Why would SCUBA Divers want to find out about Free Diving? After all we train for months, and spend vast amounts of our hard earned, to go down to sometime silly depths, and even then for only limited amounts of time, while Free Divers only have a single breath with which to stay down. Well, a recent cold November evening provided us with some of the answers when Marcus Greatwood & his wife, both UK AIDA recognised Free Divers and Instructors, gave a very interesting lecture as guests of OUUEG. Marcus started out by asking us all what we knew about Free Diving, and there were as many disparate answers as there were members present. Marcus then explained that from his point of view, Free Diving carries on from where snorkeling leaves off, and that any time we consciously train or practise to improve our snorkeling skills, we are in essence moving over into the realm of Free Diving. He then went on to explain that the other aspect of Free Diving is very much about relaxation under water, enjoyment of being underwater and being much more at one with the underwater environment, such that in his opinion, Free Divers are much more aware of the underwater world, and see far more in the way of marine life, and especially fish life, than do heavily encumbered, bubble blowing, noisy SCUBA Divers.

Not surprisingly, Marcus was asked about the record breaking attempts of Free Divers, and gave us some pretty staggering statistics. Apparently, the world record for maximum depth achieved, ON ONE BREATH OF AIR, is - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 171 meters, and he showed us a film of that record breaking dive in progress. It was interesting to note that the deepest support SCUBA diver “only“ achieved a depth of 100 meters, after that the Free Diver was on his own!!!! The technique was to descend at roughly two meters per second by means of a weighted sled, and on hitting the desired depth, to inflate a lift bag which rocketed the diver back to the surface, giving an overall dive time, IIRC, of about three and a half minutes, at which point he emerged grinning wildly, but somewhat tangled in his safety gear!! We were also told about the back-up safety systems available to both the diver, and his safety back-up, all of which were designed to get him back to the surface, in about ninety seconds, should the brown stuff start revolving at a rapid rate of knots. We also heard about the world record for Apnea – ie, breath holding, face down in a pool environment – which is now not far off TEN minutes, and that the world record for underwater swimming, is now around two hundred meters, that’s EIGHT lengths of the average twenty five meter pool. Then we heard about how Free Divers train to take advantage of the mammalian diving reflex, which is the reason behind the ability of whales and seals etc to dive so deep and so long, because it is this reflex which drastically slows down the heart rate and the breathing rate. Now we were beginning to understand why there was so much in Free Diver training which concentrates on relaxation techniques, and apnea ability, although the concept of laying face down, unprotected by hood or mask, for extended periods of time, in the colder water the better, seems to have lost some of it’s attraction in the explanation.

Then it was our turn to have a go, although in the absence of any meaningful quantity of ice cold water in Oriel’s Lecture Room II, we concentrated on the relaxation and deep breathing. It did seem a tad weird to be sitting there, eyes closed, lights out, and inhaling incense, probably somewhat different to the average lecture attending student – oh, I don’t know though – but maybe not what we expect during a diving presentation!! After about quarter of an hour of practice, the end results of the breath holding apparently varied from thirty seconds, to around two minutes, so we seem to have a long way to go before we achieve world class status.

We then had an introduction to some Free Diving gear, still called fins and mask and suits, but vastly different to our SCUBA versions. Marcus’ mono fin had to be seen to be believed, roughly the same shape as a Vulcan Bomber, or Manta Ray, and the best part of a meter wide at the base, while the “stereo fins”, which I think indicated that there were two of them, rather than their ability to run an iPod under water, were not that much under a meter in length. Presumably another reason for all that Yoga like relaxation training, ‘cos I’m sure a normal mortal would not find the inner strength to fin such mighty fins. And the suits are apparently so tight and skin fitting, that there is a need to “soap up” first in order to slide inside such rubber protection, although to a roughty toughty SCUBA diver used to spending hours and hours suited up, it did seem a little OTT considering a total immersion time only measured in minutes!! Marcus also told us about the French Free Diving training weekends which his Club organises several times a year in Nice. Training, flights and accommodation all included, for less than £300.00 a throw, which fares pretty favourably against Stoney and Weymouth by comparison; perhaps I’ll join!! Then again, Marcus did offer to return to Oxford, if the Club thought that it would be of interest, to organize a pool night when we could experience some of his Free Dive relaxation techniques, with maybe that diving reflex face down in the water fun thrown in for good measure. It sounds as if this might be a bit cheaper, so watch this space.

All in all, a great evening’s presentation, and actually much food for thought in improving our everyday SCUBA techniques, so many thanks to Rhiannon for organizing what turned out to be of so much interest, and also of course to Marcus and his lady, for taking their time out to come along and deliver such a useful and entertaining presentation. Marcus is now flying out to Egypt as a member of the English Free Diving Team next week, so maybe there really is something in this Free Diving lark after all.