[speareasy]

Hi ... I have been spearfishing for quite some time and used to consider myself as being relatively good at staying a long time underwater. I usually spearfish in oil rigs and do a dive to about 60 feet then wait around there for a while and then if I see something I take a shot and depending on the size of the fish or how active the speared fish is I either let go of the gun (attached to a top float) or swim up with it. I always felt like I was down for quite a long time ... but apparently not. This year the weather has been bad and I have not been able to go spearfishing ... so I decided to practice in a swimming pool. So I put all my gear (including unloaded speargun) and started swimming laps underwater. I was shocked when I was not able to make even 3 laps of 25 meters each. I feel uncomfortable on the second turn and have to come up at 3/4 of the way on the 3rd lap. So I guess I am going around 65 meters. I could probably push 3 but I am doing this alone and don't want to risk anything. I also checked my time ... I can only swim around 75 to 80 seconds before I feel uncomfortable. I know that when I am spearfishing I can stay much longer than that ... yet in a freshwater pool I feel I cannot do it.

Is it something with saltwater that makes you stay longer ... maybe saltwater is less strenuous to swim in? Is there a way where I can improve my time ... say to 120 seconds without any danger? I see a lot of posts here about "static apnea" but I really am not interested in that since I need it for spearfishing. I don't want to hyperventilate since my brother almost drowned in one trip when he had shallow water blackout, but a safe way to improve my staying time longer. Maybe increasing lung capacity or better breathing techniques? Any help would be greatly appreciated.