skin or free diving??

[Lehmann108]

It's a horrible video. The guy is free diving using all scuba gear except for his mask. And what is this clearing the mask demo. Your air is precious while free diving and you would never and could never afford to clear your mask. You'd just get a better fitting mask. His finning style is suitable for scuba, but it is extremely energy wasting for free diving. Also you DO NOT hyperventilate to prepare for a dive. This is a sure way to kill yourself by purging your lungs of CO2 and reducing the urge to breath. The whole thing is a joke. Pathetic. Go to www.deeperblue.net if you want to learn about free diving.:shakehead

 

[Lehmann108]

Performance Free Diving offers free clinics in Miami every few months. I'm taking the intermediate free diving clinic in September.

 

[Diver Dennis]

The guys says "skin or freediving" in the first 30 seconds of the video, making the two, at least in his mind, the same.

 

[freediver]

It's a horrible video. The guy is free diving using all scuba gear except for his mask. And what is this clearing the mask demo. Your air is precious while free diving and you would never and could never afford to clear your mask. You'd just get a better fitting mask. His finning style is suitable for scuba, but it is extremely energy wasting for free diving. Also you DO NOT hyperventilate to prepare for a dive. This is a sure way to kill yourself by purging your lungs of CO2 and reducing the urge to breath. The whole thing is a joke. Pathetic. Go to www.deeperblue.net if you want to learn about free diving.:shakehead

The wonderful thing about freediving is that it can be done with any type of equipment. Scuba equipment(mask/fins) in freediving would only be a concern for a competitive freediver. Mask clearing is critical to a freediver in the event your mask is dislodged. Freediving is a situation in which you don't want to lose your up/down orientation so mask clearing skills are a necessity. Freediving photographers find it handy as well. Finning? Once again, from a competitive aspect, his finning technique may not be appropriate but I don't think this is the intent of his video.
Freediving, by my definition is the act of submerging under water without the assistance of scuba. Once you have submerged, you have made a "free" dive.

 

[holdingmybreath]

O.k... so here's a question.. is it "freediving" or is it "free diving"? Also, I have a book from the 50's... called "Free Diving" by Rebikoff and it is all about what we call "SCUBA" today. At that time "free diving" meant being free from a hose or suspended bell or chamber.
My definition (which, of course, is the correct and only definition) is - snorkeling: a pipe to the surface. - freediving (free diving): going below the surface, whether with a snorkel or not, without auxillary air support, and whether going 1" or 100' or 100m deep.
Skin diving: when asked if I did this on my life insurance forms, I said "no"..... I always wear a wetsuit so I do wetsuit diving, not "skin" diving. O.k... so I'm not so sure on the skin diving definition but if they would have asked if I do wetsuit diving I would have said "yes".

 

[spectrum]

As I said in post 3 the terms Snorkeling, Skin-diving and Free-Diving have definitions to me and that's not on any given day there are not shades of gray what I or someone does. We're dealing with an idiom so we can't rely on language to define every specific term.

I was reading "Let's Go Diving" by Bill Barada (1962/1970) the other night and he used the term skin-diving in reference to scuba so go figure.

Pete

 

[WI Scuba Dave]

Definitions of Skin Diving on the Web:

• [SIZE=-1]Another name for breath-hold diving; diving without the use of a breathing equipment (may include a snorkel).
  www.empirescuba.com/Information/Divers_Glossary/divers_glossary.html[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
• underwater swimming with a breathing apparatus
  wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn[/SIZE]

Definitions of snorkeling on the Web:

• [SIZE=-1]swimming while breathing through a snorkel and with the assistance of a mask and fins.
  [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
• Snorkeling is the practice of swimming at the surface of a body of water equipped with a mask and a short tube called a snorkel. It is a popular recreational activity, particularly at tropical resort destinations. Since snorkeling requires calm water (where there are no waves to splash into the snorkel), it is typically done in protected areas, such as lagoons. Snorkeling requires no special training, only the ability to swim and to breathe through the snorkel. ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorkeling[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]PADI makes a distinction between Snorkeling and Skin Diving, and by the definitions I found on the web which I display here, that distinction is generally supported by and understanding that snorkelers don't break the surface of the water. However, I have seen contradiction to the extent the two terms were used nearly interchangeably.

PADI teaches both and promotes applying the principles to an Optional Skin Dive during the open water weekend. It should be noted it is not encouraged to scuba dive within 12 hours of any breath hold dive or visa versa, so this dive is not mandatory within the stricture of the PADI open water experience.

Either way, diving in any capacity, I would rather be in the water right now than sitting at this desk.

Best to you...
[/SIZE]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed, 2001) does not completely agree.

skin diving
n.
The sport of swimming under water with flippers and a face mask and usually with a snorkel rather than a portable air supply.

snor·kel·ing
To dive using a snorkel.

dive (dv)
v.
2.a. To go toward the bottom of a body of water; submerge.
2. b. To engage in the activity of scuba diving.

dive (dv)
n.
1. b. The act or an instance of submerging, as of a submarine or a skin diver.

So according to the American Heritage Dictionary ... snorkeling and skin diving are both "diving" (submerging) with a snorkel.

"Free Diving" is not found in the Dictionary at all.

Bottom line though...semantics aside...if someone here says they are going "snorkeling" or says they are going "skin diving"... is there really anyone here who doesn't know they are talking about doing the same thing???? They have meant the same thing at least since I first learned to use a snorkel as a kid in the 60s - at least in the U.S.

Of course I am just having fun here debating this ... and all that said, I agree with Craig that I'd rather be in the water right now.

 

[Craig Baumann]

If I asked three famous divers / freedivers (one word) snorkelers, (or perhaps I mean skin divers,) their definition of these three terms - Skin Diving, Snorkeling and Freediving and a (fairly general) consensus could be reached, could we call that general consensus gospel, finally putting an end to this head scratching discussion?

I'm going to bed now to get up at 4am tomorrow to drive up to Puget Sound. My scuba diving... I mean skin diving partner cancelled out on me. My dive bags are already packed, so I'm hoping to find a snorkeler up there who's willing to freedive with me?

Now I'm really confused!

 

[WI Scuba Dave]

If I asked three famous divers / freedivers (one word) snorkelers, (or perhaps I mean skin divers,) their definition of these three terms - Skin Diving, Snorkeling and Freediving and a (fairly general) consensus could be reached, could we call that general consensus gospel, finally putting an end to this head scratching discussion?

I'm going to bed now to get up at 4am tomorrow to drive up to Puget Sound. My scuba diving... I mean skin diving partner cancelled out on me. My dive bags are already packed, so I'm hoping to find a snorkeler up there who's willing to freedive with me?

Now I'm really confused!