Emma's story

Erik · Mar 10, 2003

Cheers to Emma for the great account of her experience in "freediving school"
It brought back some nice memories of the training I had from Kirk K.
Very nicely written; I wish I could have been there!
Erik Y.

JimGlynn · Mar 10, 2003

Great story Emma. Looking forward to reading more.
Jim

Jon · Mar 10, 2003

I agree!

I have printed out the story and read through it a few times already. I am awaiting the next instalment.

I hear that the Solomons had moved to Baja. Is there any truth to that, or are they still on the other side of the Atlantic?

Jon

Stephan Whelan · Mar 10, 2003

Originally posted by Jon
I hear that the Solomons had moved to Baja. Is there any truth to that, or are they still on the other side of the Atlantic?

The rumour is very much true. Aharon and MT are currently living off the land in Baja and are teaching courses out there as we speak!

They are starting to contribute to DeeperBlue.net as well so articles from them are on the way, plus i'm hoping to get a Staff Writer out there to do a piece on their course as well.

They should be out in Baja till the end of the year!

pim · Mar 12, 2003

Yep Solomons are in Baja and you can receive all data through me if you like. I have all details on 'where' 'what' 'when', etc.

So:
course info
prices
planning
area/region info
photo footage
travel help
etc...

Greetings,

Pim Vermeulen
Immersion
[email protected]

pkotik · Mar 12, 2003

The only criticism I've got of Emma's article is that it was too short !

Stephan Whelan · Mar 12, 2003

Originally posted by pkotik
The only criticism I've got of Emma's article is that it was too short !

Ahhh! One more part to go my friend!

Besides "a pot calling the kettle black" is a phrase that springs to mind Mr. Kotik!

Pezman · Mar 12, 2003

We want Kotik!

Yeah, your articles rule -- so please crank one out ASAP (or I'll post links to photos of you from your Syosset High School days that I found on the net)

Stephan Whelan · Mar 14, 2003

Last part of Emma's article went up onto the site this morning folks!

derelictp · Mar 14, 2003

Part 4

The last part is very interesting and fun reading!

I think a good monofin technique can result in big improvements for both constant weight and dynamic!
(Maybe even bigger than I can imagine?)

If I look at those divers that goes really deep/long they seems to have a fluid and streemlined technique.

I think I'm gonna consult the swedish coach Valter Olander for a course myself...

pkotik · Mar 15, 2003

PLEASE, PEZMAN, NOT THAT!

Pezman, please be assured I'm hard at work and will now redouble my efforts. How in the world did you dig up the dreadful secrets of Syosset High School ? I was certain that all the survivors had agreed never, ever to mention it again.

Meanwhile, you can get a slightly different view by hitting:

www.paulkotik.com

... to tide you over until my next, eeven more fantastic article posts on Deeper Blue.

Paul

fpernett · Mar 15, 2003

Constant training

Hola Erik,
I liked a lot the Emma's article too. Sound like paradise (Freedivers paradise).
I read something in the article that remind me the time that I was afraid to the depht. I cuoldn't pass the 38 mts, and my brother and I did something that helped me to reach 42. I went down to 20 mts with 10 kg ballast, I leaved there and continue on my own, and made 42, after that day I knew it was possible and 2 weeks later I made it on my own.
At this moment I'm stucked again, and read that method in Emma's article that mix variable weight with constant weight. Do you know what I mean?. I'm thinking in create some kind of slide, to help me in the way down to get confidence with the depht again. Do you know any design?. What do you think about my idea?.
Saludos Amigo

derelictp · Mar 15, 2003

Stucked

I was stucked at 37-38m in year 2000 until I realized that as soon as I passed the 35m mark I started to look down for the 40m mark and there was it, the wall, I could'nt get more air to equalize.

What I was doing was to stretch out the ribcage and that also stretches the thorax out and makes it almost impossible to get air into the mouth.

No I do the opposite. To fill my mouth with air I compress the ribcage and that made me capable of partly fill my mouth even at 50m.

My buddys had the same experience since I told them what I had experienced and they got from 44m to 64m/ 52m to 65m under the year of 2001.

Now, one of the most important thing we teach on our constant weight courses is: -Always look straight at the line and NEVER look down or up during the dive.

For those who havn't thought about this it's worth trying I guess!

