Flying after freediving

[mastakebob]

There's no restrictions on flying after freediving, correct? Not like SCUBA where you have the 12-24 hour hold period?

 

[JanK]

For a very large portion of freedivers this is true. However professional oyster divers making 50 dives per day to tens of meters of depth can and do get DCS. But for "normal" recreational freediving I'd say no problem. Check out Can Freediving Cause DCS?

 

[archer fish]

you can't possibly hold your breath so long as to accumulate so much nitrogen that can cause
DCS when you fly.

 

[madprops]

There's no restrictions on flying after freediving, correct? Not like SCUBA where you have the 12-24 hour hold period?

how good are you

i think the manta is the only freedive computer that will track your no fly time (i think)
maybe the f10 as well?
i know the manta lets you switch up from free diving to scuba in the same day and kepps you safe... well you know what i mean

 

[FreedivingPhilippines]

you can't possibly hold your breath so long as to accumulate so much nitrogen that can cause
DCS when you fly.

in theory i think that is not correct.
a friend of mine is pilot and he is an extreme freediver.
he got dcs more than once from freediving and it is theoretically also possible to get it from flying after diving.

but there is another reason why it is practically nearly impossible.

- It should be primarily the fast tissues that saturate nitrogen in freediving (fast loading/unloading)
- Thats also the reason why even short time breathing of O2 after extreme freedives reduces the risk of DCS.

I think one would have to board a plane very fast after extreme freediving to get DCS

 

[archer fish]

That's exactly what I mean, I don't think most of us will be crazy enough to be running to a plane and fly in a hurry after snorkeling or free diving. We are discussing recreational skin diving and not extreme situations.

 

[Jloren9]

This is a semi related question,

Is there any danger of freediving in between dives, like making that your sit time?

 

[H2O 70]

This is a semi related question,

Is there any danger of freediving in between dives, like making that your sit time?

If you do some freediving during your surface interval, you're body is not going to off gas as efficiently. That could be a problem when you go to SCUBA again.

You were posting about a computer that will do both free and SCUBA and it was wireless AI.

My Aeries Manta will switch between SCUBA and FREE throughout the day, so that I can effectively track my nitrogen loading.

I've done a lot of SCUBA and FREE in the same day, over the course of many days and never been bent.

There is research out there to support that what I'm doing is bad.

See if you can't do a search, because this had been discussed and hashed out a few times.

ADDED CONTENT: I believe what the research shows is bad FREE and SCUBA diving in the same day has to do with micro bubble formation. You're constantly changing the pressure gradient and in free diving you come up FAST. Faster than you ever would on SCUBA and this can cause bubble formation. I think this was the argument.

 

[Jloren9]

Thanks for the info, I'll definitely look into it further.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Is there any danger of freediving in between dives, like making that your sit time?

If you do some freediving during your surface interval, you're body is not going to off gas as efficiently. That could be a problem when you go to SCUBA again.

ADDED CONTENT: I believe what the research shows is bad FREE and SCUBA diving in the same day has to do with micro bubble formation. You're constantly changing the pressure gradient and in free diving you come up FAST. Faster than you ever would on SCUBA and this can cause bubble formation. I think this was the argument.

Thanks for the info, I'll definitely look into it further.

@Jloren9: If you insist on snorkeling during your diving surface intervals, the most conservative approach would be to stay on the surface of the water and take it very easy. Excessive physical activity during a surface interval will not only increase DCS risk from your pre-existing nitrogen load (from Dive #1) but will also increase microbubble nuclei formation for subsequent dives, as H2O 70 mentioned. Then there's the bubble-pumping that you'd be doing by traveling up and down in the water column...which probably is not a good idea during the off-gassing process. Be safe out there.