freediver mag subscription

[BladeRunner]

Hey I was just wondering about Freediving Magazine. It's put out by www.FREEDIVER.CO. UK Does anyone in the states have a subscription to this mag. I thought about getting it but is it worth the almost 50 bucks US to get it?

any ideas out there?

BladeRunner OUT!!

 

[Jon]

There's not a better freediving mag out there.

Since I started getting it I have canceled all of my other dive mag subscriptions just to be able to afford it- and I've gotten a lot of different magazines in the past!

There are also some goode spearfishing specific magazines that I have seen out there, but I'll let the true spearos comment on which ones are best. The ones that I have read are Spearfishing and Hawaii Spearfishing. Both of them were interesting.

Jon

 

[efattah]

It can easily be called the 'best' freediving mag, probably because its the 'only' freediving mag. Personally, I didn't like it at all. Sure, it's the only mag based on 'pure apnea' (and less focused on spearfishing), but it isn't proofread, tons of typos, terrible layout errors (missing words, missing sentences), and covering major events amounts to showing a bunch of pictures, with no build-up, no commentary, etc.. Further, the mag is highly biased (having little or no coverage of people they don't particularly like), and in addition, it only covers AIDA people & AIDA events (so you won't see anything about Yasemin Dalkilic, David Lee, Topi Lintukangas) etc...

I simply let my subscription run out.

On a side note, having a stack of issues of this mag can do wonders to get new people into pure-apnea freediving; people seem impressed when they see a huge stack of magazines devoted to the sport.

Hopefully the magazine will improve in the future, and maybe then I'll renew my subscription.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

 

[BladeRunner]

Ha ha LoL you guys are making really hard for me to decide!!!

Oh what other mags are out their that cover spearfishing perferably freedive spearfishing.

BladeRunner OUT

 

[ivan]

hi

Blade an awsome spearfishing mag that most Oz spearos get is the International freediving and spearfishing news, its mad here in Oz and comes out only 4 times a year ie each season. Costs $5 Oz and I just get in at the local newsagency. You should be able to subsribe somehow Ill try find out.

cheers

 

[BladeRunner]

Thank you Ivan I would be very greatful for the info!!

BladeRunner OUT

 

[ivan]

hi Blade

Im just looking through the latest issue and found they have a website which shows articles from the current issue as well as other cool stuff, you can also subscribe to it if you want from this website.

www.diving-action.com

hope this helps

cheers

 

[Crispin]

Originally posted by efattah
It can easily be called the 'best' freediving mag, probably because its the 'only' freediving mag. Personally, I didn't like it at all. Sure, it's the only mag based on 'pure apnea' (and less focused on spearfishing), but it isn't proofread, tons of typos, terrible layout errors (missing words, missing sentences), and covering major events amounts to showing a bunch of pictures, with no build-up, no commentary, etc.. Further, the mag is highly biased (having little or no coverage of people they don't particularly like), and in addition, it only covers AIDA people & AIDA events (so you won't see anything about Yasemin Dalkilic, David Lee, Topi Lintukangas) etc...

I simply let my subscription run out.

On a side note, having a stack of issues of this mag can do wonders to get new people into pure-apnea freediving; people seem impressed when they see a huge stack of magazines devoted to the sport.

Hopefully the magazine will improve in the future, and maybe then I'll renew my subscription.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

v.harsh Eric..............

but thats your opinion - we'll take it on board...

thx

Crispin
crispin@freediver.co.uk

 

[samdive]

freediver

well I think its great but I do write for it a bit.
what you have got to accept is that it is basically a fanzine, written by freedivers for freedivers and not an ad space vehicle run by some pro publisher. If you take as this and remember that not all freedivers can spell or speak fluent English then it is a great read.
Basically it is written by us, for us. So if you want it to be better, write something for it!

Sam

 

[Jon]

I still like it no matter what others say.

I HAVE cancelled my subscriptions to all of the other dive magazines that I used to get and now just pay for this one.

If people problems with it they need to look at what else it out that that gets published under the moniker of a "dive magazine".

Most of it is crap and it's no surprise to anyone I know that Skindiver finally wnet bankrupt. Every month is the same rehash of the same tired topics over and over again. I have even seen some authors publish the exact same piece, with out hardly changing a single word, in two different magazines within months of eachother. This kind of thing happens all ofthe time in the scuba mags. It's like they have nothing new to add since the invention of the BC! Other mags are so caught up in their sponsers that they only publish flowery crap that no one can believe.

He the so-called "tech diving" magaiznes are simply rehashing the same old stuff issue after issue- another reason why I let all of those other subscriptions run out.


Most other magazines don't even publish any useful info that can be applied to anything that your doing.

Freediver has published some sampels of deco tables adn static tables. Ahron has been writing some bits about safety rules adn I have read articles in there that Kirk has written about spotting your buddy while training.

Then, there is all the latest banter on who broke what record when and where. Even though I know that I will never be there, I still like to read about who has.There are great flashy pictures that are nice to show bubble-heads to get them excited about the sport. It is a little bit dive mag adn a little bit surfer mag all rolled up into one.

