200m deep down

[sebastien murat]

Dear Patrick,

Congratulations on your dive (s). To your credit you aren't playing the marketing game of adding a little here, a little there.
but
I don't believe you need to feel angry or like the rest of the world is against you ......I think they're too involved doing whatever it is they do. That there should be skepticism is natural but then again they don't know what some of us playing this game already know: it has nothing to do with tolerating large pressure changes in the lung...just the ears. Equalizing with water would open-up many more possibilities to quite a few very talented athletes. With all due respect, I think you may want to consider taking your cues from atheletes such as Davide Carrera about comandeering respect and affection from others, otherwise I fear you may trod the same angry path a recent great of the sport became a victime of.

Respectfully,
Sebastien Murat

 

[jome]

About those milestones...

If Patrick really has "overcome equalization" (like it seems from the bits and pieces I can gather), then I don't see why he couldn't shatter the records on all the other depth diciplines as well.

Narcosis doesn't seem a problem, and we all know his physically fit enough and has the apnea capability. And he seems to be hinting this in the last update.

But, let's wait and see!

He must understand that someone announcing a 80m leap in their previous best will be met with sceptisicm. I mean how would he feel if Loic now announced 255m? Like he said, he's techniques are new to us, not him. Since we have no idea what those techniques are all we can do is speculate on what we know and thus the sceptisicm. Also it's not fair to say "all of them said I'm going to fail", over 40% voted a definite yes on the poll, only a few have expressed serious doubts and even most of them said in the end "maybe".

But after this, I'm sure people will listen carefully to what ever he says is possible for him...

About the judges and recognition. You have to understand that the only people in the world that care one bit about wheather or not a record was recognized by AIDA or some other body are other freedivers. That's a great minority in the world, I can tell you. It's obvious that Patrick is not in this to please other freedivers and the truth is the rest of the world simply does not care. All they care about is how deep did a guy go on a single breath? 200m you say? Wow, that's a lot! So why should he care.

Yes, of course, Loic will remain the AIDA world champion, as well as Pipin the IAFD world champion and whoever the FREE champion. But if the question is "who went deepest", the answer will be Patrick. It's kind of like they're different diciplines, since they have different rules...But only one absolutely max depth.

 

[efattah]

Given that Patrick is using equalizing techniques taught to him by other divers, it would be nice to see him give recognition where it is due, but I don't feel confident it will happen.

Jean-Pol Francois (one of Patrick's Belgian buddies) was in Vancouver in 2003, judging one of Mandy's record attempts. It was way back then that Jean-Pol told me that Patrick had 'learned' (not invented, but learned) all the important equalizing techniques (back in 2002 during his CW attempt), and he wanted to organize a no-limits attempt.... but now, on Patrick's updates, it says 'Patrick's equalizing techniques allow him to do such and such...'

Regardless, I hope he goes past 200m if he can. I sent him an e-mail recommending that he do 225m if he has it in him, or even 250m.

 

[Léon]

Sarcasm and bitterness are not for Champions.
Between hearing about something, told by someone else, etc..., and apply it there is a huge gap.
Patrick filled it in and is now the proud and incomparable user of " His technique".
By the way, he is now down at -185,5meters.
Can you ?

Léon

 

[Shadowkiller]

Nice one Leon, if the prerequisite for comment on anything was matching that achievement the world would be a pretty quiet place eh? :hmm

Eric (and others): Would there be a problem with using a gas-to-solid pressure transducer attached to the sled? Even a mechanically driven one using a spring system, with non-return marking would verify depth. Or not? The cable measuring seems to be temperature, as well as material dependent.

 

[Patfan]

I find it a shame so many are trying to diminish his achievements by sly & sarcastic comments.

I think all he wants to do is to be taken seriously and that the spirit of freediving be reinstated meaning.... Pushing your limits redefining what is possible and what is not. Thus his disredgard for certain attitudes... and i'm pretty sure as a fighter by training the more people a cynical the more it increases his drive.

Effattah - Patrick's equalisation technique, based on theories and maybe used by a couple of people around the world, has been perfected by Patrick and has been taken to that next level. Making it HIS technique and should justly be respected!! ..... if it were that easy we'd all be diving to depths of 200 but we're not now are we?!

For those who aren't too cynical let's all sit back and enjoy the ride history is in the Making?

 

[Patfan]

We'll avoid long speaches and allow his performance to speak for it'self especially those who think he's going to chicken out ;-)

http://www.patrickmusimu.com/TUD.html

 

[FreeSardine]

Hi guys,
Just to avoid stupid comments, do the same as Patfan and stick to the facts by checking Patrick's performances!!!

 

[donmoore]

If you want to tell someone what you feel about them, may I suggest using the PM? You can click on their name in the upper left corner and select “Send a private message to XXXX”.

Most of us at times have had problems with what we feel others have said, including me. :ko
don

 

[bolts]

185m! As a newbie who can barely do 10m with e-tubes that are similar to a bank vault...that's pretty impressive.

 

[samdive]

surely anyone is entitled to talk about their own equalising technique - after all how each of us equalises is going to be very personal, no matter how much we have read on the matter. I don't think anyone can claim to OWN an equalising technique. It's all natural, physiological personal stuff. Yeah, you might be the first to write it down but it's only like being the first person to discover a piece of land and giving it a name, it doesn't mean you own it.

