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Free-diver with monofin, ascending.
Free-diver with monofin, ascending. monofin is a type of Swimfin typically used in Finswimming and Free-diving.

Freediving is any of various aquatic activities that share the practice of breath-hold underwater diving. This article refers to underwater diving by humans For other uses of the term diving see Dive and Diving Underwater diving is Examples include breathhold spearfishing, freedive photography, apnea competitions and, to a degree, snorkeling. Spearfisherman redirects here For the former diving gear company see Spearfisherman (company. Snorkeling ( British spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of Swimming at the surface of a body of water while equipped with a Diving mask, a The activity that garners the most public attention is competitive apnea, an extreme sport, in which competitors attempt to attain great depths, times or distances on a single breath without direct assistance of an underwater breathing apparatus. Extreme sport (also called action sport and adventure sport) is a media term for certain activities perceived as having a high level of inherent A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the Breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during Scuba diving.

Contents

Overview

Freediving is a technique used with various aquatic activities. While in general all aquatic activities that include breath-hold diving might be classified as a part of freediving, some sports are more accepted than others. Examples of recognized freediving activities are (non-) competitive freediving, (non-) competitive spearfishing, freedive photography and mermaid shows. Spearfisherman redirects here For the former diving gear company see Spearfisherman (company. Less recognised examples of freediving include, but are not limited to, synchronised swimming, underwater rugby, underwater hockey, underwater hunting other than spearfishing and snorkeling. Underwater Rugby (UWR is a quite young sport that has its origin in the physical fitness training of German diving clubs and has little in common with “normal” Rugby except Underwater hockey (also called Octopush) is a non-contact Sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a Swimming pool Snorkeling ( British spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of Swimming at the surface of a body of water while equipped with a Diving mask, a The discussion remains whether freediving is only a synonym for breath-hold diving or whether it describes a specific group of underwater activities. Freediving is often strongly associated with competitive breath-hold diving or Competitive Apnea. It is a sport in which competitors attempt to attain great depths, times, or distances on a single breath and without the assistance of breathing apparatus like SCUBA. Scuba diving is swimming underwater, or taking part in another activity while using a Scuba set. The following remainder of this article will only discuss competitive freediving as an athletic sport.

Competitive freediving

Competitive freediving is currently governed by two world associations: AIDA International and CMAS. The International Association for Development of Apnea ( AIDA) is the rule and record-keeping body for competitive breath holding events ( Freediving) The Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS is the World Underwater Federation Most types of competitive freediving have in common that it is an individual sport based on the best individual achievement. An exception to this rule is the bi-annual World Championship for Teams, held by AIDA, where the combined score of the team members makes up the team's total points. There are currently nine disciplines used by official governing bodies and a dozen disciplines that are only practiced locally. In this article, the recognized disciplines of AIDA and CMAS will be described. All disciplines can be done by both men and women and, while done outdoors, no differences in the environment between records are recognized any longer. The disciplines of AIDA can be done both in competition and as a record attempt, with the exception of Variable Weight and No limits, which are both only done as record attempts. The following official disciplines are recognized by AIDA, CMAS, or both.

Pool disciplines

Depth disciplines

For all AIDA disciplines, the depth the athlete will attempt is announced before the dive. This is accepted practice for both competitions and record attempts.

Each organization has its own rules on recognizing an attempt. These can be found on the website from the respective organizations.

Recreational

Freediving is also an intriguing recreational sport, celebrated as a relaxing, liberating, and unique experience. Many snorkelers may technically be freediving if they perform any sort of breath hold diving-it is important to stress the importance of training and supervision when making this association.

Like other water sports, freediving is associated with therapeutic properties. The experience of freedom in an underwater environment makes freediving somewhat of a personal and spiritual journey for many. Yoga is used by many practitioners to increase focus, breath, and overall performance. The 'art' of freediving and the practice outside the athletic and competitive sphere goes beyond the scope of this wiki article.

Physiology of freediving

The human body has several adaptations under diving conditions[1][2], which stem from the mammalian diving reflex. The mammalian diving reflex optimizes Mammals Respiration to stay underwater for a long time These adaptations enable the human body to endure depth and lack of oxygen far beyond what would be possible without the reflex.

