Newbies come together

[groats]

Hi nick, here we are!

Margery0007 just had this idea of introducing a newbie thread, which i think is a bloody good idea. So hi Margery, MonkeyMan, Okiecaver, Craig and all the others, cheers for starting on freediving, hope this thread will work as a beginners pool and get us all started...

Greets joe, a newbie too:wave

 

[Seal]

Hi I consider myself a newbie

I know a bit about the sport, but don't have too much practical experience.

 

[Getor]

Good idea!

I'm in.

Been scubadiving for 20 years, and freediving since last summer.
But I bought suit and other necassary gadgets this winter, and just recently participated in my first spearo competition.

It will be nice if all other newbeie's entering this thread will tell what made them start freediving.

For myself, it's the freedom of not having tanks etc, and only relying on ones own capabilities when I'm diving.

 

[groats]

delayed start

So I`ll have a start then with telling how i got started:

I`ve been a competitive swimmer for 7 years until I quit because those competitions really sucked. I liked to be in the water but there it was all about beating the others and therefore the atmospshere sucked too. I missed the water since but never got a clue what to do else. I thought about diving but only knew scuba, which is `being in the water` but not like `being a part of it`.

My brother then took me to the flicks 2 1/2 weeks ago: Ocean Men at an IMAX movie theatre. Bloody hell! No sleep that night, it just got me! So basically I got into freediving by watching telly...

Now I`m back in the water and i have found what i`ve really been looking for. Simple as that.

I`m curious how others came to freediving, because I had never heard a word of it, actually, as it`s not one of the sports that are covered by mass media... My brother was a freediver for some weeks already and i didn`t even notice!:head

Greets Joe

 

[okiecaver]

Good Idea, Groats....

Mine is a LOONNNGGG story.

Grew up going to a local lake where my grandfather had a cabin and boat house. His nephew, my mom's cousin, was a UDT in Korea and taught me to snorkel and showed me scuba.

At 18 I spent a summer semester in Nice, France, got to watch some competitions and loved it. The following summer I was certified in scuba.

I continued to scuba thru college. Then , due to lack of buddies and being bitten by the bodybuilding bug, I dropped it. Later I got hooked on Ephedra to lose weight for competition, then would drink to come down.

In 88 I sobered up. I had to rebuild a shattered career and life first but, with the urging of an ex Navy SEAL I recertified. I watched "The Big Blue" when it first came out and it tickled an interest, But, also being intrigued by caves, I decided to go the technical scuba route first.

I still actively cave dive, but during a forced dryspell, I watched the remastered version of Big Blue and found this forum at the same time.

The rest is history. Gear is ordered, or being chosen. I have a couple of contacts for practice, including David Lee up in Tulsa, and will be doing my first pool static, dynamic, and monofin work out this weekend.

Now I just need more buddies.

Dive safe
Brock

 

[Seal]

My entry too freediving....

Well I would swim with a friend at our cabin, and when we got older we got wetsuits and started diving a little. My buddies allways called me "waterboy" because I was so fast under water.

I have never tried scuba, and have no urge to do so.
When I started for real it was because I had bought a sea-kayak, and with it a wetsuit for cold water paddeling. I wanted to test the wetsuit. And on the first dive I was hooked again. Sold the kayak 1 week later. And bought free diving gear.

And now i'm trying to push it a bit too test my limits.

 

[groats]

Re: Good Idea, Groats....

Originally posted by okiecaver


Now I just need more buddies.

Dive safe
Brock

I`d be happy to join in, but as we`re not exactly neighbours... Anyone from switzerland here???

:wave :wave :wave

 

[okiecaver]

Seal- have you joined any of the freediving clubs in Denmark?

there seems to be a good number, with one fielding a national team. Are you interested in that?

Dive safe
Brock

 

[Seal]

Re: Seal- have you joined any of the freediving clubs in Denmark?

Originally posted by okiecaver
there seems to be a good number, with one fielding a national team. Are you interested in that?

Dive safe
Brock

Yeah I thought about it, but so far i'm going solo, or with a few of my friends. But it's definetly something I will be doing when the water in the sea gets to cold this fall. I will need a pool where fins are allowed

But i'm seriously considering it. I would like to compete, but not yet.

