Freediving Death...

[ocean_314]

After reading these posts I would like to add my 2 cents. I am a freedriver on the Norcal coast. Up here it gets rough and those divers that take risks eventually suffer the consequences.
I dive solo and take no risks, period. I don’t dive deeper then 30ft or so. Never dive unless it’s calm and never dive around any kind of boat traffic. But it’s the ocean so I have the luxury of choosing where I dive.
Why solo? Because I like to swim, I don’t use a tube just strap a stringer, my ab iron and bag to a second weight belt. My regular weight belt had pockets which I fill with used tire weights and if I get tired or to much weight from abalone I just drop some weight and float. This is a different way to dive around here and not many are in physical shape to do it.
And I have a world class place that I keep secret, very secret. Lots of fish, so many that at time I will hand feed them. And some big fish to 30 lbs. Lots of abalone and if I want I can swim with the harbor seals all in a safe protected place. Very very very secret.

[cdavis]

Eric and Laminar have raised the 64 million dollar question. I wish I had an answer. It is like sex, people are going to dive alone (me included) and without what is considered good safety protocols. I used to think being safe should be easy, just don't "push it". I pushed it for years and never had a problem except for a couple of vision sambas when I was a damn fool teenager and Really pushing it. Why shouldn't that do? However, after following DB for a while and reading more than a few reports of divers early in training having sambas and BOs and experianced divers having the same at times where they didn't think they were pushing the limits, I'm don't think "not pushing it" is enough. I suspect there is a wide individual and situational variation in suseptability to low 02 problems that will be next to impossible to predict.

This seems like a prime area for some physiological research, maybe incorporating both novice and experianced divers, breathing rates, blood flow, dive response and who knows what else, looking at how far you can push and be SURE not to be near a problem. Maybe some protocols could be developed from that. Its one heck of a great goal, however hard it may be. Definately needs talking about.

Connor

[Gillz]

Hey guys!
Thanks for all the replies and info! This has really turned into an interesting thread. Ive decided (since im doing just recreational diving) that im going to play it kinda easy. I still love to push myself a bit here and there, but for the most part, Im going to try and just enjoy a couple of minutes underwater. ive got way to many years ahead of me to throw it away now.

[Fondueset]

If I allways dove with a buddy I'd dive about 3 times a year. Nobody but my daughter dives here - and she's busy with school. I literally would not be able to dive enough to justify the gear.

[jome]

Ok, now that the cat's out of the bag, I would like to hear what are good practices for diving solo.

I get asked that question pretty much every time I present the "never dive alone" rule. I have formulated it somewhat to "never dive alone if there are ANY performance oriented dives". Then I explain that if one chooses to dive solo, please use common sense and then explain what are the risks of doing so. I know I cannot force anyone to buddy dive, even if it would be convenient for my own ass. But I will damn well try to make sure that they have at least been warned about the most common pitfalls.

But the problem is, very much like with teenage sex or drugs or what ever, even with the open minded "common sense" approach, you just cannot reach everybody. There are always those gung-ho types that will go and do it no matter what you say. For them I can do very little except wish good luck and hope that they eventyally come to discover by them selves after years of diving what I could have told them in five minutes...

Personally I believe that a certain amount of controlled limit pushing is good for knowing how you can be safe (alone or with a buddy). And a certain amount of experience is essential too...

I like to teach that even with a buddy, the diver is 100% responsible for their own safety. No one is responsible for you, but your self. The safety systems and protocols are just to cover the buddys ass, so to speak. But I guarantee you that every time you go down, he is just hoping that everything goes fine and he can start his dive too. The buddy is not your personal safety system. It's just a guy who likes to dive too and hopes he never has to lift a finger to help you...But hopefully is able to if there is an accident (the definition of an accident being something that happens unexpectedly, not something you are waiting to happen. Getting in trouble without "having an accident" is just being stupid or ill informed).

Now, I cannot avoid the cliche...But diving can never be 100% safe, or sex, or driving a car...But using common sense one can make it several fold safer than without it

I think even more than with the teen sex, there is an analogy with drugs. At least in Finland, the way to tell kids about drugs used to be to scare them to death with stories about how even one puff from cannabis will send you in a downward spiral ending up a toothles dead prostitute or something like that. All well and good, most kids stayed away from 'em. But like always, some damn daredevils just had to try pot and then tell the others "hey, I did it...I didn't die or anything, just felt kind of silly..." After that, the reaction is "so, what else have they been lying about?!?". The whole credibility of the parent/teacher front crumbles to pieces that very instant.

