Learning on my own how to Freedive

[danvolker]

As others have said, it is far more important for a freediver to have a buddy than it is for in scuba....Maybe not so much if you are doing short and easy drops, but it sounds like you are going for big drops and times to 2 minutes and beyond.

As to the technique, you need to drop with your heart rate as low as possible...so...you can't be working hard on the surface to get a buoyant suit down the first 20 feet....You need to be near neutral, maybe slightly positive at the surface...with your heavy wet suit, there is no way to freedive well unless you wear a weight belt....there are Freedive weightbelts that have a rapid release feature that you can instanty disengage it with, if you feel like you have pushed your limit to much on an ascent...and...these are rubber/elastic belts, so they allow deep breathing and don't restrict you like the nasty nylon scuba weightbelts do ( and once you get a freedive belt, that is the one you will always use for scuba as well).
You want to relax your heart down to resting pulse..for me that means as close to 50 bpm as I can get it....and have packed the biggest lungful of air you can hold in your lungs, and then raise your legs out of the water to pile drive you down the first few feet.....you should not have to do more than a few large amplitude, low frequency kicks to cross 15 to 20 feet, and you should be falling by 20...so then one kick or so every additional 10 to 20 feet you fall will just accelerate your free fall.
You need to fall straight down, and this also is most optimal if your mask is not pointed at the bottom--as the flat glass pane of the mask is usually more drag than if the tip of your head is what you have pointing down.....

Keep trying to lower your heart rate as you fall....keep trying to relax every leg muscle, and all muscles in your body, as you drop.

Flare when you get to the depth you want. Relax more....then begin a slow cruise until it is time to ascend. You would be using large amplitude, low frequency flutter going horizontal at depth....or dolphin...and if going real slow is good, maybe even a frog kick, with a big push and a very long glide between...on Ascent, I like the dolphin kick, and you can do most of this with your spine and hips and calves/ankle articulation, keeping the big oxygen hogging quads and glutes completely out of this...

Big freedive fins overcome the weightbelt negative bouyancy from depth easily enough.....the bigger problem at the surface on trying to get down is having no inertia going, and until you get down a few feet, you can't get an efficient kick--which is why you don't want to flail away with no weight belt--you want to get started without wasting huge energy and getting your heart rate way up.

 

[Bob DBF]

I have been freediving for abalone and spearfishing for quite a while, however I do not hyperventilate or do any breathe up routines, which does limit my time underwater, depth, and risk. I still have a chance of shallow water blackout, but hyperventilating and using freedive breathe up routines will give you a 100% chance of shallow water blackout over time. Use a spotter to start with in case you have an unknown medical problem that would be exacerbated by the freediving, and keep the spotter if you are going into the sport of competitive freediving, spearfishing, and so on that will require breathe up routines to make the dives.

If you have been doing your homework, you should already know how dangerous it can be.



Bob
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I think that advocating unsafe and dangerous practices is both stupid and foolish. That is why I don't tell people to do what I do. Dsix36

 

[swimmer_spe]

Lakes are a real bad idea for freediving IMO.
We have a few lakes around here that I have scuba dove in. They creep me out 100 times worse than the ocean because of limited vis deeper down plus the unknown factor with fishing line and submerged trees and debris. As far as I'm concerned lakes are no place to freedive unless maybe they are a clean quarry that is set up for it with decent vis so you can see what's coming up. I don't know I've never dove in a quarry.

You are in Victoria, isn't that right on the sound?
Why don't you skip the lake and go straight to the ocean?
You're actually better off.
But do me a favor, please get a buddy to do this with. Read any book or talk to any veteran freediver and they will tell you, you only get one chance and it is a very short chance while freediving. Every dive has to be perfect by nature. You are only sustaining yourself on one breath and nothing can go wrong or else it's over. Freediving is nothing to play around with and needs to be taken seriously.
An in shape marine just perished in San Diego. We lose about 5 to 8 abalone freedivers a year here in Norcal.
And like I said before get a few good books on the subject and read up.
Please take this seriously.