The adaptations made by the human body while underwater and at high pressure include:[1][2]

Training

Training for free diving can take many forms, many of them out of water.

One example is the apnea walk. This consists of a preparation "breathe-up", followed by a short (typically 1 minute) breath hold taken at rest. Without breaking the hold, the participant then initiates a walk for as far as they can, until it becomes necessary to breathe again. Athletes can do close to 400 meters in training this way.

This form of training is good for accustoming muscles to work under anaerobic conditions, and for tolerance to CO2 build-up in the circulation. Muscle (from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus "mouse" is contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the For other uses of the term "hypoxia" see Hypoxia. Hypoxia or oxygen depletion is a phenomenon that occurs in aquatic environments Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single It is also easy to gauge progress, as increasing distance can be measured.

Before diving, most performance oriented free divers hyperventilate to a certain degree, resulting in a lower level of CO2 in their lungs and bloodstream. In Medicine, hyperventilation (or overbreathing) is the state of Breathing faster and/or deeper than necessary bringing about lightheadedness and other This postpones the start of stimulation to the breathing centre of the brain, and thus delays the warning signals of running out of air. As the oxygen level of the blood is not increased by hyperventilation, this is very dangerous and may result in drowning. (For more detail refer to the articles shallow water blackout and deep water blackout. A shallow water blackout is a loss of consciousness caused by Cerebral hypoxia towards the end of a breath-hold dive in water typically shallower than five A deep water blackout is a loss of consciousness caused by Cerebral hypoxia on ascending from a deep Freedive or breath-hold dive typically of ten metres or more ) Trained freedivers are well aware of this and will only dive under strict and first aid competent supervision. However this does not, of itself, eliminate the risk of deep or shallow water blackout. All safe free divers have a 'buddy' who accompanies them, observing from within the water at the surface. Due to the nature of the sport, safety is an integral part of freediving, requiring participants to be adept in rescue and resuscitation. Without proper training and supervision, freediving/apnea/breath-hold diving is extremely dangerous.

History

The Ama divers of Japan use free-diving for the collection of pearls in a practice that is estimated to date back over 2000 years. uminchu (海人 in Okinawa Islands) or kaito (in Izu Peninsula) are Japanese divers, famous for collecting Pearls The For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. A pearl is a hard roundish object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled Mollusk. [1][3]

The sport is generally acknowledged as the invention of the Bottom Scratchers, a diving club in San Diego, California in the 1930s. [4][5]

Official world records as of April, 2008 (AIDA)

Some famous competitive apnea divers

       

Freediving in fiction

References

  1. ^ a b c Brubakk, A. O. ; T. S. Neuman (2003). Bennett and Elliott's physiology and medicine of diving, 5th Rev ed. . United States: Saunders Ltd. , 800. ISBN 0702025712.  
  2. ^ a b Lindholm P, Pollock NW, Lundgren CEG (2006). Breath-hold diving. Proceedings of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society/Divers Alert Network 2006 June 20-21 Workshop.. Durham, NC, United States: Divers Alert Network. ISBN 978-1-930536-36-4. Retrieved on 2008-04-30. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule  
  3. ^ Rahn, H. ; Yokoyama, T. (1965). Physiology of Breath-Hold Diving and the Ama of Japan.. United States: National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, 369. ISBN 0309013410. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.  
  4. ^ Maas T. AFTER 72 YEARS, THE FAMED SAN DIEGO BOTTOM SCRATCHERS CLUB HAS CLOSED ITS DOORS.. BlueWater Freedivers. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
  5. ^ Zieralski E (2003). Free-dive club of the 1930s was full of underwater innovators. UNION-TRIBUNE. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.

See also

External links

A shallow water blackout is a loss of consciousness caused by Cerebral hypoxia towards the end of a breath-hold dive in water typically shallower than five A deep water blackout is a loss of consciousness caused by Cerebral hypoxia on ascending from a deep Freedive or breath-hold dive typically of ten metres or more Umberto Pelizzari (born August 28 1965) is an Italian freediver, widely considered among the best of all

Dictionary

free-diving

-noun

  1. Any of various aquatic disciplines, in which divers attempt to stay underwater without breathing apparatus for as long as possible.
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