apnea suits/ bouyancy + other newbie questions

[Thalassamania]

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.

I just want to reiterate what PF said, YOU CAN GET BENT FREEDIVING. I know people who have.

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!

I prefer Rubatex GN-231N, skin two side. It is stronger and every bit as flexable, but is getting hard to find.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

...I prefer Rubatex GN-231N, skin two side. It is stronger and every bit as flexable, but is getting hard to find.

Do you have any evidence other than your word that Rubatex is every bit as lexible as Yama.. 45?

 

[Thalassamania]

That's my impression, I looked at Yama the last time I got a suit, I felt the Rubatex was a superior material. You'll have to evaluate it for yourself.

 

[fdog]

Having owned both 231 and Y45 suits, I have switched to prefering Yamamoto material. It feels more compliant and has held up better.

<shrugs> So much is in the cut, pattern, and fit, though.

All the best, James

 

[Thalassamania]

I have not owned a Y45, but I typically get 10 years out of GN-231. Right you are about construction details.

 

[Qis]

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.

Thanks funky, i intend to try the old swimming lengths underwater thing, as it's the closest I'll be getting to the water for a while. Might try fetching objects too
Don;t really have the time to join u/w hockey or anything as i train 6 days a week(thai boxing) on top of working anyway.

50m! i think i was managing 30m when i was on holiday, but that's maybe wishful thinking on my part! from watching some of the videos of underwater swimming everyone uses a much more controlled stroke than my speed-breast-stroke.

So much to learn

Thanks for the pointers PFD/thalas/dog/diver, the suits aren't as expensive as i'd feared(not cheap though) obviously once u chuck on fins and stuff it racks up fast.)
I reckon I'll put off getting a suit for a while until i know i enjoy this lark.

Started hitting the breath holding exercises yesterday

Thanks for the advice guys