What is the problem with people talking about "Patrick's equalising technique?"

whatever. it is damn impressive. the only thing I find odd is the lack of judges from anywhere and lack of doping test - and yes I have read the reasons he gives behind that.

Sam

 

[Billextreme]

Hello all...

What Patrick is doing is fantastic, no questions about that.

But I do agree with Sam here... it would be a lot better if he used an Association/Federation to verify the dive.

Look back.... yes take a look at:

http://www.apneamania.com/code/worldrec_main.asp?typeID=spr&specID=tll

95%(or more) of those on that list had an Association/Federation to verify there dive, to skip this IMPORTENT PART is to ignore them, Loïc and the next one going for this record. I'm not soo happy about this, as you can understand... yes, it's a kind of a circus and we living in a free world, but still...

regards,
Bill

 

[Erik]

Efattah - I honestly don't like you .... I mean your attitude i feel it's slightly hypocritical.

Not a very pleasant comment. Most of us are friends here, or at least tolerant enough to keep personal comments off the board. If you'd any experience on forums, you'd know that the only way a forum stays healthy is if personal attacks are not permitted.
Welcome to Deeper Blue, your knowledge and input is appreciated, but fighting will get you stuck in the corner for a time-out :ban
Erik Y.
ps, do some searching here and you'll find that Eric F has helped more freedivers improve than ony other freediver on the planet.

 

[Patfan]

for your information as far as the doping is concerned he is getting his blood tested on a regular basis his being monitored very closely... It is not everyday a human goes to such depths you can be sure every aspect of his physyology is monitored...and at those pressures i dont think ANYONE would want to risk taking any substance

 

[Patfan]

Erik - you are right and I should never have posted that publicly.. Had i known I could of done it privately I would have done it... it won't happen again...

 

[donmoore]

Personally I agree with Patrick that No Limit is so extreme, it should not be governed by federations. One of the federations duties is to insure proper safety procedures. We are talking depths that no one has ever gone before, so who in their right mind, can say this is the safety procedures that should be used? But the knowledge gained from No Limits has been useful in helping to establish safety procedures for cb, etc..
don

 

[Rémi]

Erik - you are right and I should never have posted that publicly.. Had i known I could of done it privately I would have done it... it won't happen again...

Good news, you can even delet your post if you want

 

[Adrian]

Now I don't know much about computers, but have noticed something and am just curious. Patfan, Léon and Freesardine, you all have the same IP number, coming out of Brussels I belive. Are you all three persons using the same computer or one person using three DB accounts?

Nobody is doubting that Patrick is an incredible athlete and freediver, but in this world it's natural to question events, especially those that boggle the mind! So don't feel put out that there is a natural process going on here analyzing and questioning the dive from different angles and it's to gain more knowledge, never to put him down. None of the posts I've read on this thread imply anything else.

The main handicap I see here is that we don't have Patrick's direct participation, (perhaps after the record day) and so there's a lot of guessing or commentaries going on that might or might not be missing the mark. If he feels up to it he would be very welcome definitely.

Adrian

 

[efattah]

First of all, I'd like to remind people that there is a reason that CW is so well respected. The reason is that there are thousands of people who are doing it. So, if you can go deeper than all of them, people have respect for you.

How many people have access to the logistics & money for no-limits? Maybe five or six divers.

To go the deepest in no-limits proves that you have gone deeper than those five or six divers.

I'm not trying to diminish what no-limits divers do. In Patrick's case, what impresses me the most is his ability to gather funding & sponsorship & logistics for his dives. Many others have tried to gather those logistics & failed. So, being able to dive is already a victory. Congratulations to him.

Now, concerning the actual no-limits dives themselves, I believe there are dozens of freedivers capable of doing WAY over 200m if you just gave them a sled, safety, and a chance. I would love to try it if I had access to a safe way of doing it.

No-limits is about pressure & equalizing. If that is what you want to compete in, then just compete in FULL EXHALE dives from the surface. I would love to compete in such a competition, although it would probably be a disaster since people would likely squeeze themselves....

Concerning Patrick's equalizing, he was in the Dominican Republic in 2002 attempting a CW record with the IAFD. He couldn't equalize to the target of 87m and he was very upset. So, Pipin taught Patrick his 'wet' equalizing technique one-on-one, until Patrick got it. It worked, but Patrick complained that it made him dizzy while descending upside down. So, I spent hours exchanging e-mails with Patrick helping to learn the mouthfill that Herbert had already used for the 86m record which Patrick was trying to break. Finally Patrick got it and easily reached 87m (I even still have this e-mail conversation). So it was not that Patrick 'read' something on the net and then used it, he had people directly helping him learn these techniques.

Now, he has done a great job assembling money & logistics for his no-limits dives, and he is proving that all of these techniques as well as his own training techniques work well enough to launch him to new depths (notice I say new depths, not new pressures, because they are not necessarily new levels of pressure on the human body; Murat's 100m FRC dives are likely a greater stress to the body).

I am eagerly awaiting the results from the next dives!

 

[samdive]

well eric - I guess we have to hope that maybe he will eventually thank those that helped him get to this amazing achievement!

I'm really pleased for him - Patrick was with me the day I made my first ever freedive out in Hurghada and it is amazing to see his progress, even back then he was desperate to get records, I am glad he finally has, even if unofficial - I also hope that he remembers everyone who has helped him along the way and respects that

Incredible.

S