East London Freedivers...

[cloudwalker_3]

I'd love to go to the Richmond No Tanx training sessions, but sadly without a car plus living in East London combined with the reality of work and all of the other pressures of modern life mean that it's a bit of an impossibility.

What I'd really be interested in, is a free diving club in either east or central London that would be a bit more accessible. (Maybe the No Tanx crew might be interested in organisaing a sedcond session in central'ish London somewhere?)

This thread is just to test the waters, (Sorry! Terrible pun!) and see if there's anyone out there who might be interested in this.

 

[BennyB]

Mate Richmond and No Tanx are 2 different clubs. Have a look at the BFA website at www.britishfreediving.org and you'll see a list of clubs around the area, you can look for the one closest to you. Richmond is closest to me so I train there, but if you're willing to put in an hour on the train then you can get to most training spots in London. I often go up to Kentish town to train there, it takes a while but unfortunately it's a fact of life here in London. One thing I learnt quite a while ago is that if you want to freedive there's a lot of things you have to persevere at, and they're not all wet.

Good luck!

Ben

 

[cloudwalker_3]

Apologies for the confusion! I'd still be interested in a club towards the east if it was possible though. Having said that I do take your point about persevering! < smiles >

 

[Soul Deep]

Hi Cloudwalker_3. At No Tanx we train twice a week, Tuesday nights and Thursdays. Thursdays is the night you would come check first and it's at New Malden. We tend to dive most weekends and the dives range from Lake to sea. There are currently no plans to start another night but when I get a chance I do train at Surrey Quays on a Monday/Wednesday.

 

[cloudwalker_3]

Thanks for the reply. Right now I think I'm just interested in pool training but it does all sound pretty interesting. Could you give me details of the Thursday meets?

 

[Soul Deep]

Thursday pool sessions run from 8 - 9pm at the Malden Centre, New Malden. We tend to turn up by 7.30 and have a dry session (for those that can get away from work early enough). For new members we ask that people turn up on the first Thursday of the month for a introduction session. This is free but if you wish to continue on training with NoTanx then we ask for a membership joining fee (includes your membership to the BFA and BSAC). For further info check out www.notanx.com.

Oh and the Monday/Wednesday thingy is a pool training session... Out of interest are you AIDA qualified? If not what level of freediver would you describes yourself as?

 

[MBanks]

Hi cloudwalker_3,
I've kind of got the same problem, I recently moved to east london (Hackney) about four months ago and have been looking for somewhere to train, and I like you said the Richmond pool is quite a way away to travel to acrross london after work. However, last week I went to the Kentish Town club which was good fun, and easy to get to from Hackney (Hackney Central station to Kentish Town West station on the overland Silverlink trains). I plan to keep on going to this club, as the people are all nice and it gives me the opportunity to train and practise in safety.

Where abouts in East London do you live? Do you swim a lot?
Martin

 

[cloudwalker_3]

I'm not AIDA qualified at all, but I am reasonably keen, (sorry if this is a long post, but I thought I'd better give you the whole story...).

Since I was a child I've loved snorkelling. I've always been a bit negatively buoyant and from a snorkelling point of view this has never been a problem. I can swim underwater reasonably confidently as long as I have a place to swim back up to, (a boat or the side of a pool...) or some extra buoyancy, (eg a wetsuit...).

I'm not strong at staying in one place and just treading water, if I'm moving it tends to be okay, but if I stop dead I struggle a bit. It can be stressful annd to be honest I prefer to be in and under or out. This may be a kind of hang over from almost drowning as a kid a few times. I don't really know. I guess I've just found a strategy to deal with it on my own. I know that whatever happens, I'm drawn to the sea and to pools where I'm far more comfortable under the water than at the surface.

About 15 years ago I saw 'The Big Blue' and like a lot of people who are now into freediving I was immediately hooked.

I trained by myself most of the time. I know this is dangerous but I didn't have access to the 'net and I didn't know anyone who was into snorkelling and diving like I was. I found some breathing tables and started to use them and managed to get my static up to the 3.00 minute mark, (freaking out a lot of pool lifeguards in the process).

