What is Freediving? Highlights From Roatan’s Caribbean Cup

-



For those who love the water, a wide variety of water based activities and sports are available to them.  From practical activities, such as fishing and treasure hunting, to the competitive, such as boat racing and synchronized swimming or just enjoying the water for its own sake, a life around the water can be filled with an array of specialized endeavors.  One water activity that has begun to play an important role in Roatan is freediving.  What is freediving?  Highlights from Roatan’s Caribbean Cup can shine a light on this relatively new competitive sport.


Freediving Origins
Freediving probably originated because of necessity.  People living near large bodies of water could access new sources of food and other resources if they were able to hold their breath and dive down to the bottom.  Those who were able to stay underwater longer were able to harvest more and be better providers for their families.

Competitive Freediving
People have probably been competing at freediving ever since the practice began.  But records started being kept in the 1960s by the US Navy.  Navy scientists were interested in how long people could hold their breath and survive at extreme depths in order to help submarine sailors.  Once records were kept there were always people looking to beat them.

The Caribbean Cup Roatan Freediving Competition



The Caribbean Cup Roatan Freediving Competition is an annual competition that began in 2013.  Organized by the Roatan Freediving School & Training Center, the contest is sanctioned by the CMAS (Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques,) and AIDA International (Association Internationale pour le Développement de l'Apnée.)

Caribbean Cup 2019 Events

Four events were featured at the 2019 Caribbean Cup:  CWT (Constant Weight With Monofins,) CWB (Constant Weight With Bifins,) CNF (Constant Weight With No Fins,) and FIM (Free Immersion.)

Caribbean Cup 2019 World Records

Four world records were set at this year’s Caribbean Cup.  Alessia Zecchini of Italy broke two different world records.  She achieved a depth of 73 meters in CNF and a depth of 112 meters in CWT.

Ukraine’s Nataliia Zharkova achieved a depth of 91 meters in CWB to break the old record of 89 meters which was set in 2018. 

In the men’s division, Russian Alexey Molchanov, reached a depth of 110 meters in the CWB event.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WestJet Direct Flights to Roatan

-
Image
WestJet Airlines recently announced the debut of weekly non-stop flights between Toronto and the Honduran island of Roatan.  This seasonal service offers North Americans an affordable and convenient way to get to the Caribbean island during the colder months of the year.  Flights will begin in December of 2019 and continue until the spring. The connection between Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport and Coxen Hole’s Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport will take between 4 hours and 41 minutes and 4 hours and 17 minutes.  WestJet will be operating their Boeing 737s on the route. WestJet serves over 100 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe.  WestJet’s Chief Commercial Officer, Arved von zur Muehlen, said, “With the addition of the snorkelling paradise of Roatán to our network, WestJet guests now have convenient access to 14 Caribbean destinations non-stop from Toronto this winter.  Roatán is ho...
Read more

What To Do In Roatan

-
Image
You can be guaranteed you won’t be hard up for things to do in Roatan. No matter where you are, with all the places to stay in Roatan , you won’t be far from some sort of action. If you’re looking for some tips, check out this list of some of the more popular activities. Scuba Diving Roatan is known for some of the cheapest scuba diving in the world. Add to that fact that the world’s second largest coral reef is just offshore makes Roatan a diver’s paradise. This is a great place to get certified as well as an exciting diving spot for the more experienced. There are an abundance of diving shops to help you get set for the ocean. Snorkeling You don’t need to scuba dive to take advantage of the incredible marine life that the coral reef offers. It’s possible to swim out to the reef from places like West Bay Beach. This is one of the more popular placesto stay in Roatan . Even if you don’t make it out all the way to the reef, Roatan’s sh...
Read more