1.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
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The Waitangi sheet from the Treaty of Waitangi
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Painting of Mount Earnslaw by John Turnbull Thomson, oil on canvas, 1888
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John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand since 2008
2.
Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
Cyprus
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A copper mine on Cyprus. In antiquity, Cyprus was a major source of copper.
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Archeologic site of Choirokoitia with early remains of human habitation during Aceramic Neolithic period (reconstruction)
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Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates, Kourion
3.
Limasol
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Limassol is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the eponymous district. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus, with a population of 160. Limassol has been ranked by TripAdvisor as the 3rd up-and-coming destination in the world, the city is also ranked 87th worldwide in Mercers Quality of Living Survey. Limassol was built between two ancient cities, Amathus and Kourion, and during Byzantine rule it was known as Neapolis, limassols historical centre is located around its medieval Limassol Castle and the Old Port. Today the city spreads along the Mediterranean coast and has extended much farther than the castle and port, to the west of the city is the Akrotiri Area of the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The city of Limassol is situated between the ancient cities of Amathus and Kourion, Limassol was probably built after Amathus had been ruined. However, the town of Limassol has been inhabited since ancient times. Graves found there date back to 2000 BC and others back to the 8th and 4th centuries BC. These few remains show that a small colonisation must have existed which did not manage to develop, Ancient writers mention nothing about the foundation of the town. Bishop Leontios of Neapolis was an important church writer in the 7th century, the records of the 7th Synod refer to it as the bishop’s see. The town was known as Lemesos in the 10th century, the history of Limassol is largely known by the events associated with the Third Crusade. The king of England, Richard the Lionheart, was travelling to the Holy Land in 1191 and his fiancée Berengaria and his sister Joan, Queen of Sicily, were also travelling on a different ship. Because of a storm, the ship with the arrived in Limassol. Isaac Komnenos, the renegade Byzantine Greek governor of Cyprus invited the queens ashore, with the intention of holding them to ransom, so he refused them fresh water and they had to put out to sea again or yield to capture. When Richard arrived in Limassol and met Isaac Komnenos, he asked him to contribute to the crusade for the liberation of the Holy Land, while at the beginning Isaac had accepted, he later on refused to give any help. Richard then chased him and finally arrested him, the island was therefore taken over by the Anglo-Normans. Richard celebrated his marriage with Berengaria who had received the crown as queen of England in Cyprus, Richard destroyed Amathus and the inhabitants were transferred to Limassol. A year later, in AD1192, Cyprus was sold for the sum of 100,000 bezants to the Templars, rich monks, the knights enforced high taxes, in order to get back the money that had been given for the purchase of Cyprus
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Limassol Λεμεσός
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Ancient Amathus
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Kourion Greco-Roman theatre.
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View of Kolossi Castle built in 1210 by the Frankish military.
4.
Bahamas
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The Bahamas, known officially as the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is an archipelagic state within the Lucayan Archipelago. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence, the designation of the Bahamas can refer either to the country or to the larger island chain that it shares with the Turks and Caicos Islands. As stated in the mandate/manifesto of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the Bahamas is the site of Columbus first landfall in the New World in 1492. At that time, the islands were inhabited by the Lucayan, although the Spanish never colonised the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera, the Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. After the American War of Independence, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists in the Bahamas, they brought their slaves with them, Africans constituted the majority of the population from this period. Slavery in the Bahamas was abolished in 1834, Today the descendants of slaves and free Africans make up nearly 90% of the population, issues related to the slavery years are part of society. The Bahamas became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1973, retaining Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch, in terms of gross domestic product per capita, the Bahamas is one of the richest countries in the Americas, with an economy based on tourism and finance. The name Bahamas is derived from either the Taino ba ha ma, alternatively, it may originate from Guanahani, a local name of unclear meaning. In English, the Bahamas is one of two countries whose self-standing short name begins with the word the, along with The Gambia. Taino people moved into the uninhabited southern Bahamas from Hispaniola and Cuba around the 11th century and they came to be known as the Lucayan people. An estimated 30,000 Lucayan inhabited the Bahamas at the time of Christopher Columbus arrival in 1492, Columbuss first landfall in the New World was on an island he named San Salvador. Some researchers believe this site to be present-day San Salvador Island, an alternative theory holds that Columbus landed to the southeast on Samana Cay, according to calculations made in 1986 by National Geographic writer and editor Joseph Judge, based on Columbuss log. Evidence in support of this remains inconclusive, on the landfall island, Columbus made first contact with the Lucayan and exchanged goods with them. The Spanish forced much of the Lucayan population to Hispaniola for use as forced labour, the slaves suffered from harsh conditions and most died from contracting diseases to which they had no immunity, half of the Taino died from smallpox alone. The population of the Bahamas was severely diminished, in 1648, the Eleutherian Adventurers, led by William Sayle, migrated from Bermuda. These English Puritans established the first permanent European settlement on an island which they named Eleuthera—the name derives from the Greek word for freedom and they later settled New Providence, naming it Sayles Island after one of their leaders. To survive, the settlers salvaged goods from wrecks, in 1670 King Charles II granted the islands to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas in North America
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A depiction of Columbus' first landing, claiming possession of the New World for Spain in caravels; the Niña and the Pinta, on Watling Island, an island of The Bahamas that the natives called Guanahani and that he named San Salvador, on October 12, 1492.
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Sign at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park commemorating hundreds of African-American slaves who escaped to freedom in the early 1820s in the Bahamas.
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Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor and Governor of the Bahamas from 1940 to 1945.
5.
Bali
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Bali is an island and province of Indonesia. The province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and it is located at the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Its capital, Denpasar, is located in the part of the island. With a population of 3,890,757 in the 2010 census, and 4,225,000 as of January 2014, the island is home to most of Indonesias Hindu minority. According to the 2010 Census,83. 5% of Balis population adhered to Balinese Hinduism, followed by 13. 4% Muslim, Christianity at 2. 5%, Bali is a popular tourist destination, which has seen a significant rise in tourists since the 1980s. Tourism-related business makes up 80% of its economy and it is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. The Indonesian International Film Festival is held every year in Bali, in March 2017, Tripadvisor named the island the worlds top destination in its Travelers choice award. Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, the area with the highest biodiversity of marine species, in this area alone over 500 reef building coral species can be found. For comparison, this is about 7 times as many as in the entire Caribbean, most recently, Bali was the host of the 2011 ASEAN Summit,2013 APEC and Miss World 2013. Bali is the home of the Subak Irrigation System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people who migrated originally from Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are closely related to the people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the islands west. In ancient Bali, nine Hindu sects existed, namely Pasupata, Bhairawa, Siwa Shidanta, Waisnawa, Bodha, Brahma, Resi, Sora, each sect revered a specific deity as its personal Godhead. Inscriptions from 896 and 911 dont mention a king, until 914 and they also reveal an independent Bali, with a distinct dialect, where Buddhism and Sivaism were practiced simultaneously. Mpu Sindoks great-granddaughter, Mahendradatta, married the Bali king Udayana Warmadewa around 989 and this marriage also brought more Hinduism and Javanese culture to Bali. Suradhipa reigned from 1115 to 1119, and Jayasakti from 1146 until 1150, jayapangus appears on inscriptions between 1178 and 1181, while Adikuntiketana and his son Paramesvara in 1204. Balinese culture was influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture. The name Bali dwipa has been discovered from inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD. It was during this time that the people developed their complex irrigation system subak to grow rice in wet-field cultivation, some religious and cultural traditions still practiced today can be traced to this period
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Tanah Lot temple, Bali
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Bali Island, Indonesia
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Kandapat Sari statue in Semarapura, one of old settlements in Bali. Historically, Balinese art and culture is born and based in this town
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Puputan monument
6.
Tulamben
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Tulamben is a small fishing village on the north-east coast of Bali. It is among the most popular sites on Bali since the wreck of the Liberty. During high-season, up to 100 divers descend to the each day. The beach in Tulamben is not made of sand, but is covered with fairly large. The modern name evolved over time, first to Batulamben and finally settling on the contraction Tulamben, the wreck lies in shallow water and is considered appropriate for divers of all certification levels. The ship rests in 30 metres of water, is roughly 25 metres from shore, the highest point of the wreck tops out about 5 metres from the surface. The ship was torpedoed by the Japanese off the nearby Island of Lombok and the ship was towed to the beach at Tulamben for salvage operations. The 1963 eruption of Mt. Agung, which devastated much of the side of Bali, drove the ship into the water just off shore, where it became encrusted with coral. The best conditions for diving here are during October and November, when the weather is calm and during the start of southeast monsoon. Professional divers have praised local residents for minimizing local fishing activity
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Scuba diving along the USAT Liberty wreck in Tulamben Bali, Indonesia.
7.
AIDA International
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Association Internationale pour le Développement de lApnée is a worldwide rule- and record-keeping body for competitive breath holding events. It aims to set standards for safety, comparability of Official World Record attempts, AIDA International is the parent organization for national clubs of the same name. 2009, Fifth AIDA Individual World Championship, Aarhus, Denmark,2009, Sixth AIDA Individual World Championship, Deans Blue Hole, Bahamas. AIDA2 Star Freediver, 16m CWT,2 STA, 40m DYN, AIDA3 Star Freediver, 24m CWT,245 STA, 55m DYN. AIDA4 Star Freediver, 32m CWT,330 STA, 70m DYN, AIDA has 3 levels of Instructor qualifications and certifications, Instructor certifications AIDA Instructor, can teach up to 3 Star Freediver. AIDA Master Instructor, can teach up to 4 Star Freediver, AIDA Instructor Trainer, can teach all levels, and instructors. AIDA recognized world records as of July 31,2014 Deep freediving using bifins or a monofin. Men 214 m Name, Herbert Nitsch Austria Date, 2007-06-14 Place, Spetses, Greece Women 160 m Name, Tanya Streeter United States Date, 2002-08-17 Place, Turks and Caicos Immovable breath hold for time
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Activities
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Association Internationale pour le Développement de l'Apnée - AIDA International
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Surface snorkelling
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Commercial certification authorities
8.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
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Fresco displaying the Minoan ritual of "bull leaping", found in Knossos, Crete.
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The Lion Gate, Mycenae
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The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens is one of the best known symbols of classical Greece.
9.
Indonesia
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Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a unitary sovereign state and transcontinental country located mainly in Southeast Asia with some territories in Oceania. Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is the worlds largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands. At 1,904,569 square kilometres, Indonesia is the worlds 14th-largest country in terms of area and worlds 7th-largest country in terms of combined sea. It has an population of over 260 million people and is the worlds fourth most populous country. The worlds most populous island, Java, contains more than half of the countrys population, Indonesias republican form of government includes an elected legislature and president. Indonesia has 34 provinces, of which five have Special Administrative status and its capital and countrys most populous city is Jakarta, which is also the most populous city in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, other neighbouring countries include Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the second highest level of biodiversity. The country has abundant natural resources like oil and natural gas, tin, copper, agriculture mainly produces rice, palm oil, tea, coffee, cacao, medicinal plants, spices and rubber. Indonesias major trading partners are Japan, United States, China, the Indonesian archipelago has been an important region for trade since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Indonesia consists of hundreds of native ethnic and linguistic groups. The largest – and politically dominant – ethnic group are the Javanese, a shared identity has developed, defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesias national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, articulates the diversity that shapes the country, Indonesias economy is the worlds 16th largest by nominal GDP and the 8th largest by GDP at PPP, the largest in Southeast Asia, and is considered an emerging market and newly industrialised country. Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950, Indonesia is a member of the G20 major economies and World Trade Organization. The name Indonesia derives from the Greek name of the Indós, the name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and, his preference, in the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia, they preferred Malay Archipelago, the Netherlands East Indies, popularly Indië, the East, and Insulinde
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A Borobudur ship carved on Borobudur, c. 800 CE. Indonesian outrigger boats may have made trade voyages to the east coast of Africa as early as the 1st century CE.
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The nutmeg plant is native to Indonesia's Banda Islands.
