History’s most daring freediver
September 24, 2021 6:25 AM Subscribe
Natalia (Molchanov) was regarded as a sort of sage in the sport. “Freediving is not only sport,” she once said, “it's a way to understand who we are. When we go down, if we don't think, we understand we are whole. We are one with world.” Through deconcentration, a form of advanced meditation she described as having evolved from techniques used by ancient warriors, she could reset her mind and feel more prepared to take on the world. But in 2015, during a presumably routine training dive near the Mediterranean island of Formentera, she disappeared. She never resurfaced—just literally vanished into the sea. Secrets of The World’s Greatest Freediver, Alexey Molchanov, from GQ.
...Freediving is, after all, a lifelong opportunity to radically reshape one's body and mind in the process. In pursuing depth, humans must train their lungs and brains to unlock secret sources of clarity and strength and oxygen and potential that are hidden within the body. They are secrets that, once revealed, make the divers not just more effective at their craft, they argue, but more effective, conscious, skillful, and thoughtful as human beings. There is a shift in perspective. A global realignment within one's consciousness. The look in their eyes when they talk about this thing…every diver who's gone truly deep sounds like those rarest of individuals who've seen the earth from the moon, or died and been resuscitated.
...Freediving is, after all, a lifelong opportunity to radically reshape one's body and mind in the process. In pursuing depth, humans must train their lungs and brains to unlock secret sources of clarity and strength and oxygen and potential that are hidden within the body. They are secrets that, once revealed, make the divers not just more effective at their craft, they argue, but more effective, conscious, skillful, and thoughtful as human beings. There is a shift in perspective. A global realignment within one's consciousness. The look in their eyes when they talk about this thing…every diver who's gone truly deep sounds like those rarest of individuals who've seen the earth from the moon, or died and been resuscitated.
And The Triumph and Tragedy of the World’s Best Freediver from Men's Health. (If you flip past the "784 ways to blast your biceps" stuff, MH sometimes has some quite good long-form journalism.)
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:39 AM on September 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:39 AM on September 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
It's interesting how all these things that humans can do get transformed into global competition with the accompanying structures of prizes. money, movies, students, rules, etc., and then they intensify and intensify. An entire architecture of money springs up around them and finally governs them.
posted by Frowner at 6:49 AM on September 24, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by Frowner at 6:49 AM on September 24, 2021 [12 favorites]
Freediving as a pursuit strikes me as so arbitrary, and almost inevitably, so deadly.
posted by atchafalaya at 7:00 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by atchafalaya at 7:00 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Freediving as a pursuit strikes me as so arbitrary, and almost inevitably, so deadly.
What makes it more or less arbitrary (what does that even mean in this context?) than any other sport?
posted by jacquilynne at 7:19 AM on September 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
What makes it more or less arbitrary (what does that even mean in this context?) than any other sport?
posted by jacquilynne at 7:19 AM on September 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
Interested to learn from the Men's Health article that the sport helped develop our understanding of the mammalian diving reflex, and also how that reflex helps the divers.
The sport scares me—it reminds me of how, on Mt. Everest, most deaths happen on the way down because climbers use too much time, energy, and oxygen summiting. I hope the article gets to an explanation of how the divers exercise judgment—like, they have to get to 130 meters deep, say, but they also have to get safely back to the surface, and that seems so hard to measure. I will read on and learn.
posted by Orlop at 7:33 AM on September 24, 2021 [5 favorites]
The sport scares me—it reminds me of how, on Mt. Everest, most deaths happen on the way down because climbers use too much time, energy, and oxygen summiting. I hope the article gets to an explanation of how the divers exercise judgment—like, they have to get to 130 meters deep, say, but they also have to get safely back to the surface, and that seems so hard to measure. I will read on and learn.
posted by Orlop at 7:33 AM on September 24, 2021 [5 favorites]
Ah! Safety divers! They bring troubled or unconscious divers to the surface. Relieved to hear it.
posted by Orlop at 7:36 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Orlop at 7:36 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Random fact: with my particular heart condition (PSVT), artificially inducing the mammalian dive reflex using my face and a big bowl of ice water was an occasionally helpful tool to reset my tachycardia!
posted by lazaruslong at 7:41 AM on September 24, 2021 [16 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 7:41 AM on September 24, 2021 [16 favorites]
Both the Men's Health and the GQ articles were good reads. I liked all the babies at the beach.
posted by Orlop at 8:06 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Orlop at 8:06 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
artificially inducing the mammalian dive reflex using my face and a big bowl of ice water was an occasionally helpful tool to reset my tachycardia!
