49 replies to this topic

[TraceMalin]

Unfortunately, I'm not very cute  :dltears:

Oh yes you are

Thanks, but maybe you should study me up close & make sure?

[Hipshot]

However, freediving records are not without risk. Audrey Mestre paid the untimate price for a record, back in 2002.

Audrey Mestre

Rick


Success is a beast. And it actually puts the emphasis on the wrong thing. You get away with more instead of looking within.--Brad Pitt

[austinbrunette]

Free diving definitely sounds like a cool sport. Do they show these competitions on tv at all? I do have another question though that might be kinda silly. At these depths, you don't have to worry and decompression sickness or the bends?

[casematic]

At these depths, you don't have to worry and decompression sickness or the bends?

No worries there.... You only have in your lungs what you can take in at the surface (so re-expansion isn't a problem)... And you aren't down long enough to absorb the nitrogen in your system.. At least thats my understanding, but someone who is more into the sport should be able to elaborate on that... I think there is a danger of passing out as you return to the surface though.

[TraceMalin]

Free diving definitely sounds like a cool sport. Do they show these competitions on tv at all? I do have another question though that might be kinda silly. At these depths, you don't have to worry and decompression sickness or the bends?

It is possible to develop decompression sickness while doing deep freediving, but such cases are extremely rare. Marine mammals have been reportedly found ill showing symptoms of decompression sickness. There is a lot about the science of decompression mechanics that we don't know despite years of research on scuba divers and with freediving very little information is available and very few studies have been done on decompression as it pertains to breath hold diving. Obviously, freediving after scuba diving will place a diver at risk for developing DCS because the N2 that is offgassing will be recompressed and during a rapid ascent can form bubbles. There have been cases of freedivers using air during freediving training to equalize compressed air spaces in the body and this may have led to some DCS cases in no limits diving. One guy was testing a new submarine escape hatch & breath hold diving to 60 feet repeatedly, but I'm sure he was taking breaths in the "sub" section of the experiment & doing emergency ascents. After an hour he became bent. Working freedivers like islanders who harvest mother of pearl, etc., have been known to be bent after repeated freedives all day long. I've had 3 shallow water blackouts while freediving. That's usually the greatest danger. As you descend your body depletes O2 and builds CO2. The buildup of CO2 in the blood becomes the stimulant that tells the brain to "take a breath." When you don't you further deplete oxygen without replenishing it. At depth, the partial pressures of the gases in your blood are increased, but when that pressure is taken off by returning to shallow water and aided by the fact that your lungs and other air spaces are returning to their near normal volume after being compressed (1/2 their size at 33 feet, 1/3 at 66 feet, 1/4 at 99 feet, 1/5 at 132 feet etc.) which will draw blood back into the tissues and further reduces the O2 pressure. Once you drop below the critical level... nitey night.

Trace

[WreckWench]

Maybe I should do an SD clinic?

Trace

Hmm....that would certainly be an interesting clinic! If we have enough divers interested I will certainly put it together!

The buildup of CO2 in the blood becomes the stimulant that tells the brain to "take a breath."

This is one stimulant I can't refuse! Don't think I'd be a very good free diver...but I certainly do like Trace's clinics!!! (He gave a great one in NC last weekend!)

[Ariesno1]

HeyTrace, I forgive you for not liking my fins.  

Doris

That's only because I didn't see them ON you

I know, don't remind me :dltears:

If we were able to get underwater, you could have seen how fast I can swim with them.

WW, I am with you. I could never be a good freediver. I need air under water. And yes, Trace's clinic was very interesting.

[Mermaid Lady]

Maybe I should do an SD clinic?

YESS!!!!!!!

[casematic]

It is possible to develop decompression sickness while doing deep freediving

I didn't know that was possible (DCS freediving) .... Now after scuba it definitely makes sense because you would have built up nitrogen in your system.... And I didn't know exactly what caused the shallow water blackout... Thanks for elaborating (this forum is great for getting information).

KC

[Drgnfiend]

Me thinks I'll have to look more into this Freediving thing, seems very interesting.
I like Trace's comment:

I'm most impressed with a freediver's fluidity, grace, energy conservation, form and attitude toward the sport than I am with times, depths, etc. Some of the top freedivers in the world are UGLY when it comes to movement. I try to turn divers into artists.

I'd certainly be interested in a clinic if there ever is one, or else I'll have to look around this area for some sort of class.

[TraceMalin]

Me thinks I'll have to look more into this Freediving thing, seems very interesting.
I like Trace's comment:

I'm most impressed with a freediver's fluidity, grace, energy conservation, form and attitude toward the sport than I am with times, depths, etc. Some of the top freedivers in the world are UGLY when it comes to movement. I try to turn divers into artists.