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Tan Malaka, Indonesian philosopher, guerilla, and national hero.
10.
Freediving
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There are also a range of competitive apnea disciplines, in which competitors attempt to attain great depths, times, or distances on a single breath. In ancient times freediving without the aid of devices was the only possibility, with the exception of the occasional use of reeds. The divers faced the problems as divers today, such as decompression sickness. Freediving was practised in ancient cultures to gather food, harvest resources like sponge and pearl, reclaim sunken valuables, in Ancient Greece, both Plato and Homer mention the sponge as being used for bathing. The island of Kalymnos was a centre of diving for sponges. By using weights of as much as 15 kilograms to speed the descent, harvesting of red coral was also done by divers. The Mediterranean had large amounts of maritime trade, as a result of shipwrecks, particularly in the fierce winter storms, divers were often hired to salvage whatever they could from the seabed. Divers would swim down to the wreck and choose the most valuable pieces to salvage, divers were also used in warfare. Defenses against sea vessels were often created, such as underwater barricades -, if barricades were found, it was divers who were used to disassemble them, if possible. In Japan, the Ama divers began to collect pearls about 2,000 years ago. For thousands of years, most seawater pearls were retrieved by divers working in the Indian Ocean, in such as the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea. A fragment of Isidore of Charaxs Parthian itinerary was preserved in Athenaeuss 3rd-century Sophists at Dinner, Pearl divers near the Philippines were also successful at harvesting large pearls, especially in the Sulu Archipelago. At times, the largest pearls belonged by law to the sultan, nonetheless many pearls made it out of the archipelago by stealth, ending up in the possession of the wealthiest families in Europe. Pearling was popular in Qatar, Bahrain, Japan, and India, the Gulf of Mexico was also known for pearling. Spearfishing is an ancient method of fishing that has used throughout the world for millennia. Early civilizations were familiar with the custom of spearing fish from rivers, today modern spearfishing makes use of elastic powered spearguns and slings, or compressed gas pneumatic powered spearguns, to strike the hunted fish. Specialised techniques and equipment have been developed for various types of aquatic environments, spearfishing may be done using free-diving, snorkelling, or scuba diving techniques. Spearfishing while using scuba equipment is illegal in some countries, the use of mechanically powered spearguns is also outlawed in some countries and jurisdictions
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Freediver with monofin, ascending
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Natural sponges have been harvested by freedivers near the Greek island of Kalymnos since at least the time of Plato.
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Monofin freediver holding his breath and swimming underwater
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Herbert Nitsch, World Record Holder Freediver
11.
Aquathlon (underwater wrestling)
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Aquathlon is an underwater sport where two competitors wearing masks and fins wrestle underwater in an attempt to remove a ribbon from each others ankle band in order to win the bout. The combat takes place in a 5-metre square ring within a swimming pool, the sport originated during the 1980s in the former USSR and was first played at international level in 1993. It was recognised by the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques in 2008, the sport is conducted in a swimming pool with a water depth between 2 metres and 6 metres. The competition area consists of a 5 metres square ring and a 2.5 metres wide free area around the ring, one side of the ring is marked with a red rope while the opposite side is marked with a yellow rope. At the bottom of the pool, a 5 metres square mat with a circle in the centre is placed immediately underneath the competition area. At opposite sides of the mat, a red hoop and a yellow hoop, the red hoop is located underneath the red rope floating on the pool’s surface while the yellow hoop is below the yellow rope. Competitors wear a swimsuit, a mask, fins made of rubber or polyurethane. The Competitor on the red side wears a red or blue cap and yellow ribbons while the Competitor on the yellow side wears a white or yellow cap and red ribbons. A competition which is known as a combat consists of three each of 30 seconds duration, and an additional round held to establish the winner in the event of a tie. Intervals between rounds should not be less than 30 seconds and an interval of at least one minute is required between any two combats. The sport was created and developed during the years 1980 to 1982 by Igor Ostrovsky and it was first officially demonstrated in April 1982 in Moscow. The first International Competition was held during August 1993 in Moscow, during March 1996, representatives of diving federations from Russia, Ukraine and Israel met in Moscow to establish the International Aquathlon Association. The sport was presented to CMAS in 2007 at the CMAS Games in Bari and it received recognition from CMAS at the General Assembly held in May 2008 and international level competition under the auspices of CMAS commenced in late 2008. In 2009, the Aquathlon Commission was established within the CMAS Sport Committee with Igor Ostrovsky as its inaugural president, the governing body is the Aquathlon Commission of the CMAS Sports Committee. As of March 2013, the countries have affiliated with the Commission - Belarus, Croatia, Estonia, Italy, Kazakhstan. Prior to 1990, all competition was held in the Soviet Union, the 1st Russian Open Aquathlon Championship was held in Tula in 1992. In 1993, the 1st International Aquathlon Competition was held in Moscow with national teams from Israel, Russia, a series of Friendship Competitions were held between Israel and Jordan during 1997 in Aqaba, Jordan and during 1998 in Netanya, Israel. Between the years 2000 and 2006, international competitions were held in Moscow, Tula and Sochi in Russia, Istanbul in Turkey, and in Tiraspol in Moldova
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Activities
Aquathlon (underwater wrestling)
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Surface snorkelling
12.
Finswimming
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Events exist over distances similar to swimming competitions for both swimming pool and open water venues. Competition at world and continental level is organised by the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques, the sports first world championship was held in 1976. It also has featured at the World Games as a trend sport since 1981 and was demonstrated at the 2015 European Games in June 2015. Competitors are described within the International Rules as swimmers rather than as finswimmers or divers, competition is divided in two classes, swimming pool and long distance. The International Rules do not permit the use of 25m length pools although these are used in regional and national competition, Long distance sites include both the sea and natural water bodies such as freshwater rivers and lakes. Site selection criteria include low current and tides and water quality appropriate for swimming as certified by a local authority. The site, when in use for competition, will be marked by buoys, patrolled by safety boats, surface swimming is swimming on the surface of water using mask, snorkel and monofins. SF races are held for distances of 50,100,200,400,800,1500,4 ×100 relay and 4 ×200 relay in swimming pools, apnoea finswimming is underwater swimming in a swimming pool using mask, monofin and holding ones breath. AP races are held for the distance of 50m, a swimmers face must be immersed for the duration of the race or risk disqualification. AP races are not conducted in water for safety and security reasons. Immersion swimming with breathing apparatus is underwater swimming using mask, monofin, while there are no requirements on how a breathing apparatus is carried, it cannot be exchanged or abandoned during a race. IM races are held for distances of 100 and 400 m, a swimmers face must be immersed for the duration of the race or risk disqualification. IM races are not conducted in water for safety and security reasons. Historically, IM swims were conducted in openwater up to distances of 1000m, bi-fins is swimming on the surface of water with mask, snorkel and a pair of fins using a crawling style. BF races are held for distances of 50,100 and 200 m in swimming pools and it is reported that BF was introduced in 2006 to provide the opportunity for competition by swimmers who cannot afford to purchase a set of monofins. Finswimming which is compared to sports swimming differs from that sport in the use of masks, fins, snorkels. This reflects the origins in the underwater diving techniques of snorkelling, breath-hold diving. Apart from requiring the use of a mask for protection of the eyes and for the ability to see underwater, centre-mounted snorkels are the only type approved for use subject to meeting minimum and maximum sizes
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Monofin Skorjenko
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Monofin & Bi-fins
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Finswimming snorkel, source: C. Morvan
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Surface snorkelling
13.
Pearl hunting
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Pearl hunting is the act of recovering pearls from oysters in the sea. Pearl hunting used to be the industry in the Persian Gulf region. Before the beginning of the 20th century, the means of obtaining pearls was by manually gathering very large numbers of pearl oysters or mussels from the ocean floor or lake or river bottom. The bivalves were then brought to the surface, opened, more than a ton were searched in order to find at least 3-4 quality pearls. Because of the difficulty of diving and the nature of natural pearl growth in pearl oysters, pearls of the time were extremely rare. The Great Depression in the United States made it hard to get good prices for pearl shell, the natural pearls found from harvested oysters were a rare bonus for the divers. Many fabulous specimens were found over the years, by the 1930s, overharvesting had severely depleted the oyster beds. The government was forced to strictly regulate the harvest to prevent the oysters from becoming extinct, in the 19th century, divers in Asia had only very basic forms of technology to aid their survival at such depths. For thousands of years, most seawater pearls were retrieved by divers working in the Indian Ocean, in such as the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea. A fragment of Isidore of Charaxs Parthian itinerary was preserved in Athenaeuss 3rd-century Sophists at Dinner, Pearl divers near the Philippines were also successful at harvesting large pearls, especially in the Sulu Archipelago. In fact, pearls from the Sulu Archipelago were considered the finest of the world which were found in high bred shells in deep, clear, and rapid tidal waters. At times, the largest pearls belonged by law to the sultan, nonetheless many pearls made it out of the archipelago by stealth, ending up in the possession of the wealthiest families in Europe. Pearling was popular in Qatar, Bahrain, Japan, India, the Gulf of Mexico was particularly famous for pearling, which was originally found by the Spanish explorers. In the time of slavery in northern South America, a unique occupation amongst slaves was that of a pearl diver. A divers career was often short-lived because the waters being searched were known to be shark-infested, however, a slave who discovered a great pearl could sometimes purchase his freedom. Today, pearl diving has largely supplanted by cultured pearl farms. Particles implanted in the oyster encourage the formation of pearls, todays pearl industry produces billions of pearls every year. Ama divers still work, primarily now for the tourist industry, Pearl diving in the Ohio and Tennessee rivers of the United States still exists today
Pearl hunting
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Pearl diver in Japan
Pearl hunting
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A piece of clothing used by Kuwaiti divers searching for pearls. Demonstrated in the Maritime Museum in Kuwait City, Kuwait
Pearl hunting
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A Ceylon Pearl Merchant (p.108, 1849)
Pearl hunting
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Fish hook
14.
Spearfishing
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Spearfishing is an ancient method of fishing that has been used throughout the world for millennia. Early civilizations were familiar with the custom of spearing fish from rivers, today modern spearfishing makes use of elastic powered spearguns and slings, or compressed gas pneumatic powered spearguns, to strike the hunted fish. Specialised techniques and equipment have been developed for various types of aquatic environments, Spearfishing may be done using free-diving, snorkelling, or scuba diving techniques. Spearfishing while using scuba equipment is illegal in some countries, the use of mechanically powered spearguns is also outlawed in some countries and jurisdictions. Spearfishing is highly selective, normally uses no bait and has no by-catch, Spearfishing with barbed poles was widespread in palaeolithic times. Cosquer cave in Southern France contains cave art over 16,000 years old, there are references to fishing with spears in ancient literature, though, in most cases, the descriptions do not go into detail. An early example from the Bible is in Job 41,7, the Greek historian Polybius, in his Histories, describes hunting for swordfish by using a harpoon with a barbed and detachable head. Greek author Oppian of Corycus wrote a treatise on sea fishing. This is the earliest such work to have survived intact, Oppian describes various means of fishing including the use of spears and tridents. In a parody of fishing, a type of gladiator called retiarius carried a trident and he fought the murmillo, who carried a short sword and a helmet with the image of a fish on the front. Copper harpoons were known to the seafaring Harappans well into antiquity, early hunters in India include the Mincopie people, aboriginal inhabitants of Indias Andaman and Nicobar islands, who have used harpoons with long cords for fishing since early times. Spear fishing is an ancient method of fishing and may be conducted with a spear or a specialised variant such as an eel spear or the trident. A small trident type spear with a handle is used in the American South and Midwest for gigging bullfrogs with a bright light at night, or for gigging carp. Traditional spear fishing is restricted to shallow waters, but the development of the speargun allows fishing in deeper waters. With practice, divers are able to hold their breath for up to four minutes and sometimes longer, of course, in the 1920s, sport spearfishing using only watertight swimming goggles became popular on the Mediterranean coast of France and Italy. This led to development of the diving mask, fins. Modern scuba diving had its genesis in the use of rebreathers by Italian sport spearfishers during the 1930s. This practice came to the attention of the Italian Navy, which developed its frogman unit, by 1940 small groups of people in California, USA had been spearfishing for less than 10 years
Spearfishing
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Spear fisherman in Hawaii
Spearfishing
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Fisherman with a spear in a wall painting from the tomb of Usheret in Thebes, 18 Dynasty, around 1430 BC
Spearfishing
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Poseidon/Neptune sculpture in Copenhagen Port
Spearfishing
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Mosaic, 4th century BC, showing a retiarius or "net fighter", with a trident and cast net, fighting a secutor.