Also works for anxiety attacks.
Bonus points, there are times the act of getting a bowl out, filling with cold water, and going “god I don’t want to stick my face in that” is almost as effective in breaking the anxiety cycle. (Probably not for a heart condition though)
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:21 AM on September 24, 2021 [10 favorites]
Also works for anxiety attacks.
Bonus points, there are times the act of getting a bowl out, filling with cold water, and going “god I don’t want to stick my face in that” is almost as effective in breaking the anxiety cycle. (Probably not for a heart condition though)
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:21 AM on September 24, 2021 [10 favorites]
Freediving as a pursuit strikes me as so arbitrary, and almost inevitably, so deadly.
Oh, Hi!
posted by The Bellman at 8:52 AM on September 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh, Hi!
posted by The Bellman at 8:52 AM on September 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Watching the 34-year-old Russian Alexey Molchanov dive can be dangerously disorienting. Seemingly anyone else attempting what he does would die. It is like watching the world's best rock climber scale a sheer face with ease, only the inverse. That's one way to think of what he's doing: Free Solo but for drowning. Free Solo but down. And no one alive goes down like Alexey Molchanov.
posted by chavenet at 9:05 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 9:05 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
What makes it more or less arbitrary (what does that even mean in this context?) than any other sport?
Free diving is the BASE jumping of big wall free climbing, brah.
posted by klanawa at 9:10 AM on September 24, 2021
Free diving is the BASE jumping of big wall free climbing, brah.
posted by klanawa at 9:10 AM on September 24, 2021
I completely understand the draw of extreme freediving. When I was a very traumatised little girl I used to find solace by diving down into the ocean as deep as I possibly could and then allowing my body to rise to the surface. I certainly never went down very far (30 feet at most, if that), but there was something spiritual and healing not just about that sense of oneness and smallness one gets while submerged in the ocean, but about ceding control of my body/life to the sea and then coming back to the surface alive.
posted by Stoof at 9:39 AM on September 24, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by Stoof at 9:39 AM on September 24, 2021 [15 favorites]
I have close friends who got into free diving in their 30s. They do not do the super deep competitive dives, they do really fun stuff like seeing who can find the most species of nudibranchs in one dive.
They taught me some of the training techniques. Like being very very still and holding your breath while laying on bed, being very aware of all the sensations in your body and stuff going on in your mind. I am past the initial panic and the weird feelings in the face and throat, but hit a wall with the weird sensations in the intercostal muscles that come later.
I have also been experimenting with the weird things that happen when splashing cold water on my face.
Apart from the meditative and self knowledge benefits, being able to hold your breath for 2+ minutes with little to no discomfort when you share the couch with three farty dogs is a great skill to have. Can't wait to try it in elevators soon.
posted by Dr. Curare at 9:41 AM on September 24, 2021 [8 favorites]
They taught me some of the training techniques. Like being very very still and holding your breath while laying on bed, being very aware of all the sensations in your body and stuff going on in your mind. I am past the initial panic and the weird feelings in the face and throat, but hit a wall with the weird sensations in the intercostal muscles that come later.
I have also been experimenting with the weird things that happen when splashing cold water on my face.
Apart from the meditative and self knowledge benefits, being able to hold your breath for 2+ minutes with little to no discomfort when you share the couch with three farty dogs is a great skill to have. Can't wait to try it in elevators soon.
posted by Dr. Curare at 9:41 AM on September 24, 2021 [8 favorites]
I just had a moment of clarity: when a sufficiently large number of people live on Mars, they will start a sport of “how long can you stay outside without your helmet.” I name it dust diving.
posted by BeeDo at 9:45 AM on September 24, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by BeeDo at 9:45 AM on September 24, 2021 [7 favorites]
Also, I am with Stoof. Diving as deep as possible in oceans, lakes and pools and then slowly floating to the surface was, as they said, very healing for me between the ages of 6 and 16, when I discovered drugs. Maybe if I had not discovered drugs I would have gotten into free diving.