Then life crept up on me and I stopped training for a long while.

Last year I went to Taba in the Red sea and got the chance to go snorkelling again. I loved it and started realising how much I missed it. Since then I've been looking for a suitable outlet.

There are a couple of problems. Firstly the treading water/negative buoyancy thing. This tends to make people think I can't swim and back off of having anything to do with me, (which is fine, they have the right...). Thing is I'm quite a strong swimmer underwater I'm just not that good on the surface, (I do float, just a couple of inches below the surface). The second is that I'm asthmatic. It's very mild and to give you an example of this, I haven't needed to use my inhaler for the past 10 months. Problem is, as far as I know, this precludes me from SCUBA and again, tends to make anyone in the diver community run for the hills.

Either way I figure if no club will have me I'll just keep doing my own thing and enjoying it.

When Jacque Mayo was at the Dive show a couple of years ago I met him and he signed my copy of 'The Big Blue' and that was it really. I don't think freediving will be something that I'll ever be able to totally leave behind.

 

[cloudwalker_3]

One thing, I checked my static, (in the office!) the other day and I managed a 2.00 minute with no problems. May take me a while to get back to 3.00 though.

 

[cloudwalker_3]

Also the static tables I've been using are here:

http://www.impulseadventure.com/assets/apnea_tbl_mozzi/start.htm

 

[Soul Deep]

I'm not AIDA qualified at all, but I am reasonably keen, (sorry if this is a long post, but I thought I'd better give you the whole story...).

Since I was a child I've loved snorkelling. I've always been a bit negatively buoyant and from a snorkelling point of view this has never been a problem. I can swim underwater reasonably confidently as long as I have a place to swim back up to, (a boat or the side of a pool...) or some extra buoyancy, (eg a wetsuit...).

I'm not strong at staying in one place and just treading water, if I'm moving it tends to be okay, but if I stop dead I struggle a bit. It can be stressful annd to be honest I prefer to be in and under or out. This may be a kind of hang over from almost drowning as a kid a few times. I don't really know. I guess I've just found a strategy to deal with it on my own. I know that whatever happens, I'm drawn to the sea and to pools where I'm far more comfortable under the water than at the surface.

About 15 years ago I saw 'The Big Blue' and like a lot of people who are now into freediving I was immediately hooked.

I trained by myself most of the time. I know this is dangerous but I didn't have access to the 'net and I didn't know anyone who was into snorkelling and diving like I was. I found some breathing tables and started to use them and managed to get my static up to the 3.00 minute mark, (freaking out a lot of pool lifeguards in the process).

Then life crept up on me and I stopped training for a long while.

Last year I went to Taba in the Red sea and got the chance to go snorkelling again. I loved it and started realising how much I missed it. Since then I've been looking for a suitable outlet.

There are a couple of problems. Firstly the treading water/negative buoyancy thing. This tends to make people think I can't swim and back off of having anything to do with me, (which is fine, they have the right...). Thing is I'm quite a strong swimmer underwater I'm just not that good on the surface, (I do float, just a couple of inches below the surface). The second is that I'm asthmatic. It's very mild and to give you an example of this, I haven't needed to use my inhaler for the past 10 months. Problem is, as far as I know, this precludes me from SCUBA and again, tends to make anyone in the diver community run for the hills.

Either way I figure if no club will have me I'll just keep doing my own thing and enjoying it.

When Jacque Mayo was at the Dive show a couple of years ago I met him and he signed my copy of 'The Big Blue' and that was it really. I don't think freediving will be something that I'll ever be able to totally leave behind.

Well for starters everyone has there own “personal” relationship and understanding with water. Drop any preconceptions of what a freediver should have to be and the NoTanx club is a mix of all sorts let me tell you

Anyway if you ever decide to try a Thursday session I think you will find a distinct lack of any pressure with a friendly helpful bunch of people to boot! Generally Thursdays are just about playing around in the water (technique and fun) although the occasional week has been known to be a bit more cardio active with races and stuff.

