Portsmouth Navy SETT – Freediving 2009
It didn’t take them long before we were escorted to the 10th floor of the SETT and from that moment the realisation of what i was about to do kicked in. The 10th floor, and looking down through the crystal clear water, it wasn’t unreasonable for people to feel at least some vertigo even when standing on level ground. Then again, on the way back down to the classroom, the time it took the lift to get the bottom really hit home – this is a BIG tank of water.
And so it began, two days of training to become an AIDA * Freediver. I’ve done some swimming underwater before when snorkling and a share of SCUBA diving but this was very different. We were tought about the various disciplines, and the techniques that allow people to reach such unbelievable depths. The balance of the course was good and it wasn’t long before we were up at the 10th floor again getting our feet wet. Practical sessions started slowly with static breath holding and followed by slowly pulling yourself up and down a line. It was the kind of start we needed and even with this relaxed approach we were going lower than 10 meters. After lunch its fair to say it’ll be the first and only time i have a lecture where both lecturer and students are all in dressing gowns! Very odd. Not too much later and we were back in the pool continuing to increase the depth a bit at a time. By the end of the day i was down at 20m with another 8.1 meters of this amazing tank left to reach.
Although the activity is a sport, i can remember coming back on Saturday night the most relaxed i’ve been for a while. The nature of holding your breath forces you to calm your body and mind and this persists through late into the evening. The tranquillity and warmth of the water also helped to put me in an almost euphoric state of mind. Later that night i was joined by friends for what turned out to be a really great evening, and for me it was a perfect day.
Despite the late night and not much sleep i was up, wide awake early the next day. I don’t know if the relaxed mental state meant i slept well but i felt really good. After a nice chat and a drink i was off for the second day and in this day we were to have an exam, to practice rescuing people, and another 3.5 hours in the tank – this time with fins. Although much of the day was the same, on the second day we had a lot more responsibility. Those of us that could dive to depth were diving as a buddy pair and this meant not only watching them at the surface but also underwater. The really strange part of this meant meeting them half of the way back up their dive. So for example, if they were diving to 15 meters, when they got to the bottom we would start from the top and meet in the middle. The idea is to avoid shallow water blackouts and make sure the person gets back to the surface. In reality its a very new concept. Frequently we were talking about the dives and ‘arranging to meet at 10 meters’. Despite how strange it sounded, this gave us freedom from the dive instructors and meant that we got through a lot of dives.
With most of the theory out of the way, and buddying each other, the rest of Sunday was spent exploring our limits and the tank. You might not think that a tank of that sort would be very interesting but we did find a porthole that looked out into the building that surrounded the tank, and in that part of the building was another window. As a result we were down at 18 meters, looking through two windows out onto what was a very sunny day in Gosport. A very strange feeling. And we did stretch our limits too. As a SCUBA diver i’m used to coming up slowly and this was evident in the freediving. To start with i came up slowly and therefore saved lots of air but as you progress you realise you can swim up very quickly and as a result can go that little bit deeper. By the end of the weekend i had gone down 23m and while i was there had time to look around at the rooms & equipment used for the submarine escape training which were at the bottom of the tank only a few meters more.
The really strange part of the weekend was the sinking feeling. Below about 6 meters ( for me ), the air in my lungs was compressed enough to mean it was no longer sufficient to keep me floating. As a result, i sank. The strange thing is you want to sink because by sinking you are not using up energy to swim down and you are calm ( as can be ). The best way i can describe this is in a glass lift. Imagine standing in a glass lift with your face close to the glass. You press the button for the 10th floor and as the lift goes up, the world flashes before you. You aren’t exerting effort but you can see the effects. The same is true for freediving only the other way up. As i’m head down in the tank, i’m sinking, and the side of the tank is moving past me. 5 meters. 10 meters. 15 meters. 20 meters – like floors in a building. Only when you can overcome the thinking that you are sinking can you learn to relax and just accept whats happening. Only when you do that, can you save your Oxygen because of course going down is only half of it – you still have to come back up!
Before the weekend i didn’t know what to expect. I had read the article and wasn’t sure what to how much to believe. Now that i’ve done it, i can honestly say i agree. “The physical challenge of the diving was fun, but it is the feeling of immense calm that persists.”