The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015) | Hacker News Reader

The disappearance of the world’s greatest free diver (2015)

newyorker.com

48 pointsAnon8448 comments

I was a competitive freediver and have lost friends in this sport. Freediving is one of the most dangerous yet most rewarding sports out there.

It connects us to something deep with carry inside ourselves as we all evolved from water. Being able to reach 100m (or even 200m in no-limits competition) on a single breath of air, and be able to withstand crushing pressures is an extraordinary feat for a human body and is akin to dolphins. (I personally competed in pools and reached "only" 30m depth in the open sea albeit with just a mask on).

This tragic event happened in 2015.

In 2002 same faith happened to Audrey Mestre, which was captured (with controversy) in her husband Francisco "Pipin" Ferreras's book The Dive:

https://www.amazon.com/Dive-Story-Love-Obsession/dp/B000GG4G...

It is a story of great love and Audrey following her husbdand's footsteps (a world champion freediver) into the world of freediving only to become a world class freediver herself until this tragic event took place.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125625&page=1

https://www.deeperblue.com/the-last-attempt/

For those new to freediving, I warmly recommend watching Luc Besson's masterpiece "The Big Blue":

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095250/

For beginner freedivers I recommend reading "Manual of Freediving" by Umberto Pelizzari:

https://www.amazon.it/Manual-Freediving-Underwater-Single-Br...

"The Big Blue" is a timeless masterpiece and one of my favorite films of all time. The ethereal photography and soundtrack create an otherworldly vibe without veering too far into Lynchian surrealism. Luc Besson is probably better-known for his later action films ("The Professional", "The Fifth Element", etc) but "The Big Blue" is his magnum opus IMHO.

> It connects us to something deep with carry inside ourselves as we all evolved from water.

Could you elaborate on this? I'm not seeing the logical connection.

To give an example of this connection from a standpoint of science, it is well documented that simply emerging your face in the water triggers something called a "mammalian diving reflex".

What this reflex does is basically automatically slow down your heart rate as soon as your face is submerged, as the body prepares to conserve oxygen for the expected dive. Very useful!

Now, it is no surprise that aquatic mammals like seals and dolphins have this, but it very curious that humans have it too!

More on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_swimming

I think one of the most exciting ways to make the connection is to experience free diving. It's somewhat surreal as you connect all the dots - your body is excellent in water, far beyond what could be described as coincidental. Without much practice, you learn to do things with muscles you didn't know you had, regulate air pressure, calm your nerves, etc.

You get to connect with a part of your biology that is often totally overseen in regular life. And the experience is quite beautiful. It's really like visiting another world, to me. It's almost elating to describe. Being in the sea, quiet, relaxed, taking it all in - there's nothing I crave more, really. If it's snowing and the water is 4°C, I'll still hop in. It's invariably worth the time.

It’s a nonsense statement; it has no logic or meaning.

The concepts of genetic memory and epigenetics are of actual research interest. I don't think you needed to respond so rudely when the parent commenter was sharing sincere thoughts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_memory_(psychology)

Her son is now breaking records left and right: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28652367

But for some reason, i thought of beowulf, on the sea-burial of Scyld:

"/ Men cannot say

wise men in hall / nor warriors in the field

not truly, / who received that cargo"

Shouldn't the title read "World's greatest female free diver?" since her records are well below the mens' records?

Maybe they mean that, even though she doesn't have the best results in an absolute sense, she has achieved more than anyone relative to her potential. But if we're judging relative to potential, then we also have to consider all the people who pushed themselves to their limits but were not able to set any records due to physical limitations. Who is the best freediver less than 5 feet tall? Who is the best freediver with a naturally low lung capacity? And then the question seems silly, since we could never take all of these people into account.

I assume the title is intentionally provocative and provokes this question in almost every reader. But no one has mentioned it here, so I figured I would be the one to call it out explicitly.

I think it is meant to be a subjective statement of opinion, as she no longer holds any depths records in the women's classes either.

This sent me down a dark hole and I found this video that I thought I'd share..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4qM1IEhtNQ

Fascinating film! "Danger is always beautiful. Like a star."

Fascinating (and kind of depressing) that the "attention deconcentration" technique she used to become a world-class athlete was originally developed in Russia for people who held very boring jobs.

> Molchanova’s technique for concentration was based on a procedure she called attention deconcentration. She said it came from ancient warriors and was used by samurai, and that in Russia it had been adapted and developed for people who held very boring jobs. It involved moving one’s attention to the periphery of one’s awareness, against the imperative of the eye, which is trained to focus. It was a form of meditation. As one advanced into it, the left cerebral hemisphere, which deals with words, grew quiet. This allowed parts of the mind and body more resistant to the frightening stresses of free diving to take over.

It sounds a lot like the "open focus" training developed by the Princeton Biofeedback Center: https://openfocus.com/

I've done a fair amount of this. Also I've taken courses in primitive wilderness survival that emphasized a similar use of attention, though without using the same techniques as Princeton.

What sorts of activities do you use this for? For example, most relevant to me, would it be conducive to programming or other technical work?

http://deconcentration-of-attention.com/deconcentration-soft...

Woah. Thanks so much for sharing this!

I found it very helpful for programming. On the one hand, when I was doing boring stuff that didn't need much concentration, it was easier to deal with and just knock it out. On the other, when I really did need to concentrate, it was easier to do. The researcher says most of us walk around with a tight focus and exhaust that part of our brains, so if we give it a rest we can concentrate better when we need to.

It works best if you practice it a couple times a day, so it becomes kind of a new normal. It had other benefits too. It was very physically relaxing, and I found myself noticing the beauty of my surroundings much more than usual.

