Masters of relaxation: The record-breaking freedivers of Egypt | Features

Dahab, Egypt – When the countdown started, Khaled Elgammal took one last, deep breath earlier than descending with none respiratory gear into the ocean. One minute and 29 seconds later, nonetheless holding his breath, the Egyptian athlete had free-fallen to 102 metres (335 toes) – a nationwide report.

However for it to rely, he needed to attain the floor once more. He turned on the backside of the road and commenced his ascent – specializing in deep rest and the sentiments of the encompassing water. In all, he had held his breath for 2 minutes and 50 seconds.

Elgammal is Egypt’s deepest freediver, and his exceptional achievement set a brand new nationwide report on the Sharm el-Sheikh competitors in October 2023.

“Once I got here to the floor, it was bliss. It felt superb,” Elgammal recollects.

Freedivers like Elgammal rely solely on the flexibility to carry their breath whereas diving underwater. By way of coaching, these divers grasp rest to decelerate their coronary heart fee, permitting them to remain beneath the floor with out respiratory gear for minutes at a time. Very deep dives just like the one he did just lately normally require divers to carry their breath for round three minutes at a time.

The follow of freediving might be traced again to conventional fishing in communities like Asia’s Bajau people, the place coastal teams have used freediving to hunt underwater for 200 years. As a sport, freediving is now present process report development, attracting individuals trying to join with the ocean and higher perceive their physique’s skills.

As for Elgammal, he says he was captivated by the distinctive sensations of diving with a single breath.

“I all the time say that scuba diving is every part in gradual movement; you’re shifting gradual, respiratory gradual, and the sound of the bubbles is hypnotising, so every part is in gradual movement. Freediving is such as you’ve paused… and are the one factor shifting down there. So that you give your self the prospect to sink inside.”

The game is now rising in reputation around the globe. Based on AIDA Worldwide rankings, 2,889 freedivers registered to compete in competitions in 2023, greater than twice the quantity a decade earlier.

The freediving organisation informed Al Jazeera that round 20,000 individuals have develop into licensed freedivers lately. Scuba Faculties Worldwide (SSI) has equally seen a gentle 10 % annual rise within the variety of individuals incomes their first freediving certification.

Many of those certifications are awarded in Dahab, a bohemian enclave on Egypt’s Crimson Sea shoreline which has develop into house to quite a few freediving faculties and elite instructors. Dahab featured a shoreline of palm bushes and conventional Bedouin houses just some a long time in the past. Whereas nonetheless thought-about a small city at this time, it boasts a thriving beachfront of Egyptian and worldwide eating places and attracts a rising crowd from Cairo, Europe and Asia. A handful of luxurious accommodations have emerged however Dahab nonetheless maintains an genuine appeal – with herds of goats freely roaming the streets.

It’s additionally one of many world’s best-known freediving hotspots because of its year-round water situations and proximity to Egypt’s Blue Gap. Simply 20 minutes away by automotive, the Blue Gap is a well-known reef-lined sinkhole accessible from the shore.

Right here, divers can descend to round 90 metres (295 toes) – virtually the peak of the Statue of Liberty.

A heightened state of self-awareness

However what has contributed to the rise of freediving?

The game is linked to a number of psychological and therapeutic advantages. A 2013 research by lecturers at ​​Atilim College in Turkey, discovered that freedivers are likely to exhibit decrease stress and anxiousness ranges than non-freedivers.

Carlos Diezel, the supervisor of Dahab Freedivers, a college that trains divers, defined that a lot of that is right down to “breathwork”.

“The truth that now we have to concentrate to our breath, our thoughts and rest after we go down teaches us consciousness,” he says. “I consider that a part of the issue, statistically talking, for psychological well being points is expounded to the life-style in trendy society, that’s main individuals to overlook or block any sort of self-awareness.”

This heightened state of self-awareness is one thing that devoted freedivers like Elgammal attempt for. “I’m all the time conscious now of what I’m feeling, what I’m sensing,” he says. “Freediving helped me to attach with myself.”

Freediving’s reference to nature and immersion in water may additionally contribute to its psychological well being advantages. Diezel says the commonest causes individuals join freediving programs are a fascination with the ocean and studying extra about themselves.

