apnea suits/ bouyancy + other newbie questions

[Qis]

Hi Guys,
I've been checking this forum out for a while and decided to make it official and join up.
I've never tried freediving in my life besides a little snorkeling. i just completed my Padi AOW, and it's kind of got me buzzed about being able to go down and see stuff without all the tanks and gubbinz...

before i get too involved in this i want to know what kind of limits my stupid sinking body will have (if any)(i sink in the red sea when snorkelling(if i stop finning) even with a full breath).

How much buoyancy does a freediving apnea suit provide vs a wetsuit? I've not tried floating in a wetsuit alone before, i presume i must, even though i sink in every other circumstance I've tried... right? .
The logical extension of this question is- will it be safe for me to freedive in warm places without an apnea suit/ rubber armbands( i know it sounds stupid, but everywhere i read says you should be neutrally buoyant/positively buoyant at depth x, which is not going to be the case for me without an external source of buoyancy).

bonus questions:

a) Is there much of a free-diving scene in Scotland? i saw a post from one person looking for a buddy up here, but that's the only hint I've found...
b) How much free-diving can you do in a day? being a newb I've no idea how you'd calculate nitrogen levels after a free-dive...
c) i don't want to get ahead of myself and get a computer that i'll never use, but i'm seriously thinking of getting a dive computer soon, and was thinking maybe a Mares Nemo Excel Dive Computer, which would do me for free diving and my continued Scuba-life. I read somewhere about a computer that can accommodate scuba and free dives in the same profile and track your nitrogen etc(does that mean that this computer maybe can;t handle that?).


Sorry for the barrage of questions in one thread. i guess the main question is the buoyancy one

Peace
-Chris

 

[Qis]

subscribing to thread cos i forgot to in the initial message...

 

[Funky556]

Nitrogen doesn't matter since you're not taking breaths underwater. You can free dive until you get tired. Your level of conditioning will dictate how long you can spend free diving. As far as how deep you can go is up to you, how long can you hold your breath? When I was in my best condition I did 80-100fsw dives pretty easily, even shook a surprised scuba divers hand in Hawaii at that depth. The slower the heart rate and the more relaxed you are the longer you can stay down. If you are diving with a wetsuit I recommend using some weight. Most of my dives were in warm water with nothing more than a snorkel, mask, board shorts and fins. The only thing your computer will tell you is you dove this deep for this long and the water temps, nothing more. There's a world famous free diver that dove the blue hole in dahab on you tube thats worth checking out.

 

[Qis]

Thanks Funky.
I Checked out some of the blue hole videos, and they make it look so easy.
My breath hold is only 2:40 just now(not in water)(stop laughing at the back). Started looking at some cO2/O2 tables last night, so i intend to try them out.

Most of my dives were in warm water with nothing more than a snorkel, mask, board shorts and fins.

Do you sink on the surface in that configuration?

 

[PerformanceFreediving]

Hi Qis,
As a safety precaution in freediving you should always be slightly buoyant at the surface. If you're sinking now without a wetsuit, you definitely need one. A good way to check and see if you're buoyant enough to be safe is by exhaling to a relaxed volume (don't push with your stomach) and see if you sink. It's okay if you sink just a little as long as you stay at the surface. The idea here is that if you ever blacked out at the surface (where 90% of blackouts happen) you'd be buoyant enough to remain at the surface so your buddy can come and assist you without having to chase you down to depth. It's okay to add a little weight to get down, but always make sure to do this check.

Also you asked about how much diving you can do in a day. It IS possible to get bent freediving. More often than not it's caused by repetitively deep dives w/ short surface intervals. The key to being safe is to make sure you have proper surface intervals. The general rule is as follows:

If you're freediving shallower than 25m/82 feet your surface interval should be double your dive time.

If you're freediving deeper than 25m/82 feet your surface interval should be at least 8 minutes.

If you follow those rules you should be good to go. And to answer your computer question- the Suunto D4 is the best freediving computer- hands down. You can also use it for scuba. That's what all of our instructors use and they're pretty easy to use and keep track of down times, max depths, depth profiles, surface intervals, number of dives per day and they even have depth alarms to alert you that you've hit certain depths, which is really nice.

Please feel free to email me directly with any other questions!

 

[Qis]

Thanks Erin.
I currently sink with a painfully full breath of air in a pool, in the red sea when snorkeling i was certainly sinking to the point where my entire face was under the water i might have had a tuft of hair breaking the surface though, so i guess I'll be suited and booted all the time somehow that makes the concept of free-diving less 'free'...
Can't wait to give it a go for real though. Guess I'll work on my breathing and breath holds until I get a weekend off to give free-diving a go.

 

[PerformanceFreediving]

Hey Qis,
I'm glad to hear you're trying so hard to be a safe freediver. A good 3mm wetsuit (especially a freediving suit like the ones Oceaner makes) will provide a good amount of buoyancy for you without hindering your diving. Freediving suits are much more flexible than scuba suits and shouldnt really hinder your breathing too much. If you want to find one that is very comfortable and non-restrictive (to make your freediving more free ) look for one made from Yamamoto 45 neoprene. It's the most flexible neoprene on the market. that's what I currently use and I can't go back to scuba suits now! The only thing is you do have to use lubricant to get into these suits as they're made of open cell neoprene on the inside.

One more comment- just always make sure you freedive w/ a buddy. Freediving by yourself is always a risk.

Let me know how the diving goes!

 

[Qis]

Again, thanks for the info.
Yamamoto neoprene looks awesome!
Until i get a grip on this freediving lark i think i'll lay off splashing out on a suit though... Between the water here being stupid cold and the nearest freediving training facility i know of being across the border i reckon it'll be a while before i get to try freediving in the big water. My limit just now is going to be some poolwork without fins and lying on the sofa holding my breath...
exotic and exciting huh!

a quick look around for these mystical yamamoto suits and the suits i come across are not as hideously expensive as i had feared. maybe I'm looking at the wrong stuff though(is a
'Quintana Roo Superfull Wetsuit' the kind of thing? had a rummage for zipless yamamoto and google products came up with a fat zero...)

 

[PerformanceFreediving]

Hi Qis,
It really is a great material- though more delicate than normal neoprene. Check it out on our website: Performance Freediving at the online store. That will give you a better idea of what it looks like and the price range you'll be in. They're typically two pieces- high waisted pants and a top w/ an attached hood and beavertail- which minimizes flushing. They're not cheap but once you go Yamamoto you never go back!

 

[Funky556]

I sink like a rock in just board shorts.... hahaha .... You might want to do some pool work to help develop your breath holds. Practice 50m underwater swims, if you can't do that start with 25m. I liked throwing dive sticks around the whole pool and swim around and collect them all. I found much easier when starting to do tasks to develope breath holds. The are underwater football and hockey leagues that will definitely help you develop your breath holds.