15.
Underwater football
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Underwater football is a two-team underwater sport that shares common elements with underwater hockey and underwater rugby. As with both of those games, it is played in a pool with snorkeling equipment. The goal of the game is to manoeuvre a slightly negatively buoyant ball from one side of a pool to the other by players who are completely submerged underwater, scoring is achieved by placing the ball in the gutter on the side of the pool. Variations include using a toy rubber torpedo as the ball, and weighing down buckets to rest on the bottom and it is played in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan. Underwater football was developed in the 1960s by an instructor who was teaching in the Manitobas Frank Kennedy Centre. The game developed from a training exercise that used a pool brick to develop the students snorkelling skills. It is still played there today, several ball types have been used throughout the games history. These include a 10-pound pool brick, a junior sized NFL-style football, pneumatic balls can be made negatively buoyant by filling them with a liquid that is denser than water instead of air, e. g. a strong saline solution or corn syrup. The sport is similar to polo, but it is played most of the time underwater. Each player can go up to the surface to air as many times needed. Like the traditional football, one players from each team manoeuvre the ball past their opponents to get to the ball to goal, each team has 13 players, but only five players are on the court at one time. The player with the ball can swim with it or pass the ball to his team players, meanwhile, the opponents will try to take the ball from the other player or intercept a pass. And at last the team which has the maximum scores will win. The court is 10 metres wide,15 metres long, and 4 metres deep, a match has two 20-minute rounds, and a half-time of 5 minutes. The governing body is the Manitoba Underwater Council, the MUC also supports competition by providing insurance required for the hire of swimming pools as well as sponsoring the cost of hire. Football Welcome to the Official Underwater Football Site Underwater football video Underwater football, the sport of the future
Underwater football
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Underwater football match involving USN personnel in Panama City, Florida on June 3, 2011
Underwater football
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Surface snorkelling
Underwater football
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Activities
16.
Underwater hockey
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Underwater Hockey is now played worldwide, with the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques, abbreviated CMAS, as the world governing body. The first Underwater Hockey World Championship was held in Canada in 1980 after a start in 1979 brought about by international politics. Two teams of up to ten players compete, with six players in each team in play at any one time. The remaining four players are substituted into play from a substitution area. Before the start of play the puck is placed in the middle of the pool, at the start-of-play signal in-play members of both teams are free to swim anywhere in the play area and try to score by manoeuvring the puck into the opponents goal. Players hold their breath as they dive to the bottom of the pool, play continues until either a goal is scored, when players return to their wall to start a new point, or a break in play is signalled by a referee. Games consist of two halves of ten to fifteen minutes and a short half-time interval of usually three minutes. At half time the two teams switch ends, a typical playing formation is 3-3 of which 3-2-1 is a variation. Other options include 2-3-1, 1-3-2, or 2-2-2, formations are generally very fluid and are constantly evolving with different national teams being proponents of particular tweaks in formations, such as New Zealand with their box formation. If the penalty is minor, referees award an advantage puck, for major penalties, such as a dangerous pass or intentional or repeated fouls, the referees may eject players for a specified period of time or the remainder of the game. A defender committing a serious foul sufficiently close to his own goal may be penalized by the award of a penalty shot, since this is an underwater sport, surface spectators may be unaware of just how physical Underwater Hockey is. It is also important that they are able to well with their team members. Click to find out more about Underwater Hockey by watching a small clip, although Underwater Hockey is a non-contact sport, there is a significant risk of injury. 3-1.5 kg puck resulting in concussions, deep cuts to the head or dental trauma. Personal protective equipment is available to reduce these risks, There is also a risk of pulmonary capillary stress failure in some players. Players wear a mask, snorkel and fins, and carry in one hand a short stick for playing the puck. A full list of equipment is given below, There are usually no restrictions on swimwear, however baggy style trunks or shorts are not recommended as they reduce speed, typical swimwear is swim briefs for male players and one-piece swimsuits for female players. The rules require masks to have two lenses to reduce the risk and extent of injury due to puck impact with a lens. A variety of webbing strap designs are available to replace the head strap with a non-elastic strap that reduces the chances of the player being unmasked
Underwater hockey
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Two players competing for the puck at GB Student Nationals, Bangor in 2009.
Underwater hockey
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Going for strike
Underwater hockey
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Stick pushing puck
Underwater hockey
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Octopush contest seen from the surface, at Crystal Palace Pool, London
17.
Underwater target shooting
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The sport was developed in France during the early 1980s and is currently practised mainly in Europe. It is known as Tir sur cible subaquatique in French and as Tiro al Blanco Subacuático in Spanish, competitors must be 18 years of age in order to participate in International events while National competitions in some countries such as France include age classifications for juniors and masters. The sport allows completion by both men and women, individual events while conducted as mixed gender activities do have distinct men’s and women’s titles. Each competitor is required to have the equipment, diving mask, fins, snorkel, speargun, diving weighting system. Use of the equipment is permitted during the competition, replacement gun and replacement spear, positioning items. In lieu of supporting themselves with an arm on the bottom when shooting. This may consist of a weight or a suction cup both fitted with a handle, while corrective lenses and contact lenses are permitted to be used, the use of aiming systems such as underwater torches, telescopic sights, laser sights and holographic weapon sights is forbidden. A target consists of 33 cm by 35 cm panel whose centre is located 80 cm above the bottom and is supported by a frame. The panel is made of a plastic foam sufficiently rigid enough to allow a spear to remain impaled. The sport is conducted in a pool with a minimum pool size of 25 m x 10 m. In absence of a swimming pool, the French national rules permit the use of confined water sites containing non-moving water such as water-filled quarries. The pool space divided up as follows, the targets are located about 1 to 1.5 m, from the back wall of the pool and are centred 2.5 m apart to create a number of specific shooting ranges. The sport currently has 2 individual events and 1 team events currently described in the International Rules, however, Fédération Française dÉtudes et de Sports Sous-Marins, has an additional individual event known as Super Biathlon or Great Biathlon described in its national rules. This cycle is repeated within a frame of 5 minutes until 10 shots are fired. Biathlon is identical in conduct to that of the Precision event and this cycle is repeated within a time frame of 2 minutes 30 seconds for men and 3 minutes for women until 5 shots are fired. Relay is an event is identical to the Biathlon event but is conducted with 2 or 3 competitors. Each competitor takes turns in firing at the target until 9 shots are fired within a frame of 4 minutes 30 seconds. The governing body is the Target Shooting Commission of the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques Sports Committee, the sport was developed in France during the early 1980s as part of a winter season training regime for spearfishing
Underwater target shooting
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Activities
Underwater target shooting
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Surface snorkelling
18.
Static apnea
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Static apnea is a discipline in which a person holds their breath underwater for as long as possible, and need not swim any distance. It requires that the tract be immersed, with the body either in the water or at the surface. † Conducted under Guinness World Record rules, not acknowledged by AIDA and this is not part of formal competitions, but is occasionally used to set individual records. Shallow water blackout AIDA disciplines definitions AIDA world records Are you in the mood for Freediving with Stephane Mifsud, GORAN ČOLAK SETS NEW GUINESS WORLD RECORD BREATH HOLD22 MIN AND30 SECONDS
Static apnea
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Activities
19.
No-limits apnea
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No-limits apnea is an AIDA International freediving discipline in which the freediver descends and ascends with the method of his or her choice. Often, a metal bar or sled grasped by the diver descends fixed to a line. The most common ascension assistance is via inflatable lifting bags or vests with inflatable compartments, the dives may be performed head-first or feet-first. No-limits apnea has claimed the lives of several divers, the current no-limits world record holder is Herbert Nitsch with a depth of 253.2 m set on June 06,2012, in Santorini, Greece. Types of Diving AIDA International, International Association for Development of Freediving Current Freediving World Records Herbert Nitsch - 214m Apnoe Diving Worldrecord. mp4
No-limits apnea
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Activities
20.
Diving mask
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A diving mask is an item of diving equipment that allows underwater divers, including, scuba divers, free-divers, and snorkelers to see clearly underwater. Surface supplied divers use a full face mask or diving helmet. When the human eye is in contact with water as opposed to air, its normal environment, light entering the eye is refracted by a different angle. By providing an air space in front of the eyes, light enters normally and this requires that the nose is included in the airspace of the diving mask. Equalisation during ascent is automatic as excess air easily leaks past the seal from inside, corrective lenses can be fitted to allow normal vision for people with focusing defects, or contact lenses may be worn inside the mask. A wide range of shapes and internal volumes are available. A good comfortable fit is important to the function of the mask. There are two categories of diving mask, The half mask covers the eyes and nose, and the full face mask covers eyes, nose and mouth. The half mask is described here, all masks have means to keep them in position, such as an elastic rubber strap or a velcro fabric strap. The elastomer skirt provides a seal between the lenses and the divers face, the material may be almost transparent, translucent or opaque. The skirt also encloses the nose, usually by means of a nose pocket, a rigid frame may be used to connect the lens to the skirt, or they may be permanently bonded together without using a frame. Masks that are used at depth must be constructed so that the diver can exhale through the nose into the mask to prevent the squeeze caused by increasing pressure during descent in water, some masks have a one-way purge valve under the nose to let water out. While common in snorkeling, this feature is less favored by scuba divers because of the possibility of the valve failing at depth, the straps are usually made of an elastomer that can sometimes cause hair tangling. This can be prevented by replacing the rubber strap with a customized neoprene strap or by covering the existing strap with a neoprene cover, sometimes masks are sold in sets with snorkels and/or swimfins. Low quality snorkelling masks may have a low-quality plastic or glass faceplate, masks that have the snorkel built in are considered hazardous as well. Divers may test whether a mask is a good fit by placing it on their face, without using the straps, if the mask stays on without any help this indicates that no air is being drawn in and that the fit is good. Proper sealing requires that hair strands do not cross under the edge of the seal and this is more a problem with the forehead hairline than with lower facial hair. Refraction of light entering the mask makes objects appear about 34% bigger, as the diver descends in clean water, the water acts as a colour filter eliminating the red end of the visible spectrum of the sunlight entering the water leaving only the blue end of the spectrum
Diving mask
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Snorkeler wearing a soft silicone diving mask
Diving mask
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Scuba diver with bifocal lenses in half mask
Diving mask
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Practicing mask clearing during entry level training
Diving mask
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Pinching the nose while clearing the ears on descent
21.
