Freediving vs Auto-Asphyxiation

[Alison]

Originally Posted by samdive

ha ha ha.... god I hate the whole soapy thing... certainly not that part that does it for me.. are you nuts????!!!

(fade to suicide blonde..................)

Must be cos I'm a northener Now if the men up here wear socks to bed, what is it the women wear?

(fade to "All night long".... Rainbow)

[Ocean Girl]

i think the whole buzz on diving is the "relationship" you can have with someone under water... the "knowing look" through the mask ....

[Fondueset]

Generally somewhat smaller socks.

Hey, on another note...Got my 5mm Elios out for the first time since last winter (which is when I got it). Last year I could barely get the thing on. The bottoms were fine - even with no lube - but the top! I'd be standing in a pool of hairconditioner - my shoulders threatening to dislocate as I struggled vainly to get my head in there. This year I inserted a small bucket through the neck hole for a few weeks first and voila! barely needed any lubeage and it's monstrously warm.

First dive in it set a new record for missed photo ops - one of those one-off days, but I certainly was comfortable.

Knowing look; You mean like this?

[Alison]

Originally Posted by Fondueset

Generally somewhat smaller socks.

Hey, on another note...Got my 5mm Elios out for the first time since last winter (which is when I got it). Last year I could barely get the thing on. The bottoms were fine - even with no lube - but the top! I'd be standing in a pool of hairconditioner - my shoulders threatening to dislocate as I struggled vainly to get my head in there. This year I inserted a small bucket through the neck hole for a few weeks first and voila! barely needed any lubeage and it's monstrously warm.

First dive in it set a new record for missed photo ops - one of those one-off days, but I certainly was comfortable.

Knowing look; You mean like this?

Well a smaller denier anyways

Seriously, you have that much trouble getting into your suit? Is it your hair? I use a swim cap to keep it together.

[samdive]

no Sara, not WHAT you are soaping up.. but WHO you are soaping up... : )

and just WHO I (or you for that matter) would like to be soaping should also be kept quiet I feel........................... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm there's a thought........

[island_sands]

Originally Posted by samdive

no Sara, not WHAT you are soaping up.. but WHO you are soaping up... : )

and just WHO I (or you for that matter) would like to be soaping should also be kept quiet I feel........................... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm there's a thought........

now ya talkin'!
a list of potential F-divers to soap up before a dive.. now here i go with my usual boring hot-list:

1. Ali (no that's not Alison!)
2. F....?
3. David Lee
4. Sam what's is name isn't bad either
5.

Your input...

[samdive]

you know my list!!! and I only share one of yours........

[Fondueset]

It was a nightmare I tell ya. But it was also my first freediving suit. I think the neck issue might've been my hair - I measured under it. But alot was just technique. I use basically the same method I use with my 3 mil now - just a little more care with elbow leverage. Elios is right - the black shadow lining doesn't really need much lube at all.

Swim cap is a good idea.



INXS - what a great band!


Soaping up...er

[Alison]

Do you put your head in first then your arms?

[Fondueset]

Yup. Last year I had to leverage the whole rig by putting both arms through at once. Somehow I've worked it out now so I do it exactly the way elios recommends - head - one arm then the other. It's a mystery why it would work for me before - perhaps my head has shrunk.

[Alison]

Maybe! The perils of spending to much time on the internet
Said the girl with the tiny head

[efattah]

When people ask me why I freedive vs. scuba, I give the following reasons:
- When Scuba diving, you rely on your equipment for air, and the equipment could fail at any moment, killing you (while freediving you don't rely on equipment for air, so this can't happen)
- In Scuba diving, if you follow your instincts, you die; your instinct in an emergency is to hold your breath and swim up as fast as possible, which kills you while scuba diving; in freediving, if you follow your instincts, you survive
- In freediving, you can stay down much longer than on scuba, and see more things, because you can accumulate WAY more bottom time during repeated dives
- In freediving you can swim much faster and cover a much larger area
- In freediving you can swim fast enough to play with seals/sea lions/otters
- In freediving you are more comfortable underwater because you aren't encumbered by so much gear
- In freediving you get to experience the extremely fun 'sinking' phase kind of like skydiving
- In freediving there is reduced risk of DCS (at least in moderate depths)
- In freediving there is no risk of embolism
- Freediving doesn't require expensive filling of tanks over and over
- Freediving doesn't risk contaminated tanks which can give you headaches or worse
- While freediving with friends, you can talk to each other about what you say, then dive again and go see again; while scuba diving you can't talk to your buddy in detail
- While freediving, during the dive itself (recreationally), you are down there alone, giving you a more profound solo experience where you can go where you want without worrying about where your buddy is at the same time
- Training for freediving makes you really healthy and sharpens your mind due to improved brain oxygenation (increased brain microcapillary density and widened carotid arteries, increased brain creatine phosphate & ATP)

[naiad]

Thankyou for summing it up! Useful ammunition for the next time someone says that freediving is dangerous and pointless and scuba is great. (I have nothing against scuba, but freediving is more my thing and I think it is a good and valid sport)

[Fondueset]

Less noise, way more intense.

I've been told i should use scuba when I'm taking pictures underwater, and maybe I will sometime.

But I think being between breaths is part of what's on the other side of the equation from the picture.

For the record - you cannot swim fast enough to catch salmon.

[cdavis]

Why Free dive?

From a practical point of view, its just a whole lot easier. Tank stuff is heavy, bulky and a lot of work to carry around, get serviced, etc. Having done a lot of tanking, after a while the work gets old. There are places that are not very conducive to freediving (for me) where the hassle would be worth it, but I choose to dive where freediving is good. Eric is right, more water time, see more, cover more ground, much easier.

There is also a deep emotional angle to diving that seems stronger when free diving, at least for me.

Connor