Free Diving Questions

Question added Is it safe to free dive after Scuba diving? Say I did a one tank scuba dive off my yak. Could I do a 20 minute surface interval on my yak and then start free diving after?

When do you take the safety off when free diving?

Below the surface before shooting a fish?
On the surface before descending?

When you descend do you leave the snorkel in or out of your mouth?

Where do you clip your fish to while diving?

Is the breathing up technique a proven method of sustaining your breath hold underwater?

I found this link yesterday and tried it at my desk and was able to hold my breath for 2 min and 10 seconds on the first try. I know it's not the ocean but was curious if anyone else uses this method.



Thanks,

Antonio

When do you take the safety off when free diving?
Below the surface before shooting a fish?
On the surface before descending?

Every diver has to make their own personal choice on the use of safeties... my personal choice is to never use one.  A loaded gun should never be pointed at anyone in the first place.  Safeties tend to give a false sense of security and result in lost fish as you shake your gun in frustration, wondering why the damn thing won't fire.

When you descend do you leave the snorkel in or out of your mouth?

Out.

Where do you clip your fish to while diving?

I use a waist stringer.   Unless you're comfortable in the kelp, I'd advise not using one or having only a fish or two on it... they can be rather "snaggy" on kelp strands if you're not familar with it.

Is the breathing up technique a proven method of sustaining your breath hold underwater?

Yes, hyperventilating is horrible.  The overarching rules are to breath slow, deep, and calm yourself down.  Relaxing is paramount in breath holding.  Breathing up has different disciplines as far as length of time of inhalations/exhalations.  For the most part the video is good... except I'd be wary of accepting any freediving advice from a guy whose account name is "Born2Die83"   

I will defer to fuzz as more expert than me, but I have this for you:

The act of folding your body into a pike position and diving down is not the time to have a live gun, IMO.  Take the safety off once you're down and actively hunting or even right before you fire.

Snorkel always in mouth - it needs to become an extension of your mouth like a paddle can become an extension of your arms.

I don't shoot enough fish to know where to clip them - I'd probably throw them on my yak or up on a rock.

I've heard of the method, "breathing up", but never done it.  If I were you I'd read up on SWB - Shallow Water Blackout.

Good on you for doing your homework, Bro.  Enjoy and be safe!   

I know from listening to fuzz that I have all kinds of horrible habits. 

So I aint even gonna try and give any advice/tips.

Except be safe, have fun and don't push yourself unless you have a buddy right there watching you closely...

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Snorkel out

Safety? Polespears don't have safeties.

Stringer- I used to leave my stringer on my yak, but Jim has got me into carrying around a small belt stringer. It's not my favorite to have a small line hanging off me, or have a fish bumping into my crotch or face but I can sometimes get quite far from my kayak.

Breathe Up- I get to the surface catch my breath calm back down and then 5-6 purges before going back to the bottom. Right now most of my dives are just under a minute and my recoveries are usually about 40 seconds. When I'm pushing for lengthy statics the breathe up technique I was taught is do a full inhale in about 2 seconds, pause for 2 seconds, breathe out slowly for 10 seconds, pause for 2 seconds repeat. With 20-30 seconds left before holding begin doing 5-6 full purges, finally one slightly slower full breath in possibly including a pack or two if you're comfortable with that then hold. 

Do a Google search for O2 and CO tables and then download a static apnea app for your phone.

Also on the subject of SWB, here is a crazy personal account of a spearfisher who was diving alone and miraculously was able to self rescue after blacking out at 25'. Still SWB is rarely a concern for the beginning freediver as I am told.

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

The act of folding your body into a pike position and diving down is not the time to have a live gun, IMO.  Take the safety off once you're down and actively hunting or even right before you fire.

Snorkel always in mouth - it needs to become an extension of your mouth like a paddle can become an extension of your arms.

I don't shoot enough fish to know where to clip them - I'd probably throw them on my yak or up on a rock.

I've heard of the method, "breathing up", but never done it.  If I were you I'd read up on SWB - Shallow Water Blackout.

