The cost of everything is going up and unfortunately diving isn't exempt! Both PADI and our pool suppliers have recently put their prices up and we are no longer able to absorb this and are going to have to pass the costs on to our customers.
However you can still secure your Open Water course at the pre-increase price of £550 if you book one of the 5 places we have left on our April Courses.
A diver signalling out-of-air when they still have a working supply is a recognised sign of Immersion Pulmonary Oedema (IPO), a condition where the lungs spontaneously fill with fluid upon immersion in cold water, which, if untreated, eventually causes the diver to asphyxiate.
It is most likely to occur in people with hypertension (high blood pressure); women are eight times more likely to suffer IPO than men; and, unless an autopsy pays particular attention to a very specific part of the lung’s tissues, it is usually mistaken for drowning.
Signs and symptoms of IPO in scuba divers
Freediving has a number of different types of dive that are recognized the naming conventions may differ depending on who you learn with but the underlying principles are the same, in that all dives are completed on a single breath.
Humans have been holding their breath and diving in water for thousands of years – to fish, and more recently, to have fun and compete. In fact, humans are so uniquely adapted to going underwater it's possible to argue that we've freediving before we even became human.
There are 8 generally recognized disciplines:
CWT is probably the most common depth version of Freediving. Divers descend using either bi-fins or a monofin and typically a wetsuit and a small amount of weight. The diver is not allowed to pull on any guide ropes or change the weight used during the dive.
In this discipline, the diver wears a wetsuit and a small amount of weight without the need of any type of fin. The diver uses only muscle strength to propel them downwards and back up again. This is generally regarded as the most difficult and pure of the disciplines from a sporting perspective.
This discipline is similar to Constant Weight No Fins in that the diver uses only a wetsuit and a small amount of weight, however, in this case, the diver can only use the guide rope for propulsion. You see divers doing this discipline both in a “head down” and “head up” position.
This is the first of the pool disciplines.
Here the diver travels in a horizontal position underwater (normally in a pool), with a propulsion aid such as bi-fins or a monofin, in an effort to cover the greatest distance possible on a single breath.
Very similar to the DYN discipline in that the diver aims to cover the greatest distance possible with just a single breath. However this time the use of all propulsion aids/fins is prohibited so divers just use their arms and legs to propel themselves.
Speed-Endurance Apnea is a CMAS specific discipline where the athlete aims to cover a fixed distance within the shortest possible time while keeping his/her body underwater.
This discipline takes place in the pool and consists of covering stretches of the pool length by alternating Apnea swimming with passive recoveries at the end of each stretch. Speed-Endurance may be performed with fins or without fins. When used, bi-fins or monofin must be moved solely by the athlete’s muscular strength, without the aid of any mechanism, including mechanisms triggered by the muscular system.
Unlike most of the other disciplines there is no movement or equipment involved in the variation. The competitor is required to hold their breath for as long as possible floating face down with the respiratory tracts submerged. This is the only discipline where performance is measured by duration.
This discipline is one of the more “extreme” versions of the sport and has been popularized by Luc Besson’s movie “The Big Blue”.
For this variation the diver descends with the help of a heavy weight (typically in the form of a sled) to an agreed depth and then ascends to the surface using their own strength including fins of any type if they so choose.
This is probably the most extreme of all the Freediving disciplines and regarded by many as the true expression of human endurance underwater.
The diver descends with the help of a heavy weight then ascends using any method of choice – traditionally a lift bag but in more recent times fast counter-balance pulley systems. In this discipline, divers descend to depths deeper than some submarines can operate. See our blog post on Herbert Nitsch the current world record holder.
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