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AIDA no-fins record attempts

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Mandy-Rae Cruickshank did a 41m dive on sept 1st.
So she has set the new Women's World Record a meter deeper than the FREE world record and lot deeper than the AIDA one.

Part of the PR release:

On Monday, September 1st at 4:35pm, in the beautiful waters of Howe
Sound, Vancouver, Canada, Canadian Mandy-Rae Cruickshank reset the AIDA
world record in constant ballast without fins to a depth of 41m / 134'
in a time of 1:39. Constant ballast without fins is where the athlete,
on one breath of air, descends and ascends to a predetermined depth
without the aid of fins or line.
 
I understand under AIDA rules the diver must be connected to the downline by a lanyard attached to the wrist. How is this resolved in unassisted diving, where the arms are motile? This would also be a problem with Murat's DRUMs, where the monitoring lines are attached to the wrist.
 
During my unassited dives, I have the lanyard attached to my wrist. The lanyard is over 1m long (can't remeber how long exactly) and it is made from cripped mono fillament.

I haven't had any problems with it, the length of the lanyard gives me plenty of room for movement and being made from mono-fillament there is very little resistance, so little that I don't notice it.

Though if you are doing it for a bit of fun and don't feel comfortable with it on your wrist you can attach it to your belt, which is equelly effective.
 
Carlos Coste just did 55 metres in 2'22" !
Conrats!
Erik Y.
 
wow, that's quite a slow dive!
was that an official record attempt, or just training? where did you find the details Erik?
 
My Spanish has suffered since learning Indonesian...here's what i got in my email:

"Carlos Coste parece no tener límites que le impidan convertirse en el apneísta más
completo del mundo, y el pasado domingo el Parque Nacional Mochima fue el escenario
ideal para que este caraqueño batiera cómodamente otra marca nacional, en esta
ocasión en la modalidad de Peso Constante sin Aletas, al sumergirse 55 metros en un
tiempo de 2 minutos con 22 segundos.

Lea el Reportaje Especial que hemos preparado"

Erik Y.
 
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On his website it looks like the official attempts for the other disciplines aren't until later this month....maybe this is training?
Outstanding in any case.
Erik Y.
 
good question

Originally posted by Will
I understand under AIDA rules the diver must be connected to the downline by a lanyard attached to the wrist. How is this resolved in unassisted diving, where the arms are motile? This would also be a problem with Murat's DRUMs, where the monitoring lines are attached to the wrist.

That's a good question......
 
well

Originally posted by Alun
wow, that's quite a slow dive!
was that an official record attempt, or just training? where did you find the details Erik?

well -his first try- we need a lot of preparation for the unassisteed in pool doing a lot of breastroke ect...I would like to see videos for the next unassisted records

saludos

Daniel.
 
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Wow impressive dive, well done Carlos ! :)

As far as Lanyards are concerned they are NOT mandatory for record attempts, only competition. I just double checked, I even ran a search on the word lanyard and it does not exist in the records document.

The rules for records and competitions are very different. For instance you can use nose clips & goggles for a record, but not in competition. I think if there is ever a competition where you can do no-fins dives it would be stupid if you can't use a noseclip. The people that can eqaulise hands free, specially for deep dives would have to be in the minority.

How stupid would it be if you have to try swim, and equalise using your hands at the same time ????
No way you could achieve your maximum depth that way. :duh

Cheers,
Wal
 
>No way you could achieve your maximum depth that way.
>
>Cheers,
>Wal

AIDA has stated on several occasions that their rules are designed to limit the depth of the athlete. For example, they stated that one of the main reasons to force the use of a mask was to limit the maximum depth.

FREE's rules are designed to maximize the depth of the athlete.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada
 
It's not too difficult to equilise using your hands, on the return of the stroke you equilise as normal as the hands come past you nose. Then when you start sinking you can v. comfortably leave you hand there as with normal constant dives. True it does brake the stoke up a bit.
 
It is not difficult but.........

It not difficult......But the main point for doing unassited is to save to most oxygen and energy we have --we don't really need to do a extra movement.It enough with energy we use doing the strokes ......It will no be good for a better perform to equalize using your hand in the unassisted...that's why they use the nose clip
 
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63m Record Attempt

almost a full week after returning from Turkey and I am sitting in a coffee shop with my laptop pondering all the things that went wrong and how I could have corrected it.

