Freediving after scuba. Any hard data?

[H2Andy]

as I see it, while of course it's safer not to take the risk at all, the "risk" of freediving after/between dives is fairly small.

it's certainly not the "you'll get hurt for sure" risk that some people assume it to be

to be on the safe side, though, I wouldn't do it

also, the OP was talking about hard data on the subject, of which there appears to be little

 

[dumpsterDiver]

as I see it, while of course it's safer not to take the risk at all, the "risk" of freediving after/between dives is fairly small.

it's certainly not the "you'll get hurt for sure" risk that some people assume it to be

to be on the safe side, though, I wouldn't do it

SEZ the GUE guy who doesn't take air below 100 ft...

 

[H2Andy]

SEZ the GUE guy who doesn't take air below 100 ft...

man ...

chill pills -------> that way

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

In recent years I've read some interesting stuff about freediving alone causing DCS. Now we are talking pretty extreme freediving, but still:

Can Freediving Cause DCS?

Years ago I would spear fish on scuba, then after my steel 72 was empty go to shore, remove my tank, and spear fish free diving. Never had a problem, but now... well, I'd be careful.

I would not free dive immediately after scuba diving, or during a surface interval between dives.

Be sure to read all the way to the end of the short article linked... it does mention some apparent cases of DCS related to free diving following scuba.

Best wishes.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

There's a difference between the nitrogen loading that can take place during multiple extreme free dives, and doing some relatively shallow breath-hold snorkeling during a surface interval.

Most divers have detectable venous gas emboli after dives to greater than about 60 feet. Those VGE travel through the veins and the right side of the heart and end up in the pulmonary capillaries, where they are slowly eliminated. The concern with going down on a breath-hold under these conditions would be that those bubbles could be reduced in size on descent and then pass through the pulmonary circulation into the pulmonary veins, which lead back to the left side of the heart. The now-arterialized bubbles would return to their original size when the individual surfaced and could be pumped through the left heart and into the aorta, effectively becoming arterial gas emboli.

Best regards,
DDM