Resting in Open Water

[shoutatthesky]

I have been doing most of my freediving from the shore about 100 -150 metres out. I have been having trouble finding a good way of resting up during surface intervals. Sometimes I lie on my back but then I don't feel comfortable exhaling fully as I lose too much buoyancy. Other times I lie face down and breathe with my snorkel. Neither method is ideal and I don't have a boat to hang on to.
Can anyone suggest an alternative method of resting in open water.

 

[laminar]

Bring a noodle... Depending on the current and wind it will be there when you surface. Diving FRC without a suit, a noodle is almost essential in order to be able to completely relax.

Try it out!

Pete

 

[icarus pacific]

Diving there in NZ I have to think you're wearing a wetsuit. You might want to look at the amount of lead on your belt.

 

[shoutatthesky]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a "Noodle"? I know you don't mean to take some pasta with me :t so do you mean like a inner tube? Links?

 

[shoutatthesky]

Icarus I think my weight is about right but I might experiment with less. In this case do you think my current methods would suffice?

 

[icarus pacific]

A noodle is one of those semi-rigid foam cylinders that kids play with at the beach/pool. You can lay across one and it will give you a little perch from which to take a blow.

And as to your weight, I don't know what your methods are, what your size is, etc., but your goal right now is to be bouyant at the surface and nuetral at 10m or so. For example ONLY- I'm 6'-3" and 100kg, if I'm wearing a 5 mil suit, I've got 6kg on. More if I'm in shallow spearing, less if I've got to go deep.

 

[shoutatthesky]

I am about 1.7 metres and wear a 6.5 mil one-piece double lined suit. I weigh about 70 kg. I wear about 6 kg of lead. I am generally diving in no more than 10 metres.
This whole weight issue seems to be a highly individual thing.

 

[Mullins]

Yeah there are several variables involved like lung volume, body mass, body composition, suit thickness, even neoprene density. Depth is probably the most important factor, I could happily triple the weight on my belt when moving from deep open water dives to shallow (5m) snapper snooping. 6kg doesn't sound like very much at all if you're wearing a 6.5mm (Omer?) suit and diving max 10m.

Lying on your back might offer a slight advantage in performance as it eliminates the dead air space of a snorkel, but there are many other things to work on at this stage that will be much more beneficial. I reckon just lying face down and snorkel-breathing should be fine.

 

[greg27]

for an extended rest take off your weight belt hook it to the end of your dive flag line and lower it to the bottom and hold on to your flag bouy float face down and try not to go to sleep

 

[jome]

The dead space problem of a snorkel is easy. Just don't exhale through it, only inhale

Not that it really is a problem anyway, the airspace is so tiny, that the difference really is negliable, especially if there is any kind of extra ventilation involved...

 

[azapa]

I am about 1.7 metres and wear a 6.5 mil one-piece double lined suit. I weigh about 70 kg. I wear about 6 kg of lead. I am generally diving in no more than 10 metres.
This whole weight issue seems to be a highly individual thing.

i'm 70Kg and wear a 7mm suite in cold seawater. I use 6Kg for freediving to 15M and 8 for spearfishing in shallower (to 8M) areas.

I find how much you can relax depends on how choppy the water is, rough days are very tiring for me. I use a "scubie" snorkel with the purge thingy, it really helps me to relax on rough days, also, my fave tip of this month from a local spearo: don't use the snorkel/mask headband clip thing, it always lets the snorkel be at just the wrong angle. I just have the snorkel loose and tuck it under the mask strap.


best luck..