Diving Solo - Discussion

[cdavis]

Tough place you are from, my sympathy on the buddy thing. Even in Florida, good buddies are hard to find.

I did some diving off the north end of Vancouver Island a few years back, should be some similar. Beautiful stuff. 40 degrees is actually reasonable with a good suit. Maybe you can convince somebody of that. If a Florida guy can do it, surely they can.

Be careful, my friend and good luck finding a buddy.

 

[Dejan2013]

1) don't do it

2) buy an FRV for an added degree of safety / self-sufficiency.

Sorry, what is FRV?

 

[Jacblue]

I think it stands for freediver recovery vest (Inflatable life vest that's triggered by overstaying time or depth).

 

[Apneaddict]

This is an extremely touchy topic. I dive with out anyone except life guards that like to stand there...

We have to realize that for some of us a buddy isn't right around the corner, or the city, or the county. You also have to remember that some people are scared to reach out because of social disorders, anxiety or depression. I've been hunting for a dive buddy up here persistently and relentlessly with no positive results. The closest I got was sending an email with no reply.... Diving unsafe feels a lot less dangerous when you can't find anybody. And for some people (myself included) the world is a noisy chaotic mess and the only way to escape that is to go deeper into the blue, were it's quite, peaceful, pure and best of all in the moment. The farthest you think ahead when your underwater is what will I see down there and how satisfying with that breath feel when I brake the surface.

Not all of us have the chance to make friends and find dive buddies, that's why every night while I think I hope that no one takes the safety, fun and friendship of there dive buddy for granted.

If I'm ever in Nova Scotia, I'd love to dive with you.

Local knowledge is king!
I know of a handful of ppl out there that are diving... But it's not easy to find one that you get along with AND their schedule matches yours.

You need a pool of 5-6 regulars so that you have 1 buddy available to go when you want to.

I find that freedivers-proper (DYN, CWT, STA, etc) are quite easy going and friendly to new ppl. Very little ego involved, since your performance is your performance. Very little subjectivity involved... So less room for opinion and interpretation.

With spearfishermen, this isn't always the case. There is secrecy and territorial ism over dive spots and a "my fish is bigger than your fish" compensation thing that sometimes happens.

This isn't a hard and fast rule. I've met some asshole freediver pricks and also some super genuine, ego-less spearos.

You just need to find the good guys and then believe me... You WILL be safer, you WILL still feel at peace and sharing similar experiences with other good-guy apneists really is rewarding.


A significant # of apneists like the sport because it can be a form of escapism and peace, in an otherwise hectic world. I like that aspect of it myself.

I just think its more rewarding (and safer) to be able to escape with like-minded individuals. We need more of us around / available as dive-buddies and can't afford to lose one every couple of years to a shallow water blackout.

 

[FjordDiver]

interesting i just spent a lot of time reading and no one has really offered much help in how to not freedive alone.
Well here is what i did. I got a girlfriend first i had to teach her to swim then i had to teach her to freedive then i had to teach her to spear fish. Problem solved!! 1 speargun 2 people 1up 1 down perfect safety!!

I have been trying to get people interested by trying to convey what it is like, but that doesnt work. Once the novelty wears off, they dont care much. They need to get in the water to become interested, freediving is something that can only be experienced personally. I think I could find people around here I could teach. But it is an investment of about $1000 for the gear. In other words I need to buy their gear, and I cant afford my own.
I am slowly replacing my old gear and will have an extra 'ghetto' set for someone (the right size) to try it out.

 

[FjordDiver]

A cheap hand held trigger version of the recovery vest is what we need (perhaps the button has to be pressed every 10 sec). So what if it doesnt protect in every scenerio, having any protection at all is far better than having none.

 

[shrek]

Ive just had an idea. It happens every once and a while.
People spend hours/days /weeks sorting out what is the best set of fins, sorting out spearguns etc.
If the old diving saying still holds true about planning your dive and diving your plan.
Then spend as much time and effort sorting a buddy out as you do sorting out your speargun etc.
Don't be leaving sorting the buddy thing out until your actually on holiday.

 

[Fraa]

There are other sports that are similar to freediving in sense of solo practice, I'm talking about rock climbing here. Soloing (no rope, no partner) in rock climbing is at least as dangerous as diving solo, any mistake results in certain death. However, I know a lot of people who climb solo and I do that myself. I believe there are two critical moments common to all potentially dangerous sports when they are practiced solo:
1) Make sure you know what you're doing.
2) Make sure that you want it.
With 1 and 2 in place - just go for it. Still, diving or climbing with a buddy is more fun!

 

[The Free Spearo]

I recently took Ted Harty's immersion freediving course and came back to Canada with a different brain! I haven't done an unsupervised breath hold (unless on land) since the course! Luckily my dad wants to start snorkeling around with me (I'll get him freediving soon..) An I've given him a crash coarse on what to if LMC, SWB or blackout occur...

I have to much love for my family, friends and pets to risk anything out of pure ignorance. I have a hard time understanding how people can risk everything they love so they can splash around

I have an easier time holding my breath when I know my loved ones aren't holding theirs.

