Take a deep, deep breath

Freediver Magazine

Freediver.co.uk

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The quest to go higher or farther has been the obsession of most adventurers, but for a growing bunch of extremists, going deeper is the real bottom line in risk-taking. Free divers are pushing the boundaries on this front, as they plunge to new lung-bursting depths without oxygen tanks. Freediver chronicles this underworld realm in printed and Web form. If the U.K.-based publication isn’t at your local newsstand, then take a dip into its website, which contains news updates, an article archive, gear updates and extensive links.

Click on the site’s collection of video files chronicling the free-diving experience, which includes a clip of the free-diving world record (more than 500 feet on a single breath). There are several video files of free-diving enthusiast and quasi-fish Howard Jones, who can slow his heart rate to veritable flat-line territory in his quest for greater depths. His breath-holding talents have caught the interest of the scientific community -- but a Vegas act might be the real place to put free diving on the map.

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Michael Koehn