Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Freediving



So this past weekend I took the plunge and tried out freediving, which is something I'd always been adamant on keeping clear from, mostly out of fear. It also didn't seem logical to train so hard to stay down for a few minutes when you can grab a scuba tank and have 90 minutes of air.



But GoPro has been extremely agressive with their advertising - all their clips on spearfishing as a freediver got me intrigued. I found myself wanting to experience the kind of fluidity the freedivers have.

To my surprise freediving is nowhere near as scary as I had expected it to be. I'd envisioned myself running out of air way before anyone else. As I rode the elevator up to my apartment I timed myself holding my breath and was disheartened to see that I could barely make it up 10 storeys.


Once in the water however, there is a certain kind of calmness that takes over. The first lap I did, I did it with my eyes closed. I was feeling the rhythmic strokes of my fins, and concentrating deep inside on that strangely comfortable sensation of fullness, conscious all at once of every part of my body, and then right at the end, spiralling up in a burst of exhilaration to feel the sun and the air on my face... I thoroughly understood why freedivers love the sport.


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