Dahab, Egypt – When the countdown started, Khaled Elgammal took one closing, deep breath earlier than descending with none respiration gear into the ocean. One minute and 29 seconds later, nonetheless holding his breath, the Egyptian athlete had free-fallen to 102 metres (335 toes) – a nationwide file.
However for it to rely, he needed to attain the floor once more. He turned on the backside of the road and started his ascent – specializing in deep leisure and the sentiments of the encompassing water. In all, he had held his breath for 2 minutes and 50 seconds.
Elgammal is Egypt’s deepest freediver, and his outstanding achievement set a brand new nationwide file on the Sharm el-Sheikh competitors in October 2023.
“After I got here to the floor, it was bliss. It felt superb,” Elgammal remembers.
Freedivers like Elgammal rely solely on the power to carry their breath whereas diving underwater. By way of coaching, these divers grasp leisure to decelerate their coronary heart charge, permitting them to remain beneath the floor with out respiration gear for minutes at a time. Very deep dives just like the one he did lately normally require divers to carry their breath for round three minutes at a time.
The apply of freediving may be traced again to conventional fishing in communities like Asia’s Bajau people, the place coastal teams have used freediving to hunt underwater for 200 years. As a sport, freediving is now present process file progress, attracting folks seeking to join with the ocean and higher perceive their physique’s skills.
As for Elgammal, he says he was captivated by the distinctive sensations of diving with a single breath.
“I at all times say that scuba diving is the whole lot in gradual movement; you’re transferring gradual, respiration gradual, and the sound of the bubbles is hypnotising, so the whole lot is in gradual movement. Freediving is such as you’ve paused… and are the one factor transferring down there. So that you give your self the prospect to sink inside.”
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The game is now rising in recognition world wide. In accordance with AIDA Worldwide rankings, 2,889 freedivers registered to compete in competitions in 2023, greater than twice the quantity a decade earlier.
The freediving organisation instructed Al Jazeera that round 20,000 folks have grow to be licensed freedivers in recent times. Scuba Colleges Worldwide (SSI) has equally seen a gentle 10 % annual rise within the variety of folks incomes their first freediving certification.
Many of those certifications are awarded in Dahab, a bohemian enclave on Egypt’s Crimson Sea shoreline which has grow to be residence to quite a few freediving faculties and elite instructors. Dahab featured a shoreline of palm bushes and conventional Bedouin properties just some many years in the past. Whereas nonetheless thought of a small city as we speak, it boasts a thriving beachfront of Egyptian and worldwide eating places and attracts a rising crowd from Cairo, Europe and Asia. A handful of luxurious resorts have emerged however Dahab nonetheless maintains an genuine allure – with herds of goats freely roaming the streets.
It’s additionally one of many world’s best-known freediving hotspots as a result of its year-round water situations and proximity to Egypt’s Blue Gap. Simply 20 minutes away by automobile, the Blue Gap is a well-known reef-lined sinkhole accessible from the shore.
Right here, divers can descend to round 90 metres (295 toes) – virtually the peak of the Statue of Liberty.
A heightened state of self-awareness
However what has contributed to the rise of freediving?
The game is linked to a number of psychological and therapeutic advantages. A 2013 research by teachers at Atilim College in Turkey, discovered that freedivers are inclined to exhibit decrease stress and anxiousness ranges than non-freedivers.
Carlos Diezel, the supervisor of Dahab Freedivers, a faculty that trains divers, defined that a lot of that is right down to “breathwork”.
“The truth that we’ve to concentrate to our breath, our thoughts and leisure after we go down teaches us consciousness,” he says. “I imagine that a part of the issue, statistically talking, for psychological well being points is said to the approach to life in fashionable society, that’s main folks to neglect or block any type of self-awareness.”
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This heightened state of self-awareness is one thing that devoted freedivers like Elgammal attempt for. “I’m at all times conscious now of what I’m feeling, what I’m sensing,” he says. “Freediving helped me to attach with myself.”
Freediving’s reference to nature and immersion in water might also contribute to its psychological well being advantages. Diezel says the most typical causes folks join freediving programs are a fascination with the ocean and studying extra about themselves.
