Freediving book

I was telling some of the people on the cortes banks trip about a freediving instruction book written by Terry Mass called "Freedive!". http://www.freedive.net/freedive/freedive.html It is an excellent book for someone who is in the first stages of getting serious about freediving.  The book is aimed at hobbyists, not someone trying to set a record.  The book can shorten the learning curve and can help make you comfortable diving 30-60 feet with some practice.  There is a section on pool work which should be helpfull, but remember if you are going to hold your breath in a pool you need someone other then the lifeguard watching you.  A lot of  good freedivers have died in the off season training in the pool.   

If you have been diving seriously for a while (like once a week for a few years) and you have looked over the Terry Mass book and think you could use a more advanced book check out the "Manual of Freediving".  It is a really dry, advanced book that is not very fun to read, but is written for a more advanced audience.  It is not aimed at ab divers or spearfishermen, but at the freedive enthusiast who is planning on diving over 100 ft. http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Freediving-Underwater-Single-Breath/dp/1928649270

There are classes you can take too, but they are pretty expensive.  "Performance freedivers" and "Freedivers.net" teach freediving classes.  There is a freediving class taught in monteray by one of the guys from the spearfishing video "blue" (which is a really good video by the way) more on that class can be seen here http://www.wallins.com/freediving.htm.   

Have fun and be safe,

Justin

Thanks Justin,

    I've been thinking quite a bit about free diving and spearfishing since talking with you on the Islander. I'm a big believer in learning potentially risky things in a systematic way, so I'll be looking into some instruction locally, but probably won't find much going on till winter is over.

    I'll look forward to catching up with you next year, hopefully with some dive time under my belt.

   It's too early to assess whether I'd be ready to dive a bit next year on the Islander, but it's a nice thought!

Thanks for the tips, and happy holidays.

TallPaul