How can i get started?!?!?! Help please

[Taylor.Stevens]

I'm only 16 and i love in Ohio. There are no courses here :rcard:rcard
How can i get started? My family has a boat we use every summer and my step mom and dad are cert. lifeguards and have offered to be my safety buddies, i don't currently have the funds to travel and take courses. Is it to dangerous to start to learn the basics with my family until i can take a course or should i just wait?
Thx in advance!

 

[Apneaddict]

There are a handful of freedivers in Ohio that dive the Gilboa quarry.

At least a couple are quite experienced, so for safety (if you can't get to a course), I would suggest hooking up with them.

 

[monkeyhatfork]

read up on shallow water blackout but i would say to start ur parents sound like fine safety just know they have to watch ur whole dive especially when u are surfacing cause they tend to accure near or at the surface. and they need to be able to dive as well to assist u but for overall water safety a lifegaurd has more training than the average certified diver. visibility would be an important factor as well.

 

[hank49]

I grew up in Ohio....just south of you in a little town called Harrison. I feel your pain.
The problem with doing free diving there is finding clear water....and deep water. There are reservoirs that have deep water near the dams but it's usually about 5-10 foot vis.
It's dangerous to dive in those conditions even with a buddy because he can't see you, not to mention crazy boat traffic.
Maybe do your training in a pool, with a buddy...always. You can black out and die in 4 feet of water.
But you could weight yourself so you can lay on the bottom in the deep end of the pool and build up your dive times. But again and this can't be stressed enough....never ever do this alone. My son blacked out in our PFI course in 5 feet of water under supervision. It was a real eye opener because if he'd been alone, he likely could have died.

 

[Taylor.Stevens]

Thx for the replies

 

[geo909]

I was looking for freediving buddies in my hometown for pool training and couldn't find
any, though my swimming pool has a very deep end and a couple of lifeguards. I
contacted an experienced freediver who told me that "a life guard is not a diving buddy"
and I chose to listen to him.

Now I'm doing lots of dry training, lots of swimming, try to make them hypoxic regularly and
for the actual freediving I commute to Montreal that has a freediving club. That's 2-3 hours
of bus each way,$50-$60 per trip, and I have to speak French, which I don't really. The whole
thing is a pain but better be safe than sorry (or dead).

If there is any club anywhere close to you, you could do something similar.

EDIT: Sorry, I just re-read your post about lacking the funds for travel. In any case, try to find
a safe way, lifeguards constantly looking at you while they swim on the surface may be a good
option in the beginning, but if you advance you may need something better than that. Good luck!

 

[monkeyhatfork]

if he has a lifeguard in water specifcally watching him thats allot different than relying on a public lifegaurd for safety

 

[geo909]

if he has a lifeguard in water specifcally watching him thats allot different than relying on a public lifegaurd for safety

Yes, I should have read his post more carefully.