Ascending while holding your breath (a breath taken from a tank at a deeper
level) won't cause the bends. It will burst your lungs-or something to that
affect- as the enclosed air in your lungs expands under decreasing pressure.
If you take your breath and hold it a tthe surface, descend and then ascend,
there is no problem with that as your lungs are at capacity at the surface
already.

mike regish

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
"John E. Carty" wrote in message
.. .
The trip back up is where you need to go slowly or risk the bends.
Won't happen in a free dive. This is a result of taking a breath from
some
depth (as little as 4 feet down) and then not exhaling when returning to
the
surface

The "bends" result solely from too rapid an ascent, whereas holding your
breath is a problem no matter how slowly you ascend. The two are both
dangerous, but are not the same thing.

Otherwise, your point is accurate as far as I know.

Pete