Learning to spearfish DEEPER

[Arbutis]

I have been spearfishing for several years now but I feel like I am stuck at a particular depth. I live in NJ and fish off the beach and prior to that I lived in Rhode Island - both are relatively cold water and murky dive conditions. I consider myself a very good swimmer but I have a dive comfort level of only about 25 feet. My max is about 37 feet but as I recall it was quite uncomfortable and I'm sure I wasn't down there long enough to be useful.

I've seen some shows on tv where these people are going 70 feet plus and it seems effortless. Additionally, I have an opportunity to try some really deep spearfishing 75'-110' with a few commercial spearos off Isla Mujeres in Mexico in a couple weeks and I don't think I'm up for the challenge. It seems like an impossible hump to overcome.

I have been getting bottom times of about 1 minute to 1:20 where I dive and for me that is pretty darn good. My questions to this group. . .

Is there something I need to learn in order to get over this hump and become able to achieve depths like these?
Is it just a matter of having a much longer breath hold?
Are there other equalizing techniques I am missing that enable a diver to get to these depths?

Any information would be helpful.
Thanks.

 

[apneaboy]

Take a course in your area, find a buddy to safety each other for deep dives...

Good luck, and safe diving.

When you watch someone who knows what they are doing it does look effortless, become that person

 

[lawstraljan16]

As the comment above said, take a course and try spearing with a buddy for obvious safety concerns.

Keep pushing yourself forward but slowly. Be sure to know your limit, remember to always remember that you need the same amount of time you did to go down!
Mentality plays a big part in diving.

And if you say you can dive for 60-80seconds that gives you enough time to go deeper than 30ft.

Try jogging (apnea technique) yoga, apnea courses to improve your breathe hold and try seeking professional help.

And the night before a dive, try eating healthy and something light with small portion, and dont drink any amount of alcohol. A big dinner and/or any amount of alcohol really affects my dive in a bad way, makes me feel uncomfortable and my breathe hold shortens.

Good luck!

 

[Arbutis]

Thanks. Good advice.
Let me ask this as a general question - how long can you guys typically hold your breath on a dive? Thanks.

 

[lawstraljan16]

I just started spearfishing regularly mid-last year and could hold my breathe for about 1min off the bat without any training techniques or any type of exercise. Im a smoker so that really affects my breathe hold but I quit for a month and was surprised to see drastic improvements and I was able to hold my breathe for 1 and a half minutes within that month. Sadly Im smoking again and I am back at square one!

I gotta stop smoking and start exercising again!

 

[Jonny250]

Hi Arbutis and welcome to DeeperBlue
I have the same problem - i get stuck at around 12metres. For me its partly psychology [sic] and partly i dont think my lungs are very flexible = discomfort at depth.
I did a freediving course a couple of years ago and learned a few things that have been helpful since. its well worth doing imo.
my breathhold when diving fit is only about 1:30 but if you consider that it only takes a few seconds down and up, that should be good enough? I think that the better guys can manage 3 minutes at 20m but i dont live in that world lol.
keep on trying... good luck.

 

[Scoobaru]

Hi arbutis, as Jonny said welcome to the forum. Last year my deepest dive was around 15m (near 50ft) and I was regularly hitting 1:30-2minutes breath hold, this year i an trainin a lot more and hoping to hit 20m+ with breath holds around the 3min mark. Here are a couple of tips I found useful:

• Take note of the visability, the better the Vis the more comfortable you will feel, resulting in a longer breath hold
• Take note of current/water movement. Again your breath hold will suffer in stronger tides until you are comfortable diving in tides
• I eat a yoghurt before I dive (with nothing else up to 6hours before hand) as the yoghurt helps reduce acid reflux/nausea feeling for me
• Don't count or keep looking at the time, instead enjoy your surroundings
• If you struggle to not look at the time, try holding into weed, or laying on the bottom. Then close your eyes, sing a song in your head, or imagine doing a hobby you enjoy. When I did this and then opened my eyes I would often find myself surrounded by fish and the time has passed dramatically. Then I study the fish and see how they react, or just enjoy being surrounded by fish. Again this takes your mind off your breath hold.
• Practice your breath hold in shallow familiar water where you feel comfortable. This will bring your breath hold up and confidence up, so then you can gradually push yourself a couple of feet further when you hit deep water with a buddy. As you know you have the breath hold to get down and you have a buddy looking out for you should you need it.

