Harty Breaks U.S. National Freediving Record at World Championships

Ted Harty, the founder of Immersion Freediving, has broken the U.S men's national record for freediving in the Dynamic Apnea discipline at the AAIDA Individual Indoor Freediving World Championships.

Unlike scuba diving, where divers depend on equipment to help them breathe underwater, freediving involves the diver holding their breath as long as possible while swimming as far as they can.

Image by jayhem, on Flickr.

Dynamic Apnea is carried out with the diver using fins or monofin in the pool while he or she holds their breath. Dynamic No Fins is when the diver swims without the aid of fins or a monofin and holds their breath as long as possible.

Harty broke the national record by swimming 170 meters on 10th October, 2011 and has qualified to compete in the finals along with the top twenty-three male and female athletes from the qualifying heats. He also increased his competition personal best by twenty metres and broke Theo Ivanovic's previous record of 167 metres which was performed in London, in 2006.

Image by: courtneyplatt, on Flickr..

Harty explained: "I've been looking at Theo's 167 M record setting performance for a long time. I knew that all I needed to do was put in some good training time and I could get there. I did some solid pool and dry land training to prepare for this event. Even when I'm not training in the pool, I teach freediving classes through my company. Leading up to the competition, I taught a lot of courses. These courses are great training as well because I do so many dives with short surface intervals."

He added: "The day of my dive I felt relaxed all day. I was able put the record completely out of my mind and just focus on hitting the wall at 100m and making the turn. The contractions never got too bad. I had a moment at the end of the dive where I almost kept going, but thankfully I stuck to the plan and came up right past 168m. I'm excited to go to the finals and represent the USA. I can't wait to see what else I can do."

Harty is also an SSI (Scuba Schools International) Instructor and a PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) and he teaches both scuba diving and freediving in Florida.

Image by inkubooktest, on Flickr.

Diving is becoming an increasingly popular sport for thrill-seekers and many travellers are participating in scuba diving programmes that allow them to explore the oceans of top scuba diving destinations such as the Caribbean, Australia, the Maldives, Thailand, Hawaii, and Egypt.

Once certified, tourists can take scuba diving holidays all over the globe where they can get a closer look of the ocean's magnificent ecosystem comprising colourful corals and plants, dolphins, whales, sharks, turtles, rays, and thousands of different species of fish.