In regards to your swimming I’m not sure I 100% understand what you’re saying the problem is. Is it that you just have to always tread water while stationary because you don’t naturally float (like many people), or that you find it hard actually surface swimming (e.g. while using a freestyle stroke) doing lengths?

Anyway I may even be at Surrey Quays Pool this Wednesday so if you fancy meeting up for a basic swim session finishing up with some 33m relaxed underwater dynamics, bubble rings and some empty lung clearing at 3m give me a shout back.

 

[cloudwalker_3]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I do have some preconceptions, (which I should lose...) and I definitely know what you mean about having a relationship with water. The club sounds very friendly and I'm now starting to seriously think about coming along to a training session.

As far as my swimming goes, it's kind of a bit of both. I do sink so this means that treating water on the spot is pretty hard for me to do. As far as surface swimming goes it's kinda similar. I can swim 25m on the surface with effort, though underwater is much much easier for me.

Right now I'm not sure about my diary tomorrow, but I'll post later to confirm one way or another.

 

[Soul Deep]

Glad to hear the club sounds appealing, like I say it's a good bunch of like minded individuals just out to have fun in water. There are different members that are serious about different disciplines but no one takes it too seriously "club night" Thursdays.

Just PM me over the training session... And if tomorrow doesn’t pan out sounds like I will catch you at a NoTanxs session sometime soon...

 

[naiad]

I'm not strong at staying in one place and just treading water, if I'm moving it tends to be okay, but if I stop dead I struggle a bit. It can be stressful annd to be honest I prefer to be in and under or out. This may be a kind of hang over from almost drowning as a kid a few times. I don't really know. I guess I've just found a strategy to deal with it on my own. I know that whatever happens, I'm drawn to the sea and to pools where I'm far more comfortable under the water than at the surface.

There are a couple of problems. Firstly the treading water/negative buoyancy thing. This tends to make people think I can't swim and back off of having anything to do with me, (which is fine, they have the right...). Thing is I'm quite a strong swimmer underwater I'm just not that good on the surface, (I do float, just a couple of inches below the surface).

I also don't like hanging around on the surface. I don't think I'll ever be a great swimmer on the surface, but it hasn't been a problem so far for freediving. In my case it isn't because of negative buoyancy, in fact I am very buoyant, but I just get tired easily. Also, I don't mind admitting that I am scared of getting tired and having nothing to hold onto.

How I started freediving...
[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?p=323478#post323478"]How old were you (when you started freediving)? - Page 3[/ame]

There are some threads on asthma and freediving.
[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=41450"]asthma and freediving?[/ame]

I go to the Richmond and Kentish Town sessions every week.

Lucia

 

[MBanks]

While this thread is still being viewed...

Do any of you travel from East London (or central) to the NoTanx session in New Malden? If so I was wondering what is the easiest way to get there? I would love to come to the club but I can just imagine myself getting totally lost on the trains and buses, and I was hoping someone might be able to help me out?

Martin

 

[cloudwalker_3]

Glad to hear the club sounds appealing, like I say it's a good bunch of like minded individuals just out to have fun in water. There are different members that are serious about different disciplines but no one takes it too seriously "club night" Thursdays.

Just PM me over the training session... And if tomorrow doesn’t pan out sounds like I will catch you at a NoTanxs session sometime soon...

My diary is a bit mad this month so I won't be able to make the No Tanx session on Thursday although tommorrow is a definite posibility. Where is the pool you're going to? Do you have a link?

 

[cloudwalker_3]

I also don't like hanging around on the surface. I don't think I'll ever be a great swimmer on the surface, but it hasn't been a problem so far for freediving. In my case it isn't because of negative buoyancy, in fact I am very buoyant, but I just get tired easily. Also, I don't mind admitting that I am scared of getting tired and having nothing to hold onto.

How I started freediving...
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?p=323478#post323478

There are some threads on asthma and freediving.
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=41450

I go to the Richmond and Kentish Town sessions every week.

Lucia

Thanks for your really nice reply and the two great links. Having read your post I feel a lot better about my abilities now. I'm definitly thinking about going to the Kentish Town sessions and/or the No Tanx sessions.