want to dive 100ft

[SpearoPimp]

I want to try to dive to 100ft (30m) in 3 to four weeks. The deepest I have ever gone is 65 but that was with a speargun and I stayed down there for a little. 50-60 ft dives are easy for me to do. I will be diving alot when I go home for christmas break and i hope to achieve the 100ft mark. I understand that I should work it up day by day, do 70 then 80 then 90 then 100. I stopped training for 2 weeks b/c of an injured diaphragm or abdomen or whatever, but its all better now and I am resumeing my training.

MY questions is what kind of training should i be doing right now to help me achieve this goal? and how will i know if i am ready to dive 100? right now I run w/ apnea in the running. swim laps. and do static tables. I have up to a 5 min static I try to train 4 or 5 times a week. I also plan on switching the lap swimming to dynamic training if i can get my buddy to start up training again, if not i will go where there is a lifeguard and tell them to watch me closley. Am i doing the right kind of stuff?

Also what saftey measures should i take when attemting these deep dives? what kind of warm up should i do? breath up? have another freediver come meet me at 50 or 40 feet and follow me up? should i dive down a line? should i do the dive in water deeper than 100ft or in a spot where 100ft is the bottom? etc.

[Amphibious]

Not sure for training, but if you're hunting easy @ 60ft a 100ft touch-and-go should be no problem. I know this was the case for me where I was where you are.

When I hunt 70ft + I spend a hour or more diving in the 50-60 foot range before I even atempt the deeper stuff, for whatever reason this makes the deeper diving far more comfortable for me. I also Skip Breakfast. again, not sure why, but I seem to have a much easier time diving deeper on an empty stomach. maybe one of the super freediver's here can fill in the gaps/ expain more on this.

Good Luck!

[Murat]

Amphbious,

I also used to fastening beofre diving which help me to hold my breath longer but after i read Pellizari's book which says fasting is big NO before diving i stoped it.

He suggest rich easy to digest carbohydrate and some little protein before diving like piece of cake, bread etc..If you don't have much time beofore diving don't eat things that are hard to digest which will put you body in "digestion" state while diving.

Speropimp,

As Amphibous said if yuo can hunt easily 50-60 feet, then 100 feet is not a big deal with little less bottom time. Be sure that there is someone on the surface watching for you and give it a try when you are physically and meantally ready.

[efattah]

A guy in Canada died after telling the lifeguard to watch him during apnea training. The lifeguard agreed to watch him.

The guy blacked out underwater and the lifeguard had no idea.

Don't rely on the lifeguard!

[cdavis]

Hi Spearopimp,

You should have no problem with most of what it takes for 30 m or quite a bit more. You probably will run into some strange chest stuff around 70-90 ft. This is where most people get down to residual volume. It gets harder to clear, sometimes your chest might "heave", generally feels pretty odd. Just takes practice and the strangness goes away. The only thing I know to help you know what it feels like is doing negatives in the deep end of the pool. If you are not familiar, do a search and read up on the potential problems. You can hurt yourself with negatives. Go slow.

Other than that, remember to look straight ahead, not down. Hard habit for a spearo to break, but it is way more streamlined,will help you go down much faster and easier. Diving down a line is much easier to begin with. General dive pattern(not the only one), surface dive with an arm sweep, kick hard to 30 ft, light to 60 feet, glide to 100. A buddy is, of course, required. Have him meet you at 30 ft.

Do the dive in more than 30 m. Breath up like you normally do for a deeper dive. A couple of real slow free imersions will help kick in the dive response. There's other things to do, but you probably won't need them for this dive.

Good luck

Connor

[SpearoPimp]

Originally Posted by cdavis

Other than that, remember to look straight ahead, not down.
Connor

yea i usually do look straight ahead even while hunting, unless there is a specific fish i'm diving for.

what about weighting? 7lbs usually get has me neutrally bouyant at about 25 ft, this is what i use for hunting. how should i wiegh my self for the 100 ft attemp?

[Absolute]

If you want to dive deeper and want to know how to do it right and safe then take a clinic. You will learn everything you need to know. Then you can teach your safety divers in the proper rescue technique after the clinic and keep increacing the depth. 100 feet is no big deal. 200 is your mark. Check out PFI's website. Hell you are in Miami! Janurary buddy.

[Kars]

Like posted above, have a capeble buddy, very important. Practice the safety proceture beforehand!

Go slow and let your body be your guide instead of your ego.

Go for the comfortable ride, take time to adjust to new sensations.

Practice the duckdive, posture and al the 'basic' stuff, there is usually a great deal still to learn and optimise.

