Surface Interval?

[Willieboy]

Coming from a Scuba background, I don't understand why it is important for a free diver to know their surface intervals. Is it just a means of measuring recovery time so the diver knows if his breathing/breath holding ability is improving?

 

[J Campbell]

Surface interval for a freediver is important for giving time to breathe off any built up lactic acid, fully recover oxygen, and be fully rested for next dive. You may feel rested after a short period at the top, but your body still needs a little longer to fully recharge - the rule of thumb being a surface rest at least twice as long as your previous dive. If you push yourself and don't get enough rest, you risk blackout, and will also get tired sooner.

 

[Willieboy]

Surface interval for a freediver is important for giving time to breathe off any built up lactic acid, fully recover oxygen, and be fully rested for next dive. You may feel rested after a short period at the top, but your body still needs a little longer to fully recharge - the rule of thumb being a surface rest at least twice as long as your previous dive. If you push yourself and don't get enough rest, you risk blackout, and will also get tired sooner.

Good answer Mark. I appreciate your help.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Mark nailed it, but I'll just elaborate on my own experience. Before I got a watch, I just waited until I felt fully recovered. After I got a watch that measured surface interval, I found that I was feeling fully recovered after about 45 seconds.That isn't long enough.

Another thing I like about the information that a watch provides- if my dive times start dropping, then its lets me know that I may need to pay more attention to relaxing during the surface interval, or maybe pay more attention to my breath-up routine. Ot it may be that I'm just getting tired.

And if I am about to attempt a more challenging dive, perhaps to cut a fish out of the kelp at a depth that is a challenge for me, then I'll use the watch to make sure I have a longer surface interval, maybe three times my dive times.

 

[Willieboy]

Mark nailed it, but I'll just elaborate on my own experience. Before I got a watch, I just waited until I felt fully recovered. After I got a watch that measured surface interval, I found that I was feeling fully recovered after about 45 seconds.That isn't long enough.
but
Another thing I like about the information that a watch provides- if my dive times start dropping, then its lets me know that I may need to pay more attention to relaxing during the surface interval, or maybe pay more attention to my breath-up routine. Ot it may be that I'm just getting tired.

And if I am about to attempt a more challenging dive, perhaps to cut a fish out of the kelp at a depth that is a challenge for me, then I'll use the watch to make sure I have a longer surface interval, maybe three times my dive times.

Thank you Bill. I just got the Cressi Drake computer, but didn't understand the importance of monitoring/measuring the surface interval. I'm going on a cruise in October and am trying to school myself in snorkeling techniques. My background is in SCUBA and that was 30 plus years ago.