Performace Freediving in Wisconsin??

[Jon]

I've been talking to MAndy-Rae about possibly putting on a PFI course in Wisconsin the week before Freedive-A-Palooza next summer. Since there are a few of us from this area who have traveled down to Florida to take the course I thought that there might be enough interest to have them come here and teach one.

Here's the rub, we need 16 divers and it would cost about $600 a piece, plus charter boat fees if we run it in Milwaukee or some kind of pool/classroom fees if we can even find a pool in Black River falls to run it up there. Everyone is on their own for food and lodging.

So, who would be interested in a course knowing all of this? Would we really be able to get 16 people to show up? I know that it would be a closer drive to many people in the Midwest so we're not just drawing from Wisconsin alone. We could run the course with less than 16, but the price per person goes up with everyone person less than this.

It's a year away so that gives us some time to plan.

Jon

 

[khel]

I'm sure we'll be able to get 16 people for this, especially if they'll add this to the class schedule on PFI website and we'll make a sticky here, and probably repost it on spearboard.

(btw. I though the max. class is 8 people or so?)

p.s. any particular reason to choose Black River falls for classroom/pool?

 

[maytag]

Are you guys all going to be doing the Advanced course?

 

[Jon]

Re: Performance Freediving in Wisconsin??

The information I got was to put together an intermediate course. Since we need to get enough divers together to make it worth their while I thought that the intermediate course would make more sense than the advanced.

If there was enough interest in the advanced I would love to do that one- since Hawaii isn't in my budget at this point in time.

Jon

 

[cigarlung]

Jon any chance the event could be same week of Freedive-A-Polooza. Could draw a large group of people from all over the Deeper Blue World.

 

[Jon]

I was aiming for the week just prior to palooza as Mandy mentioned she wanted to attend one of these years.

After doing some more background research this past weekend it seems that the best way to run it would be in Milwaukee. There are pools, classrooms, and boats easily available there. Wazee has the depth, we need 150', but no classroom or pool. Milwaukee has all three- if we use a boat to go out and hit that depth.

Now all we need are enough divers willing to come up witht he cash. Everyone else from this area, me included, have had to pay all those fees plus the travel and hotel expense to go to Miami to take it. This would be much more reasonable.

Jon

 

[cdavis]

Hi Jon,

Sounds wierd, but Wisconsin might be easier for me than Miami. Staying over for apaloosa would be a treat. What is the weather like that time of year? What are the chances of being blown out of the open water sessions? Would a 3 mil elios be warm enough? Remember, I'm a Florida Wimp when it comes to cold water.

I'd be taking it as a refresher course. How does that effect the number you need?

Connor

 

[Jon]

Surface temps will be in the mid 70's and bottom temps will be in the low 40's. Sometimes we get som freak winds out of the east for a few days and we'll have 70 degree ater down to about 100' or so, but it's still 40 below that. This happens early every August but there is never a set time for it to happen.

Weather is always an issue in big water, but i would have to say that the end of July through the first two weeks of August are some of the flatest water we get all year- it's when everyone I know plans their "deep" tech dives of the year since it promises the best conditions.

Up in Wazee there is almost a zero chance of getting weathered out- unless there's a tronado and those are usually over with pretty quick so you can still get back in for a dive. rofl

You should try and make it up for this year's Palooza to get some dive time in. I can guarantee three days of solid water time and lots of people to spot you- I got over 10 hours in during a single day last year!

As far as the suit goes I would bet a 3mm should do the trick for you. You may want to layer a vest underneath but that's all i've ever used in the summer around here. Even if it gets cold on the bottom the suits are good enough to keep you warm and the surface water is so toasty that you rewarm pretty quick- especially in the hot July sun.

Jon

 

[DiverTodd]

Sounds like it would be a blast, although I'd be coming out just as a "refresher"....by then I'll have been through PFI's advanced course (going to Grand Cayman at the end of this month for that...woo hoo!) AND through FIT's Level 2 course. I want to be there for palooza, too! Speaking of which...when is THIS year's palooza again?

Todd

 

[Jon]

July 14 and 15.

I wonder if it would be better to run an advanced course if we have some many divers who have already done the intermediate one? Something else for me to check into......

Jon

 

[Gahiel]

This is an answer to my prayers!!! Count me in!!

 

[maytag]

Are you still planning for summer 2008? Or is it summer 2007? Thanks,

 

[nostres]

July 14 and 15.

I wonder if it would be better to run an advanced course if we have some many divers who have already done the intermediate one? Something else for me to check into......

Jon

it looks like there will be enough people for both, intermediate and advanced class... They do both quite often especially in Hawaii so they should be able to run it in "Hawaii of the Midwest" too

 

[Jon]

Most likely 2008 as i don't think we can get enough people together for this summer- and I am not entirely sure that their schedule will match up this year.

Jon

 

[Pinggene]

Jon,

I am unable to commit at this time...Wife is going back to being a full time mom , so the $ may get a little tight. However, things work in mysterious ways...

When would you need to know for sure?

By the way...has been very WINDY at Rocky Point, Mexico. Vis is 3' :rcard :head :vangry . Oh well, bring on the Carp-O-Rama...although I've heard you guys have been gettin SNOW!

Gene

 

[Jon]

We're expected to get somewhere around 6 inches of very wet snow today.

We'll see how much interest there is before we start talking about collecting any money. 16 divers is quite a few to try and put together so I'm not sure if we can pull it off.

Jon

 

[bjpete]

Hi Jon, I'm definitely interested also,
Later,

Brian

 

[Jon]

After a few more emails I realized that the course cost woud be $695 per person- based on a full class of 16. That does not include charter fees or food and lodging

We could run an Advanced course instead, but only for those who have already completed the Intermediate course already- they were pretty specific about that. The Advanced course is 6 days, not 4, and there is more openwater time, and less class time, than with the Intermediate course. Cost for that course would be $895 plus any boat fees.


On a completely different tact, I got a email from DiveFIT and Martin might be able to come up and teach a monofin course. He would only require 6 paid students instead of 16.

Lots of things to consider.......

Jon

 

[nostres]

On a completely different tact, I got a email from DiveFIT and Martin might be able to come up and teach a monofin course. He would only require 6 paid students instead of 16.




Count me in for the monofin course

 

[Jon]

Re: Perform ace Freediving in Wisconsin??

It doesn't look like we're coming up with the 16 students we need to run the PFI intermediate course. I do have some more info on Martin's monofin course, but will start a new thread for that one.

Jon