What the hell is Freediving?

I constantly get blank looks from people when I mention that I freedive, which are actually better than a lot of comments I get, such as "right, so how high do you dive then?", "you guys are mad, i'd never parachute from anything" or what one guy said when I said I was competing in the world champs in Egypt "right.... so where do you do that, in the Nile?".

So.... here is the layman's guide.

Freediving is anything where you hold your breath underwater. Over the years a few different disciplines have been invented, but essentially it's all snorkelling at it's finest. In competitive freediving there are probably around 25o-300 athletes competing in Here is a run-down of the different disciplines, divided into 2 groups - those in the pool (non-depth) and those in open water (depth) :

Pool

Static Apnea - holding your breath for as long as possible, usually lying on the surface. This is a simple test of breath hold, and is very challenging considering all you're doing is lying there, as mentally you can be all over the place thinking of reasons why you don't need to be holding your breath. My best in comp in this is 5 minutes 20 seconds, though I did 5:44 recently but got disqualified on a technicality. In training i've done over 6min a couple of times. Since i've not done any successful competition statics this year I don't have a world ranking. Last year's ranking was 121st. In Australian all time ranking i'm 6th.

Dynamic with fins - travelling horizontally underwater attempting to cover the greatest distance on the one breath. You can only use a pair of fins or a monofin (big dolphin tail thing you strap your feet into) for propulsion. My personal best (PB) was set in competition in the World Championship this year at 132m, ranking me 64th in the world, 3rd in Australia.

Dynamic without fins - same deal but no fins are allowed. The athlete typically does a split breast stroke, averaging around 3-5 arm strokes per 25m. It's very slow and energy efficient. Technique is crucial in this one, so I have spent a lot of time working on this, as hydrodynamically i'm like a fridge in a wetsuit. I'm currently ranked 37th, 2nd in Australia.

Open Water

Constant Weight - the freediver descends and ascends a rope to a pre-determined depth. They can use fins or a monofin and/or their arms but no other method of propulsion. They can't hold the rope or use the rope, it is a guide only. They can't take weight during the dive, hence the name. This is the big freedive discipline that everyone considers the most pure and/or important. My best in comp is 52m from 2006 though i've done 55m in training. World ranking 65th, Aus ranking 3rd.

Constant Weight No Fins - same deal but no propulsion methods at all. Probably the hardest of all the disciplines as you don't have much propulsion in your arms and legs and at depth you become heavier. Definitely the purest of all the disciplines. My PB was set in comp this year at 37m - world ranking 13th, Aus ranking 2nd.

Free Immersion - The freediver dives underwater without the use of propulsion equipment, but only by pulling on the rope during descent and ascent. This one doesn't make it into comp very often. I haven't done this discipline yet, but watch this space...

Variable Weight - The freediver descends with the help of weight and ascends using his own strength: arms and/or legs, either by pulling or not pulling on the rope. Mostly the freediver used a sled on the rope, which is basically a piece of metal with handlebars and a brake and lots of weight. The diver rides this down, leaves it at the bottom and makes their own way back up. Because the freediver uses weight to get down, the depths are a bit deeper than those in the self-propelled disciplines. I haven't done this before but once again, watch this space...

No-Limits - no rules as such, the diver gets down as deep as they can and come back whichever way they want. Usually it's a sled down and at the bottom they fill a baloon with air from a tank and the balloon brings them back up. Typically deeper than anything else and more dangerous. There have been a couple of deaths in the past but these have been at fairly extreme depths. This and Variable Weight are not competed in, only record attempts are performed.

Now you know all there is to know about freediving. It's been around for hundreds of years, from the Japanese and Korean Ama divers to the Greek sponge divers. As a sport it's been around for probably 50 years. Much bigger around the Med than elsewhere such as Australia, which is no surprise as the history is there. Growth wise it's picking up every year, more and more people take up the sport and start competing, comps are getting bigger and better organised every time.