Stavros Kastrinakis BSc MEng

AIDA Int. Master Freediving Instructor

Member of the AIDA Int. Education Committee

AIDA Int. Judge

Skin diving, breath-hold diving, apnea - many names, one idea: being underwater with one breath of air without any scuba equipment.

“What is the point of that?” Some may ask, “How long can you stay underwater without any equipment?” Well let's take a step back and examine the history of the wonderful world of Freediving to see how it started, and how it evolved throughout human history.  We may find the answers to the above questions.

The Roots of Freediving

As with most things in human evolution, Freediving first started out of necessity - Japanese tradition talks of female Ama divers in the Far East diving for food and pearls more than 2000 years ago. In the Mediterranean, Greek divers were using their “Skandalopetra” or bellstone (a slab of stone which they held to get them to the seabed) to reach depths in excess of 100ft to collect sponges and shells for many thousands of years. History findings even provide accounts of Greek and Roman navy swimmers making underwater attacks on enemy navy vessels hundreds of years BC. For thousands of years, breath hold divers in The Pacific and Indian Oceans, The Caribbean Sea, and Central and South America were diving for food and the treasures of the sea.

The Early Steps: SCUBA or Freedive

This was the start of the relationship of humans with the underwater environment: diving on a single breath to collect food and treasures from the sea often at their own peril. During human evolution, the drive was to stay underwater longer and dive deeper. The next logical step was to develop systems and equipment that allowed man to breath underwater in order to reach that goal. This drive can be witnessed throughout the last 2000 years of human history with creations such as diving bells, which allowed divers to descend to depths inside a sealed chamber breathing the air in the chamber. This allowed them to stay underwater longer. During The Renaissance, designs were first created for machines that would store and provide air to the diver, but it wasn't until the 20th century when Jacques Cousteau's Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus--SCUBA--equipment was fully developed; Thus, giving almost everyone an opportunity to witness the underwater world with ease and comfort. 

Freediving's Golden Era

During this development however, humankind (funny creatures we are) did not abandon breath-hold diving. In some places out of necessity and lack of resources, in other places out of tradition, diving on a single breath continued its silent course until the middle of the 20th century. At that time, with scuba diving in full bloom, a handful of divers appeared in the spotlight that continued diving on a single breath either for recreation or for a new reason: to see how deep they could go and how long they could last. The first such diver of this generation was Italian Raimondo Butcher who was the first man to dive past 30 meters (99 feet) in 1949. This depth was considered by medical science at that time to be the maximum depth a human could go on a single breath without causing fatal injuries to their lungs. A funny story is that Greek fisherman-sponge diver Giorgos Hatzistathis did the first medically recoded breath-hold dive many years ago, in 1913. The freediving legend was asked to retrieve a missing anchor of the Italian Navy flagship Regina Margherita stationed in the harbor of Karpathos Island. He made it after repetitive dives to depths between 70 and 88 meters (229--288 feet) to the amazement of the ship's doctors! 

Amazing Medical Science

After Raimondo Butcher and his first world record, a new era began in Freediving.  Athletes were striving to prove the medical community wrong on how deep the human body could go and how long it could last without air. Enzo Maiorca, closely followed by his French rival Jaques Mayol (who along with American Bob Croft dominated the sport until the 1980s) broke the 50-meter (164-foot) barrier. During that time doctors studied the few athletes involved in freediving. They made discoveries about how the human body works under these conditions that allowed the freedivers to reach depths in excess of 100 meters (339 feet). The most profound discovery was that of a series of adaptations of the human body, which were later named the “Human Mammalian Dive Reflex (MDR)”. MDR occurs when the human body is submerged in water and/or during breath holds and includes bradycardia (the slowing of the heart rate) and vasoconstriction (restricting the blood flow to the extremities) that allows us to achieve amazing breath-hold performances. The discovery of these adaptations previously only seen in marine mammals such as dolphins and seals has given rise to the theory that humans might have aquatic ancestors - this theory is often referred to as the “Aquatic ape theory”. 


The Birth of Modern Freediving

During the last decades of the 20th century, Freediving was capturing the minds of more and more people from around the world. Divers were becoming the extreme-sport stars of the day with movies such as Luc Besson's “The Big Blue” introducing Freediving to millions of people. The sport of Freediving however was just being born with the creation of the International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA). AIDA was established in 1992 and set out to create the rules and regulations for athletic Freediving. With this came the end of an era of brave divers “plunging into the abyss with every muscle tensing”. AIDA International soon became the recognized governing body for freediving and official records started being ratified with more and more countries joining AIDA. After 4 years of organizing the new association and creating rules and regulations, the first AIDA Freediving World Championships were held in 1996 in Nice, France.  This event quickly focused a lot of attention on the sport with more national AIDA federations being created around the world. Records kept getting broken; freedivers kept surpassing their limits and amazing the medical community. In addition, freediving education systems were created to introduce people to the amazing world of breath-hold diving. 


