• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

New to Freediving

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

LeeYoder

New Member
May 25, 2004
6
0
0
63
Good day all,
I am a PADI certified (advanced open water) diver and have become interested in freediving. Admittedly, it has been many years since I have blown bubbles at depth (family,job,etc..) but I am still keenly interested. I am looking for more info on freediving and hope this forum will be the source. I am looking forward to corresponding with this international community and becoming smarter as I go.

I have seen many mentions of apnea tables. How do these compare to compressed air tables? Or do they? Is there a computer available to track freedives as there are for compressed air dives? Do any freedivers carry a spare air, just in case?

Sorry for all of the questions, but I want to learn and SAFETY is ALWAYS my first priority.

Thanks,
Lee
 
Hiya Lee

Welcome to freediving ! I'm not sure which area of freediving interests you, but whether you are going to pursue the 'sport-version', ie, competition diving to depth with no equipment other than fins, mask and wetsuit...or the 'hunting' version, ie, spearfishing, you are about to embark on a journey of incredible self discovery, beauty, and at times, frustration and potential danger. My strongest advice to you would be to walk always on the side of being conservative. Never push yourself during apnea unless you have very experienced buddies ( experienced freedivers) on-site to watch you, . You can purchase freediving computers which will give you bottom times, depths, surface times etc etc, eg, the Suunto D3.

Regarding apnea tables, I would not be too concerned right now, get into the sport and get comfortable, you will go from there.
Carrying a pony-bottle ( spare air) is not a common practise, as far as I know, is not advised either.

Oh, and you'll learn to relax. Not relax like Tiger Woods before a crucial putt, or like you do in front of a television on a rainy day...but a whole-new-kind-of-heart slowing-inner-calm-peaceful-limp-limbed-comatose-is he still alive???-kind of relaxing, that once you understand will take your freediving to a whole new level.
Above all, dive with a buddy, be conservative, relax and always trust that many thinks Apnea are very hard to explain... as you dive, things will slowly just start to feel right. Lastly, this forum has regular visits from some of the worlds top freedivers, who are always willing to share their knowledge. ( And I'm NOT one of them !!)

Good luck Lee.

Jeff
 
Jeff,
Thanks for the reply:D . I am looking at the sports/recreation aspect at this time. Maybe a competition if I can get a couple of years of good solid training in. I will definitely follow the conservative approach (too much to lose by going gung-ho).
I hope that my age will not be too much of a detriment to my conditioning. Any thoughts on that?

Later,
Lee
 
Hey Lee

Just checked your age, you were born 7 months before me !! I am not aware of the physiology of apnea / age, but as far as I'm aware, it should'nt have any downsides. Some freedivers seem to be genetically 'gifted' with lung capacity, but even that area is a bit vague with me, I seem to remember hearing that Pipin Ferraris for example has a very healthy capacity in his lungs. At the end of the day, it's unlikely to effect us unless we are knocking on the door of world records , which for me, is no going to happen.

I started in the sport with an interest from the movie 'Big Blue', but after starting in the cold Cape waters, I was soon side-tracked, and am now committed to spearfishing as my chosen form of apnea.

Cheers

Jeff
 
Lee,

I checked your profile and you are only early 40s!. There are quite a few people on this forum who are 50+ and who are diving deeper, further & longer than most. Your age shouldn't make any difference and may even help you.

Andy
 
DeeperBlue.com - The Worlds Largest Community Dedicated To Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing

ABOUT US

ISSN 1469-865X | Copyright © 1996 - 2024 deeperblue.net limited.

DeeperBlue.com is the World's Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy and Diving Travel.

We've been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

ADVERT