One thing I would do when I was overwhelmed would be to sneak into a diving pool, dive to the bottom (6 meters, 18+ feet), hook my toes under the edge of a light fixture, and lay on my back looking up at the sky for as long as I could.
I am sure one can get all Freudian about it, but for whatever reason it worked.
posted by Dr. Curare at 9:52 AM on September 24, 2021 [10 favorites]
One thing I would do when I was overwhelmed would be to sneak into a diving pool, dive to the bottom (6 meters, 18+ feet), hook my toes under the edge of a light fixture, and lay on my back looking up at the sky for as long as I could.
I am sure one can get all Freudian about it, but for whatever reason it worked.
posted by Dr. Curare at 9:52 AM on September 24, 2021 [10 favorites]
Decades ago, I read a sci-fi book set on a barely-colonized Mars. One thing - the only thing - about it that I remember is a local bar that would put pigs into the airlock and open the outside door, after taking bets on which one would get furthest from the door before dying.
posted by Hatashran at 9:55 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Hatashran at 9:55 AM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
GUE (Global Underwater Explorers) > InDepth blog > Is Freediving Safe?, Ted Harty, September 30, 2020:
posted by cenoxo at 9:58 AM on September 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
According to DAN [Divers Alert Network], breath-hold diving fatalities accounted for nearly a third, or 52 of the 162 recreational scuba deaths in 2017, and four times the number of tech diving fatalities that year. Is freediving actually more dangerous than tech diving? Former USA Freediving Team captain, record holder, and PFI instructor-trainer Ted Harty explains what’s happening and what’s required to improve freediving safety. Take a deep breath.Details and discussion in the article.
Background: Similar to the early days of tech diving, freediving suffers from an alarming number of fatalities. According to the 2019 DAN Annual Diving Report [this is their latest report PDF file], there were at least 955 breath-hold diving incidents between 2004-2017, with 73% fatal outcomes—or an average of at least 51 fatalities per year. DAN rigorously collects data from public media, breath-hold diving associations, DAN’s Diving Incident Reporting System (DIRS), and individuals.
However, the editors point out that it is highly likely that the data they captured underreports the actual number of breath-hold fatalities. Note also, that freediving competitions, which have a strong safety record, are not the culprit; there have only been two fatalities during competitions in the last 30 years….
posted by cenoxo at 9:58 AM on September 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
Is there a name for free diving but where you don't actively propel yourself deeper? Free sinking?
posted by bdc34 at 9:59 AM on September 24, 2021
posted by bdc34 at 9:59 AM on September 24, 2021
It's interesting how all these things that humans can do get transformed into global competition with the accompanying structures of prizes. money, movies, students, rules, etc., and then they intensify and intensify. An entire architecture of money springs up around them and finally governs them.
I can't find a link, but I remember seeing a video in which Jack LaLanne said "As long as you're keeping score, someone's gonna cheat."
posted by Lexica at 10:37 AM on September 24, 2021
I can't find a link, but I remember seeing a video in which Jack LaLanne said "As long as you're keeping score, someone's gonna cheat."
posted by Lexica at 10:37 AM on September 24, 2021
This kind of sport raises a whole bunch of questions about actively, personally choosing to be irresponsible with your safety. I'd like to separate this question from "but capitalism means that we're all constantly at elevated risk of cancer, being hit by cars, etc" because even in utopia - probably especially in utopia! - people may choose to do exciting things that carry a lot of risk.
I feel like there's a lot of stuff here. My gut instinct is that it's legitimate to choose to risk your own life, even though that carries a lot of knock-on risk (you die and take away your family's financial support, you die and traumatize your child, etc).