Why Freedive?

Many people start freediving without even knowing it, just by simply swimming around with a mask and snorkel and then taking a plunge to see the underwater world. With experience and training, you become more comfortable being underwater and your urge to breath is not as great -- your body learns how to be underwater -- remembering long forgotten skills imprinted in our DNA. With time, the focus shifts from looking at the underwater world to relaxing and enjoying the sensations and calm that breath-hold diving provides. As one of the greatest freedivers Umberto Pelizzari once said, “The scuba diver dives to look around - the freediver dives to look inside”



Freediving under AIDA International

AIDA International operates today based on a worldwide network of National AIDA organizations, which are responsible for promoting Freediving in each country, and oversees Freediving competitions in their area of responsibility. AIDA International Judges are trained to judge official competitions around the world and to ensure all rules and regulations are maintained.  This ensures performances done in different locations and at different times are judged under consistent conditions. Finally, AIDA International Freediving Instructors work in more 30 countries around the world. These instructors teach safe Freediving practices to all levels ranging from complete beginners wanting to experience the freedom of diving without cumbersome equipment, right up to Instructor and Competition level freedivers wanting to advance in the competitive side of Freediving. 

AIDA International currently recognizes eight freediving disciplines, six of which are considered competitive disciplines. The two remaining disciplines are the sled disciplines of Variable Ballast and No-Limits. These performances are dependent on technical equipment and are therefore only attempted in individual record events rather than competitions.

Pool Disciplines

Static Apnea - In this discipline, the athlete holds their breath for the maximum possible time with their face (mouth and nose) remaining submerged for the duration of the performance. No muscular effort is made, resulting in long breath-hold times as oxygen is conserved. This discipline is clearly a mind game.

Current World Records: Men: 10 minutes, 12 seconds held by Tom Sietas, Women: 8 minutes, held by Natalia Molchanova

Dynamic Apnea - the freediver swims underwater for the maximum distance possible using only one breath. Performances are normally done in pools although shallow confined sea locations can also be used. Athletes normally swim using monofins or long blade bifins for propulsion. This is one of the most technical disciples in Freediving.

Current World Records: Men: 250 meters held by Alexei Molchanov, Women: 214 meters held by Natalia Molchanova

Dynamic Apnea without Fins - this is the same idea as the normal Dynamic, but here no propulsion aids are allowed - the freediver has to swim using just their body normally performing a technique similar to the breast stroke.

Current World Records: Men: 213 meters held by Dave Mullins, Tom Sietas (Shared), Women: 151 meters held by Kathryn McPhee

Depth Disciplines

Constant Weight - the diver descends and ascends by swimming along a weighted line to a pre-announced depth. The athlete can use a mono-fin or bi-fins. However, the athlete is not permitted to pull on the dive line to propel him/her self except when reaching the bottom of the line. This is probably the most respected discipline in Freediving as it combines great physical performance with the ability to reach great depths.

Current World Records: Men: 120 meters held by Herbert Nitsch, Women: 96 meters held by Sara Campbell

Constant Weight without Fins - again, this is the same idea as in Constant Weight but without using any propulsion equipment. Many consider this the “purest” depth discipline because no equipment is used. This discipline is based solely on the athlete's skills and abilities.

Current World Records: Men: 88 meters held by William Trubridge, Women: 60 meters held by Natalia Molchanova

Free Immersion - the athlete descends and ascends by pulling on the weighted dive line. No propulsion equipment is allowed on hands or feet. This disciple involves very relaxed movements and long dive times.

Current World Records: Men: 109 meters held by Herbert Nitsch, Women: 85 meters held by Natalia Molchanova

Non - Competitive Disciplines

Variable Ballast - the athlete descends to the target depth by using a weighted sled or other ballast system and then has to ascend using his or her own power by swimming or pulling up.

Current World Records: Men: 140 meters held by Carlos Coste, Women: 122 meters held by Tanya Streeter

No-Limits

This is the deepest discipline. Most dives were done in this discipline prior to the 1990s. The athlete descends using a weighted sled and then returns to the surface by filling a lift bag with air or using any other retrieval system. This is clearly the discipline were we are testing to see how deep the human body can go on one breath of air.

Current World Records: Men: 214 meters held by Herbert Nitsch, Women: 160 meters held by Tanya Streeter


The future…

This was but a small introduction to the wonderful world of freediving - through this section of Deep Worldwide Magazine we will explore all aspects of this wonderful activity and provide information and news aimed at all freedivers from novices right up to competitive athletes.

Stay tuned … the adventure is just beginning.