skin or free diving??

[ams511]

What is a good source of freediving information. I may want to try it to see if I like it before formal lessons.

 

[Thalassamania]

What is a good source of freediving information. I may want to try it to see if I like it before formal lessons.

It's kind of a Catch-22: You can't try it without being able to do it and most people can't do it without training.

 

[Cacia]

"The Manual of Freediving"...I am trying to learn now.

You can start with breathing exercises, things like that.

At some point early on, you need other freedivers. Unlike SCUBA, I would not solo.

Everybody tells me it's the bible. Umberto Peltizzari and Stefano Tovaglieri

Some basic Cressi long fins is about all you need. I use 4 pounds.

Maybe Google "Apnea Academy"

(There is a big clinic in a couple months in Kona, Thall.)

 

[freediver]

I give is a D-. The guy has insufficient lead (he floats up at his max depth), the weight belt is too long and flapping in the breeze, he demonstrates breathing up without a snorkel (which is inefficient), kicks too hard on descent, forgets a very important piece of gear: the knife, demonstrates mask clearing underwater which has near zero utility underwater for a freediver, the surface dive uses 2 legs out of the water (when most people now recommend a more relaxed method that uses only one leg).

C'mon man it's not THAT bad is it?
Regarding weight, remember he wants to be neutral at depth while freediving, not at the surface. Considering he is going to about 12 feet he probably will still be buoyant. What is wrong with breathing up without a snorkel? The primary reason to breathe up with a snorkel is to induce the mammalian dive reflex. I'm not convinced that was the aim of his video lesson. Kicking too hard? Yes, I think so too. It seems he could have been a bit more selective in his equipment. Mask clear u/w? I do it and sometimes simply to show the scuba diver that, indeed, a mask can be cleared 23 times on a single breath. I would also agree that a single leg surface dive is more efficient unless of course, you have a DPV to drag you down!

 

[garyfotodiver]

WOW!!! I have been the water for more than 40 years and I never knew there was a difference between snorkeling and skin diving.

Learn something new every day!

 

[Thalassamania]

C'mon man it's not THAT bad is it?
Regarding weight, remember he wants to be neutral at depth while freediving, not at the surface. Considering he is going to about 12 feet he probably will still be buoyant. What is wrong with breathing up without a snorkel? The primary reason to breathe up with a snorkel is to induce the mammalian dive reflex. I'm not convinced that was the aim of his video lesson. Kicking too hard? Yes, I think so too. It seems he could have been a bit more selective in his equipment. Mask clear u/w? I do it and sometimes simply to show the scuba diver that, indeed, a mask can be cleared 23 times on a single breath. I would also agree that a single leg surface dive is more efficient unless of course, you have a DPV to drag you down!

Yes, one wants to be neutral at depth (and buoyant on the way back up!). I findf that using a snorkel lets me stay in a more relaxed, face down position focused on the target of the dive. Sure one can clear the teeny-weenie masks like we use twenty to thirty times on one breath (as long as you stay shallow) but it's not something I do on many dives, I usually wait 'till I'm back at the surface if I've really flooded it ... OK, if I flood it I start up and clear it on the way up (if I'm deep).

The surface dive I see differently, since I'm positive I want the maximum driving force down, I don't want to have to pull with my hands, they're not as effficient as my legs and work in opostion when pushed forward prior to a pull, so I want both legs up, as high as I can. With a good dive, even ten lbs, positive, I'm down to fifteen feet without any kick.

 

[freediver]

The surface dive I see differently, since I'm positive I want the maximum driving force down, I don't want to have to pull with my hands, they're not as effficient as my legs and work in opostion when pushed forward prior to a pull, so I want both legs up, as high as I can. With a good dive, even ten lbs, positive, I'm down to fifteen feet without any kick.

Yea, just different schools of thought with the surface dive. I like to have a bit of forward momentum so I can roll into a single leg dive. I also believe the person in the video wouldn't have to work as hard to get down if they had an approprite fin but again, I don't think his aim is to show competitive freediving. With the right fin and a good kick, it doesn't take much energy to reach neutral depth. At that point you can begin a free descent, which is the greatest experience to me, as a freediver.
One thing I noted in the video lesson, on some of his descents his back seems terribly arched. Looks unrelaxed and non-streamlined. I'll give it a B for intent but a C- for effort.

 

[WI Scuba Dave]

WOW!!! I have been the water for more than 40 years and I never knew there was a difference between snorkeling and skin diving.

Learn something new every day!

People always need to reinvent the wheel. I think it's human nature.

To me 'snorkeling' and 'skin diving' is, and always will be the same thing.

I guess I always thought of "free diving" as applying to mostly deep diving/distance competitions on a single breath. Or going deeper and staying under longer than the average skin diver. Like you said...Learn something new every day!

 

[David Wilson]

In the early days, the US term "skin diving" corresponded to the UK terms "underwater swimming" and "sub-aqua", covering both breathhold and scuba diving. The manuals of the 1950s and 1960s with "skin diving" in their titles covered both kinds of diving. I believe the term "skin diving" was originally used to distinguish the activity from surface supplied "hard-hat" diving with helmets, heavy canvas suits and lead boots. To me, "skin diving" now seems a rather dated term which has been largely superseded by the terms "snorkelling" for recreational breath-hold diving, "freediving" for competitive breath-hold diving and "scuba" for diving with air tanks. Here in Britain, the national diving organisation is still known as the "British Sub Aqua Club".

 

[Craig Baumann]

Definitions of Skin Diving on the Web:

• [SIZE=-1]Another name for breath-hold diving; diving without the use of a breathing equipment (may include a snorkel).
  www.empirescuba.com/Information/Divers_Glossary/divers_glossary.html[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
• underwater swimming with a breathing apparatus
  wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn[/SIZE]

Definitions of snorkeling on the Web:

• [SIZE=-1]swimming while breathing through a snorkel and with the assistance of a mask and fins.
  [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
• Snorkeling is the practice of swimming at the surface of a body of water equipped with a mask and a short tube called a snorkel. It is a popular recreational activity, particularly at tropical resort destinations. Since snorkeling requires calm water (where there are no waves to splash into the snorkel), it is typically done in protected areas, such as lagoons. Snorkeling requires no special training, only the ability to swim and to breathe through the snorkel. ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorkeling[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]PADI makes a distinction between Snorkeling and Skin Diving, and by the definitions I found on the web which I display here, that distinction is generally supported by and understanding that snorkelers don't break the surface of the water. However, I have seen contradiction to the extent the two terms were used nearly interchangeably.

PADI teaches both and promotes applying the principles to an Optional Skin Dive during the open water weekend. It should be noted it is not encouraged to scuba dive within 12 hours of any breath hold dive or visa versa, so this dive is not mandatory within the stricture of the PADI open water experience.

Either way, diving in any capacity, I would rather be in the water right now than sitting at this desk.

Best to you...
[/SIZE]