But then despite the fact that I read both these exciting and interesting stories I end up feeling that giving a lot of social space to really risky sports is bad. Prizes, careers, fame, etc move things from "this is something that I choose to do for itself" over into "this is my public identity, career and source of income" and creates a social niche for really high risk sports as entertainment. (I'll never forget the bit from the wingsuit story where the guy was broadcasting when he crashed and therefore anyone tuned in could hear him groaning in agony and dying very, very slowly in a meadow far from help.)
Of course then you get to the whole "where's the line" question - people die bike racing, for instance, even though that's not an expected outcome, and we've all normalized racing cars which seems less dangerous than wingsuits but still the possibility of a fiery demise is pretty openly a part of the sport.
And then you get into social utility - like, it's very dangerous to go into space, right? And yet it's not actually very useful; there's been a little research done, but people mostly go to space because it's cool and prestigious. (The vague "someday we will live on Mars" stuff is mostly an aesthetic/philosophical gesture since there is no realistic path to living on Mars.) Why would we ban, eg, wingsuits, but not ban Elon Musk's vanity project?
I do not have a concrete proposal here, so it's a good thing that I am not yet god-emperor.
posted by Frowner at 10:38 AM on September 24, 2021 [9 favorites]
I feel like there's a lot of stuff here. My gut instinct is that it's legitimate to choose to risk your own life, even though that carries a lot of knock-on risk (you die and take away your family's financial support, you die and traumatize your child, etc).
But then despite the fact that I read both these exciting and interesting stories I end up feeling that giving a lot of social space to really risky sports is bad. Prizes, careers, fame, etc move things from "this is something that I choose to do for itself" over into "this is my public identity, career and source of income" and creates a social niche for really high risk sports as entertainment. (I'll never forget the bit from the wingsuit story where the guy was broadcasting when he crashed and therefore anyone tuned in could hear him groaning in agony and dying very, very slowly in a meadow far from help.)
Of course then you get to the whole "where's the line" question - people die bike racing, for instance, even though that's not an expected outcome, and we've all normalized racing cars which seems less dangerous than wingsuits but still the possibility of a fiery demise is pretty openly a part of the sport.
And then you get into social utility - like, it's very dangerous to go into space, right? And yet it's not actually very useful; there's been a little research done, but people mostly go to space because it's cool and prestigious. (The vague "someday we will live on Mars" stuff is mostly an aesthetic/philosophical gesture since there is no realistic path to living on Mars.) Why would we ban, eg, wingsuits, but not ban Elon Musk's vanity project?
I do not have a concrete proposal here, so it's a good thing that I am not yet god-emperor.
posted by Frowner at 10:38 AM on September 24, 2021 [9 favorites]
Is there a name for free diving but where you don't actively propel yourself deeper? Free sinking?
My understanding is you can't, at least not until you reach the point where there's negative buoyancy. Unless you mean wearing enough weights, I guess, but then you'd need to manage the weight situation as you're sinking to maintain the right velocity which is its own activity.
posted by vegartanipla at 10:38 AM on September 24, 2021
My understanding is you can't, at least not until you reach the point where there's negative buoyancy. Unless you mean wearing enough weights, I guess, but then you'd need to manage the weight situation as you're sinking to maintain the right velocity which is its own activity.
posted by vegartanipla at 10:38 AM on September 24, 2021
Frowner, I think the question can also be flipped over. So far as I know, all the legal ways of risking your life for fun cost at least a little money. While not being able to risk your life legally for fun isn't the worst thing about being poor, it probably should be counted as another deprivation.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 11:35 AM on September 24, 2021
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 11:35 AM on September 24, 2021
Freediving as a pursuit strikes me as so arbitrary, and almost inevitably, so deadly. fd
You can free dive just enjoy the scenery or relax in the water, you don’t need to go to full-on no limits competitive apnea :)
I wish I was good at it, it’s a lot less of a hassle to pack a mask/fins/snorkel/wetsuit when going on a trip compared to a full kit of scuba gear.
