Monday, April 19, 2010

The crazy sport of free diving


While in Long Island we watched, as much as we could, the first day of the world championship free diving contests. Men and women from around the world, using fins or no fins descent into the worlds deepest blue hole in Long Island Bahamas without compressed air. They hold their breath for longer than 4 minutes, risk lung damage or worse so see who can go the deepest. We met a US free diver Jared who informed us about the extreme sport. He and his girlfriend were interested in our life as we were in their sport. Jared informed us how safe the sport was. Funny, they inquired about the dangers of our life, sailing about the world in a small boat with two kids. How big are the waves, what about hurricanes? While I thought diving to 210 feet, learning to close off your lungs from your mouth, often passing out at the surface was dangerous. I guess it is all a matter of comfort. Keep me on the surface with my boat afloat.

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