Cressi Supernova Dry snorkel review

[jadairiii]

In my opinion Farallon one of the best....ample bore clean and clear and bends where they should be.. big fan of Farallon....that snorkel great and that mask was a winner for SCUBA but too high volume for freediving....

Never used the mask. I have made one "modification" to my Farallon. I separated the barrel and rotated it back about a 1/4 of a turn, re-glued it in. I always found that in rough water when I was hunting and looking down the Farallon "ate" water a bit, that modification made a very good snorkel great!

 

[Wallowa]

Never used the mask. I have made one "modification" to my Farallon. I separated the barrel and rotated it back about a 1/4 of a turn, re-glued it in. I always found that in rough water when I was hunting and looking down the Farallon "ate" water a bit, that modification made a very good snorkel great!

Good mod....comfort with snorkel when spending hours hunting is essential...moldable bite pieces I used but never felt I needed...and as I remember they could accumulate crud....

 

[CG43]

Remembering that SWB gives almost zero or zero warning....I knew of freedivers [none I would dive with] that went deep for abalone and if in doubt of exertion expended or distance to surface would release wt belt and hold with one hand with the idea that if SWB occurred they would release wts and float unconscious to surface...unconscious and floating at surface almost always means drowning...again in my world this is not what competent or prudent freedivers would practice. Nothing is important enough on a freedive to jeopardize your survival.

Just my experiences and opinions; not for everyone and I could be wrong!

What I really like about this post is that no opinion is dogmatically represented here.

A short story that happened to me during a too long and deep freedive.
When I realized that I probably wouldn't make it to the surface I dropped my weight belt.
Then it went black and the first thing when I regained consciousness was lying high on the surface breathing heavily through my snorkel.
Without the snorkel with my face in the water I could have drowned.

Remembering that SWB gives almost zero or zero warning

That may be the case most of the time, but with myself I have the impression that the conscious mind slowly withdraws and unconscious behavior makes room.
I have blown out the snorkel over a thousand times, and I registered that I was at the surface by tilting into the horizontal position. If you drop the weight belt it happens by itself.
Keeping the snorkel in your mouth, blowing it out at the right time and surviving for a short time without conscious thought is possible. As a freediver you practise this all the time at a lesser extent, which saves a lot of oxygen.
The diving described by dcvf page 1 # 8 is much safer, but who will give up freediving if he has no buddy or float on the surface to grab ?

 

[Wallowa]

What I really like about this post is that no opinion is dogmatically represented here.

A short story that happened to me during a too long and deep freedive.
When I realized that I probably wouldn't make it to the surface I dropped my weight belt.
Then it went black and the first thing when I regained consciousness was lying high on the surface breathing heavily through my snorkel.
Without the snorkel with my face in the water I could have drowned.


That may be the case most of the time, but with myself I have the impression that the conscious mind slowly withdraws and unconscious behavior makes room.
I have blown out the snorkel over a thousand times, and I registered that I was at the surface by tilting into the horizontal position. If you drop the weight belt it happens by itself.
Keeping the snorkel in your mouth, blowing it out at the right time and surviving for a short time without conscious thought is possible. As a freediver you practise this all the time at a lesser extent, which saves a lot of oxygen.
The diving described by dcvf page 1 # 8 is much safer, but who will give up freediving if he has no buddy or float on the surface to grab ?

Dang! That was not just that you were experienced freediving [muscle memory] and had the skills wired...but were indeed lucky! Close, very close...

Let me add a tip to those that don't do a lot of freediving....if you "overstay" and are swimming to the surface while seriously hypoxic remember NOT to fin hard for the surface....doing so as the ambient pressure drop future reduces oxygen Pp from the CNS, finning vigorously will put the oxygen/blood needed to stay conscious into the leg muscles and future 'starve' the CNS/brain tissue resulting in a more rapid SWB.... stay calm and don't over-exert.....of course if in doubt drop weights which will help you getting to the surface conscious with less muscle movement.

An addendum....it is my opinion and experience that all diving is in fact solo diving, you are it....especially true when freediving as each diver has different agendas, different descent and ascent paths/rates and of course differing bottom times....judgement and skill sets keep you safe not another diver or surface support....again my experience only over decades of diving and diver supervision....but to each their own.

 

[johndiver999]

You are correct, with any purge valve..........I never use a snorkel with a purge, no need and failure point, nor the severe bend shown in photo....flex section may work in pool but in open ocean in waves or current the flex will distort and reduce bore dia and increase breathing resistance'....

No the bend in the snorkel works fine. Modern snorkels do not collapse on the flex section. Cressi typically makes good mask, fins and snorkels. I've spent quite a bit of time snorkeling with a flex snorkel. I think they are particularly advantageous when scuba diving, because it drops away from your mouth.

All scuba regulators use the same purge valve design, if it works in 500 feet it should be ok on the surface. But I agree that if you don't like the purge, it is better to eliminate it.

 

[johndiver999]

Dang! That was not just that you were experienced freediving [muscle memory] and had the skills wired...but were indeed lucky! Close, very close...

Let me add a tip to those that don't do a lot of freediving....if you "overstay" and are swimming to the surface while seriously hypoxic remember NOT to fin hard for the surface....doing so as the ambient pressure drop future reduces oxygen Pp from the CNS, finning vigorously will put the oxygen/blood needed to stay conscious into the leg muscles and future 'starve' the CNS/brain tissue resulting in a more rapid SWB.... stay calm and don't over-exert.....of course if in doubt drop weights which will help you getting to the surface conscious with less muscle movement.

