[kronek67]

First off, I have never heard of someone popping a blood vessel in thier brain from holding thier breath. Yes, there are risk to holding your breath and breath hold diving. But like everything else, if you know the risk, it is easy to avoid.

Your time and depth are actualy better than I thought they would be. You said that you were not ready for something like the trip to Troy Springs. You are really at the perfect level for that trip. I have another diver going that is in the exact same place as you, and I'm expecting for him to do 50-60 feet in depth. Currently he has a P.B. of 25 feet, never done a static, and does 30-45 sec. dives. Sound familer. When I met him, he could not swim, and now he freedives. If you can not make this trip, then maybe we can set one up when you have the time and money. If needed, you can even make it a one day trip to save a little money. It is two hours each way, drive time. Also, if you have someplace to dive in your area, I could meet you in your area. I'll check and see what dive sites I can find there.

When you do your statics, are they on land or in the water? If you do them in the water, you will be able to hold your breath longer, but you also increase the risk greatly. If your fiance does not know what to look for or what to do if something happens, then she does not do you any good watching you. If you do them on land lying down, about the most that will happen is that you black out and have a nice dream. If sitting or standing, you could hit your head on something. And the contractions, they don't go away. Last night I had contractions for 1 min 20 sec during a breath hold. Not fun. Each contraction is worse than the first. You do build up a tolerence to the Co levels and increase the time before you have a contraction. Currently, I can go for about 1 min 25 sec before a contraction during a dry static.

Well, I have to go for now. I'll send you some information later that will help you with equalizing, contractions, and longer statics. Also, I would have no problem traveling to you, even just for a pool session. I would rather take a day to help you do better an be safer, than for you to hurt yourself trying to learn on your own.

Talk to you later,
Brian