No-limit apnea is a discipline of competitive
freediving
Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving, is a mode of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Besides the limits of breat ...
, also known as competitive apnea, in which the freediver descends and ascends with the method of his or her choice.
Often, a heavy metal bar or "sled" grasped by the diver descends fixed to a line, reaching great depths. The most common ascension assistance is via inflatable lifting bags or vests with inflatable compartments, which allow for rapid surfacing. The dives may be performed head-first or feet-first.
This form of diving is considered extremely dangerous by diving professionals. No-limit apnea has claimed the lives of several divers. In 2025 the discipline is not recognized by either
AIDA
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...
or
CMAS.
Challenges
The three main differences between free diving disciplines that involve diving to depth and those that occur at the surface are that you cannot interrupt the dive, there are periods where work is performed and the diver is impacted by
direct effects of pressure.
Records
The current no-limit world record holder is
Herbert Nitsch with a depth of set on 9 June 2007, in
Spetses
Spetses (, "Pityussa") is an island in Attica, Greece. It is counted among the Saronic Islands group. Until 1948, it was part of the old prefecture of Argolis and Corinthia Prefecture, which is now split into Argolis and Corinthia. In ancient ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
, however, in a subsequent dive on 6 June 2012 in
Santorini
Santorini (, ), officially Thira (, ) or Thera, is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southern ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
to break his own record, he went down to and suffered severe
decompression sickness
Decompression sickness (DCS; also called divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, and caisson disease) is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from Solution (chemistry), solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during D ...
immediately afterwards
and subsequently retired from competitive events.
See also
*
References
External links
Types of Diving*
{{Underwater diving, frediv
*