101 Meter Dive on One Breath

[Ben]

Breath-hold diver goes to 101 meters. Metaphysical imagery in the video aside, this is a pretty freakin' amazing feat. Especially the physical output needed to make the ascent after reaching the target depth.

https://vjm.jux.com/280876#

[geronimotwo]

i can't imagine swimming 101 meters on the surface with one breath, much less a 202 meter round trip.  that's over 1/10th of a mile!

[CNYCacher]

i can't imagine swimming 101 meters on the surface with one breath, much less a 202 meter round trip.  that's over 1/10th of a mile!

I've done 100 yards, in a 25-yard pool so 4 wall push-offs.  It was not easy and that's on the surface.  Completely underwater I've done 50 meters.  Sinking down is obviously less effort than swimming laterally, but that is not the amazing part of all this.

The most amazing part is the pressure!  101 meters is approx 333 feet, which is really close to 10 atmospheres of pressure.  This means that his lungs will be compressed to 1/11 their inflated size.  It's hard to tell in the dim light but at the bottom of his descent, he looks like he lost about 20 lbs on the way down.  That's due to his rib cage being crushed to its minimum size, and all his internal organs being pulled up out of his gut into his rib cage.

Forget the hypoxia for a second and just think of the amount of training and conditioning it takes to mechanically survive that.  How many dives does he have to do, working up to that depth slowly over years, to be able to stretch his body in that way.

[Balog]

Now, is it true that with a purely held breath dive there is no danger associated with rapid ascent?

[HankB]

Some years back the woman who'd set some sort of weighted diving record was at the local gym - she was beyond skinny, she looked downright emaciated.

I think she dove down to 160 meters on one breath.

With enough weights, I could do that.

Thing is, she surfaced again. Alive.

I . . . never mind. 

[Tallpine]

I could do that with one breath - but it would be my last 

[Ben]

Now, is it true that with a purely held breath dive there is no danger associated with rapid ascent?

Yes, because you started with a lungful of air at your minimum pressure point, so air in your lungs can only contract on the way down, and expand to no more than you started with on the way back up, which is no more than you could fit in your lungs. Also he likely spilled a little air somewhere along the way.

This of course assumes "rapid ascent" is as fast as humanly possible. I don't know the physics of propelling someone up at say, 100 feet per second versus 100 feet per minute. There could be something funky that might happen with nitrogen in the bloodstream at a super duper ascent rate.

[Jamie B]

Free diving is nuts - but cool!

ETA - this is different, as there is no sled down - impressive!

[French G.]

I've been down to about 60 feet with snorkel and fins, that's enough, sure seems like a lot longer trip on the way up.

[Ben]

ETA - this is different, as there is no sled down - impressive!

That impressed the hell out of me too. It's one thing having to work your way back up, but with a wetsuit on and no weights that I could see, he had to push himself down a good ways as well before he got negatively buoyant. That's gotta use up a lot of energy.

[French G.]

Saw a TV show with one of the record holding sled guys. He sat down, stuck his face in a bowl of water and left it there for 8 minutes. Also voluntarily dropped his heart rate into the 20s, pretty amazing mind control.

[RaspberrySurprise]

Now, is it true that with a purely held breath dive there is no danger associated with rapid ascent?

Danger from nitrogen? I dont think there is really any, now danger from your ears exploding from the pressure changes, that's another story.

[Jamie B]

That impressed the hell out of me too. It's one thing having to work your way back up, but with a wetsuit on and no weights that I could see, he had to push himself down a good ways as well before he got negatively buoyant. That's gotta use up a lot of energy.

The weighted free diving that I have seen uses a weighted sled down, and an inflatable gag to help assent.

This guy in the video worked the whole round trip.

The voice commands at the end to ensure correct procedure and recognition were cool also.

[Marnoot]

Saw a TV show with one of the record holding sled guys. He sat down, stuck his face in a bowl of water and left it there for 8 minutes. Also voluntarily dropped his heart rate into the 20s, pretty amazing mind control.

Putting his face in water helps with getting the heart rate down:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammalian_diving_reflex