Free-diving

The sport of free-diving encompasses a whole range of competitions and styles, but all have one thing in common: holding your breath underwater. It is ironic when practitioners describe their sport as one of liberation; they experience a freedom and a true sense of living even though the body is deprived of its vital element. Nevertheless, free-divers are arguably some of the most self-aware individuals in that they must be in tune with their bodies' systems and be able to relax the mind.



I was intrigued by the simplicity of the sport, just as humans are all drawn to water. There are even people who believe that we spent a set period of time in our evolution in a partially-aquatic environment. See the aquatic ape hypothesis for more details.



I was drawn to the sport after having seen the following video, but realized after more research that training would more or less require lots of apnea, or breath-holding, an activity which I don't find very pleasant. Also, I was turned off by the hypocapnia that ensues upon hyperventilation, or in deeper dives, a drop in the partial pressure of oxygen in the lungs. Either way, the sport involves convincing your brain that you don't need to breath. This may lead to blackouts, as the body struggles to reset its breathing mechanisms. Nevertheless, professional competitors are amazing specimens who create equally impressive videos.


Guillaume Nery diving into the deepest hole in the world

To understand the wide range of competition out there, I have included Wikipedia's list of free-diving disciplines.

Pool disciplines

* Static Apnea is timed breath holding and is usually attempted in a pool (AIDA).
* Dynamic Apnea With Fins. This is underwater swimming in a pool for distance. For this discipline the athlete can choose whether to use bi-fins or the monofin (AIDA, CMAS).
* Dynamic Apnea Without Fins. This is underwater swimming in a pool for distance without any swimming aids like fins (AIDA).

Depth disciplines

* Constant Weight Apnea. The athlete has to dive to the depth following a guide line that he or she is not allowed to actively use during the dive. The ‘Constant Weight’ (French: "poids constant") refers to the fact that the athlete is not allowed to drop any diving weights during the dive. Both bi-fins and monofin can be used during this discipline (AIDA).
* Constant Weight Apnea Without Fins follows the identical rules as Constant Weight, except no swimming aids such as fins are allowed. This discipline is the youngest discipline within competitive freediving and is recognised by AIDA International since 2003 (AIDA).
* Free Immersion Apnea is a discipline in which the athlete uses the vertical guiderope to pull him or herself down to depth and back to the surface. It is known for its ease compared with the Constant Weight disciplines, while the athlete is still not allowed to release weights (AIDA).
* Variable Weight Apnea is a record discipline that uses a weighted sled for descent. Athletes return to the surface by pulling themselves up along a line or swimming while using their fins (AIDA).
* No-Limits Apnea is a record discipline that allows the athlete to use any means of breath-hold diving to depth and return to the surface as long as a guideline is used to measure the distance. Most divers use a weighted sled to dive down and use an inflatable bag to return to the surface (AIDA).
* The Jump Blue also called "The Cube" is a discipline in which an athlete has to descend and swim as far as possible in a cubic form of 15 x 15 meters (CMAS).

Dynamic apnea without fins. World record 151m.


Constant weight apnea without fins. 88m.


Divers say that the most important preparation is done before the dive. Slowing the heart rate, relaxing to the point of vasoconstriction, allows these land dwellers to reach greater depths. This is just more evidence of how important our own respiration is in nourishing the body.