What makes us freedivers...or not?

[vali]

this is an appropriate question, since the line between recreational freediving, the competitive one and spearo is so thin...

my opinnion:
i think not our PB makes us freedivers, but the inner us
i'm atracted to water in a very specific way...i don't consider myself a fanatic, but can't stay out of the water to long
i was never affraid of water even i was near drowning three time
i guess is some factors who give me the one freedom feeling that i cannot experience on the land...
-the imponderability
-the underwater panorama, not necesarelly from the point of view of flora and faune, but as a filled space perception
-the tranquillity
-the void
-the colours
-the touch
-the desire to go deeper [i love to watch the surface from the bottom....is like a moving sky]
i started this thread because i read somwhere in this forum that some of us said i.m not a freediver...i go down only for spearing
perhaps that is true, in a way....but not entirelly
i have this odd feeling, that the scuba gear, in stead of giving me freedom, constrains me...
i like to freedive....also i like to hunt underwater...i have a deep respect for the prey and so for the water...the water is not to mess with...seductive and powerful
so i want different opinion came from different people...

what makes us freedivers....or not?

 

[miguel-van]

Anyone who holds his breath and puts his head under the water is a freediver...
That's not mine but Emma Farrels of course!

 

[samdive]

actually that one came from Howard Jones - he also put it as "an inch and a breath"

 

[DivingDane]

agreed, anybody holding their breath underwater, doesnt matter weather your are a competitor, safetydiver, spearfisherman or just enjoy playing in water we are all linked by the same addiction.

i guess i'd count myself somewhere in the middle with the focus on longer deeper dives taking over bit by bit from my spearfishing. not just for competition but also for the feeling i get a depth and the quiet.

DD

 

[wet]

Where else can you burp or fart and not hide it?

THE TRANSPARENCY.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

i started this thread because i read somwhere in this forum that some of us said i.m not a freediver...i go down only for spearing
perhaps that is true, in a way....but not entirelly

I suspect that was me, or at least I've said something similar.

Anyway, the answer to that question depends on the context and frame of reference. For instance, DB has a Freediving forum, and you are posting in it rather than in a hunting forum. Even though I do my hunting while holding my breath, I post the results in a hunting forum because I think that on DB, Freediving is generally understood to mean Freediving for competition or for its own sake, with no other activity such as hunting or photography involved.

On other boards, the context is entirely different. Last week on the Upper Gulf of Mexico forum of another board, I saw a thread titled Freediving Tournament. Since I know that in that area of the US, most spearfishing is done using scuba, I was curious and clicked on the thread. It turned out to be a spearfishing tournament restricted to freedivers. There is absolutely no pure Freediving done in the area, so the person who initiated the thread must have assumed that any tournament was a spearfishing tournament, and the important thing to mention in the title was that participants would be restricted to Freediving.

But anyway, while I do hunt holding my breath, fish are not all I get out of the experience. I enjoy the experience of being underwater, watching big schools of bait fish swim by, seeing beams of sunlight filter down through the kelp forest, etc. I shoot very few fish, but the spearfishing provides a focus for my diving.

 

[slingshaft]

Yeah, all of the above ideas describe my permanent bond with the sea. Although I love the sensory input, the color contrast, the suspended creatures both beautiful and very dangerous, I'm not really a sight see-er. I'm a hunter. Watery environments completely nourish me, in every way, emotionally as well as physically. Cheers.

 

[Kars]

I would like to add:

The feeling of being far away from the terrestrial world, weightless in a dark space, calm relaxed, confident, stripped of anything that is not me, blessed with vision, an deep sense of wonder and appreciation for beauty of those that we love and life.

Maybe I should call myself The Freediving Dutchman

Keep on writing it's very interesting!

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[cubapnea]

i sink my face in the water and problems dissapear, i like to look up while kicking slowly away from the bottom... for everything else there's always mastercard

 

[glubglub]

We are freedivers mostly because we actually ENJOY being underwater holding our breath. I can't believe how many people I know just plain refuse going underwater willingly, or freak out even at several seconds under. Not kidding... some of these folks are triathletes!

