going deeper

[cesare]

I am a little young and i usually hunt in 60 feet depth. in my country to get the good stuf you must go down until 100 feet in a good spot, if not you must go deeper. i am working to reach the 100 feet range. Does anyone know if its danger for someone of my age do go that deep?

I allways dive alone, and try hard to get the deeper I can. recently I had a couple of bad moments where I almost couldn´t go up. So I am searching for a dive buddy. The only one interested in spearfishing is my cousin but he can´t go too deep, is there a problem if my buddy can´t dive the same depth that I can?

Regards.

 

[sickbugs]

trying for 100 feet alone and not knowing anything about freediving is the dangerous part, if you almost couldnt make it up sometimes, dont u think your doing something wrong? just maybe?

 

[Trainwreck]

Nothing wrong with your age, but the danger of pushing to dive deeper to the point of having problems alone is not good. Shallow water blackout is real danger when pushing yourself, if you have no buddy to look out for you......
I'm sure you get the picture

 

[cesare]

well I haven´t take any freediving course I have been freediving since 8 and spearfishin since 10, most of the time by my own, I developed my own style of spearfishing and indeed not everything I do is right.

The times where i almost passed out, was once because I went down and down till I could and when turn I turned around comfortable with air I start to get dizzy so i got scared and rush to the surface but everything was spinning and start to see fuzzy that was about 65 feet. And other two times were when I saw a nice snnaper at 60 feet and i tried to bring themm to me when i realized that they were too far away after several time i were totally out of air. So I left my speargun behind (it was moored to the floater) and got to the surface by miracle.

 

[Marwan]

cesare,
i know the hunt is very exciting, but safety is more important, if your buddy can not dive the same depth it is still better than diving alone, but in all cases dont push yourself, take it easy and learn to practice going deeper safely. there are many posts on the freediving forum talking about techniques and safety tips. but i will recommend a few right now:
1) Never dive alone
2) know your limits and dont push them (even if you see a 100 KG grouper)
3) take your time to improve your bottom time/ depth
4) always have a float and tell someone on shore where your are going.

better to stay alaive and hunt more fish over the years

 

[trux]

Some more hints:

• Make sure to read how to handle Shallow Water Blackout (you'll find it here in DB forum, or on the web if you enter the words or simply SWB into the search box), and especially do explain it to your buddy and regularly repeat simulation training - rescuing each other from some 4m - 10m, and bringing back to breathing and back to the shore. If you do not know how to do it routinely, once there is a real accident you (or your buddy) will not be able to react properly or fast enough.
• Also attach the float to your belt, and whenever you dive any close to your limits, release the buckle of your weight belt when ascending - if you get an SWB (due to the expanding lungs), the belt will (likely) fall and it will be easier for the buddy to rescue you. Having the belt attached will help psychologically - many divers are hesitant to release the buckle or drop the belt, because they do not want to lose it.
• Never overweight you. You should be positively buoyant at least until some 10m (30ft), unless you are hunting in a really shallow water.

 

[cesare]

wise advise...

still I have a weakness when seeing big fish, I risk everything. I know this is wrong and I am trying to improve it. can't let them go!!! I grew up with this thought, but I haven't been so wreakless on my last dives.

Do you think it's better to improve my bottom time before attempting go deeper

many thanks folks...

 

[jimqpublic]

I took a Performance Freediving class earlier this month. Kirk Krack said that in his experience 90% of blackouts occur just after the diver has surfaced and 9% occur within 10 meters of the surface. This is for freedive competition type training but possibly correlates well with spearing too. Only 1% occured deeper than 10 meters.

If you have a dive buddy spotting you on deep dives that is prepared to rescue you within 10 meters of the surface then you will be covered for most cases of shallow water blackout. Remember that a surface blackout is fatal if there isn't anyone to keep your face out of the water. For such deep dives weighting yourself to be neutral at 10 meters will cause you to float up if you blackout above 10 meters vs. sinking.

 

[Marwan]

cesare,
my buddy (now 34 years old) has the same problem like you when he sees big fish, but one time he did blackout on ascent for pushing his limits, i was there and knew what to do and we all went home in one piece, try to imagine if things were different. I would definitely advise on imroving bottom time rather than depth, get comfortable, the fish will be there, waiting for you (not many people hunt at 30m!!). just a question, do you use a reel or clip the gun to the float, or none of the above? i hope you dont wait aound to fight the fish and bring it up from depth, where are you spearfishing, which country?

 

[cesare]

Hey marwan,

I clip the gun to the floater directly, so if I starve for air, I can let the fish down and bring it from the surface.

I hunt in Venezuela, nice country, but as I said before you must go deep to find the good stuff, because all the shore line has a big mountain, cliff, that goes down as weel and continue to the bottom 60 feet (20m) but there are places were it is even deeper. So you are practicly hunting beside the cliff and depth is not anly the main problem you´ve got waves that pushes you to the rocks. After few times you get comfortable with the conditions.

best regards to all.

 

[greendiver]

Hey marwan,

I clip the gun to the floater directly, so if I starve for air, I can let the fish down and bring it from the surface.

I hunt in Venezuela, nice country, but as I said before you must go deep to find the good stuff, because all the shore line has a big mountain, cliff, that goes down as weel and continue to the bottom 60 feet (20m) but there are places were it is even deeper. So you are practicly hunting beside the cliff and depth is not anly the main problem you´ve got waves that pushes you to the rocks. After few times you get comfortable with the conditions.

best regards to all.

Cesare, dode **** estas pescando?, yo empeze alli, en los 80 ;-)

 

[cesare]

Saludos Greendiver:

Principalmente ando pescando en la Guaira. Entre El Club Playa Grande, Chichiriviche y toda esa costa hasta Pto Cruz. Cuando puedo en la Cienaga.

Estas vacaciones voy a las Aves seguramente. me han dicho que se arponea bien. Donde pescas tu ahora?