A newbie's story and comments on Rule #1
Rule #1: Never freedive alone.
It seemed I saw this rule everywhere when I first became interested in freediving, and I understood it intellectually - the logic behind it, etc. That is, until my recent brush with samba.
My initial freedive training was done on land - couch diving, as it were. Through basic relaxation techniques, I increased my breath hold from one minute to over 3 minutes and began to inwardly observe the 'signs and symptoms' of apnea and inched closer to the edge of samba/blackout.
Lying on the floor was not the same as being in water. So when I wanted to go training at the pool a non-diving friend thought I was out of my mind and insisted I find a training buddy. Through some inquiry on this forum (Angus, Ph.D. - congrats!) I met up with Octo, with whom I now regularly train at a local pool.
So one day I was doing dynamic apnea (breath-hold underwater swim) with Octo, I had a good breath-up and decided to push my limits. When I reached my normal limit and the contractions came (which would signal me to go up for air), I willfully pushed past them and continued swimming, thinking my body would give me the signs that I get when I hold my breath on land. The contractions continued, and I focused on swimming down the pool line...
What happened next could only be told from Octo's point of view: He saw me veered to the left, then overcorrected to the right. He knew I had mentally checked out at that point and immediately swam after me. Then he saw me somehow made it to the surface, almost lunging into the neighboring lane, latched an arm over the lane divider, and spasming hard. He reached me, hooked my arm and levered me into the rescue float position, and pulled me to the shallow end while I recovered from my samba. The whole episode lasted about 10 seconds.
From my point of view I could only recall bits and pieces totalling no more than 1 second. I remembered only thinking of swimming straight, then somehow being on the surface trying to breathe as my chest and legs shook out of control, then Octo's arm supporting my back as he gently said, 'breathe, breathe'.
The pool lifeguards (2) at the pool's edge less than 10 feet away were completely oblivious of what just happened!
Up until this point, I never saw the need for 'Rule #1' unfold in such a personal and dramatic manner.
So here're my comments (which most of you already know):
1. When you push your limits for that extra second or meter, the probability is high that when it happens, there may be no warning of any kind whatsoever. I know we all need to push our limits to become better divers, therefore
2. You should have a dive buddy, preferably someone more knowledgeable and experienced than you (Thanks for the save Octo!) to act as a backup brain because yours can malfunction without telling you. That little voice in the back of your head may not be there.
3. Get professional first hand training if you can. Books and second hand training (i.e. non-experts, even the information here at Deeperblue) can only get you so far. Happily, I signed up for Kirk Krack's class before this incident happened.
So in addition to mining this forum or archives for training information, I highly recommend Cliff Etzel's article on rescue procedure.
http://www.deeperblue.net/content/2001/freediving/rescueprocedures/1.shtml
It's very good for you and your buddy to know, wherever you dive.
Sincerely,
Peter
(Longfins)
ps. Sorry for the long post, folks.
if anyone knows a freedive club in my country please let me know,
