Have you ever dreamed of coasting below the waves, playing with wild dolphins, swimming with shoals of fish or simply exploring the deep blue? Without mechanical breathing apparatus, you’re truly free – free to flow effortlessly into the womb-like, enveloping water, free to join the ocean not as an interloper but as a welcome friend.
Written by Jon Muller
This is the true appeal of one of the fastest growing watersports in the world – freediving.
But what is freediving? A simple definition would be to go as long, as far or as deep underwater as you can on a single breath. Basically, anyone who has held their breath underwater has freedived. However, it does not have to be about pushing your limits of depth or time – it’s more zen than that, more a feeling or a way of life. It’s experiencing the silence that separates the outside world from the underwater world and focusing on your body by becoming more in tune with the signals it’s sending you.
Many experienced freedivers can hold their breath for three minutes or more (the surface breath-hold world record is over 11 minutes) and routinely dive to depths of 40 metres. This is made possible by special diving adaptations that humans share with marine mammals – the most dramatic of which is the "mammalian diving reflex", which helps to conserve oxygen. Simply immersing your face in cold water causes a reflexive slowing of your heart rate and the blood vessels in the arms and legs constrict to allow more blood to concentrate in the vital organs. Your body effectively becomes more oxygen-efficient, making it possible to hold your breath for longer underwater than in the open air.
However, the most important thing to remember is that freediving can be extremely dangerous and it is vital never to practice without an experienced person with you at all times or without having received any training.
Ever since he was a young boy growing up in the UAE, Adel Abu Haliqa has had recurring dreams of being able to breathe underwater and swim with the fishes – this is what inspired him to first take up scuba diving and, subsequently, the purer discipline of freediving.
Now the UAE National Freediving Champion, Adel has become increasingly passionate about the sport since being introduced to it in 2006, saying that it “allows me to be at one with the underwater world and myself.”
In 2009, he co-founded Freediving UAE with fellow enthusiast, Alex Boulting, in order to promote the sport and provide freediving courses and training all over the UAE. In 2010 he became a qualified AIDA (Worldwide Federation for Breath-Hold Diving) freediving instructor.
“Freediving is a rapidly growing sport within the UAE and we aim to raise its profile because it has such a strong connection with our heritage of pearl diving” said Adel. “I would also like to see more UAE nationals competing internationally because it is in our blood,” he added.
Alex Boulting, who is also a fully qualified AIDA Instructor, fell in love with the sport when he moved to the UAE a few years ago and has been hooked ever since. To him though, the appeal is more about exploring the limits of his body: “Freediving is one of the few sports where adrenaline is a no-no and you have to be in a complete state of mental and physical relaxation to perform.”
Freediving UAE aims to connect the heritage of pearl diving with the modern world of freediving and is currently working to have the sport recognised in the UAE.
“With water temperatures of over 30 degrees this is the perfect place for all-year-round freediving” said Alex. “We run freediving courses and trips every month as we are starting to create a community of freedivers in the UAE,” he added.
In the future, the company’s ultimate goal is to put the UAE on the international freediving map by organising a national team and running freediving competitions.
Visit www.freedivinguae.com if you want to find out more.
History of pearl diving
The UAE has a rich history and culture of pearl diving – for hundreds of years the finest pearls in the world were found in the waters of the Arabian Gulf.
As the demand for pearls grew in the 18th and 19th centuries, the pearling industry became a major part of local life. Wealthy merchants would provide and equip a boat for the diving season, in return for a healthy chunk of the profits gained from the sale of the pearls. The remaining profit would be shared between the captain and the crew.
Many local families would leave the nomadic desert lifestyle and settle on the coast in Abu Dhabi during the four months of the main pearling season, from May to September, before returning to the desert in the winter.
Most divers would be forced to take advances from the owner of the boat in order to provide for their families while they were at sea. This was very risky though – if their seasonal catch did not cover the advances, then they would be in the owner’s debt at the start of the next season and would have to hope for a bumper season to get out of trouble.
On top of this, a diver’s work was very difficult and dangerous – during the pearling season they generally made around 50 deep dives (up to 40 metres) every day. Each dive lasted up to two minutes and the diver would be equipped only with a nose clip, leather finger protectors, a rope basket for the oyster shells and a heavy stone to help him sink to the seabed. He was attached to a rope which he would tug as soon as he was ready to be pulled back to the surface. All the shells would then be piled on the deck during the day and opened in the evening under the watchful eyes of the captain.
The region thrived on the back of this industry until the discovery of the cultured pearl in the early 1930’s. By manually inserting a shell bead inside an oyster, the Japanese found that you could artificially culture pearls and this, combined with a global economic depression, sparked a steady decline in the UAE’s lucrative pearling industry. Thousands of people were affected and the region suffered widespread unemployment and financial hardship until the discovery of oil created a new era of wealth.
Competitive freediving
Competitive freediving consists of eight disciplines:
Static Apnea (STA)
The diver holds their breath, floating face-down in a swimming pool – essentially a mind game where the freediver is trying to control their urge to breathe.
Current world record: 11 minutes 35 seconds
Dynamic Apnea with fins (DYN)
The diver swims horizontally under water in a swimming pool using fins (usually a monofin) to see how far they can travel on one breath.
Current world record: 250 metres
Dynamic Apnea without fins (DNF)
The diver swims horizontally under water in a swimming pool with no propulsion aids to see how far they can travel on one breath.
Current world record: 213 metres
Constant Weight with fins (CWT)
The diver must descend and ascend in open water (usually the sea) kicking and completely unassisted. The diver may wear weight, but whatever is taken down must be returned to the surface. This is seen as the truest form of freediving and the toughest.
Current world record: 124 metres
Constant Weight without fins (CNF)
As above, but with no propulsion aid.
Current world record: 94 metres
Free Immersion
The diver must descend and ascend by pulling on the dive line. Weight may be worn, but this is simply a variation of the constant weight category so the diver must return to the surface with the same amount of weight used for the descent. No fins are worn.
Current world record: 120 metres
Variable Weight
The diver descends with the assistance of ballast and returns to the surface under his or her own power, either kicking and/or pulling on the rope.
Current world record: 142 metres
No Limits
The deepest free dives in history are made in this category. Here the diver uses a weighted sled, descending at a rate of 3-4 meters/second. Ascent is assisted by an air-filled balloon or other lifting device, which the diver usually has to manually activate upon arrival at depth.
Current word record: 214 metres
UAE freediving champ
Adel Abu Haliqa, the UAE National Freediving Champion and co-founder of Freediving UAE, has just returned from the third Mediterranean World Cup in Greece, where he broke two Asian continental records and two UAE national records.
Adel dived to new depths during the five-day competition, breaking the UAE national record for Free Immersion (45 metres) and Constant Weight without Fins (27 metres) and setting new Asian Continental records in the Variable Weight (65 metres) and No Limits (77 metres) disciplines.
The results were even more impressive given that Adel had never measured dives at these depths. “I didn't have the chance to train at depth in the UAE, so I had to announce performances that I haven't dived before. The dives were all very comfortable and I think I can go deeper,” a confident Adel revealed after the competition.
“I am honoured and proud to be representing the UAE in the World Cup,” he added.
