1: Breath of Fresh
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FREE DIVER It isn’t just about going up and down a line islands not far from Bali, Indonesia, and Above: Bajau freedivers anyone do that?” Next time I see him, setting goals, beating personal bests and I’m participating in a Level 1 SSI develop their skills from I hope to provide some answers. witnessing improvements (much like a once you’ve mastered breath-hold techniques freediving course. And I’m not alone – an early age. It wasn’t until 1949 that freediving marathon runner). – compliant marine life, caves, wrecks and more surrounding a group of tethered buoys Pictured: Freediver with began life as a sport, when Hungarian And more and more people – often can all be enjoyed in a new way. Here three are four instructors and 10 pupils, who boat visible above. fighter-pilot Raimondo Bucher reached scuba-divers – want to have better, take it in turns to yoyo down lines 30m on one breath. bubble-free interactions with marine life, freedivers – one a newcomer to the sport and weighted to different depths. In the 1950s a friendly rivalry between minus the bulky equipment. the others highly experienced – explore some It’s a quizzical scene, and I can’t help Enzo Maiorca and Jacques Mayol My reasons to take the course fall but ponder what the ancient Greeks, the increased interest in this new extreme more into the latter group. As an of the possibilities beyond scuba first known commercial freedivers, sport. Their exploits led to the 1988 film underwater photographer, some of the would have made of it. The Big Blue , perhaps the most famous best photo opportunities, particularly Around 300BC, these oceanic gods freediving feature of all time. with cetaceans, are to be had while FRE would dive to 30m to harvest sponges, Fast-forward 60 years, and the sport is snorkelling. and the word “apnea” – which now unrecognisable. Thousands of people Breath-hold divers have a huge means diving on one breath of air – compete in events all over the world, advantage over floaters, and will comes from the Greek word a-pnoia , regularly finning down beyond 100m. inevitably take better pictures. So after XPRESSION meaning “without breathing”. Freediving has become cool, it’s a couple of months of procrastinating, I However, the Greeks were far from the popularity fuelled by social media, with book a ticket from my home in Borneo E first to practise freediving. The first French freediver Guillaume Nery’s slick and head to Gili Trawangan. accounts date back some 10,000 years to videos receiving millions of hits. I arrive grumpily into Gili Trawangan the “Clam Eaters”, a group of shellfish- after a cramped, sweaty boat-ride from hunters operating in the Baltic Sea. Why the hype? Bali, packed with what appears to be the For thousands of years, freediving has “Every year we have entire cast of The Only Way is Essex . seen an increase in Gili T reminds me of a small-scale Koh the number of Tao, the island in Thailand where the people learning young and frisky learn to dive by day and to freedive, drink by night. and we’re On the main beachside strip, bars, certifying more restaurants and dive-schools are instructors,” sardined together, punctuated by horses 1: BREATH OF says Michael – many with ribs protruding from their Board, founder chests – that drag along cartfuls of FRESH AIR of Freedive Gili. tourists. Zen it most definitely isn’t. Board has set 13 Freediving is one British freediving records, Freedive Gili T of the fastest- his most notable achievement being Luckily Freedive Gili is set back just a Constant Weight plunge to 103m in enough from the main strip to block out growing water 2014, using a fin to swim down and most of the din. “Freediving is 95% sports in the straight back up again. mental, 5% physical,” says instructor world, but what He set up Freedive Gili in 2009 as Denis on our first morning. Lean and OMETHING DOESN’T FEEL It’s a long way to the surface, and peeking been practised by fishing communities the first dedicated freediving centre in with a serious demeanour, Denis exudes makes it so popular? And right. I’m 20m under the Lombok makes those darned contractions worse. around the globe. Recently I spent time Indonesia. In only six years, eight other calm from every yogi pore. can anyone do it? AARON SStrait, holding onto the same Eyes on the prize (in this case my documenting a nomadic seafaring group, centres have cropped up around Bali We begin with some relaxation breath I took (what feels like) an eternity instructor Denis, who glides upwards, the Bajau Laut, as part of an online series and the Gili Islands. And I’m keen