 

[margery0007]

hey joe,

sorry havent posted, abit slow on the uptake!!

good initative on doing the beginner thread, i think we should go into business together!!

where abouts in Switzerland are you from cause my dads a pilot and flys out there and to sweden as well quite alot?

i think this thread will be a great help for beginners as well as helping us get more knowledge of the sport,

nick:duh

 

[bluecape]

another newbie

Hi All

Newbie from Cape Town South Africa , developed an interest after seeing The Big Blue many years ago, but have finally got around to starting. I work at Cape Town No Limits center, and have been following the progress of Pelazzari, Pipin etc for a long time, but was a smoker, so never felt ready.
Quit smoking a year and 3 months ago, been working on cardio fitness, and now feel the time has come to start this awesome sport.
I have been borrowing Fins and equipment, but about to buy, still trying to decide between a few brands. ( Omer, Sporasub )
May try spearfishing later, but for now, just focused on improving apnea, learning to relax and become comfortable with the oceans moods.

Any advice will be appreciated...be safe !

 

[groats]

Hey Nick ( zzz )!
Just tell me when you`re in the alps, I mean fortunately this country is small enough to get anywhere in matters of hours. I live in Basel (well, near basel) and zürich is not that far either (most likely that your dad will land there). Oh that would be cool if you came over here once, although we don`t have loads of diving locations here... Anyway, just tell me!

To bluecape:
You`re more than just a bit lucky to live in cape town and saying I`m only a bit jealous would be a leetle beet of an understatement... Congrats for stopping the cigs, I`m still working on that one!:duh

Greets to all, Joe

 

[MonkeyMan]

I'm a bit slow too...

I started freediving about two years ago, after I was certified as a scuba-diver but discovered that it really sucked. Dragging equipment back & forth and the akward feeling of breathing preassurized air; yuck!

My PB is about 25 meters

I've had a really bad experience though; last monday (28/4) a divebuddy and classmate died due to a freediving accident, he was a great diver, but pushed himself to hard. (You can read about the accident in swedish at: http://www.expressen.se/expressen/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=10&a=30504) This has had a great impact on me and I'm really careful nowadays...

I've would really appriciate a newbie guide-thread...

Great Idea!

Slut - Frågor?

 

[margery0007]

Monkey Man,
tell me to piss off if you want to, but seeing as i cant read swedish is there anychance you could paraphrase the article in english for me? a friend of a friend has a similar story and would be interested ot hear your event?

cheers

nick

 

[Farmer Mat]

hi,
here is another newbie from switzerland!
i started because of a documentation on TV about freediving and a few years ago i`ve seen the "ocean men" TV-docu! everbody else have seen it?
goodbye

 

[margery0007]

does anybody know if they r gona release ocean man on DVD b'cause every1's had nothing but praise for it and i cant see it here in England (i dont think)!!:waterwork

Welcome to DB Farmer MAt!

nick

 

[Seal]

Hi all noobs!

I was just wondering, beeing a newbie myself. What disciplin are you trying to get better at? I'm trying to get better at "dynamic" but it seems most people are going for "Constant weight". Anyways have fun out there

 

[Farmer Mat]

constant weight

hi
i have no suit because it`s to expensive and the lakes here in switzerland are fucking cold now! i going to pratice a little bit of CW in corsica, where i`m going to spend 3 weeks in my summer holidays!
dynamic is not my prefered discibline and i just want to try CW because of the feeling down there. i dont know how deep i can go, but it will be fun anyway!

bye

 

[Adrian]

freediving glossary

Hi Folks,

I've been on this forum a while but I still consider myself a newbie in terms of practical experience and time spent freediving. When I joined DB I was quite confused about all the different terms and started to make a list with definitions. It's still pretty rough but without all the people at DB it would not have been possible. Please feel free to send me any additions or changes you think it needs.

You can find it here:

http://forums.deeperblue.net/showth...6035#post216035

Adrian

 

[groats]

Pack the sack...

I know this question might belong to the training and techniques forums, but i`ll post it here because i think mostly newbies will have to face that problem. I learned a lot about breathing the last days but one thing still doesn`t work: packing. I know the technique and i do it occasionally, but usually it takes more time to pack completely than the addictional amount of air gives me... My statics are longer when i don`t pack, so what`s the use of it? Or, as most of the pros do it, what am i doing wrong?

Any experiences?

Thanks in advance, joe