Fire & Water…
RTE Radio Documentary on One: 2pm, July 28th.
Feargus Callagy can hold his breath for five minutes. He can dive to depths of over 40m on a single breath. Yet when he tells people he is a freediver, they say ‘Huh?’
Freediving is the art, sport or science of holding one’s breath underwater.
It can refer to mavericks barrelling down to record depths, or ordinary men and women who dive simply to enjoy the sensation of swimming underwater in absolute silence. Beyond the 1988 movie, The Big Blue, however, few have heard of it.
So why does Feargus freedive? Why risk the dangers? What does it feel like to be so free underwater? And is there really anything to see off Ireland’s cold Atlantic coast?
‘Fire & Water’ tells the unlikely story of how a plain-talking man went in search of a new passion in life, and found it holding his breath underwater.
This 30-something Sligo man struggled with his weight, before learning to control his heartbeat and fill his lungs to degrees that stun medical experts today. He fits fireplaces and stoves by day, but spends his free time attempting to build a pioneering business – Freedive Ireland – entirely from scratch.
Making this radio documentary, I followed Feargus as he travelled from Sligo to Sharm El Sheikh, the Egyptian Red Sea resort, meeting his free-diving heroes and attempt a personal record 50m dive.
50m. That’s as deep as an Olympic swimming pool is long. Not forgetting the swim back to the surface again…
The Documentary on One is there as Feargus swaps forklifts and fireplaces to swim with a manta ray, as he teaches students breath-hold techniques, as his heartbeat is monitored in hospital, as he swims with his daughter, reveals the dangers of blacking out, clears his sinuses with a bizarre ‘netty pot’, and attempts one of the deepest freedives ever undertaken by an Irishman.
Will he make the depth? Can he build the business? Fire & Water is an intimate portrayal of an Irish freediver following his unlikely dream.
Produced and narrated by Pól Ó Conghaile
Production supervision by Sarah Blake
Sound supervision by Anton Timoney
For more on Freedive Ireland, see www.freediveireland.com.
For The Documentary on One, see http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/
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