An addendum....it is my opinion and experience that all diving is in fact solo diving, you are it....especially true when freediving as each diver has different agendas, different descent and ascent paths/rates and of course differing bottom times....judgement and skill sets keep you safe not another diver or surface support....again my experience only over decades of diving and diver supervision....but to each their own.

You are absolutely incorrect with respect to the bolded comments. You sound as if you are self taught freediver and/or have never taken a professionally taught freedive course in the last few decades. Is that correct?

Perhaps if you took a course you would better understand how irresponsible and incorrect your opinion is about the utility (and frankly) the necessity of including a safety diver in order to freedive safely. This is serious stuff and people die all the time because they don't follow the most basic rules of freediving, which you seem to be advocating against.

 

[Wallowa]

No the bend in the snorkel works fine. Modern snorkels do not collapse on the flex section. Cressi typically makes good mask, fins and snorkels. I've spent quite a bit of time snorkeling with a flex snorkel. I think they are particularly advantageous when scuba diving, because it drops away from your mouth.

All scuba regulators use the same purge valve design, if it works in 500 feet it should be ok on the surface. But I agree that if you don't like the purge, it is better to eliminate it.

Well good to hear that new designs in flex sections in snorkels will not distort [not collapse but distort] and hopefully these snorkels have smooth bores in the flex section to facilitate laminar flow...agree that Cressi makes good gear my first fins where Cressi Rondine [not current versions but '55 ones]; Cressi is an oldline company that makes good gear...I have dived for decades [and decades old fart] with a solid snorkel attached to mask strap without any interference with scuba reg.... and yes scuba regs have exhaust valves because of course they need them and the design reflects that...like stated I see valves on snorkels as superfluous failure points and I have seen them fail which renders the snorkel inoperative....not of course at 500ft but surface swimming against a breaking sea when you really need it....

Remember I am just passing on my opinions and observations...today it seems that many divers [OC/CCR] don't wear a snorkel but the divers in rough waters of PNW that face a surface swim sure do , any long or strenuous surface swim without a snorkel can be a real struggle... and while you can freedive without one it is exhausting...

Whatever works for you is what you should use....critical thinking about gear selection and use is up to the individual, as it should be...

Be skillful and use what best fits your needs.

 

[Wallowa]

You are absolutely incorrect with respect to the bolded comments. You sound as if you are self taught freediver and/or have never taken a professionally taught freedive course in the last few decades. Is that correct?

Perhaps if you took a course you would better understand how irresponsible and incorrect your opinion is about the utility (and frankly) the necessity of including a safety diver in order to freedive safely. This is serious stuff and people die all the time because they don't follow the most basic rules of freediving, which you seem to be advocating against.

Ah, the "did you take a course like I did jab" ; you are incorrect in your arrogant assumptions about my training and diving experience. I was taught by the best and that started in 1955 and has never stopped....my profession was as a Diving Safety Officer for 25 years...following this? Instructor for two of the largest and oldest diving agencies and holder of a wallet full of cert cards...certification does not produce safe or competent divers; experientially learned skills, good judgement and accumulated watermanship gained in the water is a good start.

Basic rules of freediving? Right, take a course, buy a book, read on internet. Go out with serious spearfishermen, near shore or blue water or come up to PNW where for decades freedivers took abalone [DF&G closed that] and explain to them how you must freedive with a 'safety diver'....what a joke.

I was going to apologize for raising to your bait...but screw that, the forum and social media too often promulgates bilge that can truly harm divers with Mall Ninjas that think they are right and everyone else is wrong...self-delusion is the worst type. Never considering that they could be wrong but assured that they know it all.

Out Here.... disengaging.

 

[johndiver999]

Ah, the "did you take a course like I did jab" ; you are incorrect in your arrogant assumptions about my training and diving experience. I was taught by the best and that started in 1955 and has never stopped....my profession was as a Diving Safety Officer for 25 years...following this? Instructor for two of the largest and oldest diving agencies and holder of a wallet full of cert cards...certification does not produce safe or competent divers; experientially learned skills, good judgement and accumulated watermanship gained in the water is a good start.

Basic rules of freediving? Right, take a course, buy a book, read on internet. Go out with serious spearfishermen, near shore or blue water or come up to PNW where for decades freedivers took abalone [DF&G closed that] and explain to them how you must freedive with a 'safety diver'....what a joke.

I was going to apologize for raising to your bait...but screw that, the forum and social media too often promulgates bilge that can truly harm divers with Mall Ninjas that think they are right and everyone else is wrong...self-delusion is the worst type. Never considering that they could be wrong but assured that they know it all.

Out Here.... disengaging.

So you've not taken a freedive course in decades? - as I suspected, you've not yet been exposed to current training with regard to basic freedive safety.

I've dove with quite a few serious spearfisherman, they generally try to follow the rules of having a buddy watch them and more so when they feel the dive will be challenging. In the last year we have lost several EXTREMELY talented freedivers/spearfisherman.

Freediving with a buddy is not a joke; I've saved a freediver from a black out and most of my friends have had one and/or recovered a freediver. Using one up, one down (having a safety) drastically reduces the risk death.

Several scuba training agencies teach solo scuba diving, but there are no freedive agencies that teach solo freediving - at least as far as I know. Perhaps that might shed some light on the prevailing thought on the validity of the various ideas raised in this thread?