Adam Skolnick’s One Breath: The Spiritual Allure of Freediving Through the Life & Death of Nick Mevoli, America’s Greatest Talent

The Rich Roll Podcast

Rich Roll

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement

4.8 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2016

⏱️ 149 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Imagine plunging headfirst hundreds of feet below the ocean surface — undulating ever further downward to a place where light cannot penetrate; and life hangs in the balance of a quickly diminishing singular breath. Competitive freediving—a sport built on diving as deep as possible on a single breath—tests the limits of human ability in the most hostile environment on earth. The unique and eclectic breed of individuals who freedive at the highest level regularly reach such depths that their organs compress; and one mistake could kill them. To freedive is to flirt with death, driven by an almost inexplicable spiritual quest to go further, deeper and beyond the imagined limits of human capability. But freediving is also an opportunity to be free. It's a search for the authentic. An opportunity to commune with the infinite. Today on the podcast I sit down with author and adventure journalist Adam Skolnick, who immersed himself in this extreme yet poetic subculture to tell the story of Nicholas Mevoli, America's greatest freediver and the protagonist of Adam's masterfully crafted new book, One Breath: Freediving, Death, and the Quest to Shatter Human Limits*. Even among freedivers, few have ever gone as deep as Mevoli. A handsome young American with an unmatched talent for the sport, Nick was among freediving’s brightest stars. He was also an extraordinary individual, one who rebelled against the vapid and commoditized society around him by relentlessly questing for something more meaningful and authentic, whatever the risks. So when Nick Mevoli arrived at Vertical Blue in 2013, the world’s premier freediving competition, he was widely expected to challenge records and continue his meteoric rise to stardom. Instead, before the end of that fateful competition Nick Mevoli had died, a victim of the sport that had made him a star. Traveling the world writing for The New York Times, Playboy, Outside, ESPN.com, BBC.com, Salon.com, Men’s Health, Wired, and Travel + Leisure, Adam was on site to cover Vertical Blue when he became a direct witness to Nick's passing. His first-hand account landed on the front page of The New York Times, quickly went viral and set the stage for One Breath — a remarkably engaging exploration of Nick's unforgettable story and the sport which shaped and ultimately destroyed him. In the vein of Into The Wild and Born To Run, One Breath is one of the best books I have read in a long time. And I read a lot of books. Today we unpack this mysterious subculture and the remarkable athleticism of its inhabitants. But at it's core, this is a quite compelling conversation about passion. An examination of obsession, escapism, and the spiritual yearning for authenticity. I really love this one. So sit back, inhale one deep breath, and submerge yourself in the world of Adam Skolnick. Peace + Plants, Rich

Transcript

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0:00.0	There will always be room for self-doubt. Self-doubt is you cannot stop it. It is always going to arise no matter what and there's always room for it.
0:10.5	So the only thing you can do is not believe it when it arises. Let it rise and fall like a wave and go away and don't give into it.
0:18.0	That's Adam Skolnik and this is the RetroL Podcast.
0:31.0	The RetroL Podcast. How are you guys doing? What is going on? Welcome to the show. Welcome to the podcast. My name is Rich Roll. I am your host. This is the Rich Roll Podcast.
0:43.0	Thanks so much to everybody out there who has shared the program with your friends, with your colleagues, with your coworkers, with your family members on social media and big love, match shout out to everybody who has made a habit of always using the Amazon banner at at
0:57.5	RetroL.com for all your Amazon purchases. You can also just go to www.Richroll.com-forward-slash-amazon. It takes you to Amazon. Buy whatever you're going to buy does not cost you one cent extra on any of your purchases.
1:10.5	But Amazon kicks us some loose commission change and that really does help us out a lot. So I really appreciate everybody who has supported this show in that way. It's really great. Thank you.
1:21.5	I'm really excited about today's show. I got Adam Skolnik on. He's a great guy. He is a travel and adventure sports journalist who has traveled the world writing for The New York Times Playboy outside ESPN.com, BBC.com, Salon, Men's Health, Wired, and Travel in Leisure.
1:39.5	In fact, he's authored or co-authored 25 Lonely Planet Guidebooks. But the main reason he's on the show today is because he just came out with a new book. It's incredible. I really love this book. It's called One Breath.
1:52.5	And it's all about the extreme yet poetic sport of competitive free diving through the eyes of this guy called Nicolism of Olay, who lived an amazing life and died quite tragically as America's greatest free diver.
2:08.5	It's really a fascinating story. And I got a lot more I want to say about Adam, about Nick, about the new book in a second by first.
2:18.5	If you're a long time listener of the show, then you may recall my conversation with a guy called Tank Said that was episode 49. Tank is an Australian national record holder in a sport called free diving.
2:36.5	And this is the sport where athletes compete to see just how deep down in the ocean or how much distance a human being is capable of covering underwater without breathing.
2:48.5	That conversation was really a fascinating look into the sport, the art, and the subculture of this really beautiful, poetic, fascinating, and quickly growing sport.
2:59.5	If you didn't check that one out, you had a highly recommend you do. If you did and you enjoyed it, then you're really going to love what's in store for you today because this conversation picks up where that one leaves off, exploring this remarkable sport through the eyes of author Adam Skolnick, his new book One Breath.
3:15.5	And the endlessly fascinating life of the book's real life protagonist, Nicholas Mavoli, who was America's fastest rising star in the sport.
3:25.5	He set an American record for being the first US athlete to dive to a depth of 100 meters. And he's a guy who perished right in front of Adam while attempting to set a second American record in 2013 at an event called Vertical Blue, which is the sport's most prestigious competition held annually in the Bahamas.
3:44.5	Adam was right there. He was covering the event as a journalist and his gripping story ended up landing on the front page of the New York Times. It went crazy viral.
3:53.5	And it set the stage for what would become this book One Breath, which I have to say in all honesty is one of the best books I have read in quite some time.
4:04.5	It really is incredible. And I think it's one for the ages. And today we get into all of it. This is a conversation not only about the ins and the outs of the sport of free diving and this amazing life led by Nick Mavoli, but it's also about the writing process.
4:21.5	And it's about obsession. It's about escapism and the remarkable athleticism of free diving, not to mention the elusive allure and the unique spiritual quest that defines so many free divers, so many athletes in the sport.
4:37.5	Adam was great. This is a really captivating, compelling conversation. I loved it. And I think you will too. So let's dive in and go deep.
	...

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