No Bubbles Course: Wellington 9th - 11th Nov 2007

[flying_spanner]

Hey there all,

As a few of you already know, I was away over the weekend to under go one of "No Bubbles" Beginer/Intermediate freediving courses held in Wellington. For those New Zealand readers who are contemplating doing the course, BOOK YOUR SPOT YOU WONT BE DISSAPOINTED.

Friday night I arrived at Splash Gordons dive shop at the appointed time of 6pm Introductions out of the way, and into lectures explaining what was to follow over the next couple of days. The lectures themselves were quite short and sweet, but not lacking on any information.

By 9pm we were done, which I was happy with 'cos I'd had a big week and any later would have been a bit of a struggle. After getting lost trying to navigate through wellington to my accomodation. I had a late tea and barely got an ounce of sleep as I was like the little kid on christmas eve.

9am Saturday morning kicked off at the Kilbernie pool with an hour of breathing exercises, (I didn't know breathing could be so physically demanding!!!) Next we got changed into our wetsuits and got into the water for a session of static breath holds that gradually built up to a final "as long as you can" static.

Everyone achieved good times of at least 3mins and we were all very surprised as how long we'd managed.

The rest of the morning involved Dynamics with fins and critiquing of technique. As well as diver recovery drills, getting used to diving with lanyards, and an exercise designed to "feel the burn" on half a breath at the bottom of the 5metre pool.

A quick bite for lunch, then a short drive around to Shelly Bay for the afternoon dives. The session involved mainly getting comfortable in the water, and gradualy working up to deeper dives. I finished the first day buzzing on a natural high, and feeling totally stuffed. But we still had all of Sunday to go!!!!

Sunday morning like the day previously began at the pool with more breathing exercises (that gave me more of a work out than a couple of hours at the gym). Then into the pool for another round of Static breath holds, most students improving on their respective times from the previous morning.

Dynamic swims with and without fins followed. The safety divers were excellent and we were encouraged to find our limits and maybe just a little further. A quick soak in the spa, followed by lunch, and then into vehicles for a short drive to Shelly Bay for the afternoon depth dives.

8 dives each to get even more comfortable at depth, and push a bit deeper than the day previously. Several of the students making 15 meters or deeper.

After the completion of the diving everyone headed back to Splash Gordon for a BBQ and debreif. Just like that the course I'd been looking forward to for two months was over and I got on the ferry back to the south island grinning from ear to ear.

My overall feeling is that, this course is one of the best things I have done in my entire life! Fran Rose (the instructor) is absolutely brilliant. My breath hold time/technique is greatly improved from what was before and it would have taken me years to build up to what I achieved over the weekend.

This course is a must for anyone wanting to improve in the sport of freediving, or even the avid spearo who wants to improve their already polished breath hold.

A huge thanks must go out to all the members of the Lazy Seals Freediving club who came out to act as Safety Divers/Coaches.
Kerryn, Cathryn, Dave, Paul Your efforts and advice are greatly appreciated and I look forward to diving with you again some day.

One final thing, After putting my name down for this course everyone I talked to before heading off to Wellington had nothing but good things to say about No Bubbles and the course. I share their opinoin.

Put me down on the long list as someone who will rave about this course to anyone who asks, as the whole experience was excellent.

[chrismar]

Good to hear it went well mate, Fran (f3dive) will be stoked at the unsolicited publicity

I found the atmosphere at the course to be very conducive to big performances. By contrast, new people that just come along to training don't achieve the same results for various reasons. My statics PB is still the one I set on the course... Though the rest has improved!

[f3dive]

Hey Jared,

Thanks for the glowing report. Nice to know we have made a difference to you and your freediving for the future.
It was a pleasure to meet and instruct you - feel free to contact me any time and best of luck on the engineering side of things.

Fran

[shoutatthesky]

There is something about Fran that really puts students at ease I think. Always smiling and encouraging. I had a great time on the course as well and still have my static PB at the level I set at the course.(My dynamic has improved a bit though)
Jared, I think you will find the freediving community in NZ is top notch.

Although some health problems have curtailed my involvement lately I know there are a bunch of awesome people on the scene to help guide us newbies into the wonderful world of Freediving. Hope we can catch up over the summer.

Keep up the good work guys!

[flying_spanner]

Originally Posted by f3dive

Hey Jared,

Thanks for the glowing report. Nice to know we have made a difference to you and your freediving for the future.
It was a pleasure to meet and instruct you - feel free to contact me any time and best of luck on the engineering side of things.

Fran

No Worries Fran, Thoroughly enjoyed the course.

I've started working on "the boss" (aka my girlfreind Megan) to get a pass to go on the course you mentiond in Nelson next year, so if all goes to plan I'll be able to put my name down when the time comes.

PS going out tomorrow to test my new skills and spear some fish. Also I'm working to convert a mate who's a scuba diver to freediving, I reckon if he spears a good size fish tomorrow he'll be hooked, which will be handy as I need a dive buddy.