Freediving basics - A look at the underwater of competitive breath holding

The fast-growing sport of freediving continues to expand throughout the world. Freediving (another term for competitive breah holding), is a unique discipline that is drawing a lot of attention.

According to the US Apnea Association (USAA),the low impact nature of the sport is what allows athletes of all ages to participate. At the elite level world records have been set by athletes from the age of twenty to fifty and older. The impact might be low, but the elite level of the athletes is not.

Freediving at the elite level pushes the body to the very limits at a cellular level. Freediving and boxing are the only two sports where if you20make an error you end up unconscious. This is why organizations like USAA follow very strict safety protocols and procedures. Safety while freediving is very important and when respected makes the sport very safe to participate in...[Link]

Hockey Takes a Dive

Fancy your slapshot? Forget about it. Fastest skater in the rink? Big deal. Won the “Who-Can-Hold-His-Breath-the-Longest” competition? Bingo. Underwater Hockey may be your sport.

This melted-down version of ice hockey adds the feel of water polo and the strategy of soccer, but underwater hockey substitutes swimming and snorkeling for skating and checking. Make no mistake, this is a serious sport with a national governing body—USA Underwater Hockey (USAUWH)—and rules worthy of any game, even if it they would leave NHL referees scratching their heads, like the rule that prohibits wetsuits and weight belts...[Link]

Australian charts breathtaking record for freediving

Grey nurse sharks, giant cuttlefish, glistening anemones and bull rays make Fish Rock Cave on Australia's east coast one of the world's best scuba dives.

Daredevil aquanaut Mike Wells said Monday he hoped to set a world record for freediving by swimming the length of it in a single breath.

That entails swimming to a depth of 14 metres to get into the 120- metre tunnel, then negotiating a tricky exit where the gap in places is no wider than Wells' 1-metre fins, before popping up the 24 metres back to the surface.

The swim should take around three minutes, mostly in pitch black and at breakneck speed...[Link]

Sara Campbell world record free diver

British freediver Sara Campbell, 37, set a new World Record in womens freediving April 4th, 2009. She dove to 96 m with constant weight on just one breath in the Vertical Blue 09 competition in Dean’s Blue Hole, Long Island in the Bahama. Due to pressure, her lungs would have been reduced to less than 1/4 their surface volume. The dive took her 3 minutes and 34 seconds. X-Ray Magazine says “she was light-headed on the surface, but successfully completed the protocol."...[DeepSeaNews]

World's first 'under ice' free-diving competition

Twenty competitors braved sub-zero temperatures for the world's first free-diving competition under ice in Norway. The free-divers were participating in the Oslo Ice Challenge at Lake Lutvann on March 7 and 8. Braving temperatures of -2 degrees, each competitor dove into a 10x10ft hole in the ice in a bid to reach the lowest depth.

With visibility of only 65ft, divers attempted to reach the bottom of this 173ft freshwater lake holding their breath for between three and five minutes.

"This was the first under the ice free dive competition of its kind and it was not an easy challenge," said photographer Dan Burton.

"We had to walk nearly two miles in a blizzard and wearing only a wetsuit before we reached the hole in the ice so it was pretty tough going."...[Telegraph]