Freediving
“.. a true freediver knows that the essence of freediving is not to challenge others but to dive deeper within himself. And, for a few precious moments, to become one with the sea.”
(“Ocean Men: extreme dive”, directed by Bob Talbot, 2001)
FREEDIVING DISCIPLINES
Freediving is the sports practice which consists of voluntary breath-holding, on the water surface and underwater. We can spend days without eating, hours without drinking, but only a few minutes without breathing. It’s a completely unnatural action, but at the same time it leads you to get to know a part of yourself better, allowing you to discover the power of your mind, in contact with that magical element that is water.
The history of freediving starts with ancient myths and legends up to a succession of chronicles of athletes who in the course of contemporary history have forged the various disciplines of this magnificent sport. Freediving today is a rule-based sport which has undergone an unrelenting evolution both from the didactic and scientific point of view. It’s a complete sport, with top athletes, world championships and thousands of aficionados all over the world.
In the so-called freediving sports era, there are a total of 8 disciplines, divided into indoor practice (in the swimming pool) and indoor practice (in the sea), i.e. deep down.
Indoor freediving
– Static Apnea (STA) –
Static apnea requires the athlete to float face down on the water surface without moving. The strong psychological work that it involves makes it one of the most interesting freediving disciplines. The aim is to seek for a state of relaxation such that the athlete feels at peace with themselves, motionless while they float without having a chance to breathe.
The current record is 11.54 minutes of athlete Branko Petrovic (SRB) established in 2014.
– Dynamic With Fins (DYN) –
The aim is to cover the greatest distance possible in apnea in a pool, with 25 or 50 meters long laps, either with bi-fins or a monofin.
The current record is 300 metres, of athletes Giorgos Panagiotakis (GRC) and Mateusz Malina (POL), established in 2016.
– Dynamic Without Fins (DNF) –
The aim is again to cover the greatest distance in a pool, but without the use of fins: underwater breaststroke, where the propulsion is provided by arms and legs only.
The current record is 244 meters of Mateusz Malina (POL), established in 2016.
Outdoor freediving
– Constant Weight (CWT) –
In this discipline, the freediver descends down the guide rope by finning (with either bi-fins or a monofin) and ascends only through the use of fins.
The current record is 129 meters and was established by Alexey Molchanov (RUS) in 2017.
– Constant Weight Without Fins (CNF) –
The freediver descends next to the guide rope by swimming and ascends by using the breaststroke movement, without using fins.
The current record is 102 meters, established by William Trubridge (NZL) in 2016.
– Variable Weight (VWT) –
the freediver descends with the help of a heavy weight of 30 kg maximum, but ascends only by using their resources, i.e. their arms or fins.
The current record is 146 meters and was established by Stavros Kastrinakis (GRC) in 2015.
– No limits (NLT) –
The freediver descends with the help of a heavy weight with no weight limits and ascends with the help of a lift bag. It’s the most extreme freediving technique.
The current record is held by Austrian Herbert Nitsch who in 2014 descended to the depth of 214 meters. Nitsch today is still defined as “The deepest man on earth”.
– Free immersion (FIM) –
In this discipline, the athlete descends without equipment, by using the guide rope both on the descent and ascent.
The record is 124 meters, held by New Zealander William Trubridge who established it in 2016.
Finding out these records is for sure fascinating and makes the freediving discipline magical, both from the point of view of a beginner and an advanced freediver. However, being part of the Apnea Academy international school, Apnea Life Tenerife wants to remind you that, as said in the movie “Ocean Men: extreme dive” (directed by Bob Talbot in 2001):
“Somewhere there are divers that will break the records of Pipín and Umberto, just as they broke the records of Maiorca and Mayol. But records are fleeting. In the end, a true diver knows that the essence of freediving is not to challenge others, but to dive deep within himself. And for a few precious moments, to become one with the sea.”
And it is precisely like this. In the record competition there will always be someone who reaches a higher score. In our life, scores satisfy our ego, tagging us as winners or losers.
