by Sanne
Ascending from extreme depth's ?!
July 8, 2006 in Question of the Day by Sanne
Question of today:
When ascending from extreme depth’s, are there any limits to the ascending speed, just like when scuba diving you require slow ascend speed and safety stops?
Theoretically speaking when freediving and ascending from extreme depth’s there are no limitations to the ascending speed. In fact freedivers can take a certain amount of air (somewhere between 5 – 12 liters) to extreme depth’s. In the descending and ascending phase they only use the air, but do not in- or exhale air during the dive. So in the end the amount of air stays the same during a dive, but the volume changes drastically.
When freediving to extreme depth’s, air inside the lungs is compressed to the size of a tennis ball. The amount of air is the same, but due to the immense pressure from the water above the freediver the air is compressed to a much smaller volume. When ascending from these extreme depth’s the volume of the air inside the lungs increases back to its original volume as the freediver approaches the surface again.
Some of the limitations in ascending speed could be, that the freediver gets a reverse block in his ears, which forces him to make a slow ascend. Mind you that all of the extreme depth’s attempts are planned close to perfection. A freediver going to extreme depth’s will have to train his body in an equal level to the performance he’s planned to do. There is no room for mistakes in planning such an attempt. When you see TV shows about these kind of dives, you do see a lot of safety people and other people around. The goal for all these people will be the attempt of the freediver, assuring the safety for an extreme depth freedive.
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