Spearfishing/Freediving Alone?

[Panthalassia]

Panthalassia:.....I did not misundertand...It was just a joke....I'm sure you are a nice guy but it was a simple joke there is nothing to be taken personally...(I stuck myself in a "cul de sac").....you know Greece is the country I have always wished to go but for many personal reasons I hv never had a chance....but sooner a later......

As I said, not taken personally. Either way, the issue is dead and buried.
I hear you though. I haven't been able to afford to go back to Greece in a while. It's been about 7 years now, and my little heart is aching to jump back into that beautiful blue of the Med. That is a color I have not even found in the Caribbean. Ahhh, to have a freshly speared fish, some octopus, a nice big village salad (aka Greek salad), and some good bread and wine...
Take care guys. I'm going off to daydream...zzz

 

[Erik]

....but let's be realistic the chances that we meet around the world is one out of (billion zeros).

You never know! I've met quite a few people from all over the world after first meeting on Deeper Blue. :friday
Cheers,
Erik

 

[MARMIR]

2 Marmir
Thanks. I actually have an Italian colleague at work whose mom has a big house in Sardinia, so I might check it out one day. I was actually asking about that friend of yours who came from Greece with lots of fish.
If you ever head to Russia - let me know - I will spell out where to go for big catfish, pike perches and wild carps if you are interested.

Hyep,

.....tks. Take a chance to go to Sardinia, it won't let you down...

 

[Pastor]

You never know! I've met quite a few people from all over the world after first meeting on Deeper Blue. :friday
Cheers,
Erik

True, I bumped into a guy from Switzerland who read db and who knew me when we were in Egypt this summer. It's a small world

 

[Mr. X]

... nonetheless we all do dive/hunt alone, and it's very often, for two main reasons: 1) no buddies available and /or 2) for the intimate pleasure of an introspective experience.
...

I would add a few additional reasons:
3) less chance of shooting someone (your partner)
4) less chance of being shot (by your partner)
5) quieter in the water -- disturb the fish less.
6) less constraints on your time/activities (only have to worry about when you are feeling tired/cold/hot/sick/hungry/thirsty/cramping). I find this particularly liberating.

On the other hand, dying sucks. So you need to think about managing peripheral risks as much as practical. I dare say we all dread the day will come when we loose a friend from this forum. I saw some figures once concerning climbers - turns out driving to climbs is more dangerous than climbing. I suspect the same is true for spearing, at least for those of us that travel a fair distance on smaller roads.

BTW I am surprised that several people mentioned cramp as a concern. I get cramps all the time. I can cramp my calves any time of the day or night if I feel like it. I don't find it a significant problem (although I have seen people shreiking almost in tears - so perhaps others are affected differently). Last year I got a thigh cramp in the water (thigh cramps can be considerably stronger & more painful than calf cramps - have only experienced that twice in my life) but even that is not a serious problem. Just stay calm & deal with it (move the effected limb or wait for it to subside).

"Two spearos, one gun"/"one up, one down" - this does sound like a good approach. You'd need to work out a safe, efficient system but it might also help enforce a good resting/diving ratio (3:1?). Having your butler manage your float, line & stringer would be ideal of course.

Recently one of the Bahraini royals died spearfishing...

Condolences. Who'd have thought it: spear fishing - the sport of Kings.

 

[Virgili]

for the intimate pleasure of an introspective experience.

I began spearfishing at about ten, in the Med Sea. I Dove often with friends at the time I was a teenager, then i did diving alone during several thousand dives in South of France, Corsica, Itay...
My prof/ perso life style let me often free to improvise: I feel on form to dive/ to hunt, so I do it. But to feel on form means for me a feeling beyond a good shape. It means to have a kind of intuition wich sometimes tell me: "to day, you should'nt dive in the sea, stay home!", despite I am in good shape. It's difficult to elaborate about this physical intuition, this body/ mind interaction... somebody could share that feeling?
At the time I dove in the Med Sea, I liked to dive guided by a hunting project. For example, to dive during several hours only motivated by catching one specific specie and one fish: to observe the fish and to observe myself.

 

[Mr. X]

...to feel on form means for me a feeling beyond a good shape. It means to have a kind of intuition wich sometimes tell me: "to day, you should'nt dive in the sea, stay home!", despite I am in good shape. It's difficult to elaborate about this physical intuition, this body/ mind interaction... somebody could share that feeling?...

Interesting. Sounds a bit "New Age". Although I think it's good practice to follow your intuition. A sense of foreboding for example. Often we are aware of far more things than we can consciously think about/process/understand immediately - perhaps it is something to do with that, an emergency short-cut.

