World Record Free Dive

[majorgator]

In an effort to break the low-profile I've kept on here recently, I felt like sharing this link (with video).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05 ... reediving/

In short, the man descended 400 feet and came back up in a matter of 4 minutes and 24 seconds. This is nothing short of amazing, and I'm happy to have seen the story. There's nothing flashy about the article or video. Just a guy that accomplished an incredible feat.

[fallguy1000]

Some adventures seem pointless to me. People die doing this stuff, just like going up Everest.

[majorgator]

Some adventures seem pointless to me. People die doing this stuff, just like going up Everest.

Building a boat yourself includes plenty of embedded hazards and is also pointless, considering you could just buy a boat.
I'm not inspired to do this myself nor am I an enabler. If he dies, that's for him and his family to deal with. This has no bearing on me, other than to observe and be intrigued.

[pee wee]

If you start letting other people dictate how you live your life, you stop really living. This guy enjoys diving, that guy enjoys mountain climbing, the other guy enjoys driving race cars, whatever.

I enjoy stories about people who push the limits, it's inspirational- a reminder that life is what you make of it.

[Aripeka Angler]

If you start letting other people dictate how you live your life, you stop really living.

I agree, well said.
I'm pretty sure Columbus felt the same way

[smilinmatt]

The competitions are actually really safe. By far the biggest danger is blackout from lack of oxygen, and because of the way the body processes oxygen, the chance of blacking out at depth is practically nil. That's why you see all the safety divers swimming with him only the last 100 feet or so (most blackouts actually happen after the person has surfaced but before their body can process the O2 they just inhaled). As long as the person that blacks out is recovered within a few minutes, they can easily be revived (without CPR) and suffer no consequences.

Blackout is the body's way of shutting down to protect itself. Depending on physical and environmental factors, it can be anywhere from a few minutes to almost an hour between blackout and drowning. It's the reason why you hear about the kids who fall under ice, get recovered 30 minutes later, and turn out fine.

Most drownings from freediving is from people that are doing it without supervision. There's a couple agencies that teach freediving classes now, and their main focus is on safety. I've taken classes from FII and PFI, and about 60-70% of the class time is devoted to your safety and your partner's safety.

[jacquesmm]

Free diving has a purpose. Years ago, in Europe and in the most of the Mediterranean countries, you could not spear fish with a tank.
I got used to free diving. Then while sailing around the world, I had only one tank that I saved for real emergencies (anchor stuck, line around prop) and did all my spearfishing free diving. I was never able to stay down much longer than a minute but that was enough for a good number of unfortunate groupers and lobsters.

[fallguy1000]

The death rate for free divers is about 100 person annually and 5000 divers and if my math is right, 2% death rate. In the case of diving for fish, I would never condemn any effort to find food. I was disappointed in the death of Mestre, and according to her husband, even he was only going to dive one more time after her death. After reading about the accident, it bodes the question if it is so safe, how would the top expert in the world err so horrible in packing the balloon?

I didn't mean to steal any thunder or burst any bubbles!

[Cracker Larry]

After reading about the accident, it bodes the question if it is so safe, how would the top expert in the world err so horrible in packing the balloon?

Familiarity leads to complacency. That's how. True of many things in life. Beginners are always scared and real careful. People with a lot of experience doing something, like flying, skydiving, free diving, motorcycle riding...they are the one's who make the most mistakes.

I think it's an incredible feat and nothing I could ever do, or even want to! In my younger days I could go maybe 80 ft. and still have enough wind to shoot a fish. Not today but I understand the desire. If he has the physical ability, training, experience and the want to, then I say go for it. He knows the risks. Just like I do when I skydive, or fly little ultralight airplanes, or fish my OD18 60 miles offshore, and many other things I do.

Some people do crazy things on skis, not me! Skateboards, bikes, race cars, race boats, climb Mt Everest, jump off of Mt. Everest....none of that for me. But whatever you like is OK with me, I'll hold the beer and watch

[smilinmatt]

I'm not sure where the 5000 and 100 numbers come from, those numbers have been around for a long time. I'm guessing it was from a year where someone took total "competitive freedivers" and total drownings while snorkeling/freediving. I don't know what the total number of people that would consider themselves freedivers is, but I would guess that in the US it would easily top 5,000 (maybe that high in Florida or California alone). Between DeeperBlue, Spearboard and Spearfishing Planet, there's over 100,000 registered users (obviously some overlap and some non-divers). That's just people involved with online forums.

This is from a study by DAN (Diver's Alert Network) from 2004-2011:

A total of 417 freediving accident cases were captured; 308 fatal and 109 non-fatal.
•51±9 (40-63) fatal cases annually (Figure 1).
•Incidents were reported from 56 countries.
•46% in America; 11% in Australia; and single digits elsewhere.
•Freediving victims were 41±17 (5-93) years of age (92% known) (Figure 2).
•Most freediving victims were male (86%).DAN Freediving Accidents By Age and Gender
•Dive activity was described as snorkeling (46%), spearfishing (25%), freediving (18%) and collecting (11%) (92% known).
•Incidents were reported in ocean (90%), swimming pools (3.6%), lakes/quarries (3.3%), rivers/springs (1.8%) and other (1.3%) (94% known).
•Witnesses were present in 61% of cases (64% known) but generally with incomplete details of the event.
•The majority of victims were diving with a partner or group (59% known) (Figure 3).
•Disabling injuries were most obvious with acute animal or boat trauma. The most common disabling agent was loss of consciousness, typically intuited in fatal cases from witness reports and/or circumstances due to the lack of physical evidence.
•Initial triggers were frequently impossible to confirm in fatal cases.
•Excessive hyperventilation was most frequently suspected.
•Health issues implicated for many older victims.

Personally, I was surprised that spearfishing wasn't the biggest cause of death (it tends to attract the most machismo-types). More than half the deaths are listed as "snorkeling" and "collecting" which is probably mostly vacationers who rarely are around water. The freedive deaths also include animal, boat trauma and medical conditions, not just drownings and barotrauma. The deaths (from 40-63 in the study years) were not just freedivers, but anyone that died while wearing a mask.

As far as Audrey Mestre goes, to say her death was an accident might be stretching the definition of an "accident". Obviously, I was not there, but from my recollection of the story, Pepin fired her safety team, and "forgot" to fill her air tank. For anyone not familiar this was a "No Limits" dive, where the diver goes to depth on a weighted sled and returns with an air-filled bag.