Female Free Divers of Jeju

[Altamira]

After reading a SB thread about diving in Jeju, South Korea, it jogged my memory about the story of the female free divers of Jeju that I heard about on a stopover a couple years ago. Below is a one link to their very interesting story.

The Female Free Divers of Jeju

 

[David Wilson]

Indeed. More people will know more about the Ama women of Japan than their Korean counterparts. I collect basic gear and a while ago I purchased a snorkelling mask on eBay from a Korean seller. The mask came in a good old-fashioned cardboard box. The top was printed with the words "DAIHAN DIVING MASK" in English and "대한 황대 수경" in Korean, while one of the flaps featured the following imagery:

These pictures led me to do a little online research into the Daihan Diving Sports company that had manufactured the article:

I located some Korean online retailers stocking the masks pictured left and centre on the middle line and centre and right on the bottom line:

I then proceeded to see what I could find out about the top line of images of fins made by the company. No luck this time on the retail front, but then I chanced upon pictures of the Haenyeo "Sea Women" of Korea who dive for seafood off the island of Jeju and earn their living by selling their catch to dealers and restaurants:

From my perspective, these yellow full-foot fins are clearly the same as those pictured on the top line left and centre on the mask box flap. If you're still unconvinced, take a look at the toe openings, which are particularly distinctive. Here's another image of a black pair:

The Daihan Diving whale logo is just visible, while the distinctive toe opening and the centre line on the blade are both there. I've also found examples of Haenyeo divers with the blue open-heel adjustable fins pictured top left on the box flap:

What interests me as a historian of diving gear is the fact that these women divers have chosen locally made traditional underwater swimming equipment to pursue their trade as seafood collectors. If the Haenyeo women freedivers have sparked your interest, you can read more about them at Haenyeo - Wikipedia, which references videos showing them at work.

 

[Altamira]

The things that most amazed me about the history of the Jeju female divers was the age range of the divers, some in their eighties, and the amount of time spent in the usually chilly water of Korea diving for sea life to provide food and income for their families.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

haenyeo divers are fascinating to me. I would love to spent a day or two diving with them. I did notice something about their wetsuits. These appear to be custom made for them, and made the way we in the Pacific Northwest used to have our wetsuits made. They are pullover tops, with attached hoods, and no zippers anywhere. This is the warmest way to make a wetsuit! I am happy to see that somewhere, these are still available

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

This YouTube video confirms my thoughts on the wetsuits.


The other thing of interest to me is that these diver freedive slightly positive, buoyancy-wise. When they want to surface they simply release and stop kicking, and float up to the surface. According to this quote from Wikipedia, they sometimes now dive 5-6 hours a day without a break while wearing the wetsuits.

How long the haenyeo spend in the water depends on the season. Before wetsuits were available and all they wore were cotton swimsuits, haenyeo could stay in the water for only up to an hour at a time during the winter months. After an hour, they got out of the water and sat by the fire for 3–4 hours to dry off. After this break, they would jump back into the water for another hour. During the summer months, however, they stayed in the water for up to 3 hours at a time before a break.[8] With the introduction of wetsuits, haenyeo found they could stay in the water for five to six hours at a time, even during the winter.

Haenyeo - Wikipedia

SeaRat

 

[David Wilson]

The fins worn by the Haenyeo women in the video look like 88a model fins, made in Taiwan and popular as rentals in the Far East and Australia:

 

[Popgun Pete]

A reference to the dive gear used here Jeju Haenyeo Mulot and Diving Tools - Jeju Provincial Self-governing Haenyeo Museum - Google Arts & Culture

 

[shoredivr]

The fins worn by the Haenyeo women in the video look like 88a model fins, made in Taiwan and popular as rentals in the Far East and Australia:
View attachment 558613View attachment 558616

I used to have a pair that looked like the orange fins.

 

[David Wilson]

Over the years, these fins have been variously branded as "Yingfa", "LYR" and "Land & Sea". At the moment, the leading brand for this design is probably "TUSA":

TUSA sadly confines sales of these "TUSA Sport" full-foot fins to countries in the Far East such as Korea and Japan, where the range of colours is highly appreciated by swimmers and divers.

I have pairs of orange Yingfa and LYR fins in my collection. They make excellent snorkelling fins in terms of comfort and performance. It comes as no surprise to me that the Haenyeo women divers use them as an alternative to the Korean-made Daihan full-foots.

 

[dmaziuk]

TUSA sadly confines sales of these "TUSA Sport" full-foot fins to countries in the Far East such as Korea and Japan, where the range of colours is highly appreciated by swimmers and divers.

There's any number of (almost?) identical fins on offer from IST, US Divers, Sporti, and no-names like Head Swimming Corda Rubber Fins at SwimOutlet.com