Did a freedive course

  • Been a while since I have posted, just not motivated I guess, killed some fish had a few epic once in a lifetime experiences but havent been sharing :nono:... But at home at the moment playing nurse to my very sick gal dog so I decided to start with one thread I have wanted to do, especially this the month of our friend Nate passing while chasing a fish alone. To be clear I do 90% of my diving alone like he did, I know its retarded thing to do and so did he, but some cloth is just cut a certain way.
    Important to state I am a self taught freediver who has made it to 100ft depth before attending the class, my average bottom time was 1:10 once warmed up, and hunting seriously. My goals were with this course not to dive deeper( I dive where the fish are, thats my only goal underwater) but to dive safer, learn my limits safely, which I hoped would allow me more latitude and confidence while enjoying my hunting.
    During the restart of my freediving in 2013 I joined this site, I smoked over a pack of cigarettes for most of my adult life (27 years smoking), and so for obvious reasons I had not been freediving during those years. I had read all I could about freediving safely, and watched safety videos, this led me to believe I was fairly knowledgeable about freediving safety and rescue/recovery practices... (nuttin ah go so) I DID NOT! Please if it is available to you take a course, just for the rescue part its worth it. Now I don’t know if a instructor makes that much of a difference on a structured course, but I had Jonathan Sunnex aka Johnny deep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axz0cudHZTc . Dude does spear and is one of the most chilled individuals I have ever met; it truly was a privilege learning from one of the best on the planet.
    Anyway, I entered the AIDA course with certain prejudice gained mostly here on this site :D , one i still agree with, and thats about static breath hold
    What I took away?
    FORMOST, I have learned the basic skills of properly administrating first aid to fellow freedivers after blackout.
    I learned that for me static breathold is gay :laughing: I put nothing into that day and felt there was nothing there unless I wanted to compete as a freediver.
    Streamlining and proper form got me deeper faster.
    Learned some great yoga techniques to make me suppler, and to exercise my respiratory system, very cool stuff!
    But the most intriguing part was the diving below 100ft, I always thought equalization was only about your ears, as a diver who never had ear problems I never thought much about it. But below 100 ft it was all about my airspaces getting crushed :@, I guess being a above average size guy doesnt help. I would cruise to 100 ft easy but below that when the squeeze on my chest started I could not get past the 110, I would abandon and return to the surface completely relaxed with a shit load of gas in the tank, but crushed(pun intended) I had not reached anywhere close to my limits. I suppose if I felt this was a sport I wanted to pursue I would practice, and learn better equalization techniques to allow me to explore my limits. Maybe I will wake up and want to see how far my tired lungs, out of shape 46 year old body could go, but for now I am content.
    I now do 50 like I used to do 20 and last trip a couple of weeks ago I found myself at 70 without any real stress chasing a wahoo(failed) for 2 min!
    Conclusion: I can’t see how anyone who does a course (with a good teacher) would not walk away a better, safer diver. I feel strongly about this, it could save a life or give you the skills to save your buddies life.


    Now for some pictures from the course :)
    One day heading out a flying squid inked the boat!


    Molly got it full on :thumbsup2:


    Some last day blowing off steam and group shots, also me giving a good scratching to a new friend.


    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

  • :thumbsup5: One thing about the static….it taught me that I CAN hold my breath a lot longer than I thought. The good thing about that? If I think I'm out of air and get entangled….hopefully I'll remember as I'm patiently cutting myself free, "remember, I can hold my breath a lot longer than this". :)

  • We did dynamic co2 tables that taught me a whole lot more Hank. That shit is like marine boot camp, but man you take a lot away from it. We also did one session of static co2 tables, man that stuff is crazy!

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

  • Glad you took something away from it George. A guy I have dove with a couple times here in Louisiana just took a course and he's driving me a little crazy talking about all that co2 table stuff and with safety consciousness. I have to remind myself that those safety concepts really can be life saving, though.

    Scupper Pro Gives You Wings!

  • I would say the best thing Jake and I took from the course was Jake actually blacking out during the static breath holds. Being a hard headed, testosterone loaded, adrenaline addict….it was an eye opener and has certainly made Jake veeerrrrry safety conscious. And man, we lose too many fellow divers every year.

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