JUNKO KITAHAMA’S FACE is pale blue, her mouth agape, her head craned back like a dead bird’s. Through her swim mask, her eyes are wide and unblinking, staring at the sun. She isn’t breathing.
“Blow on her face!” yells a man swimming next to her. Another man grabs her head from behind and pushes her chin out of the water. “Breathe!” he yells. Someone from the deck of a boat yells for oxygen. “Breathe!” the man repeats. But Kitahama, who just surfaced from a breath-hold dive 180 feet below the surface of the ocean, doesn’t breathe. She doesn’t move. Kitahama looks dead.
Moments later, she coughs, jerks, twitches her shoulders, flutters her lips. Her face softens as she comes to. “I was swimming and…” She laughs and continues. “Then I just started dreaming!” Two men slowly float her over to an oxygen tank sitting on a raft. While she recovers behind a surgical mask, another freediver takes her place and prepares to plunge even deeper.
Kitahama, a female competitor from Japan, is one of more than 130 freedivers from 31 countries who have gathered here—one mile off the coast of Kalamata, Greece, in the deep, mouthwash blue waters of Messinian Bay—for the 2011 Individual Freediving Depth World Championships, the largest competition ever held for the sport. Over the next week, in an event organized by the International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA), they’ll test themselves and each other to see who can swim the deepest on a single lungful of air without passing out, losing muscle control, or drowning. The winners get a medal.
How deep can they go? Nobody knows. Competitive freediving is a relatively new sport, and since the first world championships were held in 1996, records have been broken every year, sometimes every few months. Fifty years ago, scientists believed that the deepest a human could freedive was about 160 feet. Recently, freedivers have routinely doubled and tripled that mark. In 2007, Herbert Nitsch, a 41-year-old Austrian, dove more than 700 feet—assisted by a watersled on the way down and an air bladder to pull him to the surface—to claim a new world record for absolute depth. Nitsch, who didn’t compete in Greece, plans to dive 800 feet in June, deeper than two football fields are long.
Nobody has ever drowned at an organized freediving event, but enough people have died outside of competition that freediving ranks as the second-most-dangerous adventure sport, right after BASE jumping. The statistics are a bit murky: some deaths go unreported, and the numbers that are kept include people who freedive as part of other activities, like spearfishing. But one estimate of worldwide freediving-related fatalities revealed a nearly threefold increase, from 21 deaths in 2005 to 60 in 2008.
Only a few of these fatalities have been widely publicized. The famed French freediver Audrey Mestre—wife of freediving pioneer Francisco “Pipin” Ferreras—died in 2002 during a weight-aided descent to 561 feet, leading to controversy that continues still about whether Ferreras, who managed safety for the attempt, did his job properly. More recently, just three months before the 2011 world championships, Adel Abu Haliqa, a 40-year-old founding member of a freediving club in the United Arab Emirates, drowned in Santorini, Greece, during a 230-foot attempt. His body still hasn’t been found. A month later, Patrick Musimu, a former world-record holder from Belgium, drowned while training alone in a pool in Brussels.
Competitive freedivers blame such deaths on carelessness, arguing that each dead diver was going it alone or relying on machines to assist the dives—both very high-risk pursuits. “Competitive freediving is a safe sport. It’s all very regulated, very controlled,” says William Trubridge, a 31-year-old world-record freediver from New Zealand. “I would never do it if it wasn’t.” He points out that, during some 39,000 competition freedives over the past 12 years, there has never been a fatality.
Comments
Trubridge lived in Havelock North, a village on the coast of the North Island. Havelock is a much smaller inland village on the South Island.
Flag ThisThis article was surprisingly interesting and well written. I stumbled here with no prior interest in freediving or sports or anything -- how did I wind up here? -- but once I started this article I couldn't stop and actually enjoyed reading the entire thing.
Flag ThisThis was an incredibly interesting read! What I don't understand is why there hasn't been some false start/safety mechanism enabled in the sport to stop a diver prematurely if a diver has something go wrong on the way down (ie. Michal Risian's dive). It's unacceptable that a competitor can still descend when all above him on the surface know that certain death awaits because of a malfunction with safety equipment (the velcro coming off of the ankle strap). Then again, I've never been able to participate in the sport so I'm not aware of the limitations of being able to provide such safety mechanisms. I'm sure there's some kind of sound apparatus that is capable of making audible noise at deep depths. Similar to a whistle being blown at a false start with swimming.rmed
Flag ThisThis was an incredibly interesting read! What I don't understand is why there hasn't been some false start/safety mechanism enabled in the sport to stop a diver prematurely if a diver has something go wrong on the way down (ie. Michal Risian's dive). It's unacceptable that a competitor can still descend when all above him on the surface know that certain death awaits because of a malfunction with safety equipment (the velcro coming off of the ankle strap). Then again, I've never been able to participate in the sport so I'm not aware of the limitations of being able to provide such safety mechanisms. I'm sure there's some kind of sound apparatus that is capable of making audible noise at deep depths. Similar to a whistle being blown at a false start with swimming.rmed
Flag This"A relatively new sport"? Check out Enzo Maiorca and Jacques Mayol from the 1970's. They were fictionalized in the movie "The Big Blue"
Flag ThisA sport from the 1970's is still a relatively new sport.
Flag ThisWow. Just Wow.
Flag ThisI disagree. A 42-year-old sport is not a relatively new sport. Depending on your definition of sport, the Japanese have been doing the same kind of thing (ama diving) for up to 2,000 years.
Flag ThisIf this well written article hooked you, seek out "The Big Blue". I captures the same compelling, haunting aspect.
