what's in a name ?

[noa]

a bit of a silly post, but something in my mind nevertheless. why is "unassisted" diving called "unassisted" ? to me that word makes me think something like an old person who can somehow get out of his wheelchair unassisted for some time.
how about a word involving "free" since this discipline IS the most free of them all ? something like "freestroke" since one dives freely but still uses an underwter stroke ?

 

[trux]

At AIDA, there is no discipline using the word "unassisted". There are only the following disciplines:

Static Apnea (STA)
Dynamic Apnea (DYN)
Dynamic Apnea without Fins (DNF)
Constant Weight (CWT)
Constant Weight without Fins (CNF)
Free Immersion (FIM)
Variable Weight (VWT)
No Limits (NLT)

There is an unofficial discipline called "Unasissted Freedive", which is a depth discipline without any equipment, except of swimsuit (noseclip is permitted). That's a discipline on some competitions organized by Sebastian Naslund, so you may want to ping him to get a reply from him.

Then, the former federation F.R.E.E. used the name "unassisted" for all disciplines without fins, but that's already a couple of years ago.

 

[noa]

Hi Trux,
Thanks a lot for your info and clarification. Ok, let me rectify, "constant weight without fins" sounds a bit long and complicated. So even in this case I'm sure there could be a better name for this discipline.
Speaking of F.R.E.E. what ever happened to them ?
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[trux]

Thanks a lot for your info and clarification. Ok, let me rectify, "constant weight without fins" sounds a bit long and complicated. So even in this case I'm sure there could be a better name for this discipline.

No need for changing names. Simply tell "constant nofins", "nofins", or "cnf" when you want to be brief.

Speaking of F.R.E.E. what ever happened to them ?

They still do exist, and have several active instructors across the world. They never organized competitions, just record attempts. The federation is a project of Rudy Castineyra, who married one of the female freedivers, Yasemin Dalkiliç. During several years they focused on much more important task than running the federation - Yasemin faught pancreatic cancer. There is only 5% survival rate at pancreatic cancer, but she won. In 2009 she came back and attempted to break the VWT world record. Unfortunately she suffered a deep blackout at the final attempt. Shortly after that she fell pregnant, so could not train, and now Rudy and Yasemin are happy parents.

 

[noa]

Interesting story about FREE. I'm actually training with some of their instructors right now, Monika and Eusebio who own Apnea Total on koh Tao in Thailand. Great people with a heart of gold.
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