No-limits apnea

No-limits apnea is an AIDA International freediving discipline in which the freediver descends and ascends with the method of his or her choice.^[1] Often, a heavy metal bar or "sled" grasped by the diver descends fixed to a line, reaching great depths. The most common ascension assistance is via inflatable lifting bags or vests with inflatable compartments, which surface rapidly. The dives may be performed head-first or feet-first.

This form of diving is considered extremely dangerous by diving professionals; the various organizations that organize and promote breath-hold activities have not officially recognized no limits apnea, given that they’re not willing to deal with the consequent dangers. No-limits apnea has claimed the lives of several divers.

Challenges

The three main differences between free diving disciplines that involve diving to depth and those that occur at the surface are that you can not interrupt the dive, there are periods where work is performed and the diver is impacted by direct effects of pressure.^[2]

Records

The current no-limits world record holder is Herbert Nitsch with a depth of 214 m set on 14 June 2007, in Spetses, Greece. ^[3]

See also

See Free Diving Competitive Apnea

Freediving has been featured in several films.

• The Pearl by John Steinbeck (1947) is a novel about a poor pearl diver, Kino, who finds the 'Pearl of Heaven', which is exceptionally valuable, changing his life forever.

• Man from Atlantis was a 1970s TV series which featured a superhero with the ability to breathe underwater and freedive in his own special way.

• The Big Blue (1987) , the original European release was titled Le Grand Bleu which details some of Jacques Mayol (played by Jean-Marc Barr) and Enzo Maiorca (renamed to "Enzo Molinari" and played by Jean Reno)relationship and friendly rivalry in diving to greater depths.

• The Freediver (2004) is a film about a female freediver who is discovered and brought to an island, where she is trained by an ambitious scientist to break current female freediving world record held by an American woman.

• Into the Blue (2005) starring Jessica Alba, a group of divers find themselves in trouble with a drug lord after they come upon the narcotic cargo of a sunken airplane in the Caribbean. Jessica Alba is an accomplished freediver, and did much of the underwater work; some other stunts were performed by Mehgan Heaney-Grier.

Amongst several others films and shows where the diving features as a main plot point and/or the means to achieve the goal in a "James Bond" style of film.

References

External links

• Types of Diving
• AIDA International: International Association for Development of Freediving
• Current Freediving World Records
• Herbert Nitsch - 214m Apnoe Diving Worldrecord.mp4