free diving

While in Bonaire I tried to see how deep I could go on one gulp of air. I got down to 80 feet-and more importantly got back to the surface. I know the record dive is in the range of 220 feet. What depths do the "common" free divers go to???

thanks

Of the ones I know here in Kauai, that routinely go out for fish, average in the 20-40 foot area. That is the average depth around the shelf in the fishing areas of the island. My one friend says he usually tries to stay around 20 feet and let his spear do the rest of the diving.

I believe its closer to 500 feet

World Free-Diving Record Attempts
Check out the transcript from our live
Webcast from Cabo San Lucas, Baja, Mexico
Pipin Ferreras and Audrey Mestre broke
two free-diving world records on June 6, 1998:

Current Record Attempt
Tandem dive 90m (295ft) 115m (377ft.)
Men's two-breath dive 152m (500ft) 165m (550ft)

Free-diving champions Pipin Ferreras and Audrey Mestre are in Cabo San Lucas, Baja, Mexico, preparing for their dives. Ask them questions, give them your support. Read what others have said in our Free-diving Forum.

At approximately 10:00 AM on June 6, 1998, in the chilly waters off Cabo San Lucas in Baja, Mexico, Francisco Pipin Ferreras will take a really big breath, close his eyes and trigger the release on his sled weighted with 200 pounds of lead.

He will then fall to where no human being holding his breath has ever gone -- 165 meters (550 feet) down into the Pacific's ebony fathoms. And he will go there very, very quickly. His weighted sled flies him along a cable at 10 feet per second. Talk about ear squeeze.

Pipin holds the current world record (145 meters, 439 feet) in the "no limits" category of breathhold free diving -- meaning there are no limits on the amount of weight the diver can take down with him or her. It's the record Pipin is most noted for not only because it's the deepest any man has ever gone on a single breath, but also because of his competition with Italian Umberto Pelizzari, with whom Pipin has traded the title of "world's deepest man" numerous times over the past five years.

But 439 feet isn't Pipin's deepest breathhold dive. He owns a two-breath record to 500 feet (the only person ever to attempt this technique) and this June's solo record attempt is to be another two-breath dive.

Pipin will first warm up with Audrey Mestre, the reigning French national champion in the no-limits category for women. Her record is 294 feet (90 meters). Together, Pipin and Audrey will attempt a new tandem record of 377 feet (115 meters).

Join us beginning on June 5 as RSD executive editor David Taylor provides updates from Cabo San Lucas on Pipin's and Audrey's preparations. Then on Saturday, June 6, log on to this web site for real-time coverage of the dual record attempts. The exact time of the broadcast will be published here at a later date.

In the weeks leading up to the world-record attempts, we are pleased to bring you the story of Pipin's 1994 world-record freedive off Key Largo, Florida. This is the first time Pipin's first person account has ever been published. It will be uploaded in five parts:


May 19 - Part I: Stealing the Universe's Air
May 22 - Part II: Sailing to the Kingdom of Olokun
May 26 - Part III: Defying the Abyss
May 29 - Part IV: And the Truth Shall Set Us Free
June 2 - Part V: Into the Dark Unknown

During this time you can also ask Pipin and Audrey questions (and give them encouragement!) via this web site. Send your e-mail to askpipin@aol.com. Their responses to your questions will be posted in our Free-diving Forum.

Who Is Pipin Ferreras? | Pipin's Free-Diving Secrets



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Please note the above was copied from Rodales.
check
http://www.scubadiving.com/pipin/

550 feet for the "no limits" and the "free immersion" record is 66 meters.

There's a big difference in what is "common" and the world record. Even in the world record, there's a big difference between "no limits", "variable weight", "constant weight", "static" and "dynamic." When most of us think of free diving, we think of the technique called "constant weight". Just about anyone can learn to dive to 20' - 30' in a relatively short time. It is fairly common for people to dive to 50' to 60' and not extremely rare for dives to 100'. In October of 1999, Umberto Pelizarri set a constant weight record of 262'. That record has almost certainly been broken by now, but it's the latest information available on the web site located at http://www.geocities.com/~freediver/freedivingpage.htm

That same month Peluzarri also set the unlimited record at 492'.

Personally, I'm more impressed by the constant weight record.

WWW™

I love the movie "The Big Blue". Was one of the divers in that movie supposed to be the great "Pippin" of free diving fame??? If so who was the other actor portraying??

No, not Pipin at all it's about Enzo Maiorca and Jaques Mayol. The movie was done with Mayol's cooperation is rather biased and distorted. They never dove together and Maiorca is still alive. I've heard that the Enzo managed to have the movie has been banned in Italy because of the distortions.

To learn something about the history of apnea competitions look at the articles at: http://www.freediving.net/indexing.htm

Ralph