Easy 3-Part Guide To Watching A Freediving Depth Competition – Part 2: The Competition

Freediving competitions non-public gained reputation nowadays, even supposing freediving itself has been spherical for thousands of years and competitions were ongoing for a few years. Since many famend freediving competitions non-public began the utilization of Diveye, an underwater drone gadget, fans can look for an athlete’s entire dive as it occurs from the consolation of their home. This has ended in an amplify in viewers all over freediving competition live streams on YouTube, both from die-racy freedivers and non-divers who’re simply uncommon about the sport.

This is why we created a three-share data on simple suggestions to transfer attempting to search out a freediving depth competition for those that are contemporary to competitions or are contemporary to freediving itself! Fragment One provides you precious phrases relating to equipment, disciplines, systems, and accidents, together with their definitions. This is Fragment Two, where we are able to focus on competition group, the dive of an athlete itself, and the intention in which they are judged on it. Fragment Three will quilt the protection team, scientific team, and other freediving crew late the competition.

Words in mettlesome are outlined in Fragment One of the tips.

Competitors Group

Dive platform/boat

Whereas smaller competitions may maybe maybe maybe also fair non-public a buoy that athletes dive off of, the remainder of the competitions, together with national and world competitions, non-public a dive platform or a ship that has the legitimate dive line and a counter ballast gadget, which is a security mechanism that brings athletes immediate assist to the ground in case of emergency. Dive platforms and boats give athletes waiting for their turn a place to leisure, a place for the scientific team and their equipment, and likewise on the total has one among the judges or other competition crew on it as well. There’ll also be a speedboat on standby in case of emergency for speedy transportation assist to shore.

Dive lines

There are two dive lines space up for athletes: a warmth-up line and an legitimate line. The warmth-up line is where athletes would invent shallower dives to warmth themselves up for his or her legitimate dives, with a member of the protection team that monitors the athlete’s dive.

The legitimate line is where athletes will invent their competition dive, the particular person that judges will look for and where they are going to present their aspects. There is a crew of two-3 safety divers (and there’ll also be extra on standby) who dive down because the athlete ascends to the ground. The first safety meets the athlete at spherical 1/3 of their depth, on the total between 30-40m (98-131toes), and the 2d will meet at spherical 20m (66toes) of depth. If there may maybe be a third safety, they are going to meet at 10m (33toes) of depth. They are not allowed to the contact the athlete unless the athlete is clearly in anguish or on one among the resolve’s commands.

At the backside of both lines is a heavy backside-weight that holds the dive line taut. The legitimate line will non-public a backside plate with backside tags connected for athletes to purchase and ship to the ground to present to the judges. There’ll doubtless be a grace zone of about 2-3m (7-10toes) that’s striped like a sweet cane (called the sweet cane zone), where athletes halt their descent to purchase their mark and are allowed one pull to open their ascent. Thru the entire lot of the dive, athletes wear lanyards as a security mechanism to connect them to the dive line, and there may maybe be a ball connected to the twin carriageway 1m (3ft) above the backside plate to preserve the lanyard from getting entangled with the backside plate.

The Dive

Countdown

Legitimate countdowns open at two minutes sooner than the Legitimate Top, or the open time of an athlete’s performance, and a resolve calls intervals of cases out loud in hiss that the athlete can put together accordingly. Athletes must open their dive interior 30 seconds after Legitimate Top is named, otherwise they are going to be disqualified.

Performing the dive

The day sooner than an athlete dives, they must expose the judges of the depth they are going to try and prevail in, called their launched performance (AP). The depth that they surely attain, whether or no longer it is their AP or within the occasion that they turn early, is named their realized performance (RP). After Legitimate Top is named, the athlete starts descending per the form of the self-discipline they are competing in (discussed within the next allotment). They flow down as deep as their strength, oxygen, and equalization enable them. In direction of 1/3 of their AP, you may maybe maybe well derive athletes open to freefall or flit to the backside, in recount to conserve oxygen.

They’ll turn at any point (for example, within the occasion that they’ve concerns with equalization), but will incur a penalty for an early turn (Label “Penalties”). If they attain the backside, they purchase the backside mark and open the ascent. Safety divers meet them at about 1/3 of their AP and everyone surfaces together. Athletes must invent a racy floor protocol (to find “Surface Protocol”), and then they are going to receive the resolve’s verdict within the make of colored cards (to find “Playing cards”).

Disciplines

Free Immersion (FIM) – Athletes pull themselves down and up the twin carriageway wearing the the same quantity of weight on their neck and/or waist, and enact no longer wear fins for his or her performance.