Like posted above, have a modest breakfast that is more of a fluid nature. Banana's are very a nice addition in my view. Be sure to keep drinking enough before, during and after the diving.

Do a muscle warmup on the shore, followed by a mild stretch session. Include diafragm, chest and other maingroup muscles.

Make sure your suit is wel lubed and warm.

Use a guide rope, good vis, capeble buddy, head light.

We like to use a counterballast+lanyard system from 25m (75ft) and downward.
It's great when equalising fails, the vis is poor, etc.
Make sure the bottom end of the rope is coverd with a plate in order to prevent the lanyard form getting stuck.


I understand that you would love to make the 100ft, and I think you can do it with not much trouble, but please go as your body indicates. Stress is a killer, and consumes much oxigen you may fall short in the last meters.

Good way of learning new depths is to turn arround (slowly) at the deep point (say 75ft) and hang on your hand and try to relax the body, give in to the sea as they say. Don't do a static on depth, just a long moment just say 10-15 counts. Through relaxing you find there is lots of air for equalisation, and your body, your heart and you get familliar with the new depth.

As you progress, and grow you'll discover to do everything in slo-motion in a relaxed fluid fashion. This is when numbers are going to fade away, and the enjoyment of 'just being there' slides in.

Have a nice journey,

Love, Peace and Water,

Kars

[cdavis]

7 lbs sounds pretty heavy. How much suit are you wearing? Generaly, weight lighter for deep diving than spearing. Neutral at 10 m would be about right for a 30 m dive.

Absolute is right on, the best way to do this is take a course. PFs is great.

Connor

[SpearoPimp]

Originally Posted by Absolute

If you want to dive deeper and want to know how to do it right and safe then take a clinic. You will learn everything you need to know. Then you can teach your safety divers in the proper rescue technique after the clinic and keep increacing the depth. 100 feet is no big deal. 200 is your mark. Check out PFI's website. Hell you are in Miami! Janurary buddy.

yea those clinics are too expensive though, I have pelizarris book and the advice of others to go off of.

Originally Posted by cdavis

7 lbs sounds pretty heavy. How much suit are you wearing?

a full 3 mil w/ hood. I also take a disposable underwater camera w/ me that has alot of air in it.

[cdavis]

Clinics sound expensive, but what other sport can you get personal instruction for a world record athelete for any where near that price. If you live near a clinic and are reallly into freediving, it is a no brainer. Save the money.

Given your skills, I don't think you will have much trouble with 100. Its what comes later. The lure of greater depth is hard to resist and pretty soon you can be in territory that where untrained natural ability runs short. Keep going and you can get in bad trouble. A clinic can give you the skills to get much deeper and do it in a way that keeps you alive no matter what depth you dive.

My 2 cents

Connor

[fcallagy]

Hi spearo just a thought but lots of people do fre immersion warm ups prior to diving to a depth. Set up your line and pull yourself down and back up. I found I could control it a bit easier as I wasn,t dropping so fast and could spend more time compensating. I found i dropped/pushed too fast with fins the first time and had trouble eqaulizing but on the rope found it more controlable.
Regards Feargus

[lungfish]

Of course, taking the class is the best way to go. You might get there while doing it, several people in my group did.

I didn't but got there later by working up to it over an hour or so. You have all the static time you need. Figure a little less than one half your static time as your total down time if swimming calmly. All things being equal and you ventilate, breath-up, and are in diving mode after a good warm-up, you should be able to do it. If you descend at one meter per second you should hit 30meters in 30 secs +or-, and have plenty of time for a comfortable ascent.

Another more graduated aproach is to count your kick cycles to 33ft. Then count them to 66ft. Then do a dive kicking hard while counting to 33ft to get through your neutral point (which should be 33ft), then easy kicking to 66ft, then sink phase to two equalizations before turnaround. Then dive and sink to four equalizations.... check your depth because you will probably be close to your goal.....and so on until you break through below 100ft.

There is a point where pressure will give you a false message to turn around, compression on your stretch receptors in you diaphragm, if you ignore it for a few feet, you will get comfortable.

Equalizing is the key, along with a good, knowledgeable preparation and breathup.

Good luck and make certain you have someone with you when you do it.

Lungfish.

[PoseidonSv]

Remember to equalize before and not after you feel that you have to do it.

I think this is the most common misstake when beeing a newbie.

[primalpete]

yo spearopimp we can do some training while up at school. I am going to attemp to break 100 this week before i leave for tally. Ive hunted in the 80s so i think i will be ok. Ill tell you how it goes.