I guess most of you all know by now that the record didn't work out as planned...I had spent a week in Jamaica where I ended up catching a cold and only got to dive 3 times and max to 50m unassisted. Was feeling extremely good with the training that I had done in the previous month.

I head to Kas, Turkey to meet with Rudi and Yasemin to do some training dives with the Russian students (all really great people). I manage to get 4 dives in all to 45 and 50m and without wetsuit. Speedo only. We decided to skip the wetsuit because the weather was condusive to it and we thought it would add to the purity of the unassisted dive. Anyway, after the 3rd dive we realized that skin does NOT glide as well as a wetsuit. I found myself with 1kilo of weight and still not being able to freefall. It wasn't that I was too fat or anything like that because I was weighing in at 72kilos and measured body fat of 4.2% before leaving the US. So I don' think there was much buoyancy there...However, I couldn't freefall to save my life.

We had wasted days playing with buoyancy and found ourselves with one last day to attempt 63m and still haven't broken past 50m in training. i know, kinda crazy but considering how comfortable I feel doing 50m, 63 wouldn't have been a big deal. record day has arrived and it was do or die day because the weather was now colder, sea a bit rougher, and windier. we had set up first thing in the morning to beat the early winds but just before going down Rudi calls off the dive because the wind and waves has caused the boat to pull the mooring into shallow water. Our beloved bottom plate is now dragging on the bottom. the reason we just didn't set up again was because of the increasingly bad weather. We decide to pack up and head in and wait for it to break again. At around 16:00 we head back out and try again. By this time I had already done two negative pressure dives from teh morning "attempt" and I was in the zone. (oh, we decide last minute to keep the wetsuit because of the increased temp and not having figured out the buoyancy thing). After my first negative I noticed that I was on the verge of a hyperoxic blackout and had to move around a bit to burn up the high O2...I manage to get through both negative pressure dives and then prepped for the last breath.

Last breath and I slip into the water. here's where the shit hits the fan. (already diving with a minor head cold) at 3m (yes, i said 3m) the I do my first real equalization only to feel the nose clip slip to the end of my nose and I had now expelled about 15-20% if my air. ***** I have to interrupt my stroking techniqe and reposition it. I keep going and then have to reposition the nose clip at 15m again. Everyone asks "why didn't you abort the dive and start over?" well, I was feeling totally oxygenated, fresh, and strong. I figured the worse would be that I have some "difficulty" equalizing. I manage to get to 30m equalizing and trying to push some sludge through my E-tubes to get the ears to clear. they manage but barely. I soon after hear the 45m signal and am still having trouble equalizing. freefalling nicely with my 3mm and 2 kilos of weight but shifting my head and neck all over the place trying to ease the discomfort of the compressed ear drums.

I can tell that I am now past 51m because it just felt different. Probably becaues I have not ventured that deep without fins before. I feel the pressure increasing and equalization is also increasingly difficult. I hear the final signal from the safety diver at 63m and I look up (well, down in the case) and see the bottom plate. I manage to take the tag and put it on my wrist and start my ascent. shortly after leaving the bottom I feel something strange that I haven't felt freediving before...I feel my right ear hurting on the way up...what the hell? I am experiencing a reverse block...Damn thing refuses to clear and I wasn't about to stop at 55m and play with it. I continue a little after and feel it pop and hiss when it gets perforated...the pain went away but now I hear something going "glug glug glug glug"...the sound of water entering my ear. i think I am still below 50m at this time...As soon as water enterd past the eardrum, my descent line starts to look like 5 different lines waving all over the place. Now I can barely tell what's up or down. I decide to try and finish the dive without any assistance from the rope. Instead, for guidance I start rubbing my head on the line so I can feel my way back up in a straight line. From what the safety divers tell me, it just looked like I was constantly bumping my head into the line. It kept me going straight though! All this bumping and loss of technique has now increased my bottom time by a full 20 seconds form the planned dive time of 2:06 for the 63m (yes, I am getting pretty fast without them fins :D ).....I manage to make it all the way to the surface and then suffer a blackout. Total dive time was right at 2:26...so about 4 to 5 seconds of blackout time I wake up in Rudi's arms....i was hoping for Pamela Anderson but not this time I guess. Funny how something so simple as a nose clip can cause such a freaky chain of events. Anyway, it was close but definately no cigar. The eardrum took about a week to heal shut and I have logged a couple of pool sessions with it already. I am already training for the next attempt which will hopefully take place very soon...I know when everything is working correctly I have this dive plus more left in me. I figure I owe it to you guys to let you know what happened.

