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。
Ahmed Sameh
Ahmed Sameh, a freediving instructor since Aug 2021, started freediving in 2018. Ahmed participated in 3 competitions with 2 of them in took place in Dahab, and more to come. He is can dive to 70 Meters depth and work towards the 100 Meters depth. Also trying to participates in more competitions.
He Teaches Freedivers in Dahab Egypt and Dubai. Specializing on the problems that the Freedivers face when they go deep as he has experience training with +100M divers who have influenced his diving and helped him to understand more about freediving and how to work on the problems.
Ahmed loves freediving as it has changed his life.
Languages: English, Arabic
Rina Kang
Rina was born and raised in Seoul, Korea. She is a certified PADI freedive instructor and yoga teacher.
She has been teaching yoga internationally for the last 12 years in 13 cities in 9 countries including Dubai.
She moved back to Seoul 2017 and founded a premium hot yoga studio called studioPREM in Yongsan district.
During the COVID-19 pandemic she was able to have more time to practice freediving and found a new love for this sport, so much so that she decided to close her studio and travel the world to experience and teach freediving.
She is very happy to come back to Dubai to share and spread the incredible experience of freediving with Freediving UAE.
Languages: English, Korean
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
Ksenia Kruberg
Having lived by various sea sides all her life, Ksenia always felt a strong connection to water. She got her first hand glimpse of the wast world beneath the surface 15 years ago through the lens of scuba and got hooked.
With freediving becoming increasingly popular over the years, Ksenia finally desided to try it in 2019. At the time it was a simple goal of being able to dive down a bit deeper without heavy equipment and hold a breath just a bit longer. What she discovered instead was a new passion, amazing community of like-minded people and a sport that can compliment your everyday life.
From reefs to shipwrecks she is now continuing her exploration of the water world on a single breath.
Languages: English, Estonian, Russian
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.