How to introduce a newbie to freediving?

[Veronika]

Dear all,

A fellow Scuba diver approached me and asked if I could take him with me to the pool. He wants to have a glimpse at it to know how "freedivers" train, and if this sport might be for him.
I'm not a freediving instructor (and I'm really bad at explaining stuff, he knows about both facts *g*) and I wonder what to show him and what to explain to him within the hour we can spend at the pool.
I'd just like him to get something out of it and make it a safe, enjoyable evening.

I'm pretty sure some of you were in the same situation already. What did you do? I'd be grateful for any input.

Cheers,

Veronika

 

[Chris_C_NZ]

I'd probably just say go for a swim, see how far he can go on a breath without any training or advice. Then introduce basic concepts and see how they fair. This obvious (take more breath?) or not so (better finning technique). There after if he likes what he's been doing refer to a club? If you dont feel comfortable explaining concepts then better to be safe and let someone who is, do it.

*edit: this is how I do it for climbing. Take what they know and work on it, rather than working to a set of prescribed 'formulas'*

 

[haughki]

Hi Veronika,

One thing to make sure about is the safety aspect of the sport. I think the best thing to teach is direct supervision for the entire dive, and within arm's length at the end of the dive (last minute or so and at least 30 secs after the first breath). This goes for any in water diving/traing: static, dynamic, depth, whatever. In addition, for depth diving, the buddy should be able to _easily_ dive to at least 1/2 the diver's target depth.

The point, I think, isn't to scare the new diver, but just to present some simple rules which greatly reduce the risk in freediving.

To extend the climbing metaphor, I tell people that freediving without the above safety is like rock climbing without a rope or anchors (aka, free soloing).

I also agree you don't need any prescribed intro, but things you could do:
- work on clean, relaxed dive entry
- try a few statics with warmups, just to see how the breath hold evolves
- do a dynamic to see the diff between dynamic and static
- do some "bottom statics" holding (not wearing) weight at the bottom
- try some frc's in the deep end to get a sense of buoyancy and compression, but careful to start really easy and work slowly to avoid injury. no pain necessary

Good luck
Hawkeye Parker
Kailua Kona, HI

 

[Veronika]

Hi there,

Thanks for the hints. He is a good Scuba diving and has had some finswimming and even simple "snorkelling" training but nothing advanced. The technique of finninig is not new to him, though.
We'll be doing STA, DYN and maybe DNF. Sure safety is the first priority and the least thing I will ever do is to leave a newbie unattended.

I like the t0 vs. t1 concept. What also came into my mind now is to do some breathing techniques and teach him how important relaxation is. My feeling is that this is one of the the most important and most overlooked issues. Think it will not be a problem to while away the hour in the pool :-D !

Thanks guys!

Greetings,

Veronika

 

[Narsil]

For beginners, we recommend grabbing them by the throat from behind, and forcibly holding them under water. This tends to avoid any evil hyperventilation activity.

Hold him or her (you might need a hand with this) underwater until they black out. This is the only way to measure their true physiological apnea threshold.

If the period until black out exceeds three minutes, resuscitate and invite him or her into your club.

If under three minutes, don't bother with resuscitation. Just look for another beginner.

Rinse and repeat.

Guy

 

[chrismar]

Guy, you're giving away all our club's secrets!

 

[Chris_C_NZ]

LOL!

Hey Chris, where in NZ are you?

 

[Simos]

Hold him or her (you might need a hand with this) underwater until they black out. This is the only way to measure their true physiological apnea threshold.

We've found this method to give inconsistent results due to the different levels of struggle from person to person. I'd recommend wacking them at the back of the head with a neck weight to make the unconcious And THEN holding them under.

 

[Chris_C_NZ]

Thats funny shit!

 

[chrismar]

LOL!

Hey Chris, where in NZ are you?

Wellington. I'll have a word with the Aucklanders and make sure they're adopting best practice when introducing new divers though.

 

[geofinz]

For beginners, we recommend grabbing them by the throat from behind, and forcibly holding them under water. This tends to avoid any evil hyperventilation activity.

Hold him or her (you might need a hand with this) underwater until they black out. This is the only way to measure their true physiological apnea threshold.

If the period until black out exceeds three minutes, resuscitate and invite him or her into your club.

If under three minutes, don't bother with resuscitation. Just look for another beginner.

Rinse and repeat.

Guy

And you wonder why I won't get into the pool when you and Chrismar are doing statics!

 

[go-hard]

Ha ha - very funny you lot!

Luckily Phil C didn't do that to me when I went along to the Auckland Freediving sessions when we were gettingin extra pool time to take on the Aussie UWR team - he is quite a bit smaller than me and underwater rugby is good training for dealing too some dodgy bugger underwater.