Shallow Water Blackout by Craig Marley ©1996 All Rights Reserved
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Shallow Water Blackout by Craig Marley ©1996 All Rights Reserved It was early in my life that I found a special affinity for the water. At five, I was in the top 10 competitive swimmers in the country. By the age of 15, I broke the national high school record in the 100 yard breastroke and was ranked in the top five in the 200 individual medley. Training meant lap after lap of hard work in a reclusive wet environment. There was team spirit in swimming but it was not a team sport. For ten years, I swam for Santa Clara Swim Club and was coached by the legendary George Haines. George was the Olympic swim coach for three different Olympic Games. He later coached the Stanford women's swim team to NCAA championships. My teammates included Olympians and world record holders, Steve Clark, Paul Hait, Chris Von Saltza, Lynn Burke, Anne Warner and others. I lost interest in competitive swimming when I was 17 and never competed at the world class or Olympic level. But my interest and enjoyment of water sports and underwater activity was always an important part of my life. One of the games my swimmates and I played during less structured training time was an underwater game called Shark & Minnow. This game was played in the deep diving pool used for platform diving. The water depth was 15 feet over the entire pool. The diving pool was 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. One person was selected to be the first Shark. The Shark stood on the opposite side of the pool from all the Minnows. Everyone, boys and girls alike, ages 12 through 22, were Minnows. The Shark would yell "go" and everyone would dive into the water together. The object of the game was to swim underwater to the opposite side of the pool holding your breath. If a Minnow surfaced for a breath, they were caught, and were now one of the Sharks. Those who held their breath the longest, were the last to get caught. Once a Shark came to the surface, they could recover, take another breath and resume their attack. But Minnows must make it to the opposite side with only one breath. Sharks gradually grew in numbers, first by attacking all the smaller Minnows. As the gang of small Sharks grew and their average size increased, they would go after larger and more determined Minnows. This made it increasingly more difficult for the remaining Minnows to avoid their grasp. The remaining Minnows had to hold their breath for up to two minutes to make it safely to the opposite side. As the game worn on, the Sharks would select a victim, develop a strategy for attacking the head, arms, torso and legs and close in on the Minnow in mass. They usually trapped their prey about midway across the pool near the bottom. There was a great deal of clawing, kicking and punching, particularly from the larger, older, more agressive swimmers. Occasionally, a younger player would surface crying in pain, but it was all part of the game. Towards the end, when there was a large group of Sharks and only two or three Minnows, the game became a test of willpower and timing. Those who remained no longer had the smaller Minnows as sacrificial pawns. It was now a test of who could hold their breath the longest. For the remaining Minnows it was every man for himself. It was during these final rounds that I learned to relax underwater and to make every molecule of oxygen work to my benefit. The brain needed oxygen, the body could do without. I dove to the deepest part of the pool and grabbed the heavy cast iron grill guarding the 12" diameter pool drain. The grill weighed over 50 pounds and was the perfect human anchor for these final rounds. It was virtually impossible for the Sharks to break my grip on the cast iron grill. One by one the Sharks attacked, wrapping their legs about my torso, squeezing my rib cage, tearing at my arms and twisting my head. They came in groups of two, three and four. Off came my swim trunks but I did not release my grip. My lungs ached but I would not release my death grip. Gradually the Sharks tired and their numbers thinned. When the larger Sharks ran out of breath and went for the surface to re-energize their lungs I seized the moment. In a flash, I pushed off the cast iron drain grill and reached the opposite wall just seconds before another attack. I was always the last to be captured. Underwater swimming while breath holding is a dangerous activity which has claimed many lives. I recall a 16 year old swimmer named Jackie Strand died tying to swim underwater while holding his breath. He was a nationally ranked freestyler and a top prospect for the Olympic games. Rapid breathing, or hyperventilation, compounds the problem. During hyperventilation the natural balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide is reversed. Rapid deep breathing reduces the levels of carbon dioxide in the blood stream. During normal respiratory activity, the human body senses the buildup of carbon dioxide and stimulates the nerves which urge us to breath. The neuro-chemical stimulant from carbon dioxide buildup works at rest, during strenuous work or athletic activity. Most of us think the urge to breath, is caused by running out of oxygen. We have all felt desperate, drowning feeling and thought we were near death. Lack of oxygen does NOT cause us to breath. The buildup of carbon dioxide triggers the urge to breath. For underwater swimmers, hyperventilation reduces the carbon dioxide levels and they run out of oxygen BEFORE they have the urge to breath. When the oxygen level drops, the brain shuts down and humans simply become unconscious. If this happens underwater, in the absence of an immediate rescue, the victim drowns. My first WESPAC tour with UDT-11 in the summer of 1963 offered fresh opportunities to test my underwater skills in both free diving and underwater distance swimming. The ocean waters surrounding Subic Bay were clear and warm. From the surface, you could see the coral covered bottom 100 feet below. Roger Cook, Jerry Lynnes, Bobby Lee Clark, Dave "Skinner" Devine and I spent many of our free time searching for new dive spots. We started out our dive days with fresh scuba tanks, but after one or two dives, the tanks were empty and we had to resort to free diving while holding our breath. Jerry Lynnes and I excelled in free diving. Both of us repeatedly dove to 100 feet and held our breath for two minutes or more before surfacing. It was a marvelous experience. Free diving is silent. There are no bubbles or hissing from a scuba regulator. The fish do not flee free divers. Free divers are no threat to the fish. They are only a quiet body slowing drifting down. Underwater creatures welcomed me into their undersea playground. I joined the surgeon fish, groupers, rays, trumpets, angelfish, puffers, and schooling anchovies in a strange undersea world. I was no longer feared by these creatures. I came in peace. Several weeks after I arrived in Subic Bay, Roger Cook and I went to the base swimming pool for a workout. It was a typical hot, muggy Philippine afternoon. The pool water was murky due to poor filtration and you could not see the bottom 6 feet below. The pool was designed for short coarse competition with a length of 25 meters. There were six lanes across with plastic lane lines. A couple of Filipino lifeguards had just arrived and were preparing the pool for the evening crowd of Navy and Marine dependents. They were going to have a poolside barbecue that evening. After swimming a mile or so at a modest pace, I decided to see how far I could swim underwater while holding my breath. Hyperventilation would be required if I was going to set any records that day. I wanted to test my skill and exceed my previous best of 100 yards. I put all the possible dangers out of my mind. My goal was to swim 125 meters, five laps, underwater, on a single breath. On my first attempt, I sat on the pool deck and hyperventilated for about 30 seconds, deeply exhaling, to rid my lungs of all stale air, then inhaling to full lung capacity. At the top of the inhalation, the cycle quickly reversed, exhaling the air with great force. This was repeated, until lightheadedness came over me. A final breath and I dove into the milky white water. Staying near the bottom, I used long breastrokes, bringing both arms down the full length of my body. Fins were not allowed. My slow frog kick with a slight dolphin kick at the end of each stroke was efficient and conserved my energy. I set a comfortable pace that could be maintain for several laps. At the end of the first lap my head and body felt great. A deliberate turn at the end of the first lap was executed without curling my body or compressing my lungs. I concentrated on staying relaxed. That was the key to swimming long distances underwater while holding a single breath for long periods of time. At the end of the second lap my body sill felt good and I turned for the third lap. Fifty meters down, 75 meters to go. The first urge to breath was felt midway through the third lap.