David Blaine blames Safety People for his failure

[trux]

Excellent joke, Eric! Although I sincerely doubt anything of it is true, he'd certainly gain our respect if he really competed in standard conditions.

As for the final breath-up - that according to Kirk was free of O2 - it is still without any doubts he breathed O2 before the surfacing, and since the final breath up was quite short (2 minutes?), he was certainly still pretty saturated with O2 anyway. Just have a look at the O2 record of Tom Sietas in Italy - he also breathes athmosferic air in the minutes right before the apnea, and not O2. So sorry, I am not convinced.

[icarus pacific]

Not to say I saw this coming, but...

I had the occasion to be out and in and under yesterday and upon exiting the water, the earlier vacant beach came alive with a couple large families, the bulk of which beseiged me with, "Hey! Do you know that Blaine guy?", and "You're doing what that magician-guy was doing onTV!"

As diplomatically as I could, I explained the differences, or more accurately what I was doing, that being actually diving whilst holding my breath. And snagging dinner.

This stunt of Blaine's and the equally circus-like aid by the pros at PFD will in the final analysis do more to mock the sport than to have helped it.

[Jay Styron]

Once again Sven has hit the proverbial nail on the head. IMHO David Blain has no more to do with freediving than me standing in my garage makes me a car. The sooner his hyped up stunt goes away the better.
Jay

[Mark Laboccetta]

Originally Posted by efattah

After a discussion with Kirk & Mandy, it appears David's real static pb was 7'56" prior to the stunt, and they personally insisted that no enriched O2 was used for the final breathe-up and breath-hold. They also said that Blaine was frustrated by the pure O2 rumours, such that he wanted to do a stunt on pure O2 for double the length, to convince the skeptics.
Further, his frustration with the rumours apparently has inspired him to compete at an AIDA competition, again to silence the skeptics....

Well I didn't know I was part of a big group of skeptics the question just begged to be asked. I've been freediving and spearfishing for 20 years, longer than you Eric, and at the peak of my shape I was good for a 5 minute static. So, one like me with more experience than Blaine would be inclined to wonder how he could pull a near 8 minute static. I'm sure Pelo and Pipin probably wondered about it too.

Another thing to keep in mind. Just by breathing pure O2 you're not going to necessarily double breath hold. Some have a higher tolerance for prolonging apnea than others on pure O2. In the study I participated in 97' at Duke Hyperbaric some guys went up a minute or two, others like me doubled it. The data suggested, and I'm saying suggested as I'm neither a scientist nor a doctor who was able to prove anything, that pure O2 effects people differently and that some can maintain consciousness and regular brain activity with extremely low levels of 02 in the bloodstream compared to others who pass out earlier. In any event the forlorn conclusion about apnea and pure 02 is that they don't mix well practically except under a very controlled environment such as a test, stunt, or what have you which is why, having been there done that, I was very interested in knowing. I think its impressive the man has an 8 minute static without diving and stretching his lungs on a regular basis.

Regards, Mark Laboccetta

ps- after looking at the link that was pointed out I was glad to see I wasn't the only one wondering and Eric had outlined a pretty good case for it.

[Mark Laboccetta]

Originally Posted by icarus pacific

Not to say I saw this coming, but...
This stunt of Blaine's and the equally circus-like aid by the pros at PFD will in the final analysis do more to mock the sport than to have helped it.

Sven, I beg to differ. I think it opens up a lot of minds and makes a lot of people think about the extraordinary nature of the human body and how it can adapt so quickly to a foreign environment using prime time TV for a platform. Naturally some people will try similar stunts and get hurt, and we'll just have to assume that it's Darwin's do process in effect.

[jome]

Well, I hope we see him in competition.

I have no reason to doubt those times. For someone extremely fit, a lot of will power and lucky genetics, time and resources to train and a trainer who knows what they're doing, certainly possible! All true for David.

I remember reading somewhere that Sebastien Murat reached over 7 minutes on was it the first or third try or something? And put that down to being extremely fit...Of course with all the legends and rumours conserning him, who knows

But I do remember from my own training that I went from 4 minutes to 7 with few months of training...And I was not fit at all at the time, just very persistent...

[icarus pacific]

Originally Posted by Mark Laboccetta

Sven, I beg to differ.

Fine by me. See also Jay's post.

