whats it like freediving in cold water?

[Amphibious]

Originally Posted by laminar

Amphibious,

I'd gladly move to the Island. Got any jobs for me?

you're looking for TWO jobs right?

[jome]

Fondueset:
What's that in like, uh, metric?

Anyway, Davids bodyfat must be like under 10%. I don't think it makes much of a difference if you go from 15% to 20%. But going from 5% to 10% will make a huge difference.

You don't need to be fat, but "healthy" will do.

All I know is that when I dropped my bodyfat to very low, I could not stay in the pool with out a suit more than 15 minutes before I would be shivering uncontrollably and almost convulsing. Now, an hour or two - all the same (still not very fat mind you - don't let the picture fool you ).

[Flojt]

Originally Posted by jome

Fondueset:
What's that in like, uh, metric?

Anyway, Davids bodyfat must be like under 10%. I don't think it makes much of a difference if you go from 15% to 20%. But going from 5% to 10% will make a huge difference.

You don't need to be fat, but "healthy" will do.

All I know is that when I dropped my bodyfat to very low, I could not stay in the pool with out a suit more than 15 minutes before I would be shivering uncontrollably and almost convulsing. Now, an hour or two - all the same (still not very fat mind you - don't let the picture fool you ).

Word up Jome

Fat is essential, not only to stay warm, but the brain needs to function properlly. I have been workin off some of that good nordic xmass food, and noticed that I, even tho wearing my 3mm shorty as i always do, that I started to shiver after 15 min in the 27 degrees (Celsius) pool.
the is one of the factors that held my preformance back during the spring training with the Freediving Team Aland.
So for me it's not just all a benefit to get fitter and gain mucelmass and lose fat %.

But this weekend we'll go out and dive with the 3-4mm Elios suits that we got last year, then I was able to stay in for 2hrs in 12-15 degrees.

Even in june the waters around here is about 10 degrees but cum midsummer it'll be a good 18-20.
The positive thing with cold water is the MDR, boost the body so one can have many nice dives.

Daniel Flojt
Member of the FTA

[jome]

Well, dieting certainly does not help. If you're on negative calories for it makes it much, much worse (again, first hand experience).

For open water dives, it is essential that you are well nourished - not only because of the cold, but blood pressure etc. Samba/Bo strike much earlier if you've been dieting heavy for the past few days (or even just that day).

[Flojt]

So true, even tho it didn't go to a BO in my case but had a small twitch of my hand, but in our group we apply the sweds rule about LMC so my preformanse that day was DQ. But needles to say, to eat and sleep well the day or weeks before freediving is very important.

btw Jome, great work from your fellow freedivers, Timo and Johanna. Seams that the finnish team will be might strong for the upcoming WC in Egypt.

[trux]

Originally Posted by laminar

Still, I've yet to try the no suit thing with ice in the water. Now that would be a rush.

Have a look at the video of the Guinness World Record in this discipline. Wim Hof (Netherlands) did 58m (no fins) under ice in Finland in 2002. There was a short surfacing BO, but it looks like Guinness does not care about the surfacing protocol The following photo is from a previous record (50m):

geefplaatje.jpg Credit © StockPhoto.com

There is also a very interesting interview with Wim Hof and Dr George Havenith who is an expert in this area. Quite interesting reading and with a lot of information on-topic for this thread. Another version of the interview is here.

Wim Hof did 6 different records, among others he stayed 1 hour and 8 minutes in full body contact with ice - submerged in ice cubes (unlike David Blane, who was well insulated with 15-20cm of air). He also planned other stunts and records - like climbing the Mt. Everest in shorts and bare feet (until then he already went in this way to 5400m altitude on the slopes of Mt Everest). He also spoke about 4.5 minute full exhale apnea. I do not know what happened since then though - research on Wim Hof in Google returns a lot of gay porn links (I do not think it is him), but no current news of his stunts. I hope he did not die when attempting another record. His website is dead though (owned by a domain squatter now).

Ah, I just found a post from 2005 about Wim Hof on a dutch medicine forum - they tell he climbed the Mont Blanc just in trunks (in -20°C)

I also found an old post from Eric Fattah about Wim:
Wim Hof, from Netherlands, is a specialist in cold tolerance. He has virtually no body fat (very thin), yet he can remain in 0C water (32F) for over an hour without shivering (Guinness Record 66 minutes). He has held his breath for nearly 7 minutes while submerged under solid ice in a frozen lake, and he holds the records for breath-held swimming under ice. He has climbed Mount Everest in shorts, despite -100C wind chill. He has run half marathons in the snow, with bare feet.

Maybe Eric, or our Dutch members have some more recent information about Wim Hof.

[Fondueset]

That was awesome!

fyi - I'm about 1.85 meters x 72.5kg

I do pretty well in the cold - all winter in my 5 mil suit - water at 1c. I was generally good for an hour or more - with mild shivering.