Finished Intermediate Performance Freediving course

    I finished my intermediate Performance Freediving course this weekend and it was the best 4 days and money ever spent, the education, safety and breathold techniques learned are incredible and Mandy and Kirck along with Ted, Erin, Ren and Ashley were the nicest people you can find anywere. I just wanted to tell people how good the course is, for those that have taken it you know exactly what I mean and for the others who have not, please do it, save the money for the course because it is so worth it, the safety and rescue techniques are priceless alone and the tricks to diving deeper and longer on 1 breath are incredible.


    I went from a 3:00 min breathold to a 5:30 static in just 1 day of training and my max depth attained during open ocean was 107ft, I could have easily made the 130 mark I was shooting for because I came up clean in my recovery breaths no problem but could not equalize my left ear at 107 so I turned the dive. Still I am more than happy for my accomplishments and hope everyone here can one day take this course, you will not only be amazed but have a great time and meet some even greater people.


    Safe diving to you all.

    awesome write up. i very much want to take one of these classes, time and money have just not allowed me to yet...thanks and congrats for your new skills, use them safely and responsibly

    i like to spear fish

    Thanks LB, yeah I will cherish what I learned, especially the safety aspects and rescue, there priceless. The tips on how to hold breath longer and deeper are incredible, really makes a difference. They teach the physiology of the body and why we can do what we do and what is happening to the human body during apnea, they teach blood shunt, thoracic filling, baurotrama and much much more. They also teach what is called negative pressure dives to similate depths from 66ft to 130ft and to 200ft, these really are cool and slow your heart rate down to an incredible slow beat all the while doing the grouper call to get air from lungs to equalize. The mammilian dive reflex tips to speeding up the process instead of doing several dives or at least 30 minutes or more of continous dives before it kick in are fantastic, it only takes 15minutes of your time and you are ready for some serious depth and bottom times.
    Another great thing that suprised me and made it all that much more incredible was that Ren Chapman and Ashley Futural were there as instructors (congrats to them for passing), Ren and Ashley have some great videos of there spearfishing adventures and really know what there talking about so having them as instructors and also the spearfishing tips I got from them were priceless, thanks Ren and Ashley. Here is there video page for those interested.



    http://www.vimeo.com/user884211/videos/sort:date Vimeo page


    http://www.youtube.com/user/co…lay/uploads/6/A3EcZX-xGpQ youtube page

    Edited once, last by black1 ().

    black1---Congratulations:thumbsup2:
    Outstanding freediving
    Be safe


    [I'm with LB. Someday I'll be able to take the course.]


    BTW Is there an age limit for Level 2? I'm 59 last week.


    Happy Birthday Hau.


    Cheers, Don

    Happy Birthday HAU and no no age limit that I know of, they said that in there last intermediate course a 65 year old man did a 6:40 static!!!!!! yep I said 6:40 static at 65, you should be good to go my friend.

    I will tell you why people do so well in PFI and FIT classes for the first time.


    1) You are there to push your limits. You will obviously do better than you ever have especially with trained people there to protect you.


    2) You are going down a straight rope to targeted depth. This is huge because when we spearfish or freedive without a rope, we swim down to 60ft at an angle. So its probably 70-75ft in actual distance or maybe more.


    3)Static. You really have to hyperventilate a lot to get a good time since you build up so much CO2.


    You really aren't going to hold your breath longer after this class. They basically teach you techniques to get deeper mainly by being streamlined and not by a 4 day magic breath hold.


    Is the class worth it? Yes. They teach safety techniques and diving techniques that will for sure improve your diving over time. But don't expect hitting 100ft in the class and then going out there and expecting to spear in 100ft or even 80ft.


    Time in the water and especially deep diving will improve your breathhold.

    Harry, I agree with everything you said except for whether it's worth it. The value of that information depends on the individual receiving it. I like your point about coming down on an angle and to a targeted depth. When we swim down to hunt there is always an element of indecisiveness, scanning the bottom and being ready to change direction if we see a fish, this takes more energy and air. I deleted my previous post, reading it again I didn't feel it added anything to the thread.

    If i'm blacking out, i prefer the person saving me to have taken the class.


    I was already a deep diver before i took the class, and I still learned useful diving techniques.

    Finning technique. Davie is a perfect example. He used to have bad finning. Now, he fins really smooth and efficiently. He is diving deeper than I've ever seen him. He is getting to the bottom with less effort.


    Recovery Breathing


    How to grab someone when they are passing out. There is a certain correct procedure you do to grab someone quickly.


    Keeping your body, arms, head, speargun, ect. tucked and streamline until target depth.


    Make sure you suck the air in the mask on ascent.


    I have take both classes and the advance class is really not necessary for what we do. If you have the cash, take it for fun.

    I think also someone has to physically show you and correct you on diving techniques for learning. You can't really read about it and go out and do it well. I guess you can, but results are much better when a pro is showing what to do. That's why the class is good too.


    Btw, Davie likes carbon :thumbsup2:

    I think it depends on whether you're the kind of person that's conscious about your diving technique and willing to experiment. Even now from time to time I alter my kicking and posture to see how it affects my descent and ascent on a given day. There's only so much you can change, legs straight or bent, short fast kicks or long slow ones. The other day diving with Rolo I had fun discovering how much propulsion I can get out of the Pathos footpockets/carbon blade combination by finning with just the the tips of the fins. In the end you can tell the difference on your own when it works. I agree that if you're not inclined to experiment an observer can be helpful. I often see guys taking a ridiculous angle on a descent and I'm pretty sure they're not aware of it, in those cases I try to give them a heads up.

    "But don't expect hitting 100ft in the class and then going out there and expecting to spear in 100ft or even 80ft."


    Absolutely not!!...what it does teach you as far as breath up, finning, streamlining, negative pressure dive warmups and most importantly SAFETY is priceless, even if you are a really good spearo and have been diving for a long time I believe this course will make you a better more safer diver afterwards because of the tools they teach you. Whether or not you will land more fish at depths or hold your breath for longer in currents or swim down perfectly straight each time is questionable, but, again those techniques will be in your mind always ready to be put to use if you wish.



    Bottom line is the course is worth it, great people and fun times.

    "3)Static. You really have to hyperventilate a lot to get a good time since you build up so much CO2."


    No not really, 5 purge breaths followed by 2 to 4 relaxed breathing is not hyperventilating, you have simply done a gas exchange and then returned to a normal breathing pattern before holding. If someone is doing 10 real fast inhales and exhales with pronounced exhales then that is hyperventilating and yes you can get some long times but very dangerous for any real diving of course. I believe it is more in the concentration or meditation of the holder.

    Quote from black1

    "3)Static. You really have to hyperventilate a lot to get a good time since you build up so much CO2."


    No not really, 5 purge breaths followed by 2 to 4 relaxed breathing is not hyperventilating, you have simply done a gas exchange and then returned to a normal breathing pattern before holding. If someone is doing 10 real fast inhales and exhales with pronounced exhales then that is hyperventilating and yes you can get some long times but very dangerous for any real diving of course. I believe it is more in the concentration or meditation of the holder.


    You inhale faster than normal for 1 min before the hold. I took the pfi class last year. If you want to call it something else than hyperventilate, thats ok too.

    Greek I stand corrected, yes we did hyper for 1 minute, i was thinking about our Ocean dives and the 5 purges then resume regular breathing till you feel comfortable to go. My bad, thanks.

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