So the very same with diving...I try to avoid putting my self too high on my moral ivory tower simply because I know some of them will try it anyway, and I would like to retain at least some level of credibility as "a guy who knows stuff" But as an instructor, you have to be in tune with the students and constantly sort of sense what kind of student you are dealing with. For some the moral sermon will work the best. That's what they expect form an instructor - set of guidlelines written in stone for "doing it right". Others, well they don't respond well at all to such approach. As I believe that an instructors most important job is to give who ever is willing to listen, as much information as possible to help keep him alive, I will then adapt usually to a different style and approach the subject more subtly. But you cannot just teach a class of mindless drones, or at least I can't and don't want to...Everyone get's something different (depending how receptive they are), but I hope they are all a little bit safer after than they were before...Sometimes you can just spot the guys that you would have as a buddy any day without any training what so ever. You just know they are responsible and know what they are getting into from the first minute. That rare breed that you just have to instantly treat as a friend instead of a student. And you know that they will find their own way, no need to lecture too much..If there's something unclear, they will ask. Regretfully, that attitude, that thing that is the most important thing for a diver, I haven't yet found out how to teach. I guess they are born with it, or then their parents just did a better job or something...I don't know. But I think there is definately a difference in teaching freeidiving to the masses and teaching it to the latter kind of person.

Now, what was I talking about and what did it have to do with anything...Ramble ramble

[Spaniard]

I have been freediving (as a spearo) for nearly thirty years and almost always alone. I have never experienced a blackout or felt dizzy or had to leave the water for any other reason than cold/fatigue/lack of fish etc. Until I stumbled upon DB and had a course at the SETT facility I knew nothing about SWB, Sambas etc. etc. Have I been extremely lucky all those years ? Do some of us intuitively understand our limits underwater and therefore less prone to risk? I haven't changed my spearing habits much since taking the course although I would never attempt deep dives without buddies; I wouldn't have done beforehand either......

[deep thinker]

It seems to me that what it boils down to is knowing your own restrictions and abilities. Improving them in a sound environment and acting responsibly as we would while driving a car, crossing a street or something like that.
Like Jome said for some this comes naturally others have to learn the hard way and some of them arent as lucky as others to actually survive to tell about the lesson they have learned. For myself I also havent heard of all these technical ways to die in the water untill I joined DB and a underwater club that directed me to a guy that does the freediving courses, I too havent changed much when it comes to how I hunt and act when Im in the water as I personally think Im pretty responsible and know what I can do or cant for that matter, but my diving style did change for the better I hope. For spearos its mostly hard to dive with a buddy so we have to adapt a more self preserving attitude when it comes to diving opposed to someone who freedives just for depth and u/w time with a buddy always present, not that Im saying they take chances, as I dont actually think they do, they act with the same respect to water and their personal limits as all water users they have just trained themselves to bigger times and deeper limits, as most dedicated divers could probably do if they wanted too.
So yea, know your own limitations and if you want to push them be sure to have a safety net at hand that can save your ass if the need arises, also be sure you can do the same for them...
Save Diving

[gman]

Originally Posted by ocean_314

And I have a world class place that I keep secret, very secret. Lots of fish, so many that at time I will hand feed them. And some big fish to 30 lbs. Lots of abalone and if I want I can swim with the harbor seals all in a safe protected place. Very very very secret.

Sounds like Gerstle cove

[ocean_314]

Gerstle cove, no thats not the place. I never heard of Gerstel Cove where is it at?

[ocean_314]

i just did a search the place i dive is not on any map and does not have a name that i know of.

[Fondueset]

I think part of the safety factor comes from motivation - that is; Why do you dive?

I've been freediving since I was a kid - with a huge hiatus of several decades. I was certified for scuba when I was 16. I freedive because I love being underwater between breaths. To this day I get so excited when I'm going diving that I sometimes have to chew ginger to calm my stomach. I look at my wetsuit, in the back room on it's drying rack, with amazement and wonder at the fact that I actually get to use it. It remains nearly unbelieveable to me that, several times a week - with a five minute drive I can park in a secluded spot, with very few people around, and just step out into the underwater world.

When I am under water all the drive, competitiveness, worry, and other crap that constitutes the surface social world is stripped away - like an oily film that floats off of me as I submerge. I have nothing to prove under there and every thing I do to increase the time I can stay below is done purely for the joy of it.

If I start to feel scattered, driven or tired I take a long, slow surface interval until my breath and being are completely at ease. Sometimes, if I am cold or tired, I'll hang in shallow water and study the colors and brilliant details there.

