A Few Good Questions...

[cantillod]

Whats up DeeperBlue Family. Going into my 3rd summer of spearfishing and wanted to pick you PRO's on any advise/ techniques your willing to share that can sharpen our skills. With that said, SAFETY is ALWAYS FIRST and a FREEDIVING COURSE is on my PRIORITY LIST. Thanks in advance.

QUESTIONS
#1. How do YOU kick when diving? Is your goal to move straight down to the bottom without the typical 30-degree angle on descent? If so, how do you achieve this..?

#2. How do YOU make an efficient entry without wearing excessive weight?

#3. Kicking properly? Advise? The goal is obviously to use the least amount of effort to consume ones oxygen but is there any more advise than just that..?

#4. Proper hand position? Freediving and spearfishing..?

#5. Proper head position?

#6. How do YOU reduce surface area as you push through the water?

#7. Kick cycles? Elaborate please...
Once again guys, thanks for any and all advise. Corrective criticism is always welcomed...

 

[spaghetti]

When spearfishing there is no king's rule. Type of kicking, type of entry and duck dive, head and hands position, are all related to type of fish targeted, type of environment, depth, visibility, hunting techinique chosen for that specific target in that specific environment.
Here's why I'm afraid it'd take me too long to give you my opinion on all of the questions (maybe I'll try later if I finish early with work...)

Anyway, you may want to watch this Umberto Pelizzari mini-course linked below: many info's are very basic and elementary (especially in the first 2 minutes of the clip), but then some very good advice pops up about kicking, head position, et cetera...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37YxHKnMGoM]Basics of Freediving Umberto Pelizzari - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Kars]

Also before you dive allow your mind and body to slow and relax. Then try to retain that relaxation as you go down. Lower your heart rate and keep it low. Keep your head down until you become either close to the bottom or become neutral in buoyancy. Move in slow motion and keep the fin amplitude a bit tight.
Take an hour with a buddy to only practice water entry, duckdive - streamline - relaxation.
learn to relax all muscles on the surface doing easy shallow abdominal snorkel breathing.
For shallower dives, dive with less then full lungs.

If you can do hands-free, keep 'm to the side, otherwise to your nose with your arm folded in on the chest. Holding the head high up takes effort, induces stress, therefor hold the head down at least for the start of the dive.

Duck-diving is like rolling, lifting yourself over a bar, followed by straight legs in the air.
Practice in the pool targeting something on the bottom.

Share the fun,

Kars

 

[spaghetti]

Sure relaxation is the key.
As for duck diving, as a spearfisher you should take note that the style "legs straight up in the air and then all straight down" is basically the best, but not always, as it may scare the fish off.

There are situations when you'd better keep your shape smaller as is gets, get down quicker as possible to the closest rock to hide behind, or get down obliquely with the legs bent for a smaller shape, or obliquely but quick, or fall down motionless like a dead leaf soon as you get negative...

This does not mean that it' doesn't matter how you make it. It means, and that's the exciting aspect of UW hunting, that in any situation you must be able to find the best way to approach a fish or a fishy area.
So if there's a rule, it's don't let the fish feel your presence as aggressive, don't let them fear you're after them.

 

[esom]

although you did not ask for this, i feel the most important answer was given by kars:

take some extra time to explore some technique possiblities.

i´d ad: doing this alone can be very special and rewarding

 

[cdavis]

Kick style depends a lot on what kind of fins you like. Surface performance is very important for many types of spearing; an angled blade helps a lot. Most efficient is a straight legged kick, that requires a soft, railed blade, unless you are a gorilla. That type of fin is poor in maneuverability and miserable at acceleration, characteristics which may be very important to spearfishing. A stiff, non railed blade may be great at acceleration and maneuverability, but not very efficient. Your choice for the type of spearing you do. Personally, I've settled on Specialfin Kelpie mediums, no rails, slightly shorter that a pure freediving fin, and stiff enough to have good acceleration, but don't beat me to death. They require some compromise on efficiency and kick style (more knee bend). Again, you makes your choices and takes the inevitable compromises.

Connor

 

[Newbie_spearo]

I did a short one day course with a guy in melbourne Aus a while back. The things I took away from the course are as follows:
When diving down, if your objective is to reach the bottom, then the shortest distance will be vertically down. If you don't travel straight down you will waste oxygen by covering extra distance unnecessarily.
If spearfishing then hold your gun in front of you and keep your chin tucked in so as to reduce the drag, the purpose of your gun in front of you is so that your gun hits the bottom and not your head.
When kicking, keep your kicks short rather than long and exaggerated and if you want to dive faster simply increase the speed at which you kick, the reason for this is if you make long kicks your fin blade bends past its optimum angle and will create drag.
When duck diving I was told to only lift one leg out of the water as lifting 2 requires almost twice the effort and will burn up oxygen that would otherwise extend your dive time.
Spend at least twice the time on the surface as you do underwater but if your dives are only short then the minimum surface time should be around 2 minutes.

 

[cantillod]

Love all the responses family... My mind is soaking it all in & I will definitely apply them on my next outing (hopefully this week). Dont stop there, keep the info coming- knowledge is power and I'm ready to take my game to the next level..

Thanks again

Danny

 

[Whopperhead]

My best advise is................ Take a Freediving Class. You're in Miami and I know that Martin Stepanek's F.I.I. Freediving class is close to you. With a 2 Day class, they will teach you everything you need to know. It runs about $295 and I think they have classes in Miami from time to time. They are based out of FT Lauderdale. Here is their site:

F.I.I. Freediving Instructors International - from the beginner to the instructor