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The world's first GKN DPV Racing underwater gymkhana competition was held on May 4, 2022, at the Taichung North District Sports Center. The event was held as an invitational, with athletes nominated by Bandao Hairen, Now Diving Center, Undercurrent Technical Diving Adventure Base, Ryukyu Diving, Taiwan Diving, Sea Slug Technical Diving Training Center, Navigator Diving, and Rainbow Sea Diving.
Liu Bang-Zhi (known to friends as "Big Liu") was the representative nominated by Now Diving Center. In his daily life, he co-manages a well-known diving group of nearly 500 members with his friends, regularly exploring the major dive sites along the Northeast Coast with fellow divers. He also uses diver propulsion vehicles to take buddies to offshore shipwrecks and scenic spots that are harder to reach from shore — making him a dive instructor beloved by many.
Liu Bang-Zhi (center) was the representative nominated by Now Diving Center
In the GKN DPV Racing underwater gymkhana competition, Liu and the other athletes operated a DPV (diver propulsion vehicle) through a predetermined course in accordance with the organizer's rules. Competitors were required to maintain specified diving postures and sequences while clearing all obstacles in order. Any failure to meet the requirements incurred a time penalty (added seconds), and the athlete with the shortest completion time won.
Big Liu took home second place, adding a brilliant chapter to his diving career.
Why He Wanted to Join the GKN DPV Racing Underwater Gymkhana
When the competition rules were first announced, many divers saw the extremely demanding requirements — rolling backward through a tumbling gate, traversing a tunnel in an inverted position, spiraling through a diagonal in a tornado roll, and more — and wondered just how many people would actually be capable of competing. Some joked that finishing the tornado roll section without throwing up was already a win in itself!
As it turned out, some athletes entered to challenge themselves, others to create a personal milestone — but for Big Liu, he says he was forced into it! Joking aside, Liu also admitted the competition turned out to be surprisingly fun.
The Most Challenging Obstacle
The GKN DPV Racing underwater gymkhana featured several major obstacles: a forward tunnel, an inverted tunnel, consecutive pole slaloms, a first tumbling gate, a second tumbling gate, and a diagonal section — each requiring a specific posture such as forward straight, inverted straight, sideways turns, backward roll, reverse backward roll, and tornado roll. The difficulty level was extremely high.
When asked about the most challenging obstacle, Big Liu said: "The hardest parts were definitely the reverse roll and the final tornado roll. Right as you finish the first tumbling gate, you immediately have to flip into an inverted position and roll 360 degrees around a horizontal laser beam. While you're rolling, you can't actually see the laser — you get maybe one or two seconds to roughly gauge its position, and then you have to feel out the distance on your own. And because you're racing for time, you want to shrink the radius of your roll as much as possible to complete the move faster — but one small mistake and you clip the laser and get a time penalty."
Then comes the tornado roll advance — and as mentioned before, you really do roll to the point where you forget who you are and where you are.
Having to roll continuously while moving forward at speed, and staying precisely on course around the laser beam, demands serious technique. Some competitors chose to skip the tornado roll bonus entirely and just sprint to the timer button to save precious seconds.
Before the official timed runs, the organizers gave us some time to practice with two warm-up laps. After that, we moved into the official timed race — each athlete had three attempts, with the best time counting. Since I'd never practiced before, my first attempt was a complete mess. I was tumbling and simultaneously trying to figure out how to make it smoother. By the second attempt, I kept making small corrections to my posture and angles — and thankfully I eventually managed to pull the move off."
The tornado roll advance is an incredibly challenging maneuver
The Most Fun Part of the Competition
Big Liu: "I think if you're just doing these moves alone in a pool by yourself, after a few laps you'd start to get bored. But the moment it becomes a competition, the feeling is completely different!
Because you start constantly thinking: at which obstacle should I do which move? How can I shave off seconds? Should I skip the tornado roll bonus and just go for a clean time first?
So on my first timed run, following the advice of our team leader (Coach Anton), I skipped the tornado roll and went purely for time — partly to get used to the competitive nerves — and posted a time of 1:48. On my second run I went for the tornado roll bonus, but midway through I noticed my DPV was acting up, spontaneously slowing down and giving a sluggish, stuttering feeling. I finished that run in 2:05.
Because of the DPV issue, for my third run I borrowed a teammate's unit. It wasn't mine though, so the tow-rope setup and configuration weren't at the angles I was used to. But the moment I powered it up, I realized my teammate's DPV was significantly faster than my own. So on that final run — tornado roll bonus included — I posted a time of 1:51.
Throughout the whole process, the experience perfectly embodied teamwork, the chemistry between an athlete and their team leader, squad support, and of course the energy from the cheering section. It was genuinely interesting, genuinely fun, with all the tension and excitement of a real race." Big Liu added: "Looking at my dive computer, my heart rate had shot up past 100 and just wouldn't come back down."
Unexpected Moments
The renowned media and photography team BlueTrend and Kyotaro were invited on the day to cover the event. In order to capture the most spectacular footage, they frequently had to position themselves right in the middle of the course — creating a rather unusual human obstacle.
Big Liu said: "Because of the filming, the photographers needed to be right in front of us to get the shot. But we were charging through at full speed with flips and rolls, and it constantly felt like we were about to crash into them. So during the race, on top of everything else, we had to overcome that fear. My solution was to ignore them completely! Of course, the photographers were incredible too — they managed to dodge out of the way in an instant to clear the course for us. It really was hard work on their part, and thanks to them we all have stunning photos to show for it."
But the hard work paid off — after the event, we were left with a collection of commemorative shots, each one capturing the most memorable moments of the day.
Would You Want to Compete in the Year-End Open Competition?
Word has it that the year-end open competition will not only feature a more exciting course, but that the organizers plan to modify the DPVs for the top four finishers to resemble Harry Potter's Nimbus 2000 — so you could imagine holding a broomstick with your feet resting on two crossbars beside the propeller, while other riders hang on ropes and get pulled along. Just picturing that scene is chaotic and hilarious. The author is genuinely curious whether Big Liu will be back to chase that underwater Nimbus 2000.
Big Liu: "The idea of turning it into a Nimbus 2000 is absolute genius. I think it would be incredibly fun. When I used to watch the Harry Potter films, flying through the sky on a broomstick felt like something completely beyond the realm of possibility. I never imagined there'd one day be a chance to experience something like that underwater. Just thinking about it makes me smile — so if time allows, I'll definitely be at the next competition. This really is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity."
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