Hi Connor,
Put this way it sounds much more interesting... 200 feet is way beyond what I need. If they are OK with bringing in a float and a line then some fun can be had for sure.
I am not sure what you mean by safety training, but I hope I can reassure you. This year I am actually working on my instructor level (C3 or MEF1 of the French Federation, this is brand new - there's one level above this one, C4 / MEF2, which is the very top), for which rescue techniques are mandatory as you can imagine. Some of the standard exercices are :
- in a swimming pool, swim 100m, get a mannequin at 5m (15 feet) deep, bring him up to the surface and swim around for 1 mn, everything performed under 4'30" without fins & mask
- in swimming pool, with snorkeling equipment, rescue a unresponsive buddy at 5m deep, bring him up with the right procedures, rescue in surface and drag him for 25 m. We did a real test yesterday evening btw, I was one of the 2 among 8 free-divers to pass it (our instructor is the vice president of the French Freediving Federation, so he is very strict on safety)
- in a lake or in the ocean, similar exercise at a depth of 12 meters/40 feet, drag the buddy for 30 or 50 m, lift him up on a boat, and perform artificial breathing.
We practice regularly rescue procedures while free-diving, either in a swimming pool or in a artificial deep pool (60 feet). I have also done something similar while going for my N4 in scuba diving (more or less equivalent to PADI Dive Master). So I guess I can say I am trained by now.
Finally Idid a one week course last year in Egypt with Umberto Pelizzari and this subject was also addressed during course, although it wasn't the main focus. And of course I am fully trained about samba and black-out symptoms.
Apart from that my "performances" are OK, but nothing to be proud of.
Would you feel OK if I were your free-diving buddy ?
