Spearfishing and freediving... I dive alone although I shouldn't because the ocean is a pretty unforgiving place. I've had my fair share of close calls with death in the 10ish years I've been diving/spearing but it seems impossible to find a dive buddy that cant get time off work or away from the family. I try to get new people into it all the time, I've got enough extra gear to take a few people with me and teach them but everyone gets cold feet when it comes time and I end up diving alone.
Would you try it? If not, why?
Down to answer any questions about freediving, spearing or my experiences
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 UFOs Are A Psyop Shirt $21.68 |
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I'm all ears for the near death experiences
I've watched a couple spearfishing videos on youtube and it looks pretty interesting, but there's probably rough mental and physical hurdles for anyone looking to start. I doubt most ordinary people even think about diving underwater on a single breath, let alone train for it. And beyond that there's the fear of blacking out and drowning.
Plus even if you can freedive, spearfishing requires an additional and different set of skills - how to pull back, hold, and aim the spear, what desirable fish species are in the area and how to identify them, etc.
Altogether it's pretty daunting and there isn't a clear way for a beginner to just dip their toes. They have to strap on the suit and belt and dive into the water.
I live on a small island of 300k people and I always have dive buddies to go with me.
Not all can provide safety at deeper dives (25 m /90 feet plus). But they are all trained in recovery from BOs and all sea experienced. Guess it helps being on an island tho?
Also joining a spearfishing team or club that also trains in open water or pool.
Eitherway I still like going alone sometimes, as long as there is no risk of wildlife attacks and the ocean calm it should be fine.
Risk of black out is really only when you push too far and haven't practiced your limits or don't have good sense of your body.
You definitely need to start with freediving classes, there is a mental barrier for sure but once you pass it you will love it and see that its easier than it looks!
sounds fricking based. the ocean around me is fairly shallow with mild waves, how deep do you need to go to catch something tasty?
Not particularly deep, just gotta know what you wanna catch. Maybe look up some guides on whats local.
Anyone else watching Vertical Blue 2023?
Yeah buddy. Lots of doping this year. Personally know the 2 guys too. Sad news....
Is it relatively safe to learn and practice freediving alone if the water is calm and not that deep? There's a small bay near my home with some nice coral that's about 2 or 3 meters deep max
Would not recommend, but then again I spearfish all the time alone.
Atleast you should learn the basics from someone and then proceed on training by yourself.
You will never be able to train for your max apnea tho, unless you want to risk dying by black out and having no one there to rescue you.
>Is it relatively safe to learn and practice freediving alone if the water is calm and not that deep?
No. If you push your limit for even a split second and pass out you are basically dead.
Just do dry statics, or swim in a pool where at least if you pass out you arent going to die with a lifeguard/others around.
Lifeguards aren't trained to look for shallow water blackouts. You are better off than swimming completely alone but you are still risking death in a public pool.
Go for it. Just make sure you don't wear any weight. Extreme Snorkeling. Still dangerous but if you BO you shouldn't sink.
That picture is fricking terrifying. Props to you, but you sir, are a madman.
Gotta have some balls to shoot a marlin or swordfish.. imagine that thing coming at you full speed to impale you after you shot him and made him mad!
How about this one?
Please be patient, I have moronic.
Nice shoes Krusty
Where do you live? I'd kill to dive if you're around Sydney and I get half the year (interspersed throughout) off from work
>Would you try it? If not, why?
Yeah man, I'd love to. I've been scuba diving a bunch and last time I was on a liveaboard my gf and I spent some time between scuba dives messing around with snorkels trying to see how deep we could get on a single breath (16.5m according to my comp) but I've never done any formal freedive training or looked into the theory of it. A lot of the islands in SE Asia with good scuba diving also offer free dive courses and it's always been something I've wanted to do but run out of time for).
If you freedive without pic related, your are a total fricking moron on the same level of every idiot in sk8/bmx/motorcross/etc that refuses to wear a helmet. Can fill it yourself, has more than enough air to get you up from any distance you can reach in a free dive, weight is negligible. Zero reason not to have one.
I fail to see how that'll help. My understanding is that there's no obvious preceding sign that heralds a pending black-out. Sure, you may feel a growing urge to breathe but that's common toward the end of any extended breathhold dive and if it's a hypocapnic blackout or ascent blackout then you won't even feel that.
What's the trigger for you to whip out the Heed rather than just calmly swim to the surface as normal?
>My understanding is that there's no obvious preceding sign that heralds a pending black-out.
There are a few, blurry/darker vision, ringing ears, numbness on limbs and then on chest, diaphragm contractions...
No, this doesn't help. You really just need to have a dive watch and some practice. Come up when your body says come up.
Assuming you DIDN'T hyperventilate, before you black out, your chest and diaphragm will be contracting and trying to force you to breathe. This usually starts at 2/3rds your maximum breath hold.
You can go beyond this but then you're asking for a blackout.
Just practice on your bed with a stop watch. You'll see.
I tell all my students to start by juat going snorkeling alot. When you're comfy swimming in fins, getting in and out fo the ocean, you don't get sea sick, putting on a wetsuit, going down a bit, and equalizing your ears, THEN take a class.
Pic. Thanksgiving dinner.
How to say you know nothing about freediving without saying you know nothing about freediving
>Zero reason not to have one.
I'm not made of money
Location?
Sorry for all the same-gayging.
>going in the ocean
No thanks. There are monsters in there.
I'm still procrastinating on buying these. I don't want to buy them then go for a snorkel (to see if I might like spearfishing) and not like it and then have blown $350. And it'd seem a bit dog to dry them off and then return them, acting like they were used... Reselling would be a bit of a pain. I want to buy but idk.
Tried snorkelling at Cloveley last weekend but the water was too turbid
I want to do this so fricking much, I live in an island but the frickers have spearfishing banned. Keep enjoying it OP, stay safe.