If I were to do it all over again I would skip the Jamaica trip and tell my freind who got married that I will be at his next wedding. Go straight to turkey and not mess with the speedo diving. Attempt the record early and leave a few days for errors and such. All I can say is "Next Time!" I decided to chok this one up as a training session and a learning experience.


Alun, thanks for the CD with the videos by the way...Much appreciated!

and the coffee shop is now closing and so is this post.

Thank you all for your support and e-mails. It means more than you can imagine. take care and safe dives to all of you.

David

P.S. the Dieter Baughman "world record" was a hit in Turkey with all the students (one of which did 45m unassisted...and he's 47yo) and the safety divers..You just need things like that to make you smile sometimes. :D
 
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Hey David,

Once again best of luck on the next attempt.

One thing should be cleared up a bit; I remember the first time you had a hypocapnia blackout before your dive, Rudi told you it was 'hyperoxia.' Sorry but no cigar! You can't get hyperoxia except past 67m or by breathing pure O2 at depth.

What you are feeling is hypocapnia (low CO2). Rudi and I used to get into endless arguments; he insisted that the diver should go down with a minimal of CO2, I always insisted that the diver go down loaded with CO2. Obviously both systems can be made to work, but make no mistake, when you B/O and you aren't out of air, it's hypocapnia, and if it happens while packing, it can be a combination of hypocapnia with pressure on the heart. You can get rid of the 'tingling' of hypocapnia by moving around, because moving produces CO2. The tingling is actually caused by hypoxia and lack of circulation. CO2 is a vasodilator, and a lack of CO2 causes vasoconstriction. CO2 is also necessary for hemoglobin to release oxygen to tissues, and thus a lack of CO2 causes hemoglobin to hold onto their oxygen, and not release it to tissues, even though you may be 'loaded' with O2. So the tissues can become hypoxic from lack of blood flow (vasoconstriction caused by low CO2), as well as lack of release of oxygen (caused by hemoglobin becoming sticky in the presence of low CO2). When your finger tips start to lack oxygen from because of those two reasons, they start to numb and tingle. Both of these effects are undone by moving around to produce CO2. Just another reason I always like to precede big dives with a 3'30 static apnea.

Keep us posted as to when the next attempt will occur!

Why were there russian students in Turkey?

Eric Fattah
BC, Canada
 
Another comment; I was in Kas in 2002, and I tried both diving in my 3mm and diving with no suit. In both cases I needed the same ballast (1.7kg), but in the no-suit case, the start of the dive was much easier (i.e. less buoyant).



Eric Fattah
BC, Canada
 
What, you and Rudi, arguement? nooooo? you're kidding right?

I am not going to argue with you about terminology...I am the first to admit that I suck at it..So there, you win by forfeit. :D

Russian students were there becuase there was also a FREE advanced freediving course being taught. I can't ever get the terminology straight...Maybe I should have just said..."I felt tingly all over and I saw spots in my vision." Yes, I did have BO from this once...It was just like the Japanese guy in the uncut version of Big Blue...that was funny to watch yourself on video keel over like that...I think I may have to get a blooper video section on my site for this.... :D either way, i kinda like to dive on the edge of this feeling of TINGLINESS....I have given it a new term. I also used to like to do long statics before my dives but I think I have gotten comfortable enough where I don't need to do them anymore. They used to make the dives seem easier...The negative pressure dives do the same for me now.
 
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Thanks for giving us the poop amigo. We're all behind you (well maybe 25 or 30 metres behind ;) )
Heal up and do it the next time David, and keep us posted.
Cheers,
Erik Y.
 
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