Spearfishing blackout video

I'm not against the course. I'm against how fast an individual who have never freedived before can reach certain depths. There are things that (unfortunately) you learn by trial and error and other things that you learn by repeating over and over until it becomes "natural".

That being said, would I pay a course for my kids? Yes, but I will not let them dive without me until I am sure that they have their heads over their shoulders. And that doesn't happen after a one week training.

My older son (15) can dive 70' and I am scared as hell every time he goes underwater. To the point that I have forbidden him to dive if I'm not watching his dive. He complains but I told him: "Is my way or no way!". Period.

You guys looking to become better spearfishermen will believe what you set out to believe, regardless of the truth being presented to you in various ways and for your own good. You've been taken in by the hype and marketing, just as intended by the freediving gurus who don't have a clue about what a day out spearfishing is like.

You will now argue and defend your choice, without the experience of having gone through the course, or the diving experience which will allow you to separate the BS you'll be taught from what you actually need to be doing as a spearfisherman. After taking the course you will continue to defend and promote it, there is no other way, otherwise you'd feel like a fool for having spent the money (BTW I don't know where you're getting the $300 figure, all courses I know are $600-$700). And so the cycle is self perpetuating, and more aspiring spearos continue to get suckered in.

Freediving courses have nothing to do with spearfishing period, should be ridiculed and will be as long as I'm around. If you feel ridiculed it's your choice, no one pointed a finger at you. If you want to be honest with yourself, 6 months after taking the course, take a snapshot of your diving and then describe what exactly you incorporated into your diving from the course. For me it's nothing, zero, nada. Looking back at it I'll summarize the practical info presented in the course:

1. If you hold your breath for too long you'll pass out, and probably drown. Doh! I knew that. - of the curriculum is regurgitating this fact in various ways. But at the same time you're being encouraged to dive deeper and hold your breath longer, albeit "safely" :rolleyes1: Kinda weird and ironic when you really think about it.
2. Have a buddy watch your every dive, this increases chances of survival if you black out. Yeah, I knew that, unfortunately it doesn't work out that way %99 of the time.
3. To increase depth and bottom time, dive straight down not on an angle. True! But I just told you that, for FREE!

Not that I'm against instruction. I'm all for a practical freediving course that will benefit the spearfishing community, and even have a standing offer for free advertising on Speardiver forum for any instructor that teaches a course geared for spearos. So far no one has taken me up on it. It looks like any instructor with dedication to this cause is drowned out by the trendy PFI, FII, Immersion etc. making his business not viable. It's a real shame.

Quote from Dan

Not that I'm against instruction. I'm all for a practical freediving course that will benefit the spearfishing community, and even have a standing offer for free advertising on Speardiver forum for any instructor that teaches a course geared for spearos. So far no one has taken me up on it. It looks like any instructor with dedication to this cause is drowned out by the trendy PFI, FII, Immersion etc. making his business not viable. It's a real shame.

Ive heard of one guy over in S. Africa that offers spearos a true speardiver beath hold coarse. His name is Trevor Hutton, check him out on youtube. This guy hunts at 171' and I think he's the world record holder for deep dive spearfishing on a single breath. I think here in America its more hype & gimmick and so a coarse like that would be hard to come by. If that guy was teaching here I would give it a serious look.

Chase

I took an FII course about 2 years ago and have not regretted spending $300 for it. It's up to the individual diver however to actually use the info they learned. I pushed my limits in that course only because I had my instructor directly over me and ascending with me when I got to 30' on the ascent. Even though I learned to dive deeper, I still rarely push myself to that limit. I don't enjoy being uncomfortable. Although gaining more depth and learning how to breathe properly was what I was hoping to get out of it, the best thing I learned from that course was the open water rescue scenario. We had to simulate blackouts and LMC's and take turns rescuing the diver.

It was valuable information for me as I had one of my buddies have an LMC on a deep dive in big island. I watched him on his ascent (didn't care less about the fish) and saw his manner kind of change, when his lips were blue, I went over to him to keep his airways out of the water and snapped him out of it. That's why I feel like at least for me, it was worth the money.

I have to agree. My roommate and I both took it. I got snagged on the shooting line of the floating gun of a holed up grouper after a failed attempt to retrieve him. I got caught 5 ft from the surface low on air. The single thought that came to mind when it happened was "it's ok if I black out, Nick is right there." I was able to stay calm because of it and able to untangle myself. I knew he knew how to handle such an event. I practiced it with him many times in the pool, and the ocean. I couldn't say for sure I would have panicked if we didn't, but had I not taken the class I think the situation would have been different. And mine too, was 300$. Increased my static by a minute, helped me understand what was happening in my body when diving, and of course preparing me for accidents and how to deal with them. What I didn't find necessary, and what I did find a waste of money was the 70$ extra to get taken out on a boat to dive a line to get the certification...(especially because my ears were shit and I wasn't able to equalize past 20' that day.) The 300$ though, I don't have many hard feelings about. If it was 100$, then I'd recommend it to anyone who occasionally dives, or is interested in spearfishing/freediving. But the cost makes it such by the time you take it, you probably have already researched half of the information they provide you(like the things already listed in this thread)

People have the right to make money/get paid for their work and set the price at what they think their time and effort is worth. I'm not bitching about the course being too expensive. It just has no value for me, I wouldn't sit through it for free. If I was just starting out freedive spearfishing, I'd learn more about my body and diving spending those 3 days in the sea alone instead.

Quote from Liquid

I got caught 5 ft from the surface low on air. The single thought that came to mind when it happened was "it's ok if I black out, Nick is right there." I was able to stay calm because of it and able to untangle myself.

I think this demonstrates the opposite. If anything you put yourself at risk because you assumed your buddy will save you if something happens. This is a bad product of a freediving course. You should always assume you're the only one responsible for your ass, and make that mindset a permanent fixture of your diving.

Quote from Chase

Ive heard of one guy over in S. Africa that offers spearos a true speardiver beath hold coarse. His name is Trevor Hutton, check him out on youtube. This guy hunts at 171' and I think he's the world record holder for deep dive spearfishing on a single breath. I think here in America its more hype & gimmick and so a coarse like that would be hard to come by. If that guy was teaching here I would give it a serious look.

Chase

That's an awesome feat. I would not pay to far in advance to take his class.

I'm glad this was posted, I was completely unaware of the causes of black outs while diving. I thought if I just stayed comfortably with in my limits I would be fine. Correct me if I'm wrong but apparently hyperventilating and or deep breathing before a dive tricks your mind/body into thinking that it has a greater oxygen supply than it actually does making you feel more comfortable with lower O2 and higher CO2 levels. Then its too late before you know it, and you black out. And apparently hyperventilating and deep breathing don't even increase your current O2 capacity which makes doing so more dangerous in the first place.

Continuing on I find all that information odd because from what I have read, written by a lot of freedivers or things written about free diving, it is generally supported to hyperventilate or deep breath before a breath hold or a dive to increase dive time.

Is what I previously stated how these black outs occur? Just curious as prevention is better than cure.

Now you need to take a course.