to find techniques, including a “body scan”, ‘BERTIE’ GEKOSKI leaves ago. Without a tank, BC or regs. rolling his shoulders, caressing the water I’ve been presenting, Borneo From out why. a meditation technique that trains the his regs at home and heads As the realisation kicks in, so does the with his elongated fins). Below . “Imagine being able to take a deep mind to observe bodily sensations and for Indonesia urge to breathe. At first it’s a swallow, Nearly there, nearly there. And These “sea gypsies” spend almost their breath and dive down under water, release any tension. then contractions in my gut. I shouldn’t suddenly I’m at the surface again, my entire lives on the ocean, and their eyes experiencing weightlessness and the A poor yogi, I lack focus and am be down here – well, not without a safe place. Recovery breaths: fast exhale can focus under water in ways we can sensation of flying, without any unable to release pain from a recently delicious tank of sweet, sweet air. to purge the CO 2, forceful inhale to flood barely comprehend. discomfort or urge to breathe, and stubbed toe. Perhaps a session on It’s time to head up, my liaison with the body with yummy O 2. And repeat… As children, many burst their combine this with an almost meditative freediving breathing techniques will the elusive 20m mark all too brief. don’t want to black out. eardrums to facilitate a life of freediving feeling from being totally focused and help. The key, says Denis, is to breathe I try to remember the instructions: That wasn’t so difficult, was it? Can we to extreme depths for minutes on end. present in your mind,” says Board. with the belly, which slows down the loooooong fin-strokes, relaxed swaying go down again? I want to go deeper… For the Bajau and other fishing There are numerous reasons why heart rate. shoulders . In fact, relaxed everything. communities, freediving is about people learn freediving. For some it’s a After a couple of minutes we’re taught None of this fluttery frog-kick crap you’ve The origins of freediving survival. When I put it to one Bajau man, pursuit of inner peace, or to feel a greater how to take our three final breaths: been honing all these years. I’m floating in waters just off the Gili Minayak, that people do this as a sport, connection with the ocean. For others it’s inhale to fill the stomach, then chest, Just don’t look up, whatever you do. Islands, an archipelago of three small he laughs and says simply: “Why would about pushing one’s body to the limits, then release the chest, followed by 38 www. di vErNEt.com www. di vErNEt.com 39 FREE DIVER 2: CAVES OF KEFALONIA the stomach with the exhale. Deep. Slow. Above: Entering a swim- Phreatic as a bird, instructor Calm. After these, a freediver would begin through. a descent. MARCUS GREATWOOD extends his Right: A group of Next up, equalisation. For the purposes experienced freedivers and fascination with freediving in overhead of Level 1, we’re taught the pinched-nose students. environments to explorations while Valsalva technique. This comes naturally to the scuba-divers in our group. Below: Aaron descends on holiday in Greece The Frenzel technique – achieved by along the line. using the tongue as a piston to force air EFALONIA IS THE LARGEST seemed amused about our diving plans upwards – is often employed when diving of the Ionian Islands, but it has when we sampled the tourist-boat trip deeper than 30m. It requires less oxygen. Kescaped mass tourism. After a around the cave lake. Then we jumped in. We move to the pool for a confined season of “phreatic” diving (that is, The seawater in the lake is sucked from session and to learn proper freediving freediving in underground lakes) we were the Ionian Sea into sinkholes on the west form. The body should be straight and the side, long fin-strokes, fluid the surface or in the top 10m – is caused In water the colour of Frank Sinatra’s looking for a last-minute holiday in the side of the island, near Argotoli, and streamlined, with the chin tucked in so movements, relaxed shoulders. by cerebral hypoxia, when oxygen stores eyes, the weights appear a long way away. sun, and just off the west coast of Greece, expelled into the Bay of Sami. that you look directly at the line, arms by I have trouble with the unfamiliar fall below the level required to maintain Twenty metres is approaching a deep dive with a typical rocky coastline and crystal The brackish water takes two weeks to finning technique, and continuously face- consciousness. on scuba. I manage to relax just enough water, Kefalonia seemed the perfect late- travel across the island in huge karst plant into the pool-floor.