Nate is Blue Alchemy Freediving’s owner, and instructor. Although a long-time water sport enthusiast, his passion for freediving didn’t arise until later in life. In the summer of 2015, Nate discovered the art of freediving when Coral Edge Adventures decided they were in need of someone to teach their freediving courses. At the time he was working in their local scuba shop and was approached about becoming their resident Freediving Instructor.
As an already accomplished SCUBA Instructor and wanting to gain some experience before taking such an intense program. Nate anxiously set himself to the task of undertaking his own freediving training. He began by completing the Performance Freediving International (PFI): Freediver Class with Ren and Ashley Chapman. It was here he found he had a passion for the sport.
During his first static session, he performed a 5:32, and found he had a knack for freediving. But after his first ocean session with the Chapmans, where he was taken out to a shipwreck called The Hyde, Nate became hooked for life. On this drop, midway down the Hyde, he found himself surrounded by Sand Tigers. The tranquility, beauty, and thrill of this experience of left a profound effect on him and showed why freediving had to be his focus.
In the fall of 2015, he began a Scuba School’s International (SSI): Freediver Instructor Program with Nick Fazah. The program involved days of intense classroom and depth training, as well as preparing classroom and in water presentations each day. While it was the training that motivated Nate to really explore how far he could go, it was Nick’s love of the material that fueled Nate’s desire to be a teacher even more.
In February 2016, with a mind to continue his training and improve as a teacher, Nate took the PFI: Intermediate Freediver Program with Ted Harty. In one of his pool sessions with Ted, Nate jumped his static time to 6:03, and after his open ocean dives, a new revelation took hold in him. He wasn’t only going to train because he wanted to be a better teacher, he was now convinced that he wanted to compete.
Later, as luck would have it, Nate caught a lucky break. One of the individuals Nate had trained with during his SSI Freediving Instructor program ran Dip n’ Dive, a diving company based out of New York. Nate found that he was interested in sponsoring an up and coming athlete and has been a corner stone of all Nate’s activities ever since.
After that Nate put things into motion. In February 2017, he traveled to Hawaii to go through both the PFI: Advanced Freediver and Freediver Instructor Program with Kirk Karck, and a cadre of other instructors. The completion of this intense course marked a milestone for Nate, he was now ready to dive into competition and teaching.
Armed with the experience and training of the last 3 years, in May 2017, Nate competed in his first competition, called Deja Blue 08. He still actively compete and was on the 2021 USA Freediving Team