But as the old saying goes "practice makes perfect" so keep up the good work. And if you do have a bad day don't beat yourself up too much about it. We all have bad days.

Keep us posted on your progress

Dive safe Matt

 

[Arbutis]

Those are great tips. I have found from my experience that better visibility makes a big difference and seeing fish also makes a difference. I have been in water so murky that I dive down 25 feet and then all of a sudden crash my face into the bottom. Many times with murky water there is a clear zone about 4 ft off the bottom so I always give it a try.

Anyway - thanks for the advice. Does anyone know of a freediving course that is offered in New Jersey? I would most definitely take a course to try to improve my skills.

 

[Scoobaru]

Yea bad visability really knocks your confidence. I've died down to 6-8m before, but the Vis was so bad I didn't want to hit the bottom, so as I turned around I became disorientated and couldn't tell which was was up. It can get really confusing and you can feel lost.

A lot of it just comes down to how relaxed you are. Another good tip is to remove your mask and lie face down in the water for a few minutes (obviously you can use your snorkel and breathe) as this is meant to kick start your dive reflex which will allow you a longer breath hold. This may help you over come your brick wall in terms of the depths you are diving

 

[cdavis]

Welcome to DB, Artibus,

"Is there something I need to learn in order to get over this hump and become able to achieve depths like these?
Is it just a matter of having a much longer breath hold?
Are there other equalizing techniques I am missing that enable a diver to get to these depths?"

Yes, no, and yes

Take a course and all three will be answered. Expect your dive time to go up by 25-50 percent immediately and depth to dramatically increase. You will learn stuff to practice that will keep on adding to time and depth. I'd been diving a long time before my PFI course and took the course to learn how to dive 30+ meters. I was truly astonished at how much my dive time immediately increased. Time and depth kept on going up as I applied what I'd learned. Further, and really most important, the safety they teach is likely to save your life or your buddies(very personal experience). I know it seems ridiculously expensive and you don't have either the money or the time, but its not and you do. Best money I ever spent.

Connor

 

[Arbutis]

Great replies guys. Thanks.
It looks like I've asked the right questions to the right groups of people. Isn't the internet great?

I've been looking into freediving courses. Of course I get all excited about this in the WINTER! Is it practical to travel to a place like Florida to do a class like this? Or should I just wait until summer and look into one around here in New Jersey?

 

[Scoobaru]

I've not done a course personally but I think the information will be similar regardless of where you do one. I have mixed opinions about doing a course in winter, where I dive (in the uk) during the winter the water temperature drops a bit, and the visability often drops off dramatically. This reduces breath holds and ability to relax. However if you can cope with those situations and you keep training through the winter you should be all set for a great summer. I can't say about the area you dive as I've never dived there and don't know the differences between winter diving and summer diving.

In a nutshell I would recommend doing a course sooner rather than later, then you will learn relevant safety tips and you can base your winter training in the information you learn, which is a good base to improve bottom times and depths you can hit

Sorry to waffle on

 

[cdavis]

Doing one in Florida is nice, fairly warm water and good vis. However, if you can find a good one near you(research it carefully), that might be better focused on your type of diving.

I would not recommend coming from far away to do a winter course in Florida. Wind conditions are too likely to cancel the open water part of the course. That's the most fun part, although you will learn a ton even if you can't do the open water. Mid summer is best weatherwise. Late summer and the risk of hurricanes rises, but otherwise the weather is great. Early summer can be too windy.

Just my take, there are getting to be a lot of freediving courses around. All are better than nothing, but there is a whole lot of difference in quality and it depends on the instructor, not the agency. Do your research.

My dive time? 1:45-2:15 in 50-70 ft of clear, warm water. For a lot of years my dive time was less than yours.

Connor

A tip to avoid crashing into the bottom in bad vis. Count leg strokes. Keep the effort fairly consistent and the depth you reach on a given number of strokes is surprisingly constant. A little practice and you can level out a couple of feet above a bottom that you can't see at all.