“They grasp this reference to themselves once you maintain your breath and go deep,” he stated, including that college students take into account it “a ‘deep’ expertise – sorry for the pun”.
Social media equally performs a task in bringing freediving to the forefront. Many freediving footage allude to a way of freedom, that includes divers amongst marine life and vibrant reefs. The hashtag #freediving has amassed greater than 3.5 million mentions on Instagram to this point. “It’s getting lots of consideration because it’s fairly photographic. Some movies are simply mesmerising,” Diezel provides.
Diving safely
Inside the current freediving group, the game’s surge in recognition brings added duty. Thought of an “excessive sport”, freediving may be dangerous if security protocols aren’t adopted, or divers push themselves past their bodily limits. They’ll expertise oxygen deficiency signs like hypoxia and blackouts, in addition to pressure-related dangers like a ruptured eardrum, an instance of a barotrauma.
Opposite to portrayals corresponding to Netflix’s The Deepest Breath, divers dropping consciousness – referred to as blackouts – are comparatively unusual, significantly in leisure diving at shallower depths.
Freedivers are additionally educated to rescue a fellow diver safely as a part of their earliest coaching, studying to observe every dive, spot indicators of misery and the way to react. Beneath the buddy system, which helps to make sure freedivers stay secure, divers by no means dive alone.
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Tamsyn Signe is an expert freediver who champions security every time she enters the water. She has labored as a security freediver in a number of competitions, and it’s her function to make sure the competing divers make it to the floor safely. Final 12 months, she saved a diver’s life 30 metres (98 toes) underwater in a uncommon instance of a deep rescue.
“As he acquired in entrance of me, the lights went out,” Signe remembers, describing the second the ascending freediver simply stopped transferring after dropping consciousness. At 30 metres beneath the floor, Signe was additionally holding her breath. Nonetheless, she wasn’t enthusiastic about the carbon dioxide constructing in her physique – she had a job to do.
“All the pieces actually slowed down,” she says. “I knew I used to be his greatest shot at being okay.” As she’s educated to do, Signe closed his airways along with her arms and began finning (swimming up with flippers) with him towards the floor – a tough job with the added weight of one other diver. The competitor regained consciousness after reaching the floor, partly due to Signe’s fast considering and supportive staff. He would later attain out and thank her for saving his life.
Signe says the rescue modified her life too, making her extra observant and ready for surprising dangers, nevertheless it’s a part of the job. Most freedivers imagine that practising security in freediving, corresponding to by no means diving alone and being educated for rescue, is essential to the game’s survival.
However this isn’t only a tick-box train; security additionally forges shut bonds inside the group. “If you undergo an expertise with folks the place you would doubtlessly die, there’s some form of connection that occurs that’s method deeper and intimate than regular. And people friendships do final a lifetime,” Signe provides.
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Tasks past the breath-hold
Alongside valuing security, Zahraa El-Husseiny, a freediving teacher and Egyptian nationwide file holder, believes that defending our oceans can be an necessary duty which comes with freediving. Many freedivers accumulate plastic they discover floating within the water; others, like Diezel, stopped consuming seafood after studying in regards to the human impression of overfishing.
As Earth’s oceans face rising pressures from air pollution and international warming, those that depend on the ocean will play a significant function in future conservation. First drawn to freediving as a result of she was fascinated with marine life, El-Husseiny tries to show others about respecting the ocean by way of her sport.
“We’re very linked to the ocean, and we owe it to this to guard it. We all know how important it’s to maneuver freely underwater, so… we have to defend it,” she says.
For a lot of, freediving gives a path for self-discovery and a deeper connection to the pure world. As a sport, it’s poised for continued progress sooner or later.
Freediving isn’t reserved for a choose few both, and freediving communities are increasing in lots of coastal places. “Everybody can discover ways to maintain their breath,” El-Husseiny provides.
“Everybody can discover ways to benefit from the ocean and the peacefulness of diving. I would love folks to know that that is one thing they will do, be taught and progress in”, she says.
Passing on the love of this sport is one thing many freedivers take significantly. When Elgammal isn’t coaching for record-breaking dives, he’s working as an teacher and coach. He equally urges these within the sport to “be curious”.
“Chill out, get pleasure from, belief. Take into consideration what you want and attempt to visualise that feeling.”