Good on you for doing your homework, Bro.  Enjoy and be safe!   

Safety mechanisms are great in concept, but the true safety is in treating your speargun like the weapon it is.  You never want to count on a safety that may or may not be engaged.  As long as you're cognizant of where it's pointed, you mitigate 99% of the potential issues.  Of course, as public record, I would never tell someone not to use a safety... so if it gives you peace of mind, use it.  My ultimate advice is to just treat the gun as deadly, whether safety is engaged or not.

Snorkel in/out of mouth is controversial, but the general practice is to have it out while diving for one simple reason.  If you black out underwater, the snorkel provides an immediate pathway for water to rush into your lungs.  If the snorkel is out, your mouth will remain closed, giving you a moment to snap out of it or have a friend rescue you. 

Breathing up is just a fancy way of saying to breathe slow & deep... taking the time to relax your heart rate and oxygenate your blood.  On the flip side, hyperventilating is the most dangerous form of breathing and should be avoided.

Still SWB is rarely a concern for the beginning freediver as I am told.

This is a common misconception - divers who increase their breath-hold quickly are among the highest risk groups.  It's easy to start feeling like you can hold your breath forever and become good at suppressing the urge to breathe without fully understanding one's body.  Make sure you take adequate time between dives to recover - even if you feel okay to dive soon, your body often needs a bit extra time to recover.  If your oxygen saturation isn't back to full level, you'll compound this deficit over multiple dives, eventually putting you at higher risk.


Learning to relax, conserve motion, and dive smoothly = good.

Hyperventilating and/or learning to suppress urge to breathe = bad.

To add to the snorkle in/out, it's easier to get that first breath without a snorkle full of water in your mouth and you don't tire yourself out from launching a column of water into the air every time you surface.  Also when you surface and you are doing your recovery breaths just pour the water out of the mouth piece.  Now you have a dry snorkle, and the less saltwater you swallow the less heartburn you get.

Safties:  The two best safties are between your ears  and keeping your finger off the trigger until you are aiming at your intended target.

Thanks for all the great feedback  I greatly appreciate everyones input..

Thanks for the all the detailed information Fuzz. A lot of what you wrote makes sense. I hope to slowly evolve into a better free diver over time.

I can remember reading over 20 years ago when I was getting PADI certified a section on free diving. Sure enough it said to hyperventilate before desending.

Safety? Polespears don't have safeties.

 Good one Carlitos

This additional question was added at the top.

Question added Is it safe to free dive after Scuba diving? Say I did a one tank scuba dive off my yak. Could I do a 20 minute surface interval on my yak and then start free diving after?

This additional question was added at the top.

Question added Is it safe to free dive after Scuba diving? Say I did a one tank scuba dive off my yak. Could I do a 20 minute surface interval on my yak and then start free diving after?

Yes is the simple answer. There is a but. It would depend on your depth/time of your scuba dive. The loading up of nitrogen in certain parts your body because of the physical stress and strenuous exercise performed during AND AFTER the dive. If you refer to your dive tables you can figure a normal 40min dive at 50ft puts you in a F category 20min later you are still in a F. Off gasing will continue while free diving just not very fast. Most times no problem, but dive a lot (years), get near your deco limits often , get bent, or live up in the Sierra Mts. you could have.


Thanks,
John

I think it's not recommended, but I did it a bunch last year.  I just stayed under 33 ft freediving after scuba.

I'll dig up the thread on scubaboard, but it's highly advised against freediving after scuba. something to do about constant pressure changes being more encouraging for bubbles to form in the blood stream, or for alveoli (in the lungs) to burst or some such thing. I just don't do it. surface interval to me means stay on the surface. snorkeling is one thing, but submerging is another.

I'll dig up the thread on scubaboard, but it's highly advised against freediving after scuba. something to do about constant pressure changes being more encouraging for bubbles to form in the blood stream, or for alveoli (in the lungs) to burst or some such thing. I just don't do it. surface interval to me means stay on the surface. snorkeling is one thing, but submerging is another.

Would appreciate it if you could dig that up.
Thanks buddy