www.centredaily.com | 07/01/2007 | Into the deep
By Steve Waters - South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Chad Palan got his start in freediving the hard way.
He was run over by a pickup truck.
"It crushed my left leg and messed up the tendons," said Palan, who was 6 years old at the time and lived in New Port Richey, Fla.
Palan loved the water and fished a lot. When the cast finally came off his leg, the owner of a local dive shop who knew Palan gave him fins, a mask, a snorkel and a speargun. He figured getting Palan into freediving and spearfishing would provide good exercise for his injured leg.
"I went around in local canals," the self-taught Palan said. "I'd be spearfishing in the canal behind my house. I was diving 60, 80 feet in freshwater springs when I was 12 years old. I also took up scuba diving.
"The sick part about it is I used to be scared of the water. Now I can't get out of the water."
Palan's leg healed just fine. Now 35 and living in Lake Worth, Fla., where he is an ironworker, Palan spearfishes whenever he can. He often goes out in his boat with his mother, who follows him while he's in the water.
He also competes in spearfishing tournaments. In April, Palan won the state Freedive Spearfishing Championship in Tarpon Springs. And he and Sheri Daye of Boca Raton are featured on the television show Speargun Hunter, which airs five times a week on The Outdoor Channel.
Despite his early start in the sport, Palan got away from freediving and spearfishing. He moved to Lake Worth in 1991 and said he did a lot of lobstering.
He was going spearfishing with scuba gear when a freediver he met told him about a local club, the Palm Beach Free Divers, in 1999. After that, he pretty much put aside his tanks, regulator and BC and got back into freedive spearfishing, which he enjoys more than hook-and-line fishing because of its up-close-and-personal nature.
"When I'm spearfishing, I become predator and prey," Palan said, "because something can eat me."
By Steve Waters - South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Chad Palan got his start in freediving the hard way.
He was run over by a pickup truck.
"It crushed my left leg and messed up the tendons," said Palan, who was 6 years old at the time and lived in New Port Richey, Fla.
Palan loved the water and fished a lot. When the cast finally came off his leg, the owner of a local dive shop who knew Palan gave him fins, a mask, a snorkel and a speargun. He figured getting Palan into freediving and spearfishing would provide good exercise for his injured leg.
"I went around in local canals," the self-taught Palan said. "I'd be spearfishing in the canal behind my house. I was diving 60, 80 feet in freshwater springs when I was 12 years old. I also took up scuba diving.
"The sick part about it is I used to be scared of the water. Now I can't get out of the water."
Palan's leg healed just fine. Now 35 and living in Lake Worth, Fla., where he is an ironworker, Palan spearfishes whenever he can. He often goes out in his boat with his mother, who follows him while he's in the water.
He also competes in spearfishing tournaments. In April, Palan won the state Freedive Spearfishing Championship in Tarpon Springs. And he and Sheri Daye of Boca Raton are featured on the television show Speargun Hunter, which airs five times a week on The Outdoor Channel.
Despite his early start in the sport, Palan got away from freediving and spearfishing. He moved to Lake Worth in 1991 and said he did a lot of lobstering.
He was going spearfishing with scuba gear when a freediver he met told him about a local club, the Palm Beach Free Divers, in 1999. After that, he pretty much put aside his tanks, regulator and BC and got back into freedive spearfishing, which he enjoys more than hook-and-line fishing because of its up-close-and-personal nature.
"When I'm spearfishing, I become predator and prey," Palan said, "because something can eat me."