“They grasp this reference to themselves while you maintain your breath and go deep,” he mentioned, including that college students contemplate it “a ‘deep’ expertise – sorry for the pun”.

Social media equally performs a job in bringing freediving to the forefront. Many freediving photos allude to a way of freedom, that includes divers amongst marine life and vibrant reefs. The hashtag #freediving has amassed greater than 3.5 million mentions on Instagram to this point. “It’s getting a whole lot of consideration because it’s fairly photographic. Some movies are simply mesmerising,” Diezel provides.

Diving safely

Throughout the current freediving neighborhood, the game’s surge in reputation brings added accountability. Thought of an “excessive sport”, freediving might be dangerous if security protocols aren’t adopted, or divers push themselves past their bodily limits. They will expertise oxygen deficiency signs like hypoxia and blackouts, in addition to pressure-related dangers like a ruptured eardrum, an instance of a barotrauma.

Opposite to portrayals comparable to Netflix’s The Deepest Breath, divers dropping consciousness – often known as blackouts – are comparatively unusual, significantly in leisure diving at shallower depths.

Freedivers are additionally skilled to rescue a fellow diver safely as a part of their earliest coaching, studying to watch every dive, spot indicators of misery and how you can react. Underneath the buddy system, which helps to make sure freedivers stay protected, divers by no means dive alone.

Tamsyn Signe is an expert freediver who champions security every time she enters the water. She has labored as a security freediver in a number of competitions, and it’s her position to make sure the competing divers make it to the floor safely. Final yr, she saved a diver’s life 30 metres (98 toes) underwater in a uncommon instance of a deep rescue.

“As he received in entrance of me, the lights went out,” Signe recollects, describing the second the ascending freediver simply stopped shifting after dropping consciousness. At 30 metres under the floor, Signe was additionally holding her breath. Nevertheless, she wasn’t occupied with the carbon dioxide constructing in her physique – she had a job to do.

“Every part actually slowed down,” she says. “I knew I used to be his greatest shot at being okay.” As she’s skilled to do, Signe closed his airways together with her fingers and began finning (swimming up with flippers) with him towards the floor – a tough job with the added weight of one other diver. The competitor regained consciousness after reaching the floor, partly because of Signe’s fast pondering and supportive group. He would later attain out and thank her for saving his life.

Signe says the rescue modified her life too, making her extra observant and ready for sudden dangers, however it’s a part of the job. Most freedivers consider that practising security in freediving, comparable to by no means diving alone and being skilled for rescue, is essential to the game’s survival.

However this isn’t only a tick-box train; security additionally forges shut bonds throughout the neighborhood. “While you undergo an expertise with individuals the place you may probably die, there’s some type of connection that occurs that’s approach deeper and intimate than regular. And people friendships do final a lifetime,” Signe provides.

Tasks past the breath-hold

Alongside valuing security, Zahraa El-Husseiny, a freediving teacher and Egyptian nationwide report holder, believes that defending our oceans can also be an vital accountability which comes with freediving. Many freedivers accumulate plastic they discover floating within the water; others, like Diezel, stopped consuming seafood after studying in regards to the human affect of overfishing.

As Earth’s oceans face rising pressures from air pollution and world warming, those that depend on the ocean will play a significant position in future conservation. First drawn to freediving as a result of she was fascinated with marine life, El-Husseiny tries to show others about respecting the ocean by her sport.

“We’re very related to the ocean, and we owe it to this to guard it. We all know how important it’s to maneuver freely underwater, so… we have to shield it,” she says.

For a lot of, freediving gives a path for self-discovery and a deeper connection to the pure world. As a sport, it’s poised for continued development sooner or later.

Freediving isn’t reserved for a choose few both, and freediving communities are increasing in lots of coastal places. “Everybody can learn to maintain their breath,” El-Husseiny provides.

“Everybody can learn to benefit from the ocean and the peacefulness of diving. I would really like individuals to know that that is one thing they’ll do, be taught and progress in”, she says.

Passing on the love of this sport is one thing many freedivers take critically. When Elgammal isn’t coaching for record-breaking dives, he’s working as an teacher and coach. He equally urges these within the sport to “be curious”.

“Loosen up, take pleasure in, belief. Take into consideration what you want and attempt to visualise that feeling.”