I'd certainly be interested in a clinic if there ever is one, or else I'll have to look around this area for some sort of class.

You're only about 3.5 hours from where I usually teach. I'd like to see how many divers here are interested. I could run a 2 day certification course in which participants would get a PDIC Apnea/Freediver c-card. I've been teaching the program since 1998 and training freediving instructors since 2002. Some of my students took other freediving programs before or after mine and told me mine was better. I think that it is because I focus on practical freediving rather than competitive freediving. I spend the majority of the time in the water with the students working on techniques and allowing them the chance to dial themselves into the skills rather than spending most of the time in class and then allowing them very little time to freedive. The minimum course time is 10 hours with only about 2 hours spent in class and 8 hours spent in the water. My classes are normally small (just 1 to 4 students), but for Single Divers, I can easily arrange to teach a quality program to as many SDers as we can get. The emphasis of the course is on fun. It's really an enrichment program that covers the history of freediving, physics, physiology, fitness, relaxation techniques, psychological factors, defining and setting safe personal limits, equipment, constant ballast, variable ballast, no limits, free immersion, buoyancy systems, emergency devices, dive planning, surface support, buddy procedures, diving techniques, resting and energy conservation, hazards, freediving activities, pool sports and competitions. We start out with learning to view the water as our friend, an environment to which we too can adapt ourselves as diving mammals, and we change the psychological view of the water as a hostile place to a place of peace and harmony, we cover swimming skills, drown proofing, resting positions, and move into proper snorkeling skills, entries and exits, proper breathing techniques, airway management, underwater swimming and streamlining, assist and buddy rescue skills, and increasing one's comfort level and confidence in the water. We then enter the snorkeling phase with dives down to 10, 15 or 20 feet. After which we build the student's ability to better a static apnea time of 1 minute or longer and a dynamic apnea breath hold of 30 seconds or longer while moving. We increase the depths to 30 to 60 foot dives to end day 1. Day 2 begins with working on any weaknesses each student has and cleaning up form and techniques, refining skills from the first 2 levels, then moving into extended range freediving with static times of 2 minutes or longer, 1 minute or longer dynamic breath hold times, achieving 150 foot dynamic distances, and building to complete 80 to 100 foot descents. After this we go through a variety of rescue skills and scenarios and then conclude with any skills, challenges, games or reviews the class wants to cover and take a pretty simple written test. The goal of the course is simply to enrich one's awareness of safe snorkeling, skin diving and freediving, develop better techniques and allow the student to explore his or her abilities while under the watchful eye of a professional. You can pass the class without having to go deeper than 10 feet or hold your breath for more than 20 seconds. It's simply designed to improve a scuba diver's snorkeling skills that are often missed in training, but allow those who want to push the normal limits of snorkeling to do deep freediving and learn to do it safely and make as little noise and movement as possible in the underwatwer world. The student learns to focus inward on himself or herself while viewing the underwater world in a completely different way than is learned in scuba courses. So, everyone let Kamala know and we'll see if there would be an opportunity to put this into an SD event. I could easily teach in the northeast, FL and Texas and the midwest. Because Grant & Cliff are on the west coast in CA & the PNW, I'd rather defer any freediving courses to them in the those areas just out of courtesy. I love diving off La Jolla, but I've never been diving in the PNW & would love to! So, everyone who is interested let Kamala and me know so she & I can discuss putting something together. Thanks!

Trace

[Drgnfiend]

If she sets something up I'll be on the list of attendees for sure.

[keyswide]

great movie about this sport a while back

BIG BLUE

based on true story

popular sport in europe

its the only way to go spearfishing!

[TraceMalin]

great movie about this sport a while back

BIG BLUE

based on true story

popular sport in europe

its the only way to go spearfishing!

"The Big Blue" is still available on DVD. The musical score is far better in the theatrical release that came out in U.S. theaters which is the VHS version. The DVD version is the director's cut for which Luc Besson chose a jazz score which isn't as melodic and "oceany." The film is better, but something is lost without the music that I and many of the others I've discussed the film with prefer. The only truth to the story is that there was a French freediver named Jacques Mayol who set records in no limits freediving and his greatest competitor at the time was an Italian freediver named Enzo Maiorca (Enzo Molinari in the film.) Mayol never made it to 400 feet like in the film and he set his last freediving record at 345 feet at the age of 56. I think one of the things that makes it more popular in Europe than in the United States is that it is more cost effective so participants from poorer nations can dive without a lot of expense and the diving conditions in the Mediterranean Sea often favor it. The majority of freedivers in the USA are spearos.

Trace

[FreeFloat]

I freedive too! Been down to 60'..........