Question from a beginner with a specific task in mind...

[jd1]

Hello all, first time posting here but did read many of the helpful posts and articles on freediving techniques and training. I was looking for any specific techniques that may help me out with my needs.

To give the background or my question, I was contracted to do some media work for whale sharks (video and stills). This will involve multiple descents in a short amount of time...basically, drop off boat, descend, get footage (video/stills), keep up with the whale shark as long as I can, and resurface only to be dropped again in a relatively short amount of time. The shots I need will require breath hold at a depth no deeper than 30 feet but mainly in the 10-15 foot range (at least that's what I have in mind for the final project).

I have never practiced free diving but I am in very good physical condition and having read some of the forums I will post some stats:

Sorry I don't know the exact terminology yet so bear with me:

Static breath hold above water: 2min 8 sec
Static breath hold under water: 1min 56 sec
Max depth on one breath and return to surface: 85' (I did this yesterday, yes I had a buddy)

Breath hold while doing work: 45 sec (I got this number taken while walking my dogs) Basically I held my breath as long as I could, released, took another deep breath and held as long as I could, then repeated but timed the 3rd bout.

Not sure these stats will help, but if anyone can offer some training techniques or strategies I wold greatly appreciate it...I have two months to improve my skills and will also be researching as much as I can in the meantime.

Thank you.

 

[divedeeper]

Seeing as you will need to be resurfacing with little rest in between, I recommend taking a look at the CO2 Tables, (or table A), in this thread.

http://forums.deeperblue.com/beginner-freediving/64959-how-start-freediving.html

All the other info in that thread is very valuable and provides a background on the risks and safety measures of underwater diving.

Side note: Im so jealous youre diving with whales! You're lucky; enjoy it!

 

[efattah]

If you are surrounded by a support crew who know how to resuscitate a black-out, then you have the luxury of pre-dive blow off. In preparation for a series of extremely shortly spaced dives, you can do controlled hyperventilation for 5 minutes (perhaps in the water, or sitting on the edge of the boat). Then, during the short dives with short recoveries, you will slowly accumulate CO2 on each dive. This will be much more pleasant if you started the sequence with low CO2. In your case the dives must be somewhat pleasant so you can focus on video. If you are struggling with a violent urge to breathe your underwater effectiveness will be low. Pre-series over-breathing is dangerous in terms of causing a blackout, but if you are surrounded by a safety crew it shouldn't be too bad.

But in general, just dive as much as possible, with a buddy, 2 hours+ per day, and your ability will improve dramatically.

 

[Simos]

I think two months of dedicated training can make a massive difference. You already have dived significantly deeper than the target depth so I think you need to focus on your ability of performing multiple dives under potentially high CO2 and heart rate and getting your equalisation spot on.

My personal view would be to work on CO2 for dry training. For wet training in the pool, I would do series of underwater lengths with short intervals and/or a combination of swimming a length on he surface followed by a length apnea and so on.

Given that you really won't have much chance for breathup and deciding when to dive, I would try diving to the target depth with no preparation, swimming horizontally a bit and then coming up. Then repeating. It'll teach you how to pace yourself in order to be able to do repeated dives (the series of underwater lengths in the pool will also do this). Try doing the dives with the camera and making sure you can equalise and film at the same time...

Finally, if you can learn to equalise using BTV (hands free) it would greatly help you with the camerawork I think
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[Simos]

Also I think it's really important to get your weights right...
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[jd1]

Thanks for the informative replies and suggestions. I'm putting together a training regime based on what you all have been telling me along with further info I have been reading.

As a further note, equalization is no problem (hands free), nor are weights. I'm an avid scuba diver (100 dives a year at least) and know my weights in various wetsuits/skins (without BCD and tank of course).

Thanks again for the advice, feel free to keep it coming

 

[cdavis]

What you are planning is very close to the diving with dolphins that we do. For us, all the relaxation techniques, low breathing rates, etc that we use for most freediving go right out the window. "Hyperventilation rules the day" as a buddy of mine put it.

Train as close to what you are planning as possible. Your main focus will be learning to operate with hi C02 and figuring out how to best remove it quickly. C02 tables help, but get in the water with camera, deep end to simulate the depth and swim as you expect to swim. Hyperventilate ahead of time, hyperventilate in between dives(a buddy is required). You need to get comfortable with high C02 levels. After the first dive or two, B0 won't be much of a threat, so hyperventilation works with reasonable safety. Be careful on the first dive or if the surface interval is long.

Practice some with the weights, remembering the difference between salt and fresh water. Weighting for freediving is subtly different from scuba and a little practice will go a long way.


From the videos I've seen, whale sharks don't seem very spooky, so smooth movement may not be extremely important, but learning to be smooth will help you extend your breathhold.

Connor

 

[jd1]

Thanks again for all the advice. Things have been going rather well (probably due to the steep increase in any activity newly performed from both a physical and neurological status).

For the wetsuit I'll need to be wearing I have the weights down with no problem. I have been doing repetitive dives as many of you suggested as this will be the closest to what I'll need to be doing with the whale sharks.

Static apnea time is now over 3 minutes and I can perform the CO2 tables at a little over 2min with the last ventilate time being 15 sec.

I'm in the water every other day at my expected depth both with gear and without performing multiple dives (with my buddy).

With a workload in the water I'm able to manage about a minutes worth of activity multiple times in a row. Not that impressive but its a good baseline for what I need to do. I'd like to add about 30 seconds to this before my trip.

Haven't had a dropoff/plateau yet so overtraining has not occurred IMO.

Thanks again!!!

 

[cdavis]

Doing 1 minute repeated working dives with short surface intervals is pretty good. You are making great progress. Warning, with good c02 tolerance, repeated high effort dives with very short intervals, less than a minute, can eventually get you into B0 trouble. A trained buddy is a very good idea

Connor

 

[Simos]

Hi Connor - I'm not disputing your warning above at all but just curious to know why say 45 second intervals would make it much riskier for BO? How long/how many breaths does it take to re-oxygenate the blood stream after a dive? (probably harder to reoxygenate all the muscles etc - is this what makes it riskier?)

 

[cdavis]

Simple answer, I don't know. However, I do know that the only time I ever came close to a B0 was spearfishing with a lot of fish around, very shallow water, stay down as long as possible, come up, hyperventilate, go back down as quick as you can stand it. Keep doing it long enough (can't say how long that is) and you can end up with a B0. Several buddy's had the same experience. Those surface intervals were much shorter than a minute, but I don't remember how short.

Reoxygenation (up to a point) comes faster than C02 release, but full recharge of 02 systems takes several minutes. In theory, surface intervals short enough to mostly reoxygenate while still having significant c02 will give safe, but not very comfortable dives. Exactly where you cross the line from safe to unsafe is a crap shoot.

Connor