The first free dives date back to 4,500 BC. in the former Mesopotamia, the present Iraq, where man dived for
the collection of pearls and shellfish for its nutrition.
Problems, such as the equilibrium of human body cavities, the rapid loss of body temperature, and the short residence time, prevented humans from diving deep into the depths.
Since the middle of the 20th century, the record of free diving has been taken the form of sport and ceased to be an effort of man to know the unknown, since his technology opened the way to the abyss.
Many are the ones who have dealt with the record of free diving.
However, the names that have become known on the site in time are Raimondo Bucher, Ennio Falco, Alberto Novelli, Americo Santarelli, Enzo Maiorca, Teteke Williams, Jacques Mayol, Bob Croft, Angela Bandimi, Pipin Ferreras and Umberto Pellizzari.
When Raimondo Bucher achieved the first free-diving record in the No Limit category at a depth of 30 m, in 1949 in Napoli, Italy, he would certainly have been unaware of the effort of the great Greek sponge from Symi, Stathis Hatzis, who on July 16, 1913 in his attempt to recover the lost anchor of the Italian warship “Regina Margherita”, dived at a depth of 88 meters.
The endeavor was recorded in the diary of the Italian Battalion and was signed by the three Italian doctors of the battalion.
The above undertaking may have ignored or knew it as mere rumors Jacques Mayol, when he dived in a depth of 92 meters in 1975, defeating for the first time in 62 years the legendary record of Stathis Hatzi.
In 1984, Jacques Mayol, one year after his latest record in No Limits category at 105 meters, visits Symi and, through personal research, confirms his information about the Symphony sponge and then publishes his book “Homo delphinus” to explain in his theory about the evolution of man in relation to his ability to free diving.
From 1989 until today, the record of free diving in the No limits category, alternates between Cuban Pipin Ferreras and the Italian Umberto Pellizzari.
On October 24, 1999 at 11:00 am Umberto Pellizzari attempts to break the record in No limits category in Genoa, Italy.
Inside at 2’57 “it reaches a depth of 150 m. and then returns to the surface by making a historical event. On October 18, 1999, he had broken the record in the fixed weight category after diving at a depth of 80 m. The Brett Le Master’s record with constant weight is now 81 meters, while in the category with alternating weights Gianluca Genoni at 122 m.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Michael D. Lemonick – The Last Frontier Time Magazine 14, 1995
G. Detatoris – The Conqueror of the Enormous Blue
Kostas Thoktaridis – The Evolution of Diving. Oxygen Gressi sub magazine – Sports records, No Limits
Sector – Historical Events: Umberto Pelizzari.
