Way of the deep end: Seb (Subs) Murat aims for No-Limits Record

[sebastien murat]

For Immediate Release 7th December 2011

Way of the deep end: Seb (Subs) Murat heads for a +700 ft deep record freedive to put human biomimetic hibernation technology in the limelight


SYDNEY, Australia - Séb `Subs´ Murat, 43, renowned deep-sea freediving pioneer and maverick, has set his sights towards the unfathomable target depth of +700ft. The dives are planned for Bali, Indonesia this 2012; a date has yet to be set. As previously demonstrated in Discovery Channel’s One Step Beyond: Super Diver and the ABC´s Catalyst: Human Sub, the Sub is unique as a diver in that he employs a protective dive strategy modeled on animal divers. This strategy permits him to undertake extremely deep dives all the while minimizing common life-threatening risks associated, such as shallow-water black-out, decompression illness, and narcosis. Like seals, he is able to circumvent these problems by paradoxically diving on `empty´ rather than full lungs. Scientific studies recently demonstrated that despite sacrificing most of his lung oxygen stores he could off-set this shortfall by down-regulating his metabolic rate to very low levels. Besides dramatically slowing his heart rate down and preferentially redistributing his blood oxygen stores to more vital organs, it was shown he could do actively cool his brain down by several degrees. This ability to slow his biological-clock allows him to conserve vital oxygen stores and tolerate a greater degree of oxygen deprivation than normal. The dives are being undertaken to bring attention to a new and ground-breaking biomimetic technology which, like in hibernating bears and diving seals, has the capability to induce an altered and depressed metabolic state. Specifically, the technology has far-reaching medical implications as it has the potential to treat a broad variety of major life-threatening conditions, such as, for example, stroke, cardiac arrest, seizures, brain and spinal trauma. The technology is being heralded as a potent way to control obesity since like in hibernating animals there is a shift from a reliance on predominantly carbohydrate to fat stores usage. The discovery has significant sports and fitness ramifications since it’s been found to significantly enhance sports endurance performance, including breath-holding ability, by pre-cooling the central nervous system, i.e., before heat-induced fatigue inevitably terminates exercise. The discovery will be released in time of the record attempt.

A limited number of corporate (platinum, gold, and silver) support programs are now on offer for freediving aficionados wishing to be part of the action.

Contact:
freediving australia seb murat | Freediving Courses Australia Murat Sebastien
Sebastien_Murat@yahoo.com

[Mullins]

A NLT exhale dive? Or does that bit just refer to your CWT dives?

[Sebastien]

+700ft has to be no-limit! (... on empty)

Best
S

[podge]

Mr Murat, I must say that I reckon you’re absolutely nuts, but I most definitely wish you the very best. Get on down there sir!

[trux]

Just for those who are lazy to calculate what 700 feet means in meters - it is equivalent to 213.36m. Herbert's current WR is also 700 feet (respectively 214m) - practically also on empty lungs (he blew the air from lungs to a bottle and used the air for the equalizing of ears). So Seb will have to do without this extra air for equalizing. Not having the air, I guess he will flood his sinus, am I right, Seb?

Seb, will you let AIDA sanctioning it? What kind of sled will you use? How fast? What safety will you use?

All best for your attempt! Nice to see you back at competitive freediving!
Ivo

[Mullins]

Originally Posted by Sebastien

+700ft has to be no-limit!

Well that much is obvious - but doing it on exhale seems odd. I still suspect the media release is referring to self-powered dives when it talks about the exhale aspect, and that Sebastien will do the NLT dive with full lungs.

[Johan Andersson]

Originally Posted by sebastien murat

Scientific studies recently demonstrated that despite sacrificing most of his lung oxygen stores he could off-set this shortfall by down-regulating his metabolic rate to very low levels. Besides dramatically slowing his heart rate down and preferentially redistributing his blood oxygen stores to more vital organs, it was shown he could do actively cool his brain down by several degrees.

I found this very interesting as I haven't heard about these studies before. Are these studies published? If so, where? Could you provide bibliographic information regarding these studies? Thank you!

All the best for your training and the attempt!

/Johan

[efattah]

Well, Herbert is thought to have been near total alveolar collapse at 214m, and if so then it may not even make a difference if you inhale or exhale, if your lungs will totally collapse anyway. The advantage then of exhaling first would be no narcosis and less DCS risk.

The flexibility of the trachea would be the only concern. Obviously everything above the epiglottis would be flooded.

If in fact it is possible to reach a total collapse, including the trachea, without damage, then in the further future all diving depth records would be set with empty lungs, the scuba record of 330m would be blown away by a 500m exhale freedive. You would have around 6 to 7 minutes to get as far down and back as fast as possible with no other concerns (based on FRC static times extended by drastically lowered metabolism).

At 4m/s, 6 minutes would get you down to 720m and back.

Personally I would still perform a safety stop at 10m on the ascent to minimize DCS risk, even on an exhale.

[Kars]

Will Seb do his NLT record dive before Herbert's attempts?
- I suspect he doesn't seek to have AIDA verification.

Some more questions for Sebastien:
1) And indeed what equalisation method(s) will he employ?
2) What is motivating you to do this particular record?
3) Why 700ft?

Thanks and enjoy the dives and training!

[osusim]

Any idea about the full mentioned video? Found only
"One Step Beyond: Super Diver"

[sebastien murat]

I'll aim not to waffle on:

- Equalization with water
- Alveolar collapse expected at a depth of about 30-40m
- Speed: 3-4 m/s
- There is no sled. My approach is, to say the least, extremely low tech compared to Herbert's, and has very few failure points. Can't say more at this stage
- AIDA is not a consideration for me. This is just an exploratory (scientific) pilot study. I'm not compelled to seek official world record status. Moreover, my system would not be compatible with AIDA rules, at a glance. I dive `blind´ with no reference line and, therefore, no pre-established target depth .... its all on feel and there's no pressure to attempt unrealistic and perhaps impossible target depths, but +700 ft on `empty´ is let me say doable. I think AIDA could be expensive too.
- I should re-mention (previous post) that Herbert's approach of exhaling at 25m or so is ingenious, but there's a BIG difference in terms of exhaling at the surface vs at 25m in terms of dive response, N2-load (narcosis & decompression), and SWB potential
- Motivation: shed light on the new medical technology and the fact that the long eluded trigger to induce human hibernation (torpor really) is now a reality
- I used non-invasive magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure deep brain temperature. It has an accuracy of +/-0.4 degrees C. For your interest Johan, using the biomimetic technology, I was able to induce global and regional cooling of the order of about 4 and 2.5 degrees C in less than 10 minutes, using non-invasive MRS. The next stage (2012) is a clinical trial on (healthy) humans. The project is in stealth mode as there are IP and significant financial issues at stake. the results will be published next year.

Hope that satisfies some of you curiosities till then.

Cheers
S

[mortenkv]

Wow... It seems freedivers keep on pushing the limits...
Take care!
- and keep the information level high!
Morten

[Johan Andersson]

Thank you for all the answers. I understand you cannot provide more info concerning the science part at the moment as the study is not yet published in a scientific journal. Looking forward to hearing more about this in the future (both the attempt and the study you refer to).

/Johan

[sebastien murat]

Sorry Johan,

Soon as it comes out you'll be the first to know.
PS: By the way, much of all of this hinges on the efforts of peoiple such as yourself....so thanks!

[Kars]

Thanks for your reply Sebastien.

You write that you cool the brain through "using non-invasive MRS." What is that?