Hello from someone who hopes not to drown in the UK

[Danny B]

Hi all,
I'm Danny, 30, from Wales, UK. I've recently developed something of an obsession for freediving. I'll try keep this short, but have a tendency to ramble so stick with me!
As a kid I was very much a water baby and was lucky enough to spend weeks at a time in the costas at the bottom of my uncles pool, usually trying to stay down with the use of the pool cleaning pipe! I could swim like a fish from the age of 5 and would often spend a good 13 hours a day in the pool! As I got a little older I noticed that I had the ability to swim much further underwater than any of my friends, who viewed me as a bit of a freak! I didn't even know freediving existed. Then I had an unfortunate Kayaking accident which nearly killed me, got older, put on weight, stopped travelling and became a bore.....
A couple of months ago I travelled for the first time in 15 years and went to Gran Canaria where I did a bit of Scuba diving and fell in love with it! However, I kept going back to the beach minus the scuba gear and seeing what I could do, suddenly, I found myself in a totally relaxed state at the bottom without the breathing equipment (I was with my partner, not trying alone). When we got back I decided to look more into this and found the freediving community. I've just visited the pool for the second time and with the breathing up techniques managed 37.5m nothing mind-blowing, but not bad for a novice I think! In 5 weeks I fly out to Zakynthos where I plan on recreational freediving. I've invested in some Seac s900 fins and a cressi frameless mask and snorkel, no weights yet as I haven't got my head around how much weight I need, if any! (Any advice on this would be great!) If anyone has any tips for a novice, please feel free to throw them this way!

Danny

 

[Danny B]

I should point out, 37.5m was with no fins and baggy shorts!

 

[seaflower]

hello and welcome!
you sound like a natural!

for weight; one usually uses as much as needed to be neutrally boyant.
meaning that when submerged, you stay in place and neither sink nor float up.

if you already are close to that ideal, you won't need weights (unless you wear a suit which makes you too buoyant to dive comfortably).
I try to use as little weight as possible, because it makes surface rests much easier, and you don't use up so much oxygen getting up again compared to being heavily weighted.

 

[foxfish]

Welcome to the forum.. 37. 5m that is a deep pool!

 

[Danny B]

Ha! I don't think Nemo 33 is even that deep! I meant distance wise on a single breath. I appreciate 37.5 meters down is a whole new ball game with pressure and shrinkage of lungs etc.......I'm not really planning on that deep quite yet, more shallow water exploration and fun to see what my current limits are as I continue to push in the pool! Thanks Seaflower! It's something I've been a little worried about, I'll keep going without any weights for now!