Flag ThisI grew up surfing. To get into bigger and bigger waves you surf constantly and you train. You're incredibly fit and you get very comfortable being underwater. Not just mentally but physically to. You're body doesn't react as violently to a lack of oxygen in your system. You're quite physically comfortable up until the last few moments of consciousness. It's a lovely feeling to be able to spend that much time underwater but it's dangerous because you don't have the typical natural checks and balances. But these guys? Man... that's a whole different planet.
Flag ThisExcellent article, and an interesting sport. I'm in some kind of awe at the lack of basic safety precautions. I come from a motorsport background, where safety is perhaps too over the top, but free diving too wild west for me. Multiple dives occurring at the same time is crazy, splitting the emergency responder's focus. No fail safe on attaching the rope, which is a life or death item. No way of communicating with a diver once they're under. And the emergency protocols (at least as described in the story) seem a little loose. And that's just the basic no cost stuff. But for all that, these are some brave and interesting individuals.
Flag ThisExcellent article, and an interesting sport. I'm in some kind of awe at the lack of basic safety precautions. I come from a motorsport background, where safety is perhaps too over the top, but free diving too wild west for me. Multiple dives occurring at the same time is crazy, splitting the emergency responder's focus. No fail safe on attaching the rope, which is a life or death item. No way of communicating with a diver once they're under. And the emergency protocols (at least as described in the story) seem a little loose. And that's just the basic no cost stuff. But for all that, these are some brave and interesting individuals.
Flag ThisReally sounds horrifying and very unorganised, maybe someone need to re-think the whole process and start from scratch!
Flag ThisWow. Just awesome. Really well written, kept me interested to read to the end... You won't catch me freediving for a million bucks.. maybe for a billion...
Flag ThisMaybe it's because I'm in the medical field but the logic behind calling this death wish a sport escapes me. i sincerely hope that these psychotic individuals refrain from breeding. They've clearly crossed over some fundamental line in human behavior that violates the imperative to survive. Yeesh, why come back up? (IMHO)
Flag ThisBruce wrote : " i sincerely hope that these psychotic individuals refrain from breeding." I wish the same for you, because you are stupid. Life is not about safety, you pathetic dimwit, and if it were, you wouldn't have many of the things you now take for granted. Like X-ray machines, antibiotics, and surgery.
Flag ThisI'm well aware that "life isn't about safety". There's plenty of garden variety carnage flowing through hospitals that we can use for the evolution of medical technology without the need for such heroic self- aggrandizement such as competitive freediving. Sorry, getting your jollies by walking that close to death results in a lot of it; guess I've just seen too many permanently damaged family members and bewildered left- behind children to be impressed by extreme sports. Ya get a Darwin Award from me for this stuff. But hey, if you're childless and an orphan, go for it, you got no responsibility then to ensure the survival of the next generation.
Flag Thisvery intense but interesting how they all talk about the mind body connection being key to their sport.
Flag ThisAn interesting perspective from a journalist who knows very little about freediving but is a very talented story writer. You can perform the most mundane of activities, the extreme element of that activity is only present when the person so wishes it to be and is usually introduced by lack of knowledge and understanding. The best thing about freediving??... you don't have to do it! I do and I love it :-)
Flag ThisThe absolute key person in this whole thing is Nery - his view on how freediving should be conducted is a fundamental truth that is overlooked by the vast majority. Only a few enlightened clubs and individuals practice and train for body awareness, the rest should really take note.
Flag ThisExellent writing, the stories emerse you into the lives of the freedivers!
Flag ThisGreat article on a really fascinating new sport. A pleasure to read. But please, write all of your measurements in metric next time. It's the 21st century and you are writing for an international audience (I'm in Australia). Using arcane terms like 'feet' and 'miles' does come off a bit backward and old fashioned. Thanks.
Flag ThisBruce I would be interested to know if your comments are the result of this overly dramatic article ,which should be awarded high points for readability ,and is in fact a laughable misrepresentation of this sport. Perhaps the twice quoted statistic, that since its inception, there have been no deaths in competition did not register with you.Also no severe injury . So perhaps your remarks of bereaved spouses and orphaned children are a trifle over the top as is this article. Or did perhaps your comments flow from an almost total ignorance of the most basic physiology of freediving ,something I have found ,regrettably , to be common to the vast majority of your profession . I would recommend for your reading Claus Lungren, Paul Gabbot, Peter Lindholm , Erica Schagatay,,Corriol etc . As for the question of egos ,most sportsmen have a compelling ego drive , as long as they do not exhibit this trait too objectionably in public and frighten the horses ,it usually passes. Of course I fully understand that your profession are composed of saints working exclusively for the salvation of the human race and utterly egoless.!!
Flag ThisTHAT is competitive freediving - Christian Maldame, french champion, diving to 101m during the last WC, coming up powerful, fresh and with a GIANT smile: http://christianmaldame.over-blog.com/article-a-dive-to-101m-100323890.html Competitive freediving requires body, mind, heart... But also brain & patience. Reward is surpassing yourself, enjoying doing it, then savor the sweet taste of goal just achieved. But there are idiots in all disciplines, and I'm often sad to see how they can so easily shape external opinion. In competitive freediving idiots care only about numbers, don't manage stress of the competition, don't listen to advice, bet on a possible performance, throw themselves in the water, too deep too early, squeeze their lungs at depth, rush back to the surface, black-out, ruin their confidence and start all over again from step one. An other french said it better and shorter: "patience is the key" I would add "patience and pleasure are the keys" :)
Flag ThisWhat an excellent article! Nestor captures the bizarre and dangerous world of freediving, especially by describing his own horror at witnessing what these people are doing to their bodies. I like that Nestor does not remain neutral and takes a stand on the dangers, etc. Great journalism. Fascinating topic.
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