Nothing.” So says Morgan Bourc’his, a French-born world-champion freediver. I was in Marseilles on the Côte d’Azur to learn the basics of freediving, a sport for which timing is both essential and something that must be ignored. Though Bourc’his can hold his breath for well over seven minutes, I, a mere mortal, cannot.
Perhaps with a bit of training, I thought, I could extend my time to a respectable few minutes? Certainly it helps that Tudor—Bourc’his’s principal sponsor and the underwriter of this French excursion—had equipped each of us journalists with a heavy-duty, highly waterproof Pelagos 42-mm dive watch. Alas, it turns out that one isn’t meant to think much about time when underwater.
Unlike SCUBA diving, in which one tracks bottom and decompression time through the use of a dive computer or watch, freediving doesn’t actually have much to do with time, at least not during the actual dive. When you’re pulling yourself downward from a rope attached to a buoy at the surface, it’s best to have a clear mind free of distraction. If one is competitive—as world champion Bourc’his was during his career—then the numbers that really matter are those of depth.
Even so, Bourc’his is zen-like when using his Pelagos to time our practice sessions, which consist of lying facedown, hands on the edge of a pool at a villa situated along the Marseilles coast, as he times progressively longer intervals. Beginning with just 15 or 30 seconds, we end with a “personal record” interval, in which I achieve something like 2:25. Satisfied with this progress, I wonder what it’ll be like trying it in the ocean, with waves, weather…and maybe sharks.
Of course, time—and timing—does play an important role in freediving. But not the way you’d expect. You say, ‘Okay, I think I probably dived for two minutes and 30 seconds.
But no—it was four minutes. You forget [time] completely. You check after the dive for the information.” The idea of slowing down time—and slowing down oneself—looms large in the practice of freediving.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
