.
What is Denis training plan?
Finding tiger sharks to dive with.
The devastation caused by shark finning and what Denis did about it.
Protecting sharks and Polynesian culture.
The problem of Chinese vessels coming into Tahitian waters to get shark fins.
Advice for people who wish to interact with sharks.
PATREON SPECIAL – Desert Island Questions (www.patreon.com/freedivecafe)
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