If I remember well the goal is to weight yourself to be neutrally buoyant at around 30ft, so you float on the surface but only kick to go down above 30ft (increasing water pressure with depth compressing the wetsuit/lungs is what makes you negatively buoyant) and if you do a shallow water blackout due to the ppO2 in your blood dropping as you ascend at least you keep going up.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 3:05 PM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
You can free dive just enjoy the scenery or relax in the water, you don’t need to go to full-on no limits competitive apnea :)
I wish I was good at it, it’s a lot less of a hassle to pack a mask/fins/snorkel/wetsuit when going on a trip compared to a full kit of scuba gear.
If I remember well the goal is to weight yourself to be neutrally buoyant at around 30ft, so you float on the surface but only kick to go down above 30ft (increasing water pressure with depth compressing the wetsuit/lungs is what makes you negatively buoyant) and if you do a shallow water blackout due to the ppO2 in your blood dropping as you ascend at least you keep going up.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 3:05 PM on September 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Extreme Diving in Mammals: Cuvier’s Beaked Whale Breaks Record With 3 Hour 42 Minute Dive, SciTechDaily; September 23, 2020: “…the true megastars of the diving world are Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris). They are capable of reaching depths of almost 3000 m…”
So there, puny humans.
posted by cenoxo at 5:14 PM on September 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
So there, puny humans.
posted by cenoxo at 5:14 PM on September 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Is there a name for free diving but where you don't actively propel yourself deeper? Free sinking?
For a lot of us it's called "floating" - you have to be pretty lean (and/or empty your lungs) to sink.
posted by memetoclast at 1:28 AM on September 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
For a lot of us it's called "floating" - you have to be pretty lean (and/or empty your lungs) to sink.
posted by memetoclast at 1:28 AM on September 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
Is there a name for free diving but where you don't actively propel yourself deeper? Free sinking?
From Freediving:
posted by The Tensor at 3:38 AM on September 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
From Freediving:
- NLT – No-limits apnea
- Any means of breath-hold diving to depth and return to the surface is permitted provided that a guideline is used to measure the distance. Most divers use a weighted sled to descend and an inflatable bag to ascend.
- VNF – Variable weight apnea without fins
- Descent is assisted by a weighted sled sliding down a line, the ascent may be by pulling up along the line or swimming without fins.
- VWT – Variable weight apnea
- Descent is assisted by a weighted sled sliding down a line, the ascent may be either by:
1.) pulling up along the line or swimming with or without fins under AIDA rules
2.) swimming with fins under CMAS rules.
posted by The Tensor at 3:38 AM on September 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
Amazon still has Episode 4 of
Warning: it has footage of a person dying.
If you think you have that in you today, it's well worth a watch.
Edited to add: it has quite a bit of interview footage with Molchanova.
posted by tigrrrlily at 6:58 AM on September 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
Nine for IX,
No Limitsavailable for three bucks about the life and death of Audrey Mestre, and some of the murderous intrigue inside the world of freediving.
Warning: it has footage of a person dying.
If you think you have that in you today, it's well worth a watch.
Edited to add: it has quite a bit of interview footage with Molchanova.
posted by tigrrrlily at 6:58 AM on September 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
Actually, I misremembered and I saw the Molchanova interview someplace else. Never mind.
posted by tigrrrlily at 7:06 AM on September 25, 2021
posted by tigrrrlily at 7:06 AM on September 25, 2021
I do not have a concrete proposal here, so it's a good thing that I am not yet god-emperor.
posted by Frowner at 1:38 PM on September 24
Vote # 1quidnunc kid Frowner
posted by cynical pinnacle at 3:09 PM on September 25, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Frowner at 1:38 PM on September 24
Vote # 1
posted by cynical pinnacle at 3:09 PM on September 25, 2021 [3 favorites]
Full on water baby me, eventual swimteam/diveteam/lifeguard sort of me. Used to love breathing out enough to just sink down and sit on the bottom of the pool for a bit scary long times. Not any deeper than plain old deep end of the pool deep, and having the bottom to push off of and a stroke or two to make the surface, but it's pretty nice just sitting or lying down there for a good bit.
posted by zengargoyle at 11:55 PM on September 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by zengargoyle at 11:55 PM on September 25, 2021 [1 favorite]
There was a good profile of him tonight on 60 Minutes. I wonder why all the publicity lately.
posted by TedW at 5:50 PM on September 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 5:50 PM on September 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
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