Freediving, also called skin-diving or apnea, is diving on one breath of air. The diver inhales before diving down using the air in only this one breath. The time span between inhaling and exhaling is called apnea and is Greek for respiratory arrest.
Freediving is the oldest and most original way of diving. In the Stone Ages freedivers collected mussels, sponges and pearls also hunting fish with spears. Some palaeoanthroplogists even entertain the idea that a large part of man’s evolution took place aquatically.
Freediving is practiced today as a popular recreational and competitive or extreme sport. In the area of recreational sport the reasons for freediving are manifold – from a whole new experience of the underwater world, to discovering your own potential to just plain keeping fit as a scuba diver. On the competitive side it is about achieving longer periods of apnea and longer distances in the dynamic disciplines and depths in the depth disciplines.
