The Deepest Dive (New Yorker article on Sara Campbell)

[renaudw]

It was published a week or two ago I think. Very informative, well written, no factual errors that I could find. A good read!

http://renaud.waldura.org/diving/newyorker-freediving.html

Or PDF:
http://renaud.waldura.org/diving/newyorker-freediving.pdf

 

[cdavis]

Way too sensational, but a great read none the less. Must have been a very good journalist to get inside the divers heads so well.

Connor

 

[fpernett]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[pehtran]

I have just read it.
Great piece of journalism.
And to see it on paper and in New Yorker of all the magazins! - what a great thing for this nice sport!
Miha

 

[Blue Straggler]

Very informative, well written, no factual errors that I could find. A good read!

Thanks for typing it up, a friend in the US mentioned it to me but I couldn't read The New Yorker online in full without a subscription.

I think there are a few little inaccuracies though. Are Campbell and Molchanova really the only two women considered capable of 100m at the moment? They are the closest for sure, but I have two contenders in mind who are not far behind, as far as I know.

Also, from the article:
"For someone holding his breath, the urge to breathe comes not from a lack of oxygen but from the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood as the oxygen is used. To disable, or at least delay, that trigger, free divers hyperventilate before competing, to wash the lungs of carbon dioxide"

Goes against a lot of teaching!

 

[Kars]

Good article, naming lot's of freedivers and lengthy too!

The Co2 thing I suspect was an lengthy explanation cut short into one that is false.

Personally I don't hyperventilate, I just breath very slowly, shallowly, allowing my body to relax and slow down. For only the last two - three breaths, I breath deeper than normal to purge my lungs, to get as much O2 into my lungs as I can. Co2 is my friend, it triggers my bodies dive reflexes preserving my Oxygen

On a side note explaining al the possible dangers does take away a bit of the joys we experience. I simply love the feeling of floating and sinking into the endless space, feel the water flow while with confidence I flow and glide down into a world where there is no agenda, no materialism, no politics, no enemies, where it's only me, the lovely pure me.

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[rxcnc2]

I think we all hyperventilate one way or the other. Breathing patterns different than the normal one will alter the O2/CO2 ratios. We generally think that hyperventilation is strong, fast breathing and therefore we say "I don't do that" but still we are doing extra ventilation.
But I am going a bit OT.

The article is generally good, thanks renaudw for scanning it. It's quite prestigious to be featured in such a long article on the New Yorker! I liked the initial bit about Haggi Stattis, who has always inspired more than anyone else and seems to be generally ignored in the history of freediving. I wonder how many sponge and pearl divers with incredible qualities of the last several hundred years remain forgotten and undocumented. And I liked the part about Natalia and her AD technique, which led me to find more on the internet about it.

There are a few inaccuracies in the text and a sort of dramatic-heroic tone, but overall way above the average. Well done, and best wishes to Sara for her future attempts!

 

[osusim]

Nice article, the new blockbuster documentary OceanWomen (C) can be perfectly based on it (of course with reaching of magic 100m at the end).