Freediving.......

[jerrybob]

People do some interesting things for the thrill........man dies after freedive attempt.

Nicholas Mevoli dies trying to set freediving record - CNN.com

 

[MossRoad]

I don't dive for depth myself. I do swim underwater for distance, though. No fins, just me. I used to do about 2 minutes underwater with one breath and light physical exertion. Furthest I've ever swam under water was two lengths of an Olympic size pool, so 100 meters total. Its a rush. Your heart is POUNDING and your hands and feet are tingling. However, I'll tell you, its extremely dangerous. You can black out and that's all she wrote. I never do it without a buddy. These days best I can do after several warm ups is about 50 meters and then I'm wiped.

As for diving for depth, YIKES!. I've skin dived down to about 22 feet. My ears can't take the pressures. I can't imagine 236'. That's a 20 story building. And then, unlike shallow water where you float up, once you get past a certain depth, you won't just bob up if you stop swimming down. You'll keep on sinking. You have to actually swim up. And that uses a lot of oxygen out of your blood. No sir, not me.

 

[creekbend]

Since every 33 feet is an Atmosphere, that is quite a lot of pressue to exert on a Human Body.

 

[jerrybob]

Since every 33 feet is an Atmosphere, that is quite a lot of pressue to exert on a Human Body.

Yea....incredible pressure. Can't imagine.....my ears pop now when I go over a speed bump.....

 

[RobertBrown]

A lot of details here, some are not so nice. He had an earlier accident that may have contributed to his death. Apparently it's a bloody sport. The body is not meant to be subject to that kind of abuse. You really shouldn't be 600 feet underwater......and 3 minutes 45 seconds!
Champion free diver Nicholas Mevoli dies trying for new record | smh.com.au

 

[bamboozled]

This guy was on an episode of Real Sports or something. He built a sled to shoot him back up for his attempt, it malfunctioned and screwed him up pretty bad.

Herbert Nitsch - The Story of my 800 ft Dive in Santorini

 

[jerrybob]

This guy was on an episode of Real Sports or something. He built a sled to shoot him back up for his attempt, it malfunctioned and screwed him up pretty bad.

Herbert Nitsch - The Story of my 800 ft Dive in Santorini

Wow.......interesting story.

 

[Bird]

In my younger days, I loved swimming both on top of the water and underwater, but I was never any good at going for depth because the pressure on my ears would be uncomfortable at 10' and about 15' was my limit. And while I could hold my breath more than a minute, I certainly never made it to 2 minutes.

 

[MossRoad]

A lot of details here, some are not so nice. He had an earlier accident that may have contributed to his death. Apparently it's a bloody sport. The body is not meant to be subject to that kind of abuse. You really shouldn't be 600 feet underwater......and 3 minutes 45 seconds!
Champion free diver Nicholas Mevoli dies trying for new record | smh.com.au

He wasn't 600 feet underwater. He was going for about 1/3 of that at 236'.

 

[MossRoad]

In my younger days, I loved swimming both on top of the water and underwater, but I was never any good at going for depth because the pressure on my ears would be uncomfortable at 10' and about 15' was my limit. And while I could hold my breath more than a minute, I certainly never made it to 2 minutes.

I did 2:10 in health class in high school..... then I passed out and fell out of my chair. This was not a sanctioned event! :laughing: Teacher was pretty ticked-off. :confused3: I never timed how long it takes me to do 50 meters. Last time I did it was two years ago. It was tough. But if you work on it for a few days you can make remarkable progress. And after a few months, you can amaze yourself.

 

[/pine]

One of the practices these guys use is saturating their blood with O2...by hyperventilating prior to a dive...

 

[RobertBrown]

He wasn't 600 feet underwater. He was going for about 1/3 of that at 236'.

Correct! but the world record is 214 meters, 656 feet.
I can't imagine what that's like. Very cold and very dark.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

He should have stopped when he lost his sense of taste. That was the one warning that he took permanent nerve damage. An acquaintance of mine washed out of SEALs training from a ruptured ear drum. Once that happens, that's all she wrote; you're at risk for further and graver injuries with every deep dive.

 

[MossRoad]

Correct! but the world record is 214 meters, 656 feet.
I can't imagine what that's like. Very cold and very dark.

Yep. That's with fins and a weight sled. Incredible what the human body can do and how far some folks will push it trying. I don't like to walk to the fridge to get milk and cookies without a night light! :cool2:

 

[jerrybob]

One of the practices these guys use is saturating their blood with O2...by hyperventilating prior to a dive...

Lance Armstrong got in a little trouble for doing that....didn't he??

 

[MossRoad]

Uh, no.

 

[jerrybob]

Uh, no.

You sure? Isn't this kinda like blood doping without the injection??

Blood doping is defined as the use of illicit products (i.e. erythropoietin (EPO), darbepoetin-alfa, hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) stabilizers) and methods (i.e. increase aerobic capacity by maximizing the uptake of O2) in order to enhance the O2 transport of the body to the muscles.[2]
The body undergoes aerobic respiration in order to provide sufficient delivery of O2 to the exercising skeletal muscles and the main determining factors is shown in figure 1. The rate maximum O2 uptake (O2max) depends on cardiac output, O2 extraction and hemoglobin mass. The cardiac output of an athlete is difficult to manipulate during a competitions and the distributions of cardiac output is at the maximum rate (i.e. 80%) during competitions. In addition, the O2 extraction is approximately 90% at maximal exercise.[2] Therefore, the only method to enhance the physical performance left to increase the O2 content in the artery is by enhancing the hemoglobin mass. In other words, hemoglobin concentration and blood volume contributes to hemoglobin mass

 

[aczlan]

Lance Armstrong got in a little trouble for doing that....didn't he??

For hyperventilating?

Aaron Z

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah I'm pretty sure breathing is still allowed in athletic competitions. :laughing:

 

[aczlan]

Yeah I'm pretty sure breathing is still allowed in athletic competitions. :laughing:

I don't recommend doing it underwater unless you have a snorkel or supplied air, but otherwise, I am pretty sure that it is.

Aaron Z