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| © zooom.at/agustinmunoz.com |
From the surface, the line of rope stretches into the deep until it
disappears from view. To look down is to stare into a bottomless void — as
terrifying and dizzying as standing on the top of a skyscraper and peering over
the edge. For freedivers, this is their world — a vertical line that disappears
into total darkness. It’s become the last frontier of human endeavour.
While hundreds climb Mt Everest every year, underwater there are no
environmental limits to stop athletes from pushing the boundary and descending
to increasingly incredible depths on just a single breath of air. It is
literally, a bottomless ocean.
William Trubridge, 31, is one such athlete. Lying on his back on the water’s surface, he inflates his
lungs to their maximum capacity then gulps the air like a fish to ‘pack’ in
more oxygen. Then he rolls on his side and disappears into the deep, finning
down for a few seconds before he disappears from view. It will be almost four minutes before
he emerges again.
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| © zooom.at/agustinmunoz.com |
The New Zealander is on a bid to break the constant weight world record
by diving to 125m (410ft)— equivalent to five lengths of an Olympic swimming
pool. This is where the diver takes a single breath of air at the surface
before descending and ascending using just a monofin for propulsion. The record
attempt takes place at his training base, Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas. At
202m, it is the world’s deepest known sea water blue hole — a giant underwater
cave.
Trubridge descends at the rate of a metre a second. From 20m he falls
like a skydiver.
“It is the most beautiful and relaxing part of the dive,” comments
Trubridge afterwards. “It feels like you’re being accepted into the ocean.”
At 2’10 he reaches the bottom plate at 125m, rips off a velcro tag and
begins the ascent back up.
After 3’45, Trubridge emerges at the surface like a cork and gasps for
air. Although the actual depth of 125m is confirmed by a Suunto D-Series diving
watch, Trubridge cannot claim the record. In order for a record to be official,
the diver must pass stringent protocols on the surface in front of two
independent judges and Trubridge fails the test.
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| © zooom.at/agustinmunoz.com |
Comments Trubridge: “I
made it to 125m and back to the surface, but my oxygen was just too low, and I
had a samba [a loss of muscular control caused by oxygen deprivation] and
failed the surface protocol. I forgot to remove my goggles! There were
groans and laughs, but on the whole I'm not too gutted. The dive felt good, so
I know that it is within my reach.”
He adds: “There is unfinished business, but for now I
will take a little time off training.”
Trubridge remains sanguine about the attempt. For him, it is all part of
the challenges and appeal of the sport. He adds: “It’s always been a part of me
and been natural for me to see where I can get to with it.”
He
adds: “For me, the greatest appeal is how different freediving is to any other
sport or activity. The fact we’re completely immersed in liquid which is
something we don’t experience in day-to-day lives. A single breath... the
weightlessness, the absence of sounds, the dullness of the colours. Everything
is subtracted. It’s a completely different experience to life in the air
element.”
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| © zooom.at/agustinmunoz.com |
Yoga and training
To
prepare his body, Trubridge follows a highly disciplined regime that is a
mixture of breath-holding exercises, diving technique and yoga. In fact, he’s
been described as ‘an advanced yogi’.
“I
train as many as 15 times a week. The training is very intensive:
a dive may only last four minutes, but during that time you are taking your
body to its physiological limit in so many ways. To extend your breath hold you
need to develop greater storage capacity for oxygen in your blood and tissues,
but perhaps more importantly develop a tolerance to high carbon dioxide levels
so that you can relax or stay calm despite the urge to breath that comes when
CO2 levels rise.
“I use a lot of exercises to develop flexibility of the
lungs, ribcage and diaphragm. Some of these I have taken from yoga
practices, others I have devised myself. I am constantly doing yoga to
keep the body, and most importantly the lungs flexible.”
Because
a low pulse and calm mind is vital to performance, Trubridge avoids all
stimulants including coffee and follows a strict no-meat diet. “It’s
aimed at normalising body acidity and supplying enough energy in the form of
muscular glycogen, as well as antioxidants to combat the physiological effects
of breath holds. So a lot of fruit, vegetables and pasta!”
About freediving
physiology:
One of the biggest challenges for freedivers is equalizing the pressure
in their ears as it increases with the depth. The pressures of the gases in the
blood system also has a narcotic effect. In extreme cases it can cause
hallucinations. By the time Trubridge reached 125m his lungs would have shrunk
from a surface volume of 8-9lt (17-19pints) to just 600-700ml (20fl oz).
His heart rate also drops to as low as 25 beats per minute, in part
caused by the ‘mammalian reflex’, an automatic response humans share with aquatic
mammals which lowers the pulse in water.
A final challenge is shallow water blackout (SWB),– which can occur in
the last few metres of a dive when expanding oxygen-hungry lungs literally suck
oxygen from the bloodstream, causing unconsciousness. For this reason, ascending
freedivers are always accompanied by safety divers during the last 20m of an
ascent. Lastly, on the surface, divers can experience another problem they
refer to as ‘the samba’ — a loss of muscular control typified by shaking. It
was this problem that prevented Trubridge from completing the surface protocol
which led to his record attempt being disqualified.
About Trubridge:
Trubridge learnt to
swim at the age of 18 months, and was freediving to 15m by the age of eight,
competing with his older brother to to see who could bring back a stone from
the deepest depth. But it was not until he was 22 that he discovered
competition. Since then he has broken numerous freediving records. He was the
first man to break the 100m depth barrier completely unassissted — without the
use of fins, rope or weights in 2010. He also holds the
record for ‘Free Immersion’, where divers descend and ascend by pulling on a
rope. His record stands at an unbelievable 121m. His competition personal best for static
apnea (holding breath) is 7’29. More info at www.verticalblue.net.
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