Diving suit
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A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit may also incorporate a gas supply. But in most cases only to the environmental protective covering worn by the diver. The breathing gas supply is usually referred to separately, there is no generic term for the combination of suit and breathing apparatus alone. It is generally referred to as diving equipment or dive gear along with any other equipment necessary for the dive, the first diving suit designs appeared in the early 18th century. Two English inventors developed the first pressure-proof diving suits in the 1710s, john Lethbridge built a completely enclosed suit to aid in salvage work. It consisted of a pressure-proof air-filled barrel with a viewing hole. This suit gave the diver more maneouverability to accomplish useful underwater salvage work, after testing this machine in his garden pond Lethbridge dived on a number of wrecks, four English men-of-war, one East Indiaman, two Spanish galleons and a number of galleys. He became very wealthy as a result of his salvages, one of his better-known recoveries was on the Dutch Slot ter Hooge, which had sunk off Madeira with over three tons of silver on board. At the same time, Andrew Becker created a leather-covered diving suit with a featuring a window. Becker used a system of tubes for inhaling and exhaling, and demonstrated his suit in the River Thames, London, german-born British engineer Augustus Siebe developed the standard diving dress in the 1830s. Expanding on improvements made by another engineer, George Edwards. Later suits were made from waterproofed canvas invented by Charles Mackintosh, from the late 1800s and throughout most of the 20th century, most standard dress was made from a sheet of solid rubber laminated between layers of tan twill. Dry suits made of rubber were used in World War II by Italian frogmen who found them indispensable. They were made by Pirelli and patented in 1951, ambient pressure suits are a form of exposure protection protecting the wearer from the cold. They also provide some defence from abrasive and sharp objects as well as potentially harmful underwater life and they do not protect divers from the pressure of the surrounding water or resulting barotrauma and decompression sickness. There are five types of ambient pressure diving suits, dive skins, wetsuits and their derivative semi-dry suit and hot-water suits. Added buoyancy due to the volume of the suit is an effect of most diving suits
Diving suit
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Two divers, one wearing a 1 atmosphere diving suit and the other standard diving dress, preparing to explore the wreck of the RMS Lusitania, 1935
Diving suit
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John Lethbridge 's diving dress, the first enclosed diving suit, built in the 1710s.
Diving suit
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Early diving suit on display at the Naval History Museum in Mexico City.
Diving suit
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Diver of the Estonian Home Guard, 1941
22.
Hawaiian sling
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The Hawaiian sling is a device used in spearfishing. The sling operates much like a bow and arrow does on land, mechanically, the device is simple, the only moving parts are the spear shaft and the rubber tubing. A loop of tubing is attached to a block of material, often wood, the shaft is placed in the hole, notched in the loop and pulled back, tensioning the tubing. When the shaft is released, the tubing propels it forward, the Hawaiian sling has some similarities to spearguns and polespears, in that all are powered by energy stored in rubber tubing. However, it occupies a middle ground between the two, the sling is somewhat more powerful than a polespear and offers a more comfortable grip. Like a pole spear, the diver must exert force on the shaft to keep it from releasing, whereas a spear gun has a trigger mechanism to accomplish this. Hawaiian slings are especially popular among divers who want a more challenging hunt, or those operating in areas where triggered spearguns are banned, such as the Bahamas, and Okinawa, Japan. The modern Hawaiian sling was popularised in the mid 1950s, however, essay on spearfishing with an Hawaiian sling
Hawaiian sling
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Fish hook
Hawaiian sling
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Fisheries
Hawaiian sling
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Activities
23.
Monofin
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A monofin is a type of swimfin typically used in underwater sports such as finswimming, free-diving and underwater orienteering. It consists of a single or linked surfaces attached to both of the divers feet, the divers appearance is then reminiscent of a mermaid or merman. The arrival of the monofin in the early 1970s led to the breaking of all records by the end of the decade due to the improved performance possible when used in lieu of bi-fins. To differentiate between the use of monofins and conventional fins, the latter are referred to as stereo fins or bi-fins. The monofin swimmer extends arms forward, locking hands together, locking the head between the biceps, the undulating movement starts in the shoulders, with maximum amplitude towards the hips, the legs almost dont bend to transfer the movement to the monofin. This technique is called the dolphin kick, by slowly oscillating the surface of the monofin when submerged, divers can generate large amounts of thrust even with small or slow movements. This preserves energy which helps when breathholding, monofins were introduced in 1972 by a Soviet finswimming club and have been used for finswimming competitions since, allowing monofin swimmers to reach speeds of 12 km/h. Monofins can be made of fiber, carbon fiber or aluminum. The divers muscle power, swimming style, and the type of activity the monofin is used for determining the choice of size, stiffness. Most monofins consist of a single, wide, glass or carbon reinforced composite blade with graded flexibility attached to the diver by two rubber foot pockets. The leading edge may be thickened and faired, the blade flexibility is generally controlled by tapering the amount of fibre and thickness of the blade to make the trailing edge thinner and more flexible. The Lunocet is a type of monofin which uses bio-mimicry of dolphin flukes in an attempt to improve efficiency. It uses cycling shoes to connect to the diver for comfortable wear, mermaiding Good monofin technique with the Lunocet Rick Waldock, Monofin - freediving in Bonaire Monofin Manufacturers
Monofin
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A freediver using a monofin
Monofin
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Herbert Nitsch wearing a monofin at the Cyprus BIOS 2004 Freediving Open Classic
Monofin
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Monofin
24.
Polespear
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A polespear is an underwater tool used in spearfishing, consisting of a pole, a spear tip, and a rubber loop. Polespears are often mistakenly called Hawaiian slings, but the tools differ, a Hawaiian sling is akin to a slingshot or an underwater bow and arrow, since the spear and the propelling device are separate, while a polespear has the sling attached to the spear. The pole is usually four feet and ten feet long and made of fiberglass, carbon fibre, aluminum, graphite. Longer versions often break down two or more pieces that screw together. The tip is either threaded to accept different kinds of spear tips or already has a fixed tip attached, the most popular spear tip on polespears are the paralyzer, and the Tahitian shaft. Some more serious hunters will equip the polespear with a slip-tip, at the butt end of the spear is an elastic loop, usually made of surgical tubing or a band of rubber. The spear is operated by placing the rubber loop in the crook of the thumb, then reaching up the shaft to stretch the elastic band. On flimsy spears, its useful to twist the spear as the stretches to keep the spear from bending. Shooting the spear involves releasing the grasp of the hand but still using the hand to guide the spear like a barrel to a gun, the firing distance of a polespear can be divided into two ranges. First, there is the distance of the stretch or the travel range. This second range is the distance that most are interested in as it is relevant to penetrating fish. For this reason, it is called the penetrating range, not all the travel of the spear being fired has the punch to penetrate through fish. Depending on the polespears attributes such as mass, drag, band strength, band stretch, other factors may include fish orientation, fish width, density, skin composition, etc. One would need to all the attributes into to account before firing a polespear towards a target. For example, the pull on a 10-foot polesear may stretch up to 6-feet of the polespear. It actually requires about 8-feet of polespear, measured from the rear, however, the penetrating range may only be half of the pull. This equals about 3 for a 10 footer, some fish, however, are thicker/denser and may require much closer shots. The more mass a polespear contains, the more power it will require to move the same speed as a polespear with less mass
Polespear
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Polespear under tension with a cluster head attached.
Polespear
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Fish hook
Polespear
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Fisheries
Polespear
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Activities
25.
Snorkeling
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Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn, use of this equipment allows the snorkeler to observe underwater attractions for extended periods with relatively little effort and to breathe while face-down at the surface. Snorkeling is a recreational activity, particularly at tropical resort locations. The primary appeal is the opportunity to observe life in a natural setting without the complicated equipment. It appeals to all ages because of how little there is. It is the basis of the two disciplines of the underwater sport of finswimming. Snorkeling is mentioned by Aristotle in his Parts of Animals and he refers to divers using instruments for respiration resembling the elephants trunk. The snorkel may be an item or may be integrated with a full-face snorkelling mask. The integrated system is suitable for surface snorkelling, but the separate snorkel may also be used for free-diving. It is used for breathing air from above the surface when the wearers mouth and nose are submerged. The snorkel may have a piece of rubber or a clip that attaches the snorkel to the outside of the strap of the diving mask. An alternative technique is fitting the snorkel between the mask-strap and the head, but this practice may increase the chance that the mask leaks, the optimum design length of the snorkel tube is at most 40 centimeters. A longer tube would not allow breathing when snorkelling deeper, since it would place the lungs in deeper water where the water pressure is higher. The lungs would then be unable to inflate when the snorkeler inhales, the pressure difference across the tissues in the lungs, between the blood capillaries and air spaces would increase the risk of pulmonary edema. The greater the volume of the tube, and the smaller the tidal volume of breathing, a smaller diameter tube reduces the dead volume, but also increases resistance to airflow and so increases the work of breathing. Occasional exhalation through the nose while snorkeling will slightly reduce the buildup of carbon dioxide, the simplest type of snorkel is a plain tube that is allowed to flood when underwater. The displacement method expels water by filling the snorkel with air, it is a technique that takes practice but clears the snorkel with less effort, clearing splash water while at the surface requires blast clearing. Some snorkels have a sump at the lowest point to allow a volume of water to remain in the snorkel without being inhaled when the snorkeler breathes
Snorkeling
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A snorkeler amid corals on a coral reef near Fiji
Snorkeling
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Swimmer's snorkel with splash guard on top, but with no sump valve.
Snorkeling
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Snorkeler underwater, with snorkel's sump valve.
Snorkeling
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Snorkeling in Bonito, Brazil
26.
Speargun
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A speargun is an underwater fishing implement designed to fire a spear at fish or other underwater animals or targets. The basic components of a speargun are a spear, a stock or barrel, spearguns are usually from 0.5 to 2 m long, round or roughly rectangular from 28 to 75 mm in diameter/width. The two most common types are, Rubber powered - which are the simplest and cheapest to maintain, with rubber being the predominant type, and, Air powered. A rubber powered gun, besides the barrel, has the parts, A spear. The trigger mechanism has a handle/grip below it or midway up the gun, once at the required pressure the spear is forced down the barrel to engage the trigger mechanism and is then loaded and ready. There will usually be a line at least twice the length of the gun connecting the spear to the front of the gun. When loaded great caution must be exercised as the speargun is now a dangerous weapon, without a trigger, rubber bands or air pressure the speargun cannot be loaded and therefore cannot function. This type of device is more correctly described as a harpoon gun. Underwater target shooting All spearguns have a mechanism that holds a spear in place along the barrel. South African speargun manufacturers have improved speargun designs with the use of a rail along the barrel that prevents the spear from flexing under pressure from the rubber bands, the speargun can have, Buoy or float, tethered to the speargun or directly to the spear. It helps to subdue large fish and it can also assist in storing fish, but is more importantly used as a safety device to warn boat drivers there is diver in the area. Floatline, connecting the buoy to the speargun, often made from woven plastic, they can also be a mono-filament encased in an airtight plastic tube, or made from stretchable bungee cord. Threaded shafts allow for different tips to be used by having them screw on or off, some tips include a basic short tip with a folding flopper and others use longer tips with a rotating feature, usually with multiple floppers. Hawaiian shafts are the simplest shaft as the tip is shaped on the end, there are different length floppers and sometimes multiples. In this setup, the most common, the speargun is attached to the shaft by a line, the line is usually a heavy monofilament, spectra, or other spectra-like material with 400-600+lb rating. The line wraps around the bottom or side of the gun upon loading and this is the most common method for taking fish by speargun and the majority of the other types of setups use the mentioned connection options to the shaft. Some newer setups offer an option to quickly attach line to, or disconnect from, here the spear gun is connected to a buoy via a float rope. After spearing a fish, the spearfisher detaches the float rope, the fish will then gradually slide up the float rope as the diver swims until it rests underneath the buoy
Speargun
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Speargun
Speargun
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Fish hook
Speargun
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Fisheries
Speargun
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Activities
27.
Water polo cap
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A Water polo cap is a piece of headgear used in water polo and a number of underwater sports. The caps are used to both the player and their team, and to protect their ears from injury possibly caused by a water polo ball hitting the head. Caps are differentiated by the number printed on them as well as the color, players from the visiting team will wear white caps, whereas the home team players will wear blue caps. The goalkeepers wear quartered red caps, numbered 1, while substitute goalies have caps which are either numbered 1-A in NCAA games, opponents in underwater hockey and underwater rugby wear either one of two colours - white or dark caps while the water referees wear red caps. Underwater football appears to follow this precedent, caps are also used in Aquathlon for identification purposes, one competitor wears either a red or blue coloured cap while the other competitor wears a white or yellow coloured cap
Water polo cap
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A field player cap
Water polo cap
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A goalkeeper cap
Water polo cap
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Underwater hockey players wearing water polo caps
Water polo cap
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Underwater rugby players wearing water polo caps
28.
