Bajau - the real waterworld people

Imagine what he could do with some good fins. How does he not gut burst blood vessels in his eyes, not equalising at that depth?

Quote from hank

Imagine what he could do with some good fins. How does he not gut burst blood vessels in his eyes, not equalising at that depth?

something about them being wooden googles makes it not happen as much. I think it still happens but maybe since the volume is so low its greatly reduced. You can actually buy a pair yourself.

Wooden Goggles for Freediving?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Im_Cb-gosk

The whole time I wanted to send him my old full foot Cressi rubber fins that I used for years and years. But what really concerned me was the sharp coral, sea urchins, toad fish, stone fish, and all those sharp thingies he was stepping on :@

Quote from Dan

If there's any difference between those and regular swimming goggles, it's because there's a rubber seal around the conventional goggles that adds internal volume, then collapses/compresses at depth resulting in more pressure on the eye. I'm sure solid plastic goggles will function the same as the wooden ones. There's an idea for a new product

If anyone wants to test my theory, just take an old pair of goggles, rip off the rubber, and make a lip around the lenses with epoxy putty.

I was also thinking that since they are thick wood the wood displaces more internal volume then thin plastic. Basically the space that is air that will be squeezed in normal goggles is wood that doesn't compress in those. Could similarly test this by filling swimming goggles with epoxy putty except for a bowl near the eye and a hole to see through.

The problem I have had with swim goggles is the distortion they creat in my vision. Really hard to judge distances with swim goggles. The wooden ones will not compress as they are stiff and really low volume so it shouldn't effect his eyes so much.

I agree with Dan I doubt he actually walks around on the bottom. It seems wildly inefficient and he would know that. He would also want to avoid any kind of injury as medical attention would be pretty difficult to obtain. Regardless impressive diving.

As far as the goggles it is probably something he has just adjusted to with time. There are a couple companies that started making them after this came out. The pain from goggle squeeze comes from the difference in pressure between the air inside and the water outside. These forces will always balance or something will fail. When a balloon or float changes size (compresses) the same amount of air now occupies a smaller area and the pressure inside matches the pressure outside. In a mask or or goggles the force necessary to match the water pressure comes from two place. The air inside the masks/goggles and your face. In the case of the mask you can add air to balance the pressure. In the case of googles the additional force needed comes from your face. If that force gets too high it hurts and eventually damage the tissue (bruise). You can toughen tissue over time so it can withstand more force. There is no magic combination of materials that can get around that.

Materials themselves cant get around it but like free diving masks design can and in this case I wonder if wood facilitates a lower volume design. This is what I mean about wood allowing the internal volume to be lower. it could even be accidental in that the reason the goggles are thick is because wood is relatively weak compared to hard plastic and has to be thicker.

Pressure = Force/Area. If the area of the lens were substantially smaller than there would be less force on the goggles but he would also not be able to see very well. In the video they didnt look like the lenses were that small. the thicker rim could distribute the force over a larger area and make for less pressure on the tissue but not any more than the plastic flange and rubber/foam on normal goggles.