 

[Erik]

Words have power and their meanings can change over time, to some degree. Think of "crippled" for example. In NAmerica at least, it aint cool to use, because the new perception of the word is that it is demeaning or insulting. Now we say "handicapped".

The word "freediver" has changed in the eyes of some parts of the community; something to distinguish a difference, ie: I'm a photgrapher, not a freeediver. At a physical level we are both freedivers, but the word tends to be applied to competitive or recreational breath-hold divers that aren't focusing on any other external elements. That could be argued too, as a competitor has a mission and a somewhat concrete goal, while the "pure" freediver does it for its own sake, for the state of being achieved. A goal, nevertheless!

My 2 cents.

I agree with most of the points you all posted.

 

[gman]

SCUBA diving is loud and heavy and cumbersome and uncomfortable. Freediving is quiet and light and much more simple. I sold my tanks and regulators and BCD's several years ago. I don't regret that decision a bit. I think that if your snorkel had to be cleared on a regular basis you are a freediver rather than a snorkeler.
I enjoy pausing, as best I can, half way down the water column when I can neither see the bottom or make out the sun disk. Everything looks the same and there is no up or down. Murky water does have some advantages...roflNatural sensory deprivation I guess.

 

[Deejay]

Hi freedivers,

I started freedive spearfishing two years ago but have always lived and played in the water all my life. Spearing fish was my initial goal and I love it, but the personal goals I keep improving on in regard to relaxation underwater at greater and greater depth, breath hold duration freedom to go where I want unencumbered.

Nowadays I love freedive photography and find this more, or at least as challenging as spearing fish.

I find the attraction is the absolute escapism from all the crap on the surface, no politics, no emotions, no talking, no responsibility, no work, no expectations, no wind, no stress. just quiet, peace, weightlessness. Everything is reduced down to it's most simplest needs. A breath hold, a calm relaxed mind, a quiet dive, sinking through the water, pressure and only watching how deep, observing the life so foreign to above the water, listening to my body intently for everything it is telling me, and returning for sweet precious air.

It's so simple and so abstract in an ordered world. My art, my sport, my religion, my meditation, my rest, my exercise, my relaxation, my dinner!

But back to the question. I think that freediving usually refers to diving on a breath hold for no other reason than to stay underwater for as long or as deep as possible. However in saying that, I refer to myself as a freediver although I do not freedive competition. I just love to be underwater holding my breath whether it be for fishing, for photography or for fun. It's all good! Don't limit it by applying a name to it, but enjoy it for all the things it is to all people and embrace the simple beauty of being underwater with your mouth shut.

Good diving,

DJ

 

[titan]

Every freediver is damm nice calm person every freediver is great an yet diferent they are more "them" they look like more who they should be more individual with a sence of a self nad damm aren't they good looking (not even if is just me:t)

 

[azapa]

Where else can you burp or fart and not hide it?

THE TRANSPARENCY.

and then there is the peeing in ones trousers... and hacking and coughing up all sorts of nasties....

all in all a total sensory treat.

no cell phones either.

what could be better

 

[EcchiK]

I'm still very much a newbie as I haven't been diving for depth yet, just pool training so far due to the lack of wetsuit (which is now remidied )

I'm starting to realize why I'm so obsessed with the sport.

It's the ability to be all alone, detached from the human world and in touch with the aquatic mellowness. Everything seems relaxed underwater, no stressing out, no need to converse with people around you, just enjoying the moment.

However, doesn't matter how relaxing the water can be I know that for me, the relaxation comes from being (semi-) alone. I can't find the same state of relaxation if there's 30-40 of us in a 25m pool during weekly training.

Anyway, I've always been the quiet, "loner" type. If I could hang out with my friends without having to converse that was good enough for me.

 

[vali]

i used to be the "social" type, but in the late 4 years i migrated somehow in the other side...
is strange that in the pool i don't have the feelings that i described in my first post...even if i'm allone in the pool
i like being in the pool, but i don't feel "the magic", if you know what i mean
it must be much more water for me, to feel the magic....
perhaps the pool limits constrains me somehow...