Deborah Andollo
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Deborah Andollo is a Cuban free-diving athlete who held several world records in different disciplines. She is currently married and is mother of a son named Ernesto and she is also engaged in an audiovisual project, teaches diving, and is involved in the ecological movement and environmental education. She earned a degree in Physical Education at Havana University and started out her career in figure swimming in 1979. In 1992 she switched to diving, and came to the attention of trainer Omar Oramas. He could see that the petite Cubana, only 5 foot 4 and 57 kilos and her first constant ballast dive only took her to 60 meters, but with a duration of 2 minutes,16 seconds. In 1993, she hit the 80 meter mark in a variable-ballast direct-immersion dive lasting 2 minutes and 50 seconds, a year later, on July 5,1994, she spent 2 minutes,24 seconds to get down 61 meters with constant ballast, a womens world record. Then, on May 26,1995, at Cayo Largo, she freedived to 60 meters without mask or fins, there remained to break the mythical 107 meter variable ballast no limits record, set by Angela Bandini in November 1989. On May 16,1996 at Pasaje Escondido, just off Punta Frances and her descent was linear to a depth of 60 meters, where she slowed to compensate. She reached her base platform in 1 minute and 15 seconds, at 2 minutes, and 15 seconds she was back topside with the new womens world Variable no limits breath-held record of 110 meters, or approximately 357 feet. Records set by Andollo include the following, http, //www. littleblueocean. com/freediving/content/fame. php DeeperBlue. com interview with Deborah Andollo
Deborah Andollo
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Activities
29.
Sara Campbell
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Sara Campbell is a British freediver. She is the world record holder in free immersion, constant weight. She is the face of The Underwater Channel. Campbell was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire to Barbara and Rob Campbell, Campbell was working in public relations in London, and combining this with part-time aerobics instructing, when she decided to move to Dahab in 2005 and set up a yoga holiday business. Campbell stumbled upon freediving when one of her yoga students noticed she was good at holding her breath. On 2 April 2009, Sara Campbell set a new womens freediving world record in the Bahamas by diving to 96m in constant weight
Sara Campbell
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Activities
30.
Carlos Coste
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Carlos Coste is a world class free-diver and record-holder. He started his training in Apnea and Free-diving in 1996, Coste became First AIDA Depth Individual World Champion, He won the World Championship making a new World Record in Constant Weight -105m, celebrated in Nice,2005. He broke the AIDA world record for Variable Weight Free-diving, with a 140-meter immersion in the Red Sea, Egypt and this record was superseded by Herbert Nitsch, on 7 December 2009 at Deans Blue Hole in the Bahamas. In 2010, after a relationship, He got married with his manager Gabriela Contreras. Additionally, Coste has broken several free-diving world records, including Constant Weight, Variable Weight and he is the current AIDA Individual World Champion Constant Weight. His achievements have been recognized with Venezuela National Sports Institute and with the Orden José Félix Rivas granted by the Venezuelan president and he studied Mechanical Engineering in the Central University of Venezuela. deepseabonaire. com/ http, //www. deeperblue. net/
Carlos Coste
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Activities
31.
Robert Croft (diver)
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Robert Croft is a free-diver who, in 1967, became the first person to free-dive beyond the depth of 200 feet. Croft was a US Navy diving instructor in 1962 at the US Naval Submarine Base New London submarine school in Groton, at the submarine escape training tank, instructors train prospective submariners how to escape from a disabled submarine, which could be resting on the sea bottom. Working 5 hours per day,5 days a week at the 118-feet deep 250, with that high level of comfort, he wanted to see how far he could go beyond the 118-feet depth. In 1967, at the encouragement of his instructors, Croft set out to discover how deep he could dive while holding his breath. Croft is credited with inventing air packing, a used to overfill the lungs. He had developed this method as a living in Narraganset Bay, Rhode Island to swim further. He also served as a subject for 6 years, from 1962 to 1968. The discovery of the blood shift phenomenon opened a host of theories regarding free diving humans, Croft served as that research subject to determine if that same blood shift occurred in humans and measure it. This led to the study, Schaefer, Karl E. Allison, Robert D. Dougherty, James H. Jr. Carey, Charles R. Walker, Roger, Yost, Frank, & Parker. Pulmonary and circulatory adjustments determining the limits of depths in breathhold diving and he also qualified as a navy deep sea diver on air in 1968, and mixed gas in 1972. In the early 1970s, like many navy divers, he was certified as a NAUI instructor In 1980, he retired from the US Navy
Robert Croft (diver)
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Activities
32.
Mandy-Rae Cruickshank
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Mandy-Rae Cruickshank is a world champion free-diver and record-holder from Vancouver, British Columbia. Cruickshank holds several Canadian and world records and she set the womens world record for constant ballast by diving to a depth of 88 metres on one breath, in April 2007 in the Cayman Islands. On April 8,2005, Cruickshank set the new record in the Constant Weight without fins discipline. On April 11,2005, she set the new record in the Free Immersion discipline, diving to 74m by pulling herself down. As captain of the Canadian free-diving team at the 2004 AIDA World Freediving Championships, in May 2006 she was the subject of media attention as one of stage magician David Blaines Drowned Alive show safety divers. Along with Martin Štěpánek she dove into Blaines water-filled sphere to rescue him from drowning during his failed 9-minute breath-holding stunt and she was also cast in the 2009 documentary film The Cove
Mandy-Rae Cruickshank
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Activities
33.
Francisco Ferreras
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Francisco Rodriguez, better known as Francisco Pipin Ferreras is a Cuban free-diver renowned for his achievements in deep free diving and his relationship with his wife, Audrey Mestre. Ferreras was born in Matanzas, on the northern coast of Cuba, Pipin was his nickname from childhood, and years later he added Ferreras. Not much is known for certain about Ferrerass personal life in Cuba and he began his underwater career in the little known sport of spearfishing. Pipin was introduced to the sport of diving by some Italians who were visiting Cuba. He fell in love with the sport and soon realized that, while spearfishing and diving for black coral and he decided to start competing in the sport and established his first world record at the age of 27. That was only the first of the 21 different world records he has set, from the late 1980s and onward he made a name of himself in the so-called No-Limits discipline of freediving where he established his first known world record of 112 meters depth in November 1989. Shortly thereafter he defected to Italy and later migrated to Florida, through the 1990s he established a long series of World Records, often in close rivalry with Italian Umberto Pelizzari. During this phase, Ferreras last logged record dive reached a depth of 162 meters in January 2000,12 meters deeper than Pelizzaris deepest record. The rivalry of Ferreras and Pelizzari became the focus of the 2001 IMAX production Ocean Men, Extreme Dive, in 1996, Ferreras established the sports association International Association of Freedivers in direct opposition to the organization AIDA, but this had limited sportive success and closed in 2004. All of Ferreras record dives of this era were conducted within the ambit of IAFD, Ferreras had two defunct marriages behind him when in 1996, he met French-born Mexican-national Audrey Mestre who was also a freediver herself. In 1999 they married, and quickly the two became a regular record-breaking couple in the sport of freediving, dividing men and womens records between them, on Mestres fatal dive, this air tank was empty when Mestre reached her target depth of 171 meters. Ferreras was in charge of Mestres air tank and did not allow any of the team to check that the tank had been charged and it was Ferreras who dove from the surface in scuba gear and recovered Mestres passed-out body. A year after her death, Ferreras completed a no-limits dive to match Mestres depth of 171 meters. On June 21,2012, in Miami, Florida, Pipin married Juscelina Cacau Melo, after Audrey’s accident, Ferreras wrote “The Dive”, which became an international bestseller. James Cameron then acquired the rights and will be producing the film. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, star of The Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook and Joy, has been cast to play Audrey Mestre, Francis Lawrence and this movie is being compared to James Cameron’s earlier blockbuster movie, Titanic, and is scheduled to be released in 2017. During his career, Francisco Pipin Ferreras Rodriguez has established a number of IAFD records, constant weight On 1990 –63 meters. Variable weight On 1990 –92 meters, tilting absolute no limits On 1989 –112 meters
Francisco Ferreras
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Activities
34.
Flavia Eberhard
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Flavia Dias Eberhard, known as Flavia Eberhard, is a Brazilian free-diver, freediving instructor trainer, international fashion model, conservationist, and TV personality. She has nine freediving records including a South American Absolute Record on the discipline of free immersion, Eberhard also works with underwater videography and underwater photography with Sea Dragons audiovisual and has presented documentaries for the TV and film festivals. Flavia Eberhard was working as a model since the age of seventeen when she left Brazil to follow a successful modelling career. She modelled for designers and participated in several campaigns in Brazil, her home country. She has worked for such as Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Claudia and worked for various designers such as Armani, Gucci. She has also worked for TV commercials such as Pakalolo and H&M. Eberhard still models internationally for fashion, being brought up in Florianopolis island in Brazil, she was always practicing water sports from an early age such as surfing, windsurfing and bodyboarding. Her brother practiced spearfishing and since youth she was introduced through him to games and practices. In 2004 she took her first diving course and felt passionate about being under the sea, while based in London due to her modelling career in 2007 she was introduced to freediving and became a competitive freediver in 2009, the same year that she started teaching professionally. She since has nine records in total including a Brazilian Absolute Record and she has also won and participated in several competitions internationally representing Brazil. Eberhard has presented a documentary for Brazilian TV Canal Off about freediving in January 2015 and she also writes and contributes in articles of magazines and a speaker in shows and conferences on the topic of freediving and underwater photography and videography. She has received awards as the Best Contributor and Pride of an Institution by the number of certified freedivers achieved and has taught, official Sea Dragons website Sea Dragons VIMEO channel
Flavia Eberhard
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Activities
35.
Mehgan Heaney-Grier
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Mehgan Heaney-Grier is an American champion freediver, fashion model, actress, conservationist, and TV personality. Heaney-Grier was born in Duluth, Minnesota to Bill and Renee Heaney and her parents divorced when she was six years old. When she was years old her mother remarried to Nelson Grier and in the summer of 1989, Heaney-Grier, along with her sister Erin, mother. When she was 16 years old, she changed her last name to Heaney-Grier. In 1996 at the age of 18 Heaney-Grier established the first constant weight free-diving record in the United States with a dive to 155 feet on a single breath of air. The following year she beat her own record with a dive to 165 feet, When she set her second US record, in 1998 Heaney-Grier captained the first United States Freediving Team to compete in the World Cup Freediving Championships held in Sardinia, Italy. In 2000, Heaney-Grier was inducted as part of the roster into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. Heaney-Grier has modeled for, and been featured in, numerous catalogs and magazines including People, Outside, Life, Vogue Japan and she has also been a public relations ambassador for Omega Watches. In the late 1990s, Heaney-Grier partnered with her trainers, Manny Puig and Mark Rackley, filming underwater encounters with animals such as alligators. Rackley had worked as a spearfisherman and underwater videographer, and Puig had experience as a handler on movie sets and had learned how to ride. Together with Heaney-Grier, they formed a company named Extreme Encounters, the 20 episode series featured the trio in cage-free encounters with sharks, alligators and other aquatic wildlife. They also worked on a USA Network one-hour special titled Deep Diver, Tiger Shark Odyssey, in 2002, Heaney-Grier went on to other projects. In 1999 Heaney-Grier had a role as a free-diver on an episode of Baywatch. Heaney-Grier has been a featured guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, Londons TFI Friday, Primetime Live with Anderson Cooper, Heaney-Grier also hosted Saturns Gravity Files, covering the Gravity Games in 2004, and the Mad Fin Shark Series for ESPN in 2008. In 2003, Heaney-Grier was sought by the director of Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl, Gore Verbinski, Heaney-Grier was featured in the books A Family of Women by Carolyn Jones. And Freedive. by Terry Maas and David Sipperly, Heaney-Grier married Silas Binkley on June 6,2010, for seven years she has been the guardian of a rescued wolf-dog hybrid named Rontu, and they are in the process of becoming a registered team for animal-assisted therapy work. Heaney-Grier graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2011 with both a B. A. degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a B. A. in Anthropology, official Site for Mehgan Heaney-Grier Mehgan Heaney-Grier at the Internet Movie Database
Mehgan Heaney-Grier
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Mehgan Heaney-Grier
Mehgan Heaney-Grier
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Heaney-Grier on record setting freedive 1997
Mehgan Heaney-Grier
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Activities
36.