Maybe it's not perfect, I for one would like to see more gear reviews and have it come out more often, but it seems to be the best thing out there for freedivers, though not necessarily the best mag for the pure spearos out there.

Some of the spearo mags are nice and I have read them when I can get my hands on a copy. If someone ones to start a list of them in this link I would be interested in checking them out. I just don't get a chance to spear many White Sea Bass around here.

Maybe if I were at the top of the freediving pyramid I might be bored with Freediver, but I am not and look forward to getting my copy when it comes.

Just my $0.02

Jon

 

[Erik]

Freediver has a few problems certainly, but it has some great pics and articles, even if it's a little scant on detail sometimes.
I understand that it's a fanzine, and if you look at it in that light, the blips can be ignored...but isn't there one Brit out there who could proofread for a few Guinness? I'd do it for free if someone asks...seriously.
And although it's the official AIDA mag, it would be nice if politics could be put aside and divers from other organisations were represented....the spearos aren't neccesarily AIDA offiliates, correct?
I had to let mine run out because the cost to bribe the customs officials in Jakarta would bring the price up to about 150$ US a year
I do have all my back issues, and most of the photography is fantastic!
Cheers,
Erik Y.

 

[darcyg7]

Hey Erik,
If it costs 150$ just for a mag subscription, maybe you should move to some place cheaper, where no bribeing is required?
Maybe Canada, Some of your friends miss you here!

 

[Erik]

I miss you too amigo!
I miss Canada too....maybe a holiday stop this year, who knows?
It was good to see you in Bali.
Cheers,
Erik Y

 

[Fred S.]

Freediver Mag.

I totally agree with Eric Fattah. Many aspects of this magazine are far from professional.

On top of that I'm just interested in the Freediving sport and I'm absolutely not interested in spearfishing at all, which used to make up about 50% of the contents although it's less now. Quite strange for the official AIDA magazine cause AIDA officially doesn't support spearfishing......

So I get all my info from the internet.

Fred S.

 

[Jay Styron]

JUST MY .02c WORTH

It depends on what you're after Blade. Do you want a mag that covers primarily freediving or spearfishing/freediving? If you're after freediving then Freediver is the mag. If you want mags that primarily focus on spearing techniques/gear then here's the 3 I get. International Freediving & Spearfishing News- great mag. plenty of info, pics x4/yr(Austrailian) EML freediving@motpub.com.au
Hawaii Skindiver-out of Hawaii, great mag. great pics, only American freediving/spearfishing mag., x4/yr try-sterling@hawaiiskindiver.com
Spearfishing Magazine- out of Ft. Myers, FL, good mag. good info, pics, this also covers scuba spearfishing,x4/yr, try-www.spearfishingmagazine.com .
These mags may cover some aspects of apnea but are predominately spearfishing tech./gear/destination driven. hope this helps.
Jay

 

[btweikel]

Spanish Magazines

About 5 years ago I was in Spain and found some great spearfishing magazines: CazaSub and Pesca Submarina. Whereas SPEARFISHING (the US mag) is mostly pictures of shot fish with the accompanying aricle written by the hunter about how thet shot the fish, the Spanish magazines were mostly proffesional hunters describing their techniques and lots of professionally taken pictures of the pros in action underwater. Much better, in my opinion. Of coarse, you have to know Spanish.

Well, CazaSub is no longer published and I am not sure about Pesca Submarina. I wish I knew why. Another magazine, Apnea, is published in Spain (maybe also in Italy) Its about half freedive spearfishing and half SCUBA. In it you can find also find order forms to get back issues of the old Pesca Submarina. You can e-mail suscripciones@saparalelos.com for a subscription.

 

[alastair]

Just bought the first edition of a new Italian magazine called Pesca in Apnea.

Looking through (126 pages) it seems to cover both Spearfishing and pure Apnea equally.

Apart from the fact that I got my photo in there (!), the main topics of the month are :

1. Athletic training Guide for Spearos
2. Special on camoflage suits
3. A look at the CMAS 'cube' competitions including an interview with Umberto.
4. A where to fish guide for Tuscany
5. Guide for competitions 2003
6. 2-page tests for : Cressi Gara 3000 fins and speaguns from Omer, Sporasub, and C4.
7. Cooking your catch
8. Safety - using a buoy correctly
9. Apnea Academy profile
10. Interviews with 4 or 5 champion spearos talking about techniques.
11. How to kill a bunch of different fish
12. Q&A
13. Medical advice
14. etc. etc

Anyway, seems quite good... if you read Italian...

Al

 

[Jorg]

Cube & Umberto

A little bit off-topic but what does Umberto say about the cube system?

 

[alastair]

The mag is in the office - I'll read it again tomorrow and let you know in detail, but in general he was way more possitive than most people.

The consensus from most people I have asked (and also from this forum if I remember correctly) is that the whole idea invites disaster, but Umberto praised CMAS for what they are trying to do.

Al