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The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

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Re: The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

#41

Post by yesimahuman »

spearo77 wrote: post #40
yesimahuman wrote: post #34

I've casually free dove all my life (not to any significant depth), and I was shocked to hear that blackouts can happen even at shallow depths. I definitely have a lot more respect for this sport and will avoid doing it alone in the future.

Shallow water blackout is a phenomenon that occurs when lungs expand while ascending from a deep dive. The contrast from deep to shallow is what's dangerous. Oxygen is rapidly pulled out of your bloodstream back into your lungs as they expand. It happens quickly (and unexpectedly if you're not already aware of it). Of course you can stay too long at a shallow depth, but that's a simple, predictable linear exhaustion…

Good to know! Thanks for the knowledge

Re: The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

#42

Post by s1artibartfast »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #17

> Typically, free divers have spotters, who wait beneath the surface during a dive, but she was the only experienced diver among the group she was with, so there were no spotters. Especially with a rich client, there was no excuse for not having a safety (scuba) diver in the water. Complacency will get you, every time.

Scuba divers are pretty useless as safety divers due to practical constraints on depth, down time, and ascent time.

For example, compressed air becomes toxic to breath below 130 feet, has a bottom time of a few minutes at this depth. Due to the compression of the gas, scuba also requires slow ascent and decompression stops for safety.

In comparison, Natalia Molchanova could dive to 330 ft, well below the depth of recreational and most technical diving.

Re: The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

#44

Post by jwatt »

yesimahuman wrote: post #34

I've casually free dove all my life (not to any significant depth), and I was shocked to hear that blackouts can happen even at shallow depths. I definitely have a lot more respect for this sport and will avoid doing it alone in the future.

I also only recently became aware of this after seeing a video of it happening[1]. No more diving alone for me sadly.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAQ64NNkaro

Re: The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

#46

Post by giantg2 »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #35
giantg2 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. I don't know very much about it. From the little I saw (years ago), it seemed like it was standard/common to at least have wetsuit, goggles, and dive belt. If I remember correctly, they even had safety divers stationed at various depths along the rope. Which I guess would make this mostly useless in actual competition.

Most of the safety divers you see are stationed near the surface for ascent, which is the most risky part of a dive. There is simply no practical backup spotting at bottom, because divers go beyond the limits of scuba at the bottom of their dives.

Yeah, and I suppose that makes the device even less feasible since it could do more harm than good at the extreme depths.

Re: The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

#47

Post by rramadass »

nefitty wrote: post #28
DennisP wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds a lot like the "open focus" training developed by the Princeton Biofeedback Center: https://openfocus.com/ I've done a fair amount of this. Also I've taken courses in primitive wilderness survival that emphasized a similar use of attention, though without using the same techniques as Princeton.

What sorts of activities do you use this for? For example, most relevant to me, would it be conducive to programming or other technical work?

http://deconcentration-of-attention.com/deconcentration-soft...

Re: The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

#48

Post by rramadass »

saeranv wrote: post #11

Fascinating (and kind of depressing) that the "attention deconcentration" technique she used to become a world-class athlete was originally developed in Russia for people who held very boring jobs. > Molchanova’s technique for concentration was based on a procedure she called attention deconcentration. She said it came from ancient warriors and was used by samurai, and that in Russia it had been adapted and developed…

"Attention-Deconstruction" is actually from old "Awareness" meditation techniques from ancient Hinduism/Buddhism texts.

One well-known text is the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vij%C3%B1%C4%81na_Bhairava_Tan...

Re: The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

#49

Post by DennisP »

nefitty wrote: post #28
DennisP wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds a lot like the "open focus" training developed by the Princeton Biofeedback Center: https://openfocus.com/ I've done a fair amount of this. Also I've taken courses in primitive wilderness survival that emphasized a similar use of attention, though without using the same techniques as Princeton.

What sorts of activities do you use this for? For example, most relevant to me, would it be conducive to programming or other technical work?

I found it very helpful for programming. On the one hand, when I was doing boring stuff that didn't need much concentration, it was easier to deal with and just knock it out. On the other, when I really did need to concentrate, it was easier to do. The researcher says most of us walk around with a tight focus and exhaust that part of our brains, so if we give it a rest we can concentrate better when we need to.

It works best if you practice it a couple times a day, so it becomes kind of a new normal. It had other benefits too. It was very physically relaxing, and I found myself noticing the beauty of my surroundings much more than usual.

Re: The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

#50

Post by nefitty »

rramadass wrote: post #47
nefitty wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sorts of activities do you use this for? For example, most relevant to me, would it be conducive to programming or other technical work?

http://deconcentration-of-attention.com/deconcentration-soft...

Woah. Thanks so much for sharing this!
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