Enzo Maiorca
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Enzo Maiorca was an Italian free diver who held several world records. Maiorca was born in Syracuse, Sicily, where he died in 2016. Maiorca learned to swim at age 4 and soon began to dive, in 1956 a friend showed him an article about a new depth record of 41 meters set by spearfishing champions Ennio Falco and Alberto Novelli. Maiorca was led by the article to begin competing in order to achieve the title of the man who reaches the deepest and he achieved this in 1960, when he reached 45 meters to beat Brazilian Americo Santarelli. That same year, however, Santarelli reclaimed the title by reaching 46 meters, in 1967 Maiorca ceased spearfishing, while still competing in freediving. He explained in an interview why he abandoned spearfishing, It all happened suddenly, I was diving in the shallows not far from the cape that reaches out to the open sea south of the bay of Syracuse. That morning I happened to spear a grouper, on the bottom a real titanic struggle broke out, between me who wanted to take its life and the grouper who tried to save itself. The grouper was caught in a cavity between two rocks, trying to understand its position, I ran my right hand down the fishs belly and its heart was pounding in terror, mad with fear. And with that pulsing of blood I realized that I was killing a living being, since then my speargun lies like a derelict, an archaeological item, in the dusty basement of my house. On 22 September 1974, in the Bay of Ieranto at the end of the Gulf of Salerno. The event was televised live, for the first time in the history of RAI and his outburst led to a television ban for many years, and led to his retirement from competition for more than a decade. In 1988, Maiorca returned to diving and set his final record of 101 meters. Maiorcas main rivals were the Brazilian Amerigo Santarelli, Teteke Williams, Robert Croft, from 1994 to 1996, Maiorca was elected to the Senate for the Alleanza Nazionale party. Maiorca also appeared on Lineablu, a RAI broadcast news series, the character Enzo Molinari, portrayed by Jean Reno, in the 1988 Luc Besson film The Big Blue was based on Maiorca. Maiorca was the author of books, Headlong into the Blue, The Life. The Sea with a Capital S. Lights,2001, Milan, Murcia,2011 ISBN9788842548799 Maiorca co-starred as himself in the film Challenge on the Bottom, directed by Melchiade Coletti. The match between Maiorca and Jacques Mayol inspired the film Le Grand Bleu by Luc Besson, filmed in 1988, the movie The Big Blue was shown in Italy only in 2002 due to Maiorcas objections. Recognizing his own caricature in the character of Enzo Molinari, Maiorca considered his appearance detrimental to his image, after the death in 2001 of Jacques Mayol and Maiorcas retirement from competitions, he relented, and the film was shown
Enzo Maiorca
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Activities
37.
Jacques Mayol
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Jacques Mayol was the holder of many world records in free diving. Jacques Mayol was a French national born in Shanghai, China and he was the first free diver to descend to 100 meters, and he managed to descend to 105 meters when he was 56 years old. The film The Big Blue, directed by Luc Besson in 1988, was inspired by his life story, on December 22,2001, Mayol committed suicide by hanging himself in Elba, Italy, at the age of 74. His ashes were spread over the Tuscany coast, jacques Mayol’s lifelong passion for diving was based on his love for the ocean, his personal philosophy and his desire to explore his own limits. During his lifetime, he helped introduce the, until then and his diving philosophy was to reach a state of mind based on relaxation and Yoga, with which he could accomplish apnea. He also contributed to advances in the field of free-diving. He was also instrumental in the development of scuba divings octopus regulator, Woodward believed that having the safety divers carry two second stages would be a safer and more practical approach than buddy breathing in the event of an emergency. Mayol was already a free diver when he met the Sicilian Enzo Maiorca who was the first to dive below 50m. A friendship, as well as rivalry between the two men ensued and their most famous records were set in the no-limits category, in which the divers are permitted to use weighted sleds to descend and air balloons for a speedy ascent. Between 1966 and 1983, Mayol was eight times world champion. In 1981 he set a record of 61m in the constant weight discipline. In 1976 Mayol broke the 100m barrier with a no-limits 101m dive off Elba, tests showed that during this dive his heart beat decreased from 60 to 27 beats/min, an aspect of the mammalian diving reflex, a reflex more evident in whales, seals, and dolphins. Mayol’s last deep dive followed in 1983 when he reached the depth of 105m, Mayol’s fascination with dolphins started in 1955 when he was working as a commercial diver at an aquarium in Miami, Florida. There he met a dolphin called Clown and formed a close bond with her. Imitating Clown, he learned how to hold his breath longer and how to behave and it is the dolphins that became the foundation of Mayol’s life philosophy of Homo Delphinus. Throughout his book LHomo Delphinus Mayol expounds his theories about man’s relationship with the sea, jacques Mayol predicted that, within a couple of generations, some people would be able to dive to 200 m and hold their breath for up to ten minutes. Today the no-limits record stands at 253 m, serbian Branko Petrović holds the record for Static Apnea at 11 minutes and 54 seconds. Croatian Goran Čolak holds the record for static apnea on pure oxygen at 23 minutes 1 second
Jacques Mayol
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Pioneers of diving
38.
Audrey Mestre
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Audrey Mestre was a French world record-setting freediver. Mestre was born in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, to a family of snorkeling and she began swimming when she was still a baby and won a gold medal in a 25-meter swimming competition at only age two. She became a scuba diver by age thirteen but did not get full certification until her sixteenth birthday due to French law. She was still in her teens when her family moved to Mexico City and, fluent in the Spanish language, she eventually studied marine biology at a university in La Paz, in 1996 her interest in underwater sports led to her meeting free-diver Francisco Pipín Ferreras. They immediately developed a relationship and Mestre soon moved to Miami, there, she took up serious free-diving and with Ferreras as her instructor was soon reaching record depths. A year later she broke her own record, by descending to 130 meters, on October 4,2002, with a dive team under her husbands supervision, she made a practice dive off Bayahibe Beach in the Dominican Republic to the record depth of 166 metres. After more deep dive practices, eight days later she prepared to attempt a dive to 171 metres, a dive that should have been no more than three minutes resulted in her remaining underwater for more than eight and a half minutes. By the time her husband was able to bring her unconscious body to the surface, it was too late, in this book, Serra places the guilt for Mestres death directly on Ferreras, practically accusing him of a crime. Serra argues that to punish his wife for wanting to leave him, Ferreras deliberately avoided filling the air tank. Several circumstances leave Serra to conclude that Ferreras intended to murder his wife, audrey Mestre was cremated, her ashes scattered at sea. In 2013, Mestres life and career were chronicled in ESPNs No Limits as part of their Nine for IX series
Audrey Mestre
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Activities
39.
Karol Meyer
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Karoline Mariechen Karol Meyer is a Brazilian free-diver. She holds the highest number of records among Brazilians. She is a Guinness Book of World Records record holder for free diving, with a dive of 121 m. She became a competitive freediver in 1998 and she has gone on to hold 8 world records,2 Pan-American Records,30 South American records, and 6 national records. She has also won international competitions representing Brazil. During her career, Meyer collect 13 victories in international events and 7 victories in national events and she achieved one of the deepest shipwreck dives in the world at Fernando de Noronha, diving 63 meters to reach the Corveta Ipiranga. In addition to competitions, Meyer is Yoga teacher and also freediving Instructor Trainer and Official Judge AIDA, PADI, homaged with 2 international awards as the Best Coach and Best Instrutor in the world, by Icare Trophye and recently by SUUNTO/ AIDA - International Association to Apnea Development. Meyer is also speaker at companies, as well as at boat and dive shows, besides freediving, Meyer contributes toward fundraising for needy communities, public schools. She supports programmes against child labour, and advocated for children who live in front of the sea and have parents whose income depends directly on the sea, Meyer works with the Brazilian Islands Society and other entities to protect whales, especially Franca whales. GoOutside Magazine elected her as Best Adventurer in 2006 and 2010, Icare Trophie awarded Meyer “Best Female Freediver in 2007 and Best Coach in 2006
Karol Meyer
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Karol Meyer
Karol Meyer
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Activities
40.
Dave Mullins
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Dave Mullins is a New Zealand freediver and world record-holder. On 21 September 2007 Dave set a new record in Dynamic apnea breaking the old record by 1 m. The old record of 225 m was held by Stig Severinsen, on 23 September 2007 Dave broke his own record by 18 m setting a new world record of 244 m in a time of 4,02. In August 2008 Dave equalled the record for Dynamic No Fins. Then, on Monday 27 September 2010 Mullins executed a clean DNF swim of 218 meters on a single breath to stake his claim as the world record holder. Daves record-setting 218m DNF dive took 4 minutes and 11 seconds, Dave also holds the New Zealand national record in this discipline at 232m. On 10 September 2008 during the Sharm 2008 Freediving World championships, Dave once again broke his own Dynamic world record and this has since been surpassed by Alexey Molchanov of Russia, who held the record at 250m. Mullins surpassed this with a 265-meter swim while holding his breath for 4,01 on 25 September 2010, Dave has also set the New Zealand record in the Constant Weight discipline, diving to 108m in April 2008 at the Vertical Blue Invitational, Long Island, Bahamas
Dave Mullins
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Activities
41.
Patrick Musimu
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Patrick Musimu was a Belgian freediver, sport business manager, marketing and event manager, and physiotherapist. He was born in Kinshasa, Zaire, on 30 June 2005, he beat the previous No Limits world record in freediving by almost 40 meters by diving to 209 meters. Following his request, this dive was done without the supervision of the International Association for Freediving agency, according to him, extreme deep freediving should not be considered as a sport but as an adventure. Musimu began diving in 1999 at the age of 28, intrigued by what he called dolphin-men and he had a lung capacity of 9 litres and could hold his breath for more than 8 min 33 sec. In Stan Lees Superhumans, a show on the History Channel, Musimu claimed meditation, on 21 July 2011 Musimu died while pool training alone in Brussels, Belgium and was found by his wife and daughter. Official website Current Freediving World Records
Patrick Musimu
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Activities
42.
Umberto Pelizzari
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Umberto Pelizzari is an Italian freediver, widely considered among the best of all times. Of his era, he is the person to have established world records in all the then existing disciplines of freediving. Pelizzari was born in the Lombardian city Busto Arsizio and he debuted as a child in professional swimming, moving to freediving at age 19. On October 26 of the year he pushed himself to -118 m to set a new world record in the No Limits discipline. All through the 1990s Pelizzari became famous for his rivalry with the times other world top freediver, Cuban Francisco Pipin Ferreras. The rivalry of Pelizzari and Ferreras became the focus of the 2001 IMAX production Ocean Men, Extreme Dive, Pelizzari was one of a handful of instigators behind the respected freediving organization AIDA which formed in 1994. Twice, in 1996 and 2001, Pelizzari became AIDA World Champion with the Italian national team, in 2001, Pelizzari concluded his athletic career with a Variable Weight record of -131 m and retired thereafter. Pelizzari is currently professor at the Scuola Superiore SantAnna di Pisa, Umberto Pelizzari official website Umbertos Official Facebook Page Apnea Academy - School for Instruction and Research of Freediving - founded by Umberto Pelizzari Pelizzaris BOOKS
Umberto Pelizzari
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Activities
43.