Erik · Mar 17, 2003

Re: Constant training

Originally posted by fpernett
Hola Erik,
I
At this moment I'm stuck again, and read that method in Emma's article that mix variable weight with constant weight. Do you know what I mean?. I'm thinking in create some kind of slide, to help me in the way down to get confidence with the depht again. Do you know any design?. What do you think about my idea?.
Saludos Amigo

Hey Frank,
if it were me, I would just dive with more weight, then ascend using my arms if I was worried about air supply. But I think that variable has its place too. You just need a way to be able to retrieve the weights that pulled you down (after the ascent). I think that a regular weight belt with a thin line tied to it and supported by a buoy would do the trick. You could just hold the extra belt in your hands to pull you down, then let it go when you decide to ascend.
The problem with using variable or heavier weight on your personal belt is that the risk of squeeze is higher, especially if you're getting into depths that are uncomfortable to begin with.
Kirk taught us to use our hands to pull down to depths approaching the limits of our comfort zone. That way you remain in complete control of the speed of the dive, and it is a much more efficient use of energy, so air supply is not usually an issue.
Cheers,
Erik Y.

efattah · Mar 17, 2003

I think that any type of variable weight dive is extremely dangerous. I only ever tried it once, and blacked out from an easy depth! The reason I blacked out was because I could not tell that I had a terrible breath to start the dive -- it was so easy to get to the bottom, it was only on the ascent that I realized I never had a good breath to start off with.

Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

efattah · Mar 17, 2003

Another comment; if you insist on a variable style dive, we came up with an easy method, which doesn't involve any weights. You need three divers to do it.

You need a piece of rope about three or four metres long, with loops on each end.

An experienced diver holds one end of the rope. The novice diver holds the other end (this is the diver who wants to go deep).

Then, the experienced diver swims down and PULLS the novice down to about 20m (this take lots of energy!) Then, the novice lets go of the loop and continues to depth. The experienced diver goes back up, and the 3rd diver at the surface checks to make sure the experienced diver doesn't black-out. Then, the 3rd diver descends to spot the novice diver coming up from deep.

In this way, the novice diver gets a 'variable' weight style dive without the problems of ballast.

Still, I don't recommend this or any variable weight system for the same reason I said before.

Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

icarus pacific · Mar 17, 2003

Niiiiice.

Kudos, mad props, and thanks to Emma for her sharing this life affirming experience! Very well written and the humanity was evident, both things sadly lacking in many writers' styles, excepting of course Paul's. And then there's me...

But since he too is flaking on KK03... :t

sven

pkotik · Mar 17, 2003

FLAKING ON KK03 ???

I am flaking on KK03 ?

This seems like very, very bad news indeed. But what the devill
does it mean ? If it is a reference to that unfortunate incident
in the Himalayas, I would remind everyone that :

a) The Nepalese police never came back, and,

b) she was, in any event, well over the legal age of 13

icarus pacific · Mar 17, 2003

Re: FLAKING ON KK03 ???

Originally posted by pkotik
I am flaking on KK03 ? But what the devill does it mean ?

mmm Nepalese 13 yr olds...:chatup

K eys K raze 2003, Einstein. :hmm The premier, well second only to Sven's AB GRAB :hmm , is sadly minus any high level DB representation, leaving a scant few hardhung and wellcore, er, members to fend for themselves against the throngs of sunseeking, bikini clad and hopefully inebriated 14 yr old Floridian snapper in training. And maybe even shoot some fish.

Fear not though DB masses, we will endevour to put to print (using spellcheck :t ) a play by play...

sven

pkotik · Mar 17, 2003

KK03

Nepalese ? You mean the police were, right ? Hey, wait, you knew about that already, right? Right ?

I'll definitely be stopping in to KK03 at least once, maybe more,
as it is right down the road from me. I'd spend a lot of time there,
but somebobdy took the trouble to schedule it around a holiday season and so I'll mostly be otherwise engaged elsewhere.

Although I don't know about me being high-level DB. Low-rent B&D , perhaps.

Paul

Emma's story

Erik

Well-Known Member

JimGlynn

New Member

Jon

Dairyland diver

Stephan Whelan

Papa Smurf

pim

freediving maniac

pkotik

FreeDiving Editor

Stephan Whelan

Papa Smurf

Pezman

We pee deep. Ew!

Stephan Whelan

Papa Smurf

derelictp

Freediver

pkotik

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fpernett

Well-Known Member

derelictp

Freediver

Erik

Well-Known Member

efattah

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efattah

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icarus pacific

Human-in-training

pkotik

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icarus pacific

Human-in-training

pkotik

FreeDiving Editor