Now, Andy, you're talking about "free diving" as a depth component. These other guys are talking about "siphon shooting", free diving through water sumps in a cave, with a length component. I used to be able to hold my breath for 4 minutes--resting stationary in a swimming pool after hyperventilation. Still, in the cave environment with the attendant anxiety I don't think I would have the balls to try for a 4-minute sump dive. I started out early in my caving life shooting siphons in Carrizal. The main one is maybe 8 or 9 meters and of minimal challenge although 2 scouts drowned there in the '70s due probably to misunderstanding of the otherwise straightaway route.
Several Texas caves have sump dives on the order of 3 meters or less--Alzafar Water Cave has a couple of um, Honey Creek has one sometimes. I've been through other in Mexico--Veshtucok (sp) being the one that comes to mind immediately with a couple of sumps on the order of 5 to maybe 7 meters in length. A lot of people consider even these short sumps dangerous. They require holding one's breath maybe 10 or 12 seconds. I'd say that's well within the average caver's capacity. With the right technique and a passage big enough to turn around in I will opine that there is minimal danger of shooting (free diving) sumps of up to, say, 20 or so meters for normally healthy cavers--especially if they already know that there is air on the other end. A guide rope is really handy. --Ediger On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 9:43 AM, Andy Gluesenkamp < [email protected]> wrote: > I love freediving: > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmv84gLdSdA > > My deepest dive (resulting in the biggest fish) on the video was 60ft. > That's about 120ft, roundtrip. I can't imagine doing 395ft on a single > breath but the world record (*without fins*!!!!) is well over 300ft > (>600ft roundtrip). > > Andy > > Andrew G. Gluesenkamp, Ph.D. > 700 Billie Brooks Drive > Driftwood, Texas 78619 > (512) 799-1095 > [email protected] > > --- On *Thu, 8/27/09, [email protected] <[email protected]>* wrote: > > > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Texascavers] interesting news - free diving in sumps > To: [email protected] > Cc: [email protected] > Date: Thursday, August 27, 2009, 5:54 AM > > I did Aqua in Bath County VA in 1995 or 1996. > > T > > > Aug 26, 2009 10:28:10 PM, > [email protected]<http://us.mc320.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]>wrote: > > How many of you have ever been in a cave and done a "duck under" ? > Like maybe in Honey Creek, where you > hold your breath for just a second and go thru a very short sump and > pop out on the other side. > > Or how about free diving a very short sump where you have to swim a > few feet like in Carrizal or Acahuizotla? > > Well here is a very crazy guy in Austalia that went 395 feet on a > single breath of air thru an underwater > cave passage: > > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6808538.ece > > http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00605/news_dive_605008a.jpg > > > Here is a summary: > > > Mike Wells swam through Fish Rock Cave in only two minutes and 40 seconds. > > He narrowly averted disaster when his MONOFIN became trapped in a > narrow crevice. His son, a member of the support team, freed him. > > “It was very hard,” Mr Wells said. > > > Mr Wells, who describes freediving as a “grand madness”, followed a > rope to dive down to the tunnel entrance and swam through the cave to > the pool of light that marked its exit. > > The cave, on the New South Wales coast, has an ocean surge that sweeps > through the narrow chambers. > > Most experts thought the cave was too long and dangerous for anyone to > get through without oxygen tanks. > > > Mr Wells’s respiratory specialist, Professor Matthew Peters, described > the pressure that would be placed on his body: > “During this dive, his lungs will compress dramatically, his diaphragm > will move up, his ribs will cave in,” he said. > > > David Locklear > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit our website: http://texascavers.com > To unsubscribe, e-mail: > [email protected]<http://us.mc320.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]> > For additional commands, e-mail: > [email protected]<http://us.mc320.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]> > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit > our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: > [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: > [email protected] > >
