Courses

[penguinator]

All the courses I have seen advertised, none have been in Australia.

I dont mind going overseas for a course, but are there any for more than a few days? If I am going to go as far as the UK, are there any courses that I can take which go for a week or 2?

 

[BennyB]

I think nearly all courses are a couple of days, probably 3 or 4 at the most. The Apnea Academy may have longer courses, they run in Sardinia and in the Red Sea (Sharm El Sheik I think).

A bit closer to home, the only one I think offered in Australia at the moment is through Fathom Diving in Sydney. I did this a few years back when Wal Steyn was running them, now Erez Beatus is doing them and they are qualified to AIDA 2* I believe. You may have to wait a while because last time I heard Erez is travelling about the world and won't be home for a long time. Your best bet would be to have a quick holiday to Hawaii and do the PFI course. They are run by Kirk Krack who is arguably the best in the business, and i've never heard a bad word about PFI courses. The money spent wouldn't be too much more than flying to Sydney and doing a course there. Or if you do find yourself around Sydney/Canberra you might be able to get in touch with Wal Steyn and organise a private lesson or 2.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[BennyB]

Sorry mate - for some reason I thought you were in WA, you're based in Sydney?

What pool do you lifeguard at?

 

[penguinator]

I lifeguard at Enfield Swimming Center, near burwood and strathfield.

Its really quiet most days and we have a 5m deep olympic pool so I often do dry statics or just sit at the bottom of the 5 rofl

But I really would like to do a few courses, because so far I have just been using Manual of Freediving as my only reference, and with no dive buddy I have been afraid to push myself (im stuck on about 2'40" static... not really going anywhere).

 

[Walrus]

Hi penguinator,
doing a PFI course in Hawaii would be good but not cheap, is a great place to dive though. A PFI course in Aussie dollars is at least $800, used to be able to get tickets to Kona for around $1200, but more like around $1500+ now. If you include accom food etc then count on $3000 or so. If you really want to go for a week or two then the Apnea Academy would be the way to go, in Red Sea or Sardinia.
The cheapest AIDA course would be to go to NZ, they have a bunch of instructors, the freedive scene is pretty big there. I met a guy that did a FREE course was either Thailand or Indo but sounded like they would do whole week or so if you wanted. If you get stuck can come to canberra, I usually train at the pool on either Sat or Sunday anyway. Like Ben mentioned I used to teach courses before. There might be a few people in Syd looking for buddies too, there are a couple that are quite experienced. There is a fair dinkum Aussie freedive site too so I will just plug it now
http://www.ozfreediving.com

Cheers,
Wal