But what really matters in freediving is not to discover new limits, but to re-discover yourself.
But who are these famous freedivers?
CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF FREEDIVING
The oldest evolution in the contemporary history of freediving is located in the thirty years between the ‘50s and the ‘80s, when the rivalry between two freedivers Jacques Mayol and Enzo Maiorca brought the depth record ever reached by the man to -150 meters, with the help of a heavy weight on the descent and a lift bag on the ascent. The history of the friendship and rivalry between the French and the Italian freedivers is told in a deep but at the same time goliardic way in the movie “Le Grand Bleu”, directed by Luc Besson in 1988. This competition was especially reflected in the way of approaching freediving, which was much more oriented towards yoga and breathing in the case of Mayol, against the physical, constant and determined approach of Enzo Maiorca.
The same agonistic rivalry then applies to Cuban Francisco “Pipín” Ferreras and Italian Umberto Pelizzari, who in the ‘90s are busy trying to push the record bar deeper and deeper. Pelizzari, as well, as a disciple of Mayol, starts to integrate the way he descends with adequate breathing techniques aimed at reaching a state of relaxation, without ever stopping to get inspired from the physical training of compatriot Maiorca. In the meantime, freediving is regulated, establishing the first 3 different disciplines: constant weight, variable weight and No Limits.
It’s curious to think that this rivalry as well inspired the realisation of another movie, “Ocean men: extreme dive” directed by Bob Talbot in 2001 (available qui).
At the end of his career, in 1999, Umberto Pellizzari retires as the deepest man on earth in all of the 3 freediving categories, reaching:
– 80 meters in Constant Weight –
– 125 meters in Variable Weight –
– 150 meters in No Limits –
80 meters in Constant Weight
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125 meters in Variable Weight
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150 meters in No Limits
Apnea Academy
Apnea Academy, international school for the instruction and research of freediving was founded in 1995 by Umberto Pelizzari and a group of freedivers, each of whom was keen on scientific and peculiar aspects of freediving such as nutrition, physiology of underwater diving and psychology. The school was founded with the aim to provide the world with a global freediving organization whose core values are well-being and the relationship between the man and the sea.
Apnea Academy can count on numerous instructors who teach freediving all over the world based on correct breathing in order for you to achieve a state of physical and mental relaxation, to become one with your body and enjoy the well-being deriving from holding your breath underwater.
Apnea Academy has also developed its Research section, made up of a group of experts and doctors who are passionate about freediving and who conduct medical studies and surveys for a more conscious and safer practice of this beautiful discipline.
The Apnea Academy courses are open to everybody and organized by levels.
Whether you are afraid of water or just want to improve your sports technique or performance, in the Apnea Academy team you’ll find a group of professionals whose skills are recognized worldwide and supported by passion, motivation, constant training and technical updating. All of this with the aim to create an experience of well-being.
The Apnea Academy courses are open to everybody and organized by levels.
Whether you are afraid of water or just want to improve your sports technique or performance, in the Apnea Academy team you’ll find a group of professionals whose skills are recognized worldwide and supported by passion, motivation, constant training and technical updating. All of this with the aim to create an experience of well-being.
“I dove down to 150 meters, spending all my life to establish all freediving records and train my body to go as deep as I could in any freediving discipline. However I understood what I was doing every time I was freediving deep only after I met the experts that are part of the Apnea Academy training staff today. Now I know how I have to breathe, to relax my body and prepare my mind for the perfect dive. Now I know what I was doing while equalizing my ears deep, which parts of my body were involved during the equalization and from where I was taking air. I’ve increased the perception of my body during every performance. All this thanks to the advice of the professionals that are part of Apnea Academy.
This is what we are teaching now in our school.”
Umberto Pelizzari
Parque Santiago 3
Underground level
Av. las Américas 2 , local 82
38650 - Arona
Santa Cruz de Tenerife , Spain