Posted on 08/05/2015 2:23:31 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Spanish rescuers have ended their underwater search for Natalia Molchanova, a world-renowned Russian free diver who disappeared during a recreational swim this weekend, but will continue looking for her on the water's surface.
Galina Zveryaeva of AIDA, the international diving federation, said that effort "will continue for several days."
Molchanova, a 23-time world champion holding 41 different records under her belt, was regarded by many as one of the greatest ever in the sport of free-diving.
"She was a free-diving superstar, Kimmo Lahtinen, president of AIDA, told The New York Times.
Molchanova, of Moscow, was capable of holding her breath for 9 minutes and diving as deep as 300 feet.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Wow. She was 53.
While I don’t think I’d be good at (or survive) a lot of extreme sports, I might actually be willing to try a bunch of them (bungee, wingsuit, etc). But free diving? Hell no! That’s mad scarey!
Now she's fish food. So much can change in a single day.
Do stupid stuff .... get appropriate results!!!
When I was around 16 I would try to see how long I could hold my breath. I eventually got up to 3 minutes but can’t imagine one doing so much longer.
I would hyperventilate until I was nearly ready to pass out. I would take one last deep breath and begin timing.
Microbes get busy and lift her to the surface. 24 hours should do it unless something finds her tasty.
That's absurd. I'm a healthy man and I timed my capacity. At 1:30, I started feeling it. At around 2:00, I was getting uncomfortable. At 2:17, I wasn't fading out or seeing spots, but couldn't stand it anymore.
When I was a teenager I could hold my breath underwater for a little more than two minutes. That was after hyperventilating for a minute or so.
I could only make it to 2:10 if I (a) found something on the bottom to hold on to so I could stay still and not use any energy, and (b) close my eyes.
I found that I could stay down an extra ten or fifteen seconds with my eyes closed than with them open.
That makes sense. The brain uses more oxygen than any other organ in the body, and visual processing uses up a lot of that. By closing your eyes your brain was doing less work.
Indeed, not everyone has the moxie, talent, elegance, and drive to sit alone at a computer and type self-righteous quips when the likes of free divers, who train extensively, push the envelope of human capability, and inspire athletes and explorers of all kinds, happen to die.
That's what I thought too.
I read somewhere that the neurons that accomplish the processing of visual information make up about 40% of the total mass of the human cerebrum, which tells something of how much value nature puts on vision as a survival function.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she had been snagged by a predator.
Why did you have to bring Putin into this?
exactly..
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
“Indeed, not everyone has the moxie, talent, elegance, and drive to sit alone at a computer and type self-righteous quips ....”
Indeed if that were true but it is not. And also, I have the same low regard for those batsuit cliff divers, sheeple that climb Mount Everest, amateur tight rope walkers and bunji jumpers, single around the world ocean sailers, and just about any other thrill seeker who doesn’t buy “stupid insurance” and relies upon government supplied taxpayer assistance to bail them out or search for their carcasses.
I free dove 50’ once when I was a teen. From the bottom the top is just a very small circle of light. No fins and on the swim back up I thought my lungs would burst.
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