kelliedivesdeep:
Hello, I am a freediver seeking certification. I dread the bogged down diving setups and am looking for the most streamlined, simple setup so that I can go further. Is there place I can get the facts? Finding opinions and hearsay. Thank you.
Anyway you go, you're going to have more gear to Scuba than you will freediving.
Duh, Ken...
That said, it depends on what your current objectives are. Mine? Mad bottom time (BT) in our cold local waters - so I have very comfortable exposure protection (read Drysuit) and dive very large tanks (read: 130s.) I move very slowly, very efficiently and therefore burn my gas very slowly and see tons of stuff on every dive.
Does all of this stuff Bog me down? I don't think so. I'm able to don and doff it on large and small boats with heaving decks and get to the gate quite well. I'm able to walk great distances with this stuff. Up hill... both ways (!) I'm able to negotiate rocky entries and exits smoothly, able to get in and out of pounding surf easily. And the Sealions I flip and roll and spin with while wearing all this stuff underwater don't seem to think I'm too bogged down to come over and play with me.
Streamlined or minimalist doesn't have to mean small, unsafe or retro.
My point is: after freediving, wearing a tank and stuff will seem like you're pushing a bus through the water. But do you want 3 or 4 minutes down there, or do you want 60, 70, 80, or 90 minutes down there?
Its well worth the trade off, in my mind.
All that said - some gear configurations are more streamline than others. Me and my team dive DIR. This means wrist gauges, no danging console, no fluffy BC, no Octo reg crossing our chest, and lots of other stuff that is totally unrelated to gear.
If you're in HWD, you need to go see my friends at Hollywood Divers. Some pretty skilled people that have their heads on straight teach there.
Come dive with us. PM me anytime. We dive locally several times a week.
---
Ken