Annelie Pompe
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Annelie Pompe is an adventurer and athlete from Gothenburg, Sweden. She is as an adventurer, motivational speaker, photographer, freediving instructor, yoga instructor, writer, personal trainer. Annelie Pompe is known for her achievements in competitive freediving, on 5 October 2010 she broke the world record in variable weight freediving, with a dive down to 126 metres. She also claimed one individual silver medal and one silver medal in the AIDA world championships. She is also a mountaineer and in May 2011 she climbed Mount Everest as the first Swedish woman to summit from the north side, despite marketing her attempt as a climb without oxygen, she did end up using bottled oxygen in order to make the summit. In mountaineering she was observed for her false claim to summit Shisha Pangma in September 2009. Some mountaineers noticed inaccuracies in Pompes initial report, which was reported second hand by her friend who ran her blog and had bad connection via satellite telephone. The blog said they reached the summit, while they reached the north summit. She has also climbed all seven Seven Summits and she has been active in other sports, winning a Swedish gold medal in fitness as well as competing in adventure racing, cross country mountainbiking and running. Annelie Pompe’s personal website National Geographic interview with Annelie Pompe on freediving, by Mary Anne Potts, posted 11 November 2010 Underwater photographs by Annelie Pompe
Annelie Pompe
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Activities
44.
Stig Severinsen
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Stig Åvall Severinsen is a Danish freediver. He is a four-time world freediving champion and holder of multiple Guinness World Records and he wrote Træk Vejret – mere energi, mindre stress, published in English in 2010 as Breatheology – The Art of Conscious Breathing. Severinsen has a degree in biology and a Ph. D. in medicine and he began experimenting with holding his breath as a child at the bottom of his parents pool. He started swimming at the age of 6 and was awarded National Champion four years in a row at 9,10,11 and 12, in 1993–2003 he played Underwater Rugby, and was a member of the Danish national team. During university studies in Barcelona, Spain in 1998–99, he played hockey on the Spanish national team. A fascination with long breath holds under water drew him to the world of free diving, in 2010 he founded Breatheology - an online platform teaching optimal health and performance via breathing, breath holding and mental training techniques. Combining yoga and his knowledge of physiology in freediving, Severinsen became a holder of four AIDA freediving world records. He announced that these would be his last record attempts and he would now concentrate on teaching, wim Hof www. breatheology. com Swimming Under Ice, New Guinness World Record Stig Severinsen -22 Minutes Guinness World Record Breath Hold
Stig Severinsen
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Severinsen in 2009.
Stig Severinsen
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Activities
45.
Aharon Solomons
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Aharon Solomons is a freediver and national record holder. Born Ernest Henry Child Simpson, Solomons is the son and only child of Ernest Aldrich Simpson and his third wife, Solomons was born and baptised as Ernest Henry Child Simpson at Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London, England. His mother died in 1941, and his father died in 1958, Solomons spent the early years of his childhood in the UK, India and with friends of his father in Pennsylvania, US. He returned to the UK in 1946 and attended Westbourne House School in Sussex, England, then Harrow School, and finally Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. In 1957, he was inducted into his fathers regiment, the Coldstream Guards, in 1962, Solomons moved to Israel and joined the Israeli Defense Forces, where he saw action in 1967–68 and on the Golan Heights in 1973. He married Joy Corisande Jackson in 1960, they had two sons, Uri and Nadav, the Solomons lived for ten years on communal agricultural settlements and then in Rosh Pinna. From 1975 he traveled in the Sinai, Greece, Micronesia and Mexico and he taught scuba for many years in Eilat. In 1992 he met Francisco Ferreras Pipin, and trained him in Cuba in the no limits. Solomons married Maria-Teresa MT Solomons in 1997 and had son, Zeev. The Solomons are currently separated but work and train together in the Freedivers association, Solomons and his wife were members of the Israeli freediving team in Ibiza in 2001 and MT was on the UK team in Egypt in 2008. Both are A. I. D. A Instructor Trainers and teach in Israel, The Turks and Caicos, Greece, marcus Greatwood, Aharons student, quotes Aharons ideology as a foundation of his system of freediving
Aharon Solomons
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Activities
46.
William Trubridge
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William Trubridge is a world champion and double world record holding freediver from New Zealand. He was born in the UK but moved to New Zealand when he was 18 months old, as of 2013 Trubridge holds the world record in the free immersion and the constant weight without fins disciplines, and was the first to break the 100m barrier unassisted. Trubridge mainly competes in the depth disciplines and he additionally scored the highest number of points for an individual at the 2010 Freediving Teams World Championships held in Okinawa, Japan. During the summer he teaches courses in Europe and trained at Tenerife Top Training Center. Org - non profit dedicated to freediver education, science
William Trubridge
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William Trubridge
William Trubridge
William Trubridge
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Activities
47.
Danai Varveri
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Danai Varveri is a Greek freediver, mostly known for her world record dive in 1999 to 40 meters without a mask, fins or suit, in the discipline of constant weight without fins, in 71 seconds. On October 4,1999 the 20-year-old physical education student, succeeded in her attempt to dive 40 meters below the surface of the sea. The event was planned to raise awareness of underwater contamination as part of a larger seabed cleanup project conducted by the Greek, non-profit underwater conservation organization. Since May 1999, Varveri had actively participated in various BIOS organized underwater cleanup projects, the dive, was captured using underwater video cameras and can be viewed via streaming video by visiting Scubaman. Six years later Danai, now married and has a two-year-old daughter, natural Weight, -40m, Spetses, Greece,1999 The 2004 movie The Freediver, directed by Alki David, was based somewhat on Danais story. Camilla Rutherford was cast in the role of Danai Varveri
Danai Varveri
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Activities
48.
Ama (diving)
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Ama, uminchu or kaito are Japanese divers, famous for collecting pearls. The majority of ama are women, Japanese tradition holds that the practice of ama may be 2,000 years old. Traditionally, and even as recently as the 1960s, ama dived wearing only a loincloth, even in modern times, ama dive without scuba gear or air tanks, making them a traditional sort of free-diver. Depending on the region, ama may dive with masks, fins, Only divers who work for tourist attractions use white, partially transparent suits. Ama are famous for diving, but originally they dived for food like seaweed, shellfish, lobsters, octopus. Ama can keep diving well into old age, the older divers are generally able to stay submerged longer than the younger. Usually they also have another job, typically working on a farm, some Japanese people believe that the majority of ama are women because of how their bodies differ from men, The fat on a female body is distributed differently from on men. In the Ian Fleming James Bond series, Bond travels to Japan in the novel You Only Live Twice and he meets and becomes involved with ama Kissy Suzuki. The character was portrayed in the film version. The NHK morning television drama Amachan is centered on the ama, the Dream of the Fishermans Wife, an 1814 woodblock print by Japanese artist Hokusai, depicts a young ama diver entwined sexually with a pair of octopuses. Haenyo Martinez, D P Identity and Ritual in a Japanese Village University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0-8248-2817-2 Mishimo, Yukio The Sound of Waves
Ama (diving)
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Ama.
Ama (diving)
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Activities
Ama (diving)
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Fish hook
Ama (diving)
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Fisheries
49.
Octopus wrestling
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Octopus wrestling involves a diver grappling with a large octopus in shallow water and dragging it to the surface. An early article on octopus wrestling appeared in a 1949 issue of Mechanix Illustrated, Octopus wrestling was most popular on the West Coast of the United States during the 1960s. At that time, annual World Octopus Wrestling Championships were held in Puget Sound, the event was televised and attracted up to 5,000 spectators. Trophies were awarded to the divers and teams who caught the largest animals. Afterwards, the octopuses were either eaten, given to the local aquarium, in April 1963,111 divers took part in the World Octopus Wrestling Championships. A total of 25 giant Pacific octopuses were captured that day, and can be exceedingly tough customers. Although there are several accepted techniques for octopus wrestling, the really sporty way requires that the human diver go without artificial breathing apparatus. H. Allen Smith wrote an article for True magazine in 1964, collected in Low Man Rides Again, all this while ORourke was becoming perhaps the worlds greatest authority on the thought processes and the personality of the octopus. He knew how to outmaneuver them, to them. Octopus Wrestling, A Sport That Amounted To Cephalopod Home Invasion
Octopus wrestling
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Three divers holding the largest catch of the 1963 World Octopus Wrestling Championships, a 57-pound giant Pacific octopus.
50.
Scuba Schools International
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Scuba Schools International is an organization that teaches the skills involved in scuba diving and freediving, and supports dive businesses and resorts. SSI has over 2,500 authorized dealers,35 regional centers, SSI offers internationally recognized recreational diver training programs - starting with snorkeling and entry level scuba diving courses up to Instructor Certifiers. The most common programs are, SSI Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver, there are more than 30 different specialty courses. Dive leader training programs start with the Dive Control Specialist followed by Open Water Instructor, sSIs training program for children aged 8–12 years is called Scuba Rangers. The training program for technical divers is called TechXR and includes decompression diving, trimix, SSI scuba certifications are recognized throughout the world. SSI was founded by Robert Clark in 1970, and was one of the pioneers of professional scuba training and they were the first organization to present a complete training program including full motion video and they pioneered some areas of diving education. SSI headquarters are in Fort Collins, Colorado, and it is owned by Concept Systems International, in 2008, it was acquired by Doug McNeese and Robert Stoss. On January 1,2014, SSI was acquired by MARES, SSI is a member of the following councils of the World Recreational Scuba Training Council - the United States RSTC, the RSTC Europe and C-Card Council. It is also a member of the European Underwater Federation, SSI obtained CEN certification from the EUF certification body in 2005. It received ISO certification on June 1,2010, boat diving - boat diving techniques, choosing a travel agency and diving operator and what equipment to take when travelling. Equipment techniques - choice of diving equipment to suit needs, and how to fit, adjust, maintain, navigation - using a compass and using environmental clues, how to estimate distances, navigate search patterns, find waypoints, and return to the exit point. Night and limited visibility - comparison of night and limited visibility diving, preparing for the dive, perfect buoyancy - understanding the principles of buoyancy control and applying them in the water to reduce diver impact on the environment. Recreational sidemount diving - background, history, benefits and equipment of sidemount diving and how to configure the equipment, river diving - peculiarities of diving in rivers, identifying and assessing hazards an how to manage river diving equipment. Science of diving - physics, physiology, decompression theory, marine life, search and recovery - various search patterns using ropes and compasses, planning of search and recovery operations in a team, and the correct handling of lifting bags. Shark ecology - biology, ecology and identification of sharks, waves, tides and currents - basics concepts of waves, tides and currents, and suitable equipment and procedures for diving in them from the shore and from boats. Wreck diving - how to get information on wrecks, to them, to prepare for a wreck dive, use appropriate wreck diving techniques
Scuba Schools International
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Scuba Schools International
Scuba Schools International
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Commercial certification authorities
51.
Australian Underwater Federation
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The Australian Underwater Federation is the governing body for underwater sports in Australia. The mission of the AUF is to, Bringing Sport, Conservation and it also currently has state branches in New South Wales and Queensland, and state commissions for finswimming and underwater hockey in most states. The AUF is recognised by the Australian Sports Commission as the national sporting organisation for sports in Australia. The AUF is a member of the World AquaChallenge Association and Recfish Australia and it is also one of the organisations represented on the Standards Australias Committee CS/83, Recreational Underwater Diving. The AUF is the body for the following underwater sports within Australia, spearfishing, underwater hockey, finswimming. Historically, the AUF operated as a training organisation offering instructor training and certification. The following instructional levels are currently offered - Finswimming Coach Level 1 and 2, Ocean Coach level 1 and 2, and Underwater Hockey Coach Level 1 and 2
Australian Underwater Federation
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Activities
Australian Underwater Federation
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Commercial certification authorities
52.
British Freediving Association
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The British Freediving Association is an organisation established in the United Kingdom during 1999 to promote the safe practice of both competition and recreational freediving. It is the British affiliate of AIDA International, the BFA is the sole body that selects teams for international competitions conducted by AIDA International and ratifies any UK record attempts. The British Freediving Association organises UK Freediving pool and depth competitions every year, the Great Northern pool competition was hosted by ApneistsUK who have hosted the Pool Championships in 2010,2011,2012,2013 and 2014. The last depth competition was 2012, AIDA International The official British Record Holder Michael Board profile The official BFA homepage The official BFA Forums Associate members
British Freediving Association
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Activities
53.