 

[noa]

The main issue that I find with this touchy subject is the following.
Many people mention "know what you're doing" and similar ideas. The point is that as far as I'm concerned, almost no one in the freediving world really knows what they are doing in regards to swb. If they did, they would be preventable.
And even less in order to be able to instruct the rest of us in the do's and don't on how to keep safe.

There is still relatively very little awareness in terms of human physiology, so we can really understand how and why blackouts happen and how they are potentially preventable.
So, since we don't really understand our own bodies and the issue at hand, we have resolved to the next best thing "well, if you can't take care of yourself, make sure you have someone watch your back".
Valid point, it works (to a degree), but very incomplete.
I personally look forward to the day when we have enough knowledge and awareness of this matter enabling us to make wiser and safer choices.
As a side note, I would like to emphasize that the only person to my knowledge that possess enough freediving physiology understanding is Sebastien Murat. His style of diving is among other things, meant to be a fair bit safer in regards to swb and the like. The freediving community perhaps aught to take a closer look at his teachings.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

There is still relatively very little awareness in terms of human physiology, so we can really understand how and why blackouts happen and how they are potentially preventable.
So, since we don't really understand our own bodies and the issue at hand, we have resolved to the next best thing "well, if you can't take care of yourself, make sure you have someone watch your back".
Valid point, it works (to a degree), but very incomplete.

Yes, its incomplete, so wear a Freedive Recovery Vest.

 

[cdavis]

Well put Noa.

Sebs logic on the physiology of exhale diving and how that relates to safety is impeccable and hard to argue with if you take the time to really understand it. I've been using his principles, diving about 1/2 lung for several years now. Works great on many levels, longer more comfortable dives, seems to be safer, greater mental sharpness late in the dive and at depth, fast recovery. Wonderful advance in my personal diving ability. Its tricky though and not something to jump into quickly without a lot of knowledge and a good safety. Do it right,works great. Do it wrong and you are just diving with less air.

And I still wear my FRV when appropriate.

 

[noa]

Yes, its incomplete, so wear a Freedive Recovery Vest.

I agree, it helps one stay safer. But it's like I said, " we don't really know why this happens, so just wear a vest or have a buddy, until we find out..."
I'm sorry to say, but I feel that freediving is still somewhat in the Middle Ages regarding awareness of itself...

 

[noa]

Well put Noa.

Sebs logic on the physiology of exhale diving and how that relates to safety is impeccable and hard to argue with if you take the time to really understand it. I've been using his principles, diving about 1/2 lung for several years now. Works great on many levels, longer more comfortable dives, seems to be safer, greater mental sharpness late in the dive and at depth, fast recovery. Wonderful advance in my personal diving ability. Its tricky though and not something to jump into quickly without a lot of knowledge and a good safety. Do it right,works great. Do it wrong and you are just diving with less air.

And I still wear my FRV when appropriate.

Thank you for sharing. I would love to hear more on your practices and how you started out with 1/2 lung diving.

 

[cdavis]

This thread is a good summary.

http://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/exhale-diving-for-the-average-diver.78598/

Ktreloar has a couple of good threads. He uses the technique to spearfish and play underwater hockey.

there is also several threads on DR which relate, this one especially

http://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/blood-shift-and-exhale-frc-diving-musings.89810/

Connor

 

[cdavis]

I strongly suspect that the cumulative nature of blood shift is very important in exhale diving, but other that Sebs remarks, confirmations from Efattah and Laminar, and the above thread, there isn't any information.

 

[Ronnie]

I can't even begin to afford an FRV

 

[James McCallan]

Bill how are you? I just joined this forum getting back into it after a couple years of pretty no diving. I did a bit of school since I figured I might have to get a job after retirement if I wanted to live in Hawaii. So now work in Alaska through the summer and if all goes well will be living in Hawaii in the winters or roaming around on dive trips. Hitting up Matt Johnson this weekend which will be the first time I've been in the ocean since 2015.

On topic I dove all the time alone in Hawaii. Only ever had no problem I got a barotrauma in the right hear while I was pretty far out maybe a half mile so on a shore dive which gave me ataxia and vertigo. Took me more than two hours to get to shore and half ass crawl to my car to call for help. That could have been the end for sure. Still dive alone just extra careful which is still dumb I know.

 

[Manny_OCF]

What's worse than solo diving is being abandoned by a dive buddy.

Went for a dive with a "friend", all was good on the dive, so I thought.

I went home and reviewed his mask cam footage, he was not watching me at all. He had swum off by himself was looking at a ship that was going past in the distance.
I confronted him about it, and he said he had gotten water in his snorkel and said he lost sight of me when I dove down.

I haven't dived with this friend for a while now....

It was no better than diving solo, and that feeling sucks

Answering your question - find a dive school nearby and dive with reliable people

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Bill how are you? I just joined this forum getting back into it after a couple years of pretty no diving. I did a bit of school since I figured I might have to get a job after retirement if I wanted to live in Hawaii. So now work in Alaska through the summer and if all goes well will be living in Hawaii in the winters or roaming around on dive trips. Hitting up Matt Johnson this weekend which will be the first time I've been in the ocean since 2015.

Good to hear from you again James. That was a great couple of days of diving with you and Daryl Wong back in 2015. Here's a photo just to remind you.