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Old 03-13-2014, 06:42 PM   #35
growingupninja
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Los Angeles
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Re: Any self taught divers?

I am self taught in freediving, won some events last year our nationals meet--this is not much of a brag, US freediving unfortunately being what it is--and I have one corny apnea Guinness World Record. But I do know that I spend more time on research/reading, training, and self experimentation than most instructors I know. To my knowledge many current and past world record holders are 'self taught' in this way as well, although most of them started long before freediving classes were a thing. One caveat is that I have swam in the ocean since infancy and I swam competitively for 11 years, alongside and coached by Olympians, so I am certainly not entirely 'self taught' as a swimmer.

Kinda funny thing is I'm largely self taught as a spearfisherman, mostly just picked things up from stories, my own experience, reading spearboard and the odd bits advice from the wise old farts; with my swimming/freediving background I was hunting at 90' in my first six months of spearing. I've said it before though that if I had kids who wanted to freedive I'd get them involved in a class and likely insist they spend some time on a swim team before taking them out to hunt in the ocean.

Quote:
Originally Posted by B shift View Post
The problem with using a plus oximeter is that if you hyperventilate CO attaches to your red blood cells and fools the pulse ox. All the pulse ox does is measure how full the red blood cell is not how much oxygen it is carrying. People who die of CO poisoning can have pulse oximetry readings in the 90s and be suffocating due to lack of oxygen.
Not to bash but I don't see what you are describing as any kind of problem with a pulse oxy meter, whatsoever. I'm genuinely curious: I am not aware of any freediver EVER to date dying of CO2 poisoning under any circumstance--training or competing (including cases of extreme hyperventilation which is no longer practiced by top level divers). Please provide literature or case studies, if you have them. The only mention I have ever gotten of CO2 poisoning in a freediving context was very specialized: I was told by Goran (who has the pure O2 GWR at 22+ mins) that for that record CO2 was by far the only limiting factor, not O2... CO2 black-out is a very big deal--unlike hypoxic BO (SWB) you don't start breathing again on your own once brought to the surface.

Quote:
Originally Posted by flamencoguru View Post
To get to spearfish at 140ft (or whatever depth one is looking to do) you HAVE to be able to freedive. (unless you live in the Bahamas or Keys where you can spear nice fish in 10ft of water... that's not the case in most places in the world). Spearfishing is about hunting, not freediving. Freediving is one of the necessary tools to be able to spearfish.

... the prize should always be to go home. The fish should be the bonus.

I think Specific spearfishing classes should cater to the actual hunting techniques, specie recognition and behavior, gun safety and gear. Freediving is freediving.
For once I kinda agree with Errol on something. I don't claim to be the safest diver anyway but a lot of my dive profiles freak out experienced spearos, but I feel like I approach it different than a lot guys who are really 'on the hunt'. I am diving first and foremost. Shooting fish down there is kinda incidental and it certainly helps to be a strong diver who's at home in the ocean.

However, I gotta agree with Kyle about spearfishing classes and disagree with Errol on that. If they were about hunting techniques, gun safety/gear, specie recognition... If that was the 'spearfishing class' I'