Fixed Weight (CWT) – Athletes consume handiest a monofin or bifins to propel themselves down and up the twin carriageway, wearing the the same quantity of weight on their neck and/or waist. They are not allowed to tug or purchase the twin carriageway rather then within the sweet cane zone (a pair of grabs are allowed, but they may be able to handiest pull as soon as). On the different hand, they may maybe maybe well even fair gently flit their hands alongside the twin carriageway in recount to preserve their orientation.

Fixed Weight Bifins (CWTB) – The foundations are the connected to in CWT, but athletes can handiest consume bifins and may maybe maybe well maybe handiest invent flutter kicks. Dolphin kicks (kicking with both legs at the the same time within the type of a monofin) are no longer allowed and can disqualify the athlete.

Fixed Weight No Fins (CNF) – Athletes consume handiest arm strokes (a modified breaststroke) and leg kicks (breaststroke leg kicks) to propel themselves down and up the twin carriageway. They wear the the same quantity of weight on their neck and/or waist and enact no longer wear fins for his or her performance. They are not allowed to tug or purchase the twin carriageway rather then within the sweet cane zone (a pair of grabs are allowed, but they may be able to handiest pull as soon as). On the different hand, they may maybe maybe well even fair gently flit their hands alongside the twin carriageway in recount to preserve their orientation.

How Athletes are Judged

Surface protocol

Surface protocol (SP) is what judges consume at competitions to measure an athlete’s well-being at the discontinuance of their dive, proving that they are no longer too hypoxic (low on oxygen) at the ground. In response to AIDA principles, interior 15 seconds of surfacing, the athlete must study about during the judges and invent the next steps of their valid recount whereas staying factual and no longer letting their airways dip under the ground of the water.

1. Take away facial equipment.
2. Give the OK signal to the resolve.
3. Express “I’m OK” or “I am OK” in English.

Beneath CMAS principles, the athlete has 20 seconds to simply give the OK signal (something many athletes purchase) without letting their airways dip under the ground. With both organizations, if the athlete does no longer invent appropriate SP, they are going to receive a crimson card (to find “Playing cards”) and their performance will doubtless be disqualified. An racy truth is that in AIDA competitions, coaches or spectators can shout things like “breathe, recount the OK signal, philosophize I am k” all over SP, whereas spectators and coaches at a CMAS competition must dwell fully mute.

Playing cards

Judges non-public three colored cards to hiss their ruling over an athlete’s dive. Take be aware of that judges can trade their ruling later and give a different card (yellow or crimson) reckoning on what they to find as soon as they overview dive footage from either Diveye or a backside digital camera connected to the discontinuance of the dive line.

White card – The athlete has reached their AP, brought assist a backside mark, and conducted super floor protocol.

Yellow card – The athlete incurred a penalty but conducted super floor protocol.

Purple card – The athlete’s performance is disqualified. This may maybe maybe well even be due to the suffering an LMC or blackout at the ground or a blackout at depth, letting their airways dip under the ground of the water, having to be supported (and even simply touched) by safety or their coach, or other components (to find “Disqualifications”).

Penalties

Penalty aspects are deducted for a different of scenarios, and both CMAS and AIDA can preserve in mind different scenarios either penalties or disqualifications. If an athlete turns early at depth for both AIDA and CMAS, they are going to be penalized 1 point for every meter that’s no longer as much as their AP. Whereas a pull on the twin carriageway out of doorways of the sweet cane zone (for CWT, CWTB, and CNF) is conception of as a penalty per AIDA, this can disqualify an athlete in a CMAS competition. The the same applies for an early open (starting your dive sooner than the Legitimate Top): CMAS will disqualify the performance whereas AIDA will jam a yellow card and deduct penalty aspects.

There are other seemingly penalties, but those talked about above are the commonest ones.

Disqualifications

The primary disqualification for athletes is no longer performing appropriate SP. Other disqualifications can encompass a gradual open (starting the performance bigger than 30 seconds after Legitimate Top), dipping the airways under the ground of the water all over SP, being supported (or touched) by a coach or competition crew, descending on the twin carriageway handiest to present factual and then open descending again, performing dolphin kicks in bifins all over CWTB, and other less basic scenarios.

Protests

After a resolve has given their ruling, an athlete has a undeniable duration of time to file a hiss within the occasion that they enact no longer accept as true with a ruling the resolve has given them. Athletes may maybe maybe maybe also furthermore hiss one other athlete’s ruling (for example, if the judges gave an athlete a white card but one other athlete felt that the SP used to be no longer correct). Athletes non-public a undeniable duration of time to file their protests, and later on, judges and the protesting athletes convene to look the video footage accessible and focus on it between themselves. If there may maybe be any doubt amongst the judges, the finest thing about the doubt is on the total given to the athlete.

Cease tuned for the third share of the tips, which is ready to quilt the protection team, scientific team, and other freediving crew late every competition!

Feature photo by Daan Verhoeven