A couple of days ago I just hung out, motionless, in the rocks along a breakwall, watching a pair of large laketrout not 8 feet away, going round and round in circles in and out of a cave in the rocks as a shimmering latticework of rainbows made by waves and sunlight moved across the green and yellow of the rocks. A cormorant swam along right next to my head - alternately looking at me with one eye on the surface and sticking his head under to check me out there. After a restful surface interval I dove to around 8 meters and nestled into the rocks. The big trout began to come in after a minute or so - swimming 8 or 10 feet in front of me. I looked up and there was one so close to my head that I could clearly see the details of the underside of it's gills. One of these normally very skittish fish came close enough that I touched it - pushing it gently away from the camera. It's just amazing under there - and there is a huge difference in what happens depending on your state.

I like to push my limits and exercise will - but solo recreational dives are not the place for it. It's like the polarity between concentration and awareness - concentration is exclusive - awareness is not. For me recreational diving is mostly about the latter. Of course I have to work pretty hard at times to get pictures and this is why I put rules in place for myself - so I'm prepared to just let go of whatever is going on and surface.

[gman]

Originally Posted by ocean_314

Gerstle cove, no thats not the place. I never heard of Gerstel Cove where is it at?

Sorry, I was majorly tongue-in-cheeking. Gerstle cove is a park/preserve in Sonoma county. The conditions you described sound almost too good to be true. You are a lucky diver to have found that. Many of the local dive classes go to Gerstle for their open water experiences. You cannot take game there so the abs are huge and the fish are friendly. Also, you can find lots of weight belts if you look hard enough

[naiad]

Originally Posted by jome

I think even more than with the teen sex, there is an analogy with drugs. At least in Finland, the way to tell kids about drugs used to be to scare them to death with stories about how even one puff from cannabis will send you in a downward spiral ending up a toothles dead prostitute or something like that. All well and good, most kids stayed away from 'em. But like always, some damn daredevils just had to try pot and then tell the others "hey, I did it...I didn't die or anything, just felt kind of silly..." After that, the reaction is "so, what else have they been lying about?!?". The whole credibility of the parent/teacher front crumbles to pieces that very instant.

That's true. Scaring people with exaggerated horror stories doesn't achieve anything. The same about 'never dive alone', of course it is a good rule, but since there will always be people who break it, we have to find ways to reduce the risk, not to tell them 'go on then, drown yourself, see if I care'.

Fondueset, I think that's the best way of diving.

[Jon]

"with a five minute drive I can park in a secluded spot, with very few people around, and just step out into the underwater world."

Now that makes me miss living in Milwaukee. I uses to live two blocks from the lake and could pretty much jump in any time I wanted to. If it was too rough to dive I would go out for a paddle instead. When it got really rough I pulled out my boogie board and surfed the waves at a few prime beaches. There wasn't a day i didn't go by the lake because it was also the best darn spot to take my lab for a swim every night after work. On the weekends we would be out teaching students, running charters, picking up odd salvage jobs, etc.

Now I live 90 miles away and even though there are 4 lakes within a short bike ride of my house, they are all so crappy they can really only be enjoyed in the winter time- or early spring. Of course I live in a much nicer city for raising a family, but my diving has certainly suffered for it.

Since we're opening up about how we dive solo, and I'm waiting to hear more form Jome on how he does it, I will share some of the things I do.

First, is to buddy up with scuba divers and join with them on charters. I know that this doesn't keep me as safe as a good freedivng buddy, but i find that there are so many scuba divers around it's just easier to hook up with them- especially when out wreck diving.

Second, applies only to when scooter dive and that's to bring a spare air along with me. My scooter dives are so relaxed that I don't use much energy, but still don't let them get too long for DCS sake. If there's an issue i can go to scuba back-up and come back for the scooter later on. It's not full proof but then solo diving isn't by a long shot.

Last, is counting on contractions. This will NOT work for everyone.I don't advocate that anyone try it- but we're just relaying what we fool ourselves with while solo diving so this is mine. I DO get contractions and know how many I can tolerate on my statics- more than 100. Since I know that I get them and that I am used to so many when training, or diving with a buddy, I go for no contractions when solo diving. I have theorized, perhaps falsely, that this should keep me safe on shallower, recreational, dives. I know that one of my regular buddy's doesn't get any contractions and if he followed this advice it would surely kill him.

As I stated in an earlier post, these are all things that I have done in the past and as I have gone ahead and reproduced I have really started to shy away from all forms of solo diving.

Jon

[Fondueset]

Same here - generally 0 contraction diving. But as Jon said - not everybody has them - and they change even for the same person. Diving with scubies is a new discover for me. I did a bit of it this summer and it was fun - particularly on wrecks.