The depth gauge they brought me is a timex helix, because they ran out of casio. Turns out it measures in meters too. But - to the nearest meter, which is pretty funny. That's why I went ahead and set it to the imperial system anyway, and as a result, I'm watching my achievements in feet. This actually turns out to be quite convenient, but the temperature in Fahrenheit just kills me. Mind you, the timex helix shows the temperature very roughly and highly optimistically.
So, yesterday I went diving at the quarry in Rugeli. The water there is clear and the plants are beautiful. But it was windy, and the water was pretty chilly. As a result, I couldn't enter the meditative state required for freediving. But the main thing is - the depth by the shore is shallow, and swimming far out in the wind is hard, and actually forbidden. On top of that, the buoys are five-liter kvass bottles painted red. Due to all these conditions, the personal best I set today is a mere 14 feet, or 4.3 meters.
Recently I asked how deep a person could dive without gear. The question was flawed, because one piece of gear is always used anyway - a weight. So, according to Wikipedia, the men's record is 80 meters, and the women's is 55. With fins, the result goes up to 108 and 86 meters, respectively. And the world record with additional gear (but without air, obviously) is about 200 meters.
There is something to strive for.
Dives
2006-07-28