I used to (and occasionally still) mountaineer. I noticed that I often got a sense of foreboding before a storm/snow. In hindsight, I think it was probably quite reasonable. I am quite sensitive to sudden changes in pressure (stabbing sinus headaches & aches in the knees). You can probably overdo it though - used to see some guys sitting round Camp4 (Sunnyside) in Yosemite, never actually getting around to doing anything.

Saw an author on TV several years ago in the US that was really into intuition and had written a book about it. I think the interview was quite interesting. She was "friend to the stars" (Demi Moore, etc) rather than a scientist. Haven't read the book but I reckon this is the one:
Practical Intuition
"Intuition is a survival skill, alerting you to both dangers and opportunities by bringing important information to your attention."

 

[Lenny]

I once read a book about spearfishing, where the author compared spearfishing other sports in regards to the ''margin allowed for error". Like for instance if you play football or do dirt bike raceing. What will it take to cause a minor accident and what will it take to cause a major accident resulting in death? In most sports, if one where to get over confident in your abilities and do something stupid you would most likely still come out alive. But if you think about it, Spearfishing is one of those sports that allows zero room for error!

I used to dive alone all the time. I don't ever now! I had an experience that brought me very, very close to drowning. The tough reality is that most of time the sea does not afford people second chances as I had.

 

[MARMIR]

.....Pls Lenny, tell us more.....

 

[Lenny]

I was coming back in from a dive so I was only in about 3m of water, and I dived down to try get a crayfish, the bottom was filled with large boulder type rocks, The sea was very rough and there was quite under current, i was sort of more concentrating on the crays than I was about where the water was pushing my body around, I'm not sure how it happened but when I turned to come up I discoved that my foot had slid into crack and got jammed as I tried to pulled it out. At this point I got quite panicy and pulled my foot harder and but only jammed it more. I eventually got it out by leaving my fin behind.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Lenny,

Do you think a dive buddy would have done you much good in that situation?

 

[josedesucre]

IMHO, it is not even a though call. At that depth a buddy could have been by his side in a few seconds if Lenny had passed out, and been able to pull him out on time to bring him back. The point is: if you have a buddy, you have a chance. Of course, that doesn't mean you should take extra risks.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Well of course I wasn't there, but if it was very rough, there is a good chance that they both were being swept back and forth, maybe there was limited vis in air bubbles, and even if the buddy could have seen him, he might have been getting rolled around by the waves himself. And if he couldn't pull his own foot out when he was the one who could feel how it was stuck, maybe a friend couldn't have pulled it out either.

Having said all that, I agree- having a buddy is better than not having one. Its just that a buddy can't always do magic in all circumstances.

 

[octpora]

Take lenny's avatar for instance. What if his pack had known his leg was stuck?

 

[josedesucre]

Having said all that, I agree- having a buddy is better than not having one. Its just that a buddy can't always do magic in all circumstances.

Absolutely. It is just an extra measure of safety. But I can assure you that when I dive with my son I wont allow myself to be distracted from watching him when he is down. If we all do the same with each other accidents will still happen, but maybe one or more lifes will be saved.

 

[Lenny]

For one if I did lose consciousness, there would still be a possiblity that i could be revived if my buddy found me. Also I am quite keen on the one up one down idea, because the one on the surface should be watching your back, (even though we are sometimes distracted). A good habit to get into is to check every 30 say secs where your buddy is. It's tedious but when you get in the habit of it it becomes second nature, and besides what would you rather say to his wife and kids: "Sorry I was really looking," or "I saw him in distress and I tried everything i possibly could"

 

[monchan]

Seems like a lot of us dive alone, I have no choice, small town in a country that speaks a different language and have only ever met one other spearo, who drove 3 hours from a big city for his plate of fish.

I am though blessed with shallow reefs, plentiful with fish and only 20 mins drive from my door. The thing that gives me confidence in diving alone, while not being able to control the enviroment in the water, I can decide when and when not to go in, if it looks dodgy I go home. Others though that do the miles to get to there spot are probably tempted to have a go. I promised my wife to always come home,
aside from a heart attack in the water I mean to keep that promise.

I think with good sense and judgement diving alone can be managed, as long as you remember anything can happen and will happen IF YOU LET IT.

Be safe.

 

[Virgili]

had written a book about it

Thank's for this interesting reference.

 

[Amphibious]

before any of you even think of going solo, I'd ask you read this:

http://forums.deeperblue.net/freediving-stories/74732-lessons-learned-swb-story.html

 

[settingsteel]

before any of you even think of going solo, I'd ask you read this:

http://forums.deeperblue.net/freediving-stories/74732-lessons-learned-swb-story.html

Ah true mon