Good day!

[southpaw]

Hey everyone,

Let me first start off by saying how thrilled I am to have found a site/community about free diving. I've been looking for a way to get into this for sometime now.

A little background I guess. I've been swimming and snorkeling for a good portion of my life and just recently found out about free diving through an tour guide here in California.

I'm really interested to get started with this new found hobby that is Free Diving, but unfortunately I have no idea where to start. I'm coming to these forums to ask for any and all knowledge pertaining to this activity. I'm also asking if anyone can point me in the right direction to find a buddy, instructor, or class to assist me in exploring the depths of this wonderful blue planet.

Thanks,

Southpaw.

 

[Bill]

Check out these two sources for instructors. There may also be more associations.

PFI Instructors « Performance Freediving International
Freediving Instructors International, FII

 

[southpaw]

Thanks Bill!

Although, upon reading my first post I think I may have asked the wrong questions so I'd like to revise it a bit more...

Does one HAVE to take a course to do this activity? Or can one simply grab a couple of friends, look up on all the safety needed and just be able to go out to the coast and begin?

Would a newer diver HAVE to go out and buy Omer/Cressi/Riffe supplies in order to do this? or can it be done with a cheap Aqualung snorkeling package you can buy at a sporting goods store?

I ask these questions simply for monetary value. I browsed a lot on different supply sites and also looked at your instruction course and WOW. I didn't realize that if needed, this is going to be an expensive hobby

 

[cdavis]

You don't have to have freediving designed gear to freedive, it just makes things much better and easier. And the "cheap" packages are often just junk. Be careful of wasting your $. Most of us, like me and Bill, started long before really good freediving gear even existed, and we put a lot of fish in the boat.

You don't have to have a course to start, but its a lot safer. If you just start and really like it, it won't be long before you will very much want a course because of how much better it can make you, not to mention safer. And don't think you can learn safety off the internet, you can't. The guy most likely to die is the one who gets into it, learns a bunch of stuff off the internet, starts to get reasonably good before he truly understands the risks and pushes the edge.

Connor

 

[southpaw]

Great! That's what I needed to hear.

There's a shop for spearfishing near me that I can go to and talk further with the guys there, but it's good to know I don't have to dump a lot of money into this right off the bat. Thanks Connor!