The Capt’n
Yuriy Rakhmatullin
AIDA Master Instructor, PADI Freediving Instructor, Molchanovs Instructor, Apnea Academy Instructor, EFR Instructor, AIDA UAE Board Member, AIDA Judge B Level
Languages: English, Russian
Instructors
Lisa Zhang (Zhang Benben)
Lisa Zhang, is an AIDA Freediving Instructor, Judge and Freediving World Championship active athlete - AIDA world record breaker (Nov 2020) and Asia Continental Records holder. “As a talented freediver, I gain too much from freediving” she said, “now it is the right time, let me share all of my experiences and passion to more people.“
Private coach - English and Chinese
AIDA 1, 2, 3 - Chinese
张奔奔
中国自由潜水国家队运动员
自由潜水教练、裁判、运动员，比赛成绩8次突破国家纪录，7次突破亚洲纪录，1次突破世界纪录。2020年自由潜全国锦标赛单项及总分女子冠军，CMAS动态有蹼、动态双蹼、静态闭气国家纪录保持者。AIDA动态双蹼世界排名第二，2020年泳池总分世界排名第一，2021年静态闭气世界排名第一。AIDA动态双蹼DYNB、动态有蹼DYN中国国家纪录保持者。
Filip Horbowski
One of the earliest FreedivingUAE members, Filip has been Yuriy’s companion on his freediving journey almost from the beginning, and he never shies away from sharing even the most embarrassing stories about the Captain.
As certified Apnea Academy instructor, Filip can be seen helping beginner- to intermediate-level students, especially on busy days.
Obsessed with safety and regulations - perhaps because he works in the insurance industry - Filip likes to run a tight ship so you’d better listen to his instructions when you’re at his buoy.
As a surfer, Filip is probably the only FreedivingUAE member who’s OK with the sea conditions being rough sometimes, since it usually means he will be at the Tim’s Reef trying to catch a wave.
Filip has recently promised to commit more time to FreedivingUAE operations and we hope to see him with us more often.
Languages: English, Polish, Arabic
Assistant Instructors
Photographer
Jenny Rehush
Underwater Photographer, Competitive Freediver.
Jenny was born in a seaside town which is located on the shore of the Azov Sea in Ukraine. Since childhood love for the sea turned into a profession Underwater photographer.
Jenny really creative person and she has a lot of ideas for an underwater photo shoot.
Yuriy was born in Ukraine, but moved to the UAE as a child in 1996. He started freediving back in 2008 and was one of the first students of Freediving UAE eventually taking over the company.
Yuriy received his first freediving instructor certification in 2013 and since then has been happily introducing freediving to everyone interested. So far, Yuriy’s freediving courses have been attended by more than 500 students. Pedagogy as the first academic degree helps him to improve the quality of teaching.
In 2013 Yuriy attended his first World Freediving Championship as a Judge assistant and since then regularly takes part in competitions of different levels as a main judge or organizer.
Yuriy’s passion for the sport helped build a strong freediving community that can be fairly considered the biggest and oldest in the region.