Hiya
I've been a bit busy over the past few days, so please forgive my lack of attendance on the forum.
Here, in Cape Town, freediving or even spearfishing doesn't have a big following, as in other countries. Why???, i really can't answer, as we have two oceans to choose from, with cold clean water on our west coast to warm fish rich waters on our east coast.
Anycase, i started diving a while back already. Started out as most spearo's do, hunting for crayfish in the shallow kelp beds and reefs, later progressing on to hunting the fish that inhabit these kelp beds. Unfotunately, spearo's normally have a tight circle of friends whom they dive with, making it extremely difficult for a young in-experienced diver to join their ranks. Thus you simply read and try and learn from those slightly better than you. There sure is a wealth of information on forums, like the BEST freediving forum, DeeperBlue.net
, but many things can only be learnt by watching and learning from a very experienced diver.
I heard about Trevor Huttons Freediving clinic from Rabitech. Unfortunately, he had just finished his course and was going on holiday!!!! After some SERIOUS pleading and begging, i managed to convince Trevor to give my wife and myself some lessons.
My wife doesn't dive often, as in False Bay, it is simply too dangerous for me to let her get into the water. On the occations that she does get in, i'm always right by her. Due to her lack of fitness and very low dive time, she had very little bottom time. She badly wanted to improve it. Her goal was to get from 6-8m to about 10-12m with some bottom time. As she had only two days available, i thought that there was no way she was going to learn that much in such a short period of time. Day one was spent in the pool. Learning basics, like mask clearing, proper finning tecniques, proper breath up's, etc. Trevors philosophy is that ANYBODY can dive to 25m with-out fitness being an issue. He claims that proper tecnique will get you to 25m regardless of your fitness. Depth's in excess of 30m is where fitness comes into play.
Day two we spent in a quarry. 14degrees water 2-3m viz., diving down a rope!! With-in the first hour, my wife was doing dives down to 13.2m WITH some bottom time!!!!!
I had a much tougher time. Trevor was trying to train my nervous system. I'm a very stubborn character, but thankfully Trevor knew EXACTLY how to handle me. By the fourth day and final day, i was swimming down to 26m, WITH bottom time!!! Unfortunately, that was all the time Trevor had available, as he is leaving for his holiday.
The fact that scared me the most, was how in-efficient my diving style was and how dangerous some of my diving tecniques were. In between sessions, we had lectures on EXACTLY what happens to your body when you're deep diving. I wish that i had learnt these things much earlier in my diving career.
To any divers new to the sport, as well as those not so new, i can HIGHLY recommend doing a freediving course. Lots of emphases is placed on safety and ultimately, it WILL make your dives SAFER and much more enjoyable.
Once again, a GREAT THANX to Trevor Hutton, for taking the time and being so patient in the one on one training he provided myself and my wife!!!! :thankyou :thankyou :thankyou
And I have a new found respect for all you divers who brave the cold dark waters of quarry's. That dirty water scared me silly!!! Kept on think a shark was close by, even thouh we were in fresh water!! :girlie :girlie
Regards
miles
I've been a bit busy over the past few days, so please forgive my lack of attendance on the forum.
Here, in Cape Town, freediving or even spearfishing doesn't have a big following, as in other countries. Why???, i really can't answer, as we have two oceans to choose from, with cold clean water on our west coast to warm fish rich waters on our east coast.
Anycase, i started diving a while back already. Started out as most spearo's do, hunting for crayfish in the shallow kelp beds and reefs, later progressing on to hunting the fish that inhabit these kelp beds. Unfotunately, spearo's normally have a tight circle of friends whom they dive with, making it extremely difficult for a young in-experienced diver to join their ranks. Thus you simply read and try and learn from those slightly better than you. There sure is a wealth of information on forums, like the BEST freediving forum, DeeperBlue.net
, but many things can only be learnt by watching and learning from a very experienced diver.I heard about Trevor Huttons Freediving clinic from Rabitech. Unfortunately, he had just finished his course and was going on holiday!!!! After some SERIOUS pleading and begging, i managed to convince Trevor to give my wife and myself some lessons.
My wife doesn't dive often, as in False Bay, it is simply too dangerous for me to let her get into the water. On the occations that she does get in, i'm always right by her. Due to her lack of fitness and very low dive time, she had very little bottom time. She badly wanted to improve it. Her goal was to get from 6-8m to about 10-12m with some bottom time. As she had only two days available, i thought that there was no way she was going to learn that much in such a short period of time. Day one was spent in the pool. Learning basics, like mask clearing, proper finning tecniques, proper breath up's, etc. Trevors philosophy is that ANYBODY can dive to 25m with-out fitness being an issue. He claims that proper tecnique will get you to 25m regardless of your fitness. Depth's in excess of 30m is where fitness comes into play.
Day two we spent in a quarry. 14degrees water 2-3m viz., diving down a rope!! With-in the first hour, my wife was doing dives down to 13.2m WITH some bottom time!!!!!
I had a much tougher time. Trevor was trying to train my nervous system. I'm a very stubborn character, but thankfully Trevor knew EXACTLY how to handle me. By the fourth day and final day, i was swimming down to 26m, WITH bottom time!!! Unfortunately, that was all the time Trevor had available, as he is leaving for his holiday.
The fact that scared me the most, was how in-efficient my diving style was and how dangerous some of my diving tecniques were. In between sessions, we had lectures on EXACTLY what happens to your body when you're deep diving. I wish that i had learnt these things much earlier in my diving career.
To any divers new to the sport, as well as those not so new, i can HIGHLY recommend doing a freediving course. Lots of emphases is placed on safety and ultimately, it WILL make your dives SAFER and much more enjoyable.
Once again, a GREAT THANX to Trevor Hutton, for taking the time and being so patient in the one on one training he provided myself and my wife!!!! :thankyou :thankyou :thankyou
And I have a new found respect for all you divers who brave the cold dark waters of quarry's. That dirty water scared me silly!!! Kept on think a shark was close by, even thouh we were in fresh water!! :girlie :girlie
Regards
miles