Looking up attention deconcentration sent me down a surprisingly short rabbit hole that in 2 steps ended at a wikipedia article for "psychonetics" -- which redirected to some guy whose name I've recognized from a few dubious things that have popped up on HN recently.

Baadar-meinhof I guess!

"Attention-Deconstruction" is actually from old "Awareness" meditation techniques from ancient Hinduism/Buddhism texts.

One well-known text is the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vij%C3%B1%C4%81na_Bhairava_Tan...

Recent discussion on her son Alexey Molchanov, the currently greatest free diver:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28652367

For me it will always be Jacques Mayol

I've casually free dove all my life (not to any significant depth), and I was shocked to hear that blackouts can happen even at shallow depths. I definitely have a lot more respect for this sport and will avoid doing it alone in the future.

Shallow water blackout is a phenomenon that occurs when lungs expand while ascending from a deep dive. The contrast from deep to shallow is what's dangerous. Oxygen is rapidly pulled out of your bloodstream back into your lungs as they expand. It happens quickly (and unexpectedly if you're not already aware of it). Of course you can stay too long at a shallow depth, but that's a simple, predictable linear exhaustion of oxygen.

Good to know! Thanks for the knowledge

I also only recently became aware of this after seeing a video of it happening[1]. No more diving alone for me sadly.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAQ64NNkaro

Sounds like tech could be used to increase safety. How about a mask with emergency oxygen that detects when you pass out and administers the oxygen? Maybe location beacons similar to tacking undersea animals?

I suspect that main problem is that it would be contrary to the spirit of the sport. It would probably also difficult to actually get working properly.

I don't know if it would really be contrary to the spirit of the sport. The mask would only provide oxygen if passed out. I'm also not talking about big bottles, but just small cartridges of a couple hundred grams. Just enough to provide some oxygen and block water from the airway. It would might not be enough to regain consciousness, but hopefully enough time keep them alive while the spotter/rescue swimmer gets to them (I guess it wouldn't help in this scenario, but it's not good practice to dive without support). The weight could count towards their normal limit. Plus, they already use gear like goggles, wet suits, etc so it's not like a complete paradigm shift.

Yeah it wouldn't be easy, but you could maybe use an EEG lead, read diver mouth/eye/face state via cameras built into the mask, or something else. I wouldn't be surprised if someone with more physiological knowledge knows of some involuntary signs/actions that occur when one loses consciousness.

A deadman's switch between two fingers or maybe in the mouth might work.

Yeah or like an arm canister of oxygen. I get that the sport is supposed to be dangerous but we've taken dangerous sports and made them less dangerous before. It's not a huge loss.

Could end up like American Football though where concussion rates climb compared to rugby or league due to protective gear allowing bigger impacts.

That is, people could end up pushing even further knowing they have the safety net but blacking out before they get to use it.

I can see it leading to bigger risks - good point. The idea behind this would be to auto deploy, so they wouldn't have to manually do it.

Tech could certainly be used to increase safety, but there are major barriers to uptake. Blackout recovery vests have existed for decades and have essentially no ultilization.

In freediving, minimalism and freedom are emphasized, so additional gear runs contrary to the central ethos.

Regarding masks, the mouth and often nose are not covered to enhance the mammalian diving reflex. Many divers forgo goggles as well.

Thanks. I don't know very much about it. From the little I saw (years ago), it seemed like it was standard/common to at least have wetsuit, goggles, and dive belt. If I remember correctly, they even had safety divers stationed at various depths along the rope. Which I guess would make this mostly useless in actual competition.

Most of the safety divers you see are stationed near the surface for ascent, which is the most risky part of a dive. There is simply no practical backup spotting at bottom, because divers go beyond the limits of scuba at the bottom of their dives.

Yeah, and I suppose that makes the device even less feasible since it could do more harm than good at the extreme depths.

There’s a selection effect going on here. Free divers tend to be a risk tolerant group inherently, which causes them to forgo safety equipment. Those who would want or even demand better safety standards don’t become free divers, because it’s too dangerous for them.

I think there is a fair bit of truth to that.

Freediving is also a very decentralized sport, so it is unclear how safety standards could even be implemented outside of the very niche competitive setting.

In comparison, SCUBA has a certification system and means of enforcement via tank, trip, and service providers.

It's disturbing how casual the tone of this article is.

I was feeling the same

Not really? I mean, of course everyone has their own reaction to these things and I don't want to deny anyone else their emotions...

But I mean, this seems like precisely part of the game. Dangerous things are dangerous. It's a tragedy in that all early deaths are tragedies, but nothing shocking here.

(2015)

Discussed at the time:

The Disappearance of the World’s Greatest Free Diver - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10027307 - Aug 2015 (54 comments)

Raising the Dead: A True Story of Death and Survival by Philip Finch is a book that does a good job detailing the perils of diving.

> Typically, free divers have spotters, who wait beneath the surface during a dive, but she was the only experienced diver among the group she was with, so there were no spotters.

Especially with a rich client, there was no excuse for not having a safety (scuba) diver in the water.

Complacency will get you, every time.

It reads more like she had just finished teaching some amateurs, and she decided to go for a very deep dive for fun, and it went wrong.

Scuba divers are pretty useless as safety divers due to practical constraints on depth, down time, and ascent time.

For example, compressed air becomes toxic to breath below 130 feet, has a bottom time of a few minutes at this depth. Due to the compression of the gas, scuba also requires slow ascent and decompression stops for safety.

In comparison, Natalia Molchanova could dive to 330 ft, well below the depth of recreational and most technical diving.

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