Casual Freediving and Safety

[logicwins]

I spend lots of time swimming around Barton Springs, a local freshwater spot right by my house in Austin TX. I have not really ever trained freediving but I have been able to do a 4 minute breath hold laying in bed.

I have no desire to push any limits and I want to be find the maximum amount of underwater time I can have to be as close to 100% safe.

The maximum depth is less than 20 feet, it is freshwater, and the temperature is a constant 68 degrees.

My question is this: What is the maximum time you can confidently say I can stay underwater without any risk of blacking out?

 

[hteas]

Nobody can safely answer that. Your body will behave differently than anyone else, and it will change from day to day. Play in the water and find out where your comfort zone is. If you want to go outside that, get a buddy, and at some point some formal instruction

 

[esom]

Yeah, hteas is right i think. nobody can safely answer this, especially not on a forum. At the same time you will answer the question yourself, whenever you are freediving, wether you are with a buddy or not (whenever you are out of sight of your buddy, you have to have a good answer to this question). In pools you have a good chance to stay "ok" even if you don´t care about this question, as long as you have a trained buddy with you and communication is working well.

i think answering this is less a matter of experise, than it is a matter of being humble and honest with yourself. Of course, through knowledge (practical!) you will underestimate your margins less and less while staying just as humble and honest as before.

 

[vali]

no one can aswer this question....
the dry static can be irrelevant when you go in open water...
for what it woth...is very important WHAT you will be doing under water!!
to many variables...
the water is shallow....arround 6m maximum, but the depth is of no importance if you want to try your limits, so you will need an experienced buddy-freediver to be with you...

 

[Killa]

When I really want to be on the safe side when I'm hunting alone, I go up when the first contractions occur. That's usually after 40-50 seconds, and a dive time of ~1minute. So the depth on these dives is usually < 10m.