And stop the trolls (if that's what they are), it's not funny. If they are not trolls then I apologize.

First, I do not troll. I may ask things that some people may think are just to aggravate people. However, they are not. I do not know many things, but yet want to do it. So, I use this place to find out just how unsafe or just how difficult an idea is that I have.
These 2 pages have helped me see some flaws with what I think. I then will alter my plans and do things differently, or not even do it.

The ocean rarely gets above 55F. It also has a mess of currents depending on where I go. i also do not want to get in the way of other divers. I also actually do not like salt water, and would spend less time actually in the water.

Maybe what I am talking about is freediving. Where does swimming on a breath of air, and freediving actually differ?

 

[Arubandi07]

Are you referring to swimming underwater, or surface-swimming under breath hold?

 

[Hank49]

First, I do not troll. I may ask things that some people may think are just to aggravate people. However, they are not. I do not know many things, but yet want to do it. So, I use this place to find out just how unsafe or just how difficult an idea is that I have.
These 2 pages have helped me see some flaws with what I think. I then will alter my plans and do things differently, or not even do it.

The ocean rarely gets above 55F. It also has a mess of currents depending on where I go. i also do not want to get in the way of other divers. I also actually do not like salt water, and would spend less time actually in the water.

Maybe what I am talking about is freediving. Where does swimming on a breath of air, and freediving actually differ?

Free diving would be just that.....diving down and not just swimming on the surface holding your breath

Do you have ocean experience? Free diving in currents is getting pretty advanced, especially in not so good vis.

good idea using floater. Easy to keep track of your buddy if you're both diving the line one up, one down.

listen to your body. Don't push it without a very experienced buddy safety diving you.

 

[swimmer_spe]

Are you referring to swimming underwater, or surface-swimming under breath hold?

Swimming down, then surface.

 

[Arubandi07]

Swimming down, then surface.

That is free-diving ... And since you'll be using fins to get down and back up, your approach would fall under the "constant weight with fins" category, except that you're not intending to use weights:headscratch:...

My 2c: Consider and follow all of the excellent advice given throughout this thread, so far, and you'll be OK ...

 

[Subcooled]

So, if someone was just floating on the water, they wouldn't be for long.

After three minutes, they would be too late.
Plus, they don't know cpr.

Get a buddy and live long.

If you MUST do it, then at least do not hyperventilate. Three big breaths only and then - go.

 

[Adventure-Ocean]

You'll need a buddy every time and you will need time. I lived in a place where the locals could dive over 60 ft and sit and wait for a big fish to swim by. That's because they did this since they were children and developed their lung capacity. I moved to the island when I was eighteen and struggled to get to 20 ft. Over the years that improved greatly. We had a student come to the island and he also wanted to venture deeper while snorkeling. He went snokeling one day with friends who were snorkeling relatively close but the visibility that day made it easy to lose each other. The young man died from shallow water blackout. He wasn't found until the following day. He'd only been on island a month or two. For me, it took years to improve my depth and time. More than once I'd thought I misjudged and might blackout. Please be careful and listened to all safety advice being provided. It's a life and death thing... Adventure-Ocean

 

[Ouvea]

If you want to learn on your own, at least read the various books on the matter, such as the Manual of Freediving by former Italian freediving champion Umberto Pelizzari and Stefano Tovaglieri.

Having said this though, you're in British Columbia. You have a Freediving agency at your disposal, which is right in your back yard. Performance Freediving Inc. is just around your corner. I believe that they're in Vancouver. I have driven from Victoria to Vancouver, which is not too far away. Avail yourself the opportunity to learn the correct techniques from trained professionals. You will learn how to dive deeper, longer and SAFER!!! Why don't you just make a short vacation out of it. PFI has beginning freediving courses throughout the year. Yes, it's a lot of fun to move unencumbered, free of SCUBA of equipment.

If you can't equalize via Frenzel, don't bother with it. You will need to learn this technique before you take the class.

This video will show you the dangerous nature of Freediving.

NSUC: Samba and Blackouts on Vimeo