Kategorie: News
An individualist dives
Freediving, i.e. diving without equipment, is a very popular water sport and the most original form of diving. With just one breath, athletes dive into the depths of the water without any equipment. This way of diving is a very special way of contact with the element of water and it needs a lot of self-control.
Report by Leonie Süss
New records are broken every year at competitions. Self-control and concentration training are the order of the day.
But for Jan Holland, skin diving means much more than discipline and competition.
"Typically, it's how freedivers train. Holding their breath, exploring new depths, stretch diving, every year they do countless competitions in different disciplines and often dive in popular places. But that's exactly what I avoid. I choose special, secret and sometimes even quasi-enchanted places."
The 55-year-old, who is from the Nuremberg area, has been diving for 13 years. How long can I hold my breath? How deep can I dive today? Questions Jan has never asked himself.
"I'm not about deep diving or winning competitions. That's not my way of free diving. For me it is important to explore the unique underwater world.
It fascinates me to feel the darkness at depth and to wonder: What's next? What awaits me in the next few meters?"
The usual diving equipment is unknown to him. With just one breath, Jan dives into the most diverse waters of the world to merge with the unique underwater world.
"Freediving is for me a special form of locomotion and perception of the underwater world. It is completely different from scuba diving. From the diving technique, the personal, physical and mental conditions and the way you experience the underwater world."
He puts a lot of time and research into his work to find the most amazing natural waters. Always in the back of his mind is the protection of the environment.
"I look for special dive sites. Everything is planned beforehand so I can familiarize myself with the localities. Not only because of safety, but also for ecological reasons, so that nature is also taken care of.
In the vast majority of cases, I don't disclose my destinations, simply to preserve the protection of nature."
"During my excursions I always pay special attention, I don't touch anything, I don't break anything and I don't take anything with me! I pay a lot of attention to the environment!" he emphasizes again.
Jan dives incredibly special and interesting places. "I've been in springs, all kinds of lakes and mountain lakes, industrial plants, quarries - but also in blasted facilities from World War 2, for example.
Once I was in Romania in a high mountain lake 'Lacul Balia' there I had to get a special permit from the authorities, this has been verified on site at the lake by the mountain police."
His particularly beautiful moments, he can also remember very well. One of those moments was free diving with seals.
"A very extraordinary moment was diving with seals in Warnemünde. At that time, I was the first freediver to dive with them so far. That was really unique and beautiful!"
Also a very special day he still remembers very well was when he made an extraordinary find in Walchensee.
"After years of searching and researching with intensive work, I found the tail section of a Lancaster bomber while free diving in Walchensee. This was indescribable. Even though I was aware that divers had discovered the bomber before - I worked out the special spot free-diving. That also filled me with a bit of pride."
When Jan dives, he enjoys the silence. Nothing goes through his mind. When he dives in, he feels like he's switched off.
"It means absolute silence for me. When I go into the water, I feel like I'm switched off. Every negative body sensation is gone at that moment. I only concentrate on diving and only perceive what I see in that moment."
Of course, freediving in times of Corona, like almost any other sport, is very limited.
"The sport itself is still allowed. Of course, I have many destinations abroad, for example, many of my dives that I have planned should take place in Austria. Of course, that's not possible right now."
"Measures to contain the Corona virus I take very seriously. When I'm on the road, it's in absolute compliance with the rules." he emphasizes.
Jan Holland does not count himself to the group of competitive apnea divers who also like to move around the world and find their destinations in the oceans. He often reaches his destinations by bicycle, even in the mountains. The way to deal with the water is nevertheless a unifying element and his great passion.
"Often my dives in the mountains are also combined with hiking or biking, hardly any free diver straps his equipment on his back... I don't belong to the "competitive freedivers", I just don't count myself among them. I don't dive in popular lakes or special places in the ocean, I dive alone if possible and with no audience; I also prefer to dive where no one has dived before."
Jan shares a lot of videos on his Youtube channel: youtube.com/..UCRKQnFZWGx
Or on his Instagram account: nn_freediver