The momment of your birth signifys your death. Enjoy the time in-between.. Simple.
But what do I know.
But what do I know.
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Almostafish said:The momment of your birth signifys your death. Enjoy the time in-between.. Simple.
But what do I know.
I do not want to take anything away from the tragedies of the deaths, but can we truly put their deaths to the sport of freediving. I've read my share of these stories and almost always it looked that the persons involved were totally unaware of the dangers of freediving because they have never done even a half day introductory course. Divers know how to equalize and can get down pretty easy, but they are not knowledgeable about the specific dangers of freediving. A lot of kids who are in the water all the time can dive pretty deep and have no fear and no idea of the dangers. Even a lot of spear fishers I have noticed had very little real knowledge about freediving up to a few years ago. They just went hunting with some friends.
I personally think you can't really blame that on the sport of freediving but it could be something for us to get involved in. To show that we care, to get the message out there that, just like scuba diving, you need to know what you are doing to avoid dangers and as a potential market. If, for example, every beginner course in scuba diving would mention that freediving is a very attractive way to explore the underwater world when you might not be able to scuba-dive, but you would need a course to understand the specific dangers of freediving, that could potentially give quite a few of extra courses. The same could be done with a lot of other sports which take place in and on the water, just to get the attention of people. That freediving is a beautiful way to spend time in the water, but that there are some specific points you need to be aware of to make sure you do not hurt yourself.
If you do not want to blame freediving for the deaths of people who died while freediving, then what activity would you tell was the cause? It was the fact they freedived that was the reason they died, and it is not necessary to evade it. Sure, the lack of knowledge is likely the main reason, but frankly told have freediving or spearfishing associations done anything to improve the miserable state of knowledge about safety in the wide public (but among their own members too)? Did they attempt to approach mass-media, schools, governments, city halls, marine departments, and travel agencies, and did they try to get the public informed about the main dangers in freediving? Did they publish any posters, booklets, fliers, or movies that would show the dangers, and the correct handling of safety in freediving, so that this information gets to the masses? Do they distribute freediving safety info on beaches, or at popular freediving spots? Did they try to stimulate the creation of a freediving movie à la Le Grand Bleu, where (unlike in that movie) safe practices are promoted, and distance is clearly taken from the dangerous ones? Do freedivers speak about safety practices when they get the word in mass-medias?I do not want to take anything away from the tragedies of the deaths, but can we truly put their deaths to the sport of freediving...
Human stupidity, the cause of nearly everything that goes wrong.If you do not want to blame freediving for the deaths of people who died while freediving, then what activity would you tell was the cause?