The thing is, and this goes out to everybody, is with clowns like Blaine and the drama that Kirk/krew decided to join, people are going to decide that what may have been a genuine, real, quasi dangerous and dare I say a spiritual endevour is now all about just seeing how long you can hold your breath and possibly deny themselves the experience. I mean you don't get real thrilled about a sport after seeing some guy in slacks and a catheter being held up by a couple of players in Zissou-suits.

And these people are missing the very large picture, that there is much, much more to it. And some people are going to get hurt, and then when the numbers get high enough, (and you know it doesn't take many), then the Feds and the insurance people get their mitts in the pile and then we have more regulations and oversights. I for one got into this because it was a solitary thing free of Big Brother and discovered that I was being overseen by the Big Guy. Eh, Jay?

What this crap condones will backfire on us like the motorcycle helmet law(s).



PS... Mark, check your emails in a minute.

[Fondueset]

I don't think it was a bad thing - as long as we don't get on about it too much...

Publicity is allways double-edged.

As for DB blaming anyone - well it smacks of headline sensationalism if you ask me. He may have thought they pulled him out early - but that is not the same as Blame - it's not an exact science. I mean what are you gonna do - wait till he quits twitching? I'm sure he knows that too.

There is something to be said for diving under the wire - maybe that belongs over in the PADI type certification thread...

[Mark Laboccetta]

I think you guys make valid points, I know that if you declare you fly,skydive, or SCUBA dive on your life insurance policy your premiums go way up and maybe freediving is next, although its going to be hard to enforce and define between snorkeling/freediving.

Mark

[Fondueset]

Lets start a bunch of rumours to keep people away from the sport!
"Male Freediver Gives Birth to Spiney Lobster"
"Scientific Article: Freediving may lead to the development of Fish-Like facial features"

We could also target certain demographics - I say we start with rednecks

"Freediving found to create 'Gay DNA' in rabbits"

[BennyB]

Originally Posted by Mark Laboccetta

although its going to be hard to enforce and define between snorkeling/freediving.

About 40m should do it

I said a while ago in the other thread that the most famous freediver in the world was Kirk Krack because he was on the cover of most of the newspapers in the world that day. Well, a photo of him was in an AOL conference today, so now he's in my workplace too. The speakers were discussing the definition of immersion and they showed a photo of Kirk over the top of the sphere looking down on Blaine.

[Lehmann108]

If Blaine is truly blaming his safety people for his failed attempt-one word-"punk."

[ramstam]

Originally Posted by Mark Laboccetta

I think you guys make valid points, I know that if you declare you fly,skydive, or SCUBA dive on your life insurance policy your premiums go way up and maybe freediving is next, although its going to be hard to enforce and define between snorkeling/freediving.

Mark

My life ins. agent already had freediving excluded from policies three years ago.

[efattah]

Kirk & Mandy's own effort at promotion in Canada resulted in a documentary about the 2003 CAFA Nationals by CBC (biggest station in Canada). Both Mandy and Tom had bad blackouts at that competition that were shown in the documentary. This created a much better documentary than the film crew ever had imagined. It was aired daily for months, and it seems half the country saw it -- friends getting calls from the other side of Canada saying they saw it, etc....

One problem -- CAFA's insurance company also saw it, and upon seeing the shocking nature of the sport, they immediately revoked CAFA's insurance. This led to a huge and fruitless search for another provider.

This documentary produced, in my opinion, more awareness about the sport in Canada than all previous publicity stunts combined. It also created a big problem, the loss of CAFA's insurance.

Publicity is always a double edged sword .... not much way around it.

[fcallagy]

Guys, all I can do is remind you you're debating a TELEVISION SHOW.

It's like having a symposium on the Sublatent Endocognitive Misogyny in Elmer Fudd's Antipathic Dysphonia Toward Dat Wabbit.

A huge television show, to be sure, and one seen ( and still talked about ) all over this blue planet, but a TV show just the same. Entertainment employing aquatic themes.

Now, to serious matters - does Elmer use semtex or C4 when he tries to blow up Dat Wabbit ? Given the well-known difference in the expansion velocities of these two explosives, I'd have to go with the semtex.
P Kotik cracks me up.


I thought when asked by the interviewer that a wry smile past between Mandy and Martin when asked about the current record holder (Tom) and Blaines ability to pass it so I reckon despit what they may say publicly I,m sure they don,t stand over it as any thing other than a stunt ( imho). If they saw this as legitimate attempt why would they have their own records scutinized ? I,m sure they had to sign confidentiality clauses etc as part of their deal and Kirk got great publicity out of it deservedly so.