Haenyeo
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Haenyeo are female divers in the Korean province of Jeju. Known for their independent spirit, iron will and determination, the haenyeo are representative of the family structure of Jeju. Jeju’s diving tradition dates back to 434 A. D. Originally, diving was a male profession. The first mention of female divers in literature does not come until the 17th century when a monograph of Jeju geography describes them as jamnyeo, by the 18th century, female divers, at this point commonly referred to as haenyeo, outnumbered male divers. Several possible explanations exist for this shift, for instance, in the 17th century, a significant number of men died at sea due to war or deep-sea fishing accidents, meaning that diving became the work of women. Another explanation is that physiologically, women have more subcutaneous fat, an 18th-century document records that taxes of dried abalone were imposed on ordinary people, forcing many women to dive in cold waters while pregnant. Whatever the reason, as sea diving became a female-dominated industry and this trend was especially prominent after the Japanese colonized Korea in 1910 and diving became much more lucrative. Up until this point, much of what the haenyeo harvested was given to the Choson government as tribute, when the Japanese took over, however, they abolished this tradition, allowing haenyeo to sell their catch at market and make a profit. Additionally, Japanese and Korean merchants hired haenyeo to work for them in Japan and on the Korean mainland as wage-laborers, on Yeonpyeong-ri, an island near Incheon where many haenyeo worked, their wages, on average, constituted 40 to 48 percent of a typical family’s total income. The prominent place of haenyeo in Jeju’s economy and in their individual units continued long after Japanese colonization. In the early 1960s, for example, haenyeo harvests accounted for 60% of Jeju’s fisheries revenue, because so many families relied on the haenyeo for the majority of their income, a semi-matriarchal society developed on Jeju with the haenyeo at the head of the household. Other manifestations of Jeju’s unique society include men paying a dowry to the family of the bride, while certain elements of a matriarchal society surfaced in Jeju, they were not enough to completely overcome the predominance of Confucianism. As a result, beyond the sphere, little else about Jeju society was different than what existed on the Korean mainland. For example, men filled all political leadership roles and were the ones who could perform ancestor-worship ceremonies and inherit property. Furthermore, during the era of rule, haenyeo remained peasants. Even in the home, most haenyeo remained the primary caregiver, the haenyeo are celebrated as one of Jeju’s most valued treasures. The Korean government shows its appreciation for the contributions of the haenyeo to Jeju’s culture by subsidizing their gear. Furthermore, in March 2014, the government requested the UNESCO to add haenyeo to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, like many other vestiges of the past, the sea-diving industry has fallen victim to industrialization
Haenyeo
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Haenyo carrying with baskets toward the sea in Ulsan
Haenyeo
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After emerging from the sea, haenyo selling her gathered seafood to people on the coast of Jeju.
54.
Submarine escape training facility
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A Submarine Escape Training Tower is part of a facility used for training submariners in methods of emergency escape from a disabled submarine. It is a cylinder filled with water with several entrances at varying depths each simulating an airlock in a submarine. Since the 1930s Towers have been built for use by the Royal Navy, US Navy, Royal Australian Navy, 50°47′15″N 1°07′02. 28″W The Submarine Escape Training Tank is a 100-foot deep facility primarily operated to conduct training with submarine escape equipment, operated by the Royal Navy. The SETT has its own dedicated boiler house to maintain its temperature at 34 °C. The SETT was commissioned in 1954, with the first students trained in July of that year, since that time completion of ‘the Tank’ has been a rite of passage for all RN Submariners. The staff at RNSETT are drawn from the ranks of the UK Submarine Service, all members of SETT staff form part of the SMERAT, some members form the UK SPAG, and some form part of the UK contribution to the NSRS Team. All staff are trained in advanced life saving techniques and diving medicine, the tower was also privately hired to civilian diving clubs for the purpose of recreational diving and dive training. For similar reasons it was used for freediving training, with participants including world record holder Tanya Streeter. It has also used frequently as a Situation Assessment Trials Tank for Technical Divers. US Navy escape towers were known as Escape Training Tanks, from the 1930s through the 1990s they were used for training in buoyant ascent, the Momsen lung, and the Steinke hood. Across the harbor, the tower on Sub-Base Pearl Harbor was used between 1932 and 1983, neither of the U. S. escape towers in Hawaii are in use. The towers were used to train SCUBA equipped divers or Underwater Demolition Teams to access or egress the submarine during Special Operations. The tower once located on Naval Submarine Base New London was in use between 1930 and 1994 and has since been razed, the Submarine Escape Trainer, a 40-foot high,84, 000-gallon pool with two escape trunks was constructed at New London in 2007. Similar facilities are operated by the Royal Australian Navy at the Submarine Escape Training Facility at HMAS Stirling, the German Navy operates a 36-metre deep escape training pool, built in 1977, at Einsatzausbildungszentrum Schadensabwehr Marine in Neustadt in Holstein
Submarine escape training facility
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The outside of the Royal Navy Submarine Escape Training Tower
Submarine escape training facility
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Top of the SETT pool
Submarine escape training facility
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Divers in the SETT
Submarine escape training facility
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At, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
55.
Underwater diving
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Underwater diving is the practice of descending below the waters surface to conduct underwater activities. The saturation diving technique reduces the risk of decompression sickness after long duration deep dives, Atmospheric diving suits may be used to isolate the diver from the effects of high ambient pressure. Although not usually considered to be diving, crewed submersibles can extend depth range, Diving is also restricted to conditions which are not excessively hazardous, though the level of risk acceptable to the diver can vary considerably. Occasionally diving may be done in other than water. Recreational diving, sometimes called sport diving or subaquatics, is a leisure activity. Technical diving is a form of diving that achieves greater depths or endurance in more challenging conditions. Professional diving takes a range of diving activities to the work site. Public safety diving is the work done by law enforcement, fire rescue, and search & rescue/recovery dive teams. Military diving includes combat diving, clearance diving and ships husbandry diving, underwater sports is a group of competitive sports using either free-diving, snorkeling or scuba technique, or a combination of these techniques. The term deep sea diving refers to underwater diving, usually with surface supplied equipment, hard hat diving is any form of diving with a helmet, including the standard copper helmet, and other forms of free-flow and lightweight demand helmets. There are several modes of diving based on the equipment used. The ability to dive and swim underwater while holding ones breath is considered a useful skill, an important part of water sport and Navy safety training. Underwater diving without breathing apparatus can be categorized as underwater swimming, snorkeling and freediving. Several competitive underwater sports are practiced without breathing apparatus, freediving precludes the use of external breathing devices, and relies on the ability of divers to hold their breath until resurfacing. The technique ranges from simple breath-hold diving to competitive apnea dives, fins and a diving mask are often used in free diving to improve vision and provide more efficient propulsion. A short breathing tube called a snorkel allows the diver to breathe at the surface while the face is immersed, snorkeling on the surface with no intention of diving is a popular water sport and recreational activity. Scuba diving is diving with an underwater breathing apparatus, which is completely independent of surface supply. Scuba provides the diver with the advantages of mobility and horizontal range far beyond the reach of a hose attached to surface-supplied diving equipment
Underwater diving
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A U.S. Navy diver enters the water during a training evaluation
Underwater diving
Underwater diving
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Museum of Diving in Warsaw
Underwater diving
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Natural sponges have been harvested by free divers near the Greek island of Kalymnos since at least the time of Plato.
56.
Underwater sports
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These sports are conducted in the natural environment at sites such as open water and sheltered or confined water such as lakes and in artificial aquatic environments such as swimming pools. Aquathlon is a sport where two competitors wearing masks and fins wrestle underwater in an attempt to remove a ribbon from each other’s ankle band in order to win the bout. The combat takes place in a 5-metre square ring within a swimming pool, the sport originated during the 1980s in the former USSR and was first played at international level in 1993. It was recognised by Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques in 2008, events exist over distances similar to swimming competitions for both swimming pool and open water venues. Competition at world and continental level is organised by CMAS, the sports first world championship was held in 1976. It also has featured at the World Games as a trend sport since 1981 and was demonstrated at the 2013 Summer Universiade in July 2013. Competitive freediving is currently governed by two world associations, AIDA International and CMAS, most types of competitive freediving have in common that it is an individual sport based on the best individual achievement. An exception to rule is the bi-annual World Championship for Teams, held by AIDA. There are currently nine disciplines used by official governing bodies and a dozen disciplines that are only practiced locally, in this article, the recognized disciplines of AIDA and CMAS will be described. All disciplines can be done by men and women and, while done outdoors, no differences in the environment between records are recognized any longer. The disciplines of AIDA can be both in competition and as a record attempt, with the exception of Variable Weight and No limits. The sport was developed in Spain during the late 1990s and is played mainly in Europe. It is known as Plongée Sportive in French and as Buceo De Competición in Spanish, Underwater football is a two-team underwater sport that shares common elements with underwater hockey and underwater rugby. As with both of those games, it is played in a pool with snorkelling equipment. Underwater hockey was first played as a championship in Canada in 1980 after a false start brought about by international politics in 1979. CMAS is the governing body for this sport. Underwater ice hockey is an extreme sport that is a variant of ice hockey. It is played upside-down underneath frozen pools or ponds, participants wear diving masks, fins and wetsuits and use the underside of the frozen surface as the playing area for a floating puck
Underwater sports
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Freediver using monofin in pool competition in London, 2009.
Underwater sports
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Freediver using monofin in depth competition (location & date not known).
Underwater sports
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Two players compete for the puck at the GB Underwater Hockey University Student Nationals 2009, held at Bangor University, Wales.
Underwater sports
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Underwater rugby match (location & date not known).
57.
Glossary of underwater diving terminology
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This is a glossary of technical terms, jargon, diver slang and acronyms used in underwater diving. The definitions listed are in the context of underwater diving, there may be other meanings in other contexts. Currently used for manufacture of new diving cylinders and this alloy is subject to sustained load cracking and requires periodical eddy current testing. No longer used for new manufacture, but many cylinders of this alloy are still in service. ABLJ see adjustable buoyancy life jacket absolute pressure Total static pressure at the reference point, compare with passive addition activated carbon activated charcoal A filter medium used to remove oil, water and odours from breathing air. ADAS Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme, An international commercial and occupational diver certification scheme, adjustable buoyancy life jacket Also known as ABLJ or horse collar buoyancy compensator A combination of buoyancy compensator and inflatable life jacket worn on the chest and round the neck. ADV Automatic Diluent Valve, A demand valve set into the loop of a rebreather to inject diluent gas into the loop when the loop volume falls. A-frame Part of Launch and Recovery System Gantry or davit for launching and recovering bells, Usually deployed by hydraulic rams which swing the frame over the deck or overboard as required. The load is hoisted and lowered by cables from the top of the frame, Air dome A section of cave which traps air or other gas at the top. This gas is not directly connected to the surface, airlift A device based on a pipe, used in by divers to suck small objects, sand and mud from the sea bed and to transport the resulting debris upwards and away from its source. Air is injected into the end of the pipe and the rising bubbles entrain water. Completing a planned breathing gas mix by topping up with compressed air, topping up a partly used breathing gas mix with compressed air, providing a different mixture which is analysed after the fill. Algal bloom A rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system, some blooms may be recognized by discoloration of the water resulting from the high density of pigmented cells. Visibility can be severely impaired over a period of hours to days, ALP Articulated Loading Platform, a type of single point mooring consisting of a buoyant upper structure with a lattice leg linked by an articulating joint to a mooring. Alternative air source A secondary supply of air or other breathing gas used by the diver in an emergency alternobaric vertigo Dizziness caused by a difference of pressure between the middle ears. Altitude diving Diving at a location where the surface is at an altitude which requires modification of decompression schedules. (more than about 300 m above sea level, ambient pressure Pressure of the surroundings. Aqua-lung Self contained open circuit breathing equipment consisting of a diving cylinder
Glossary of underwater diving terminology
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Algorithms
Glossary of underwater diving terminology
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Commercial certification authorities
Glossary of underwater diving terminology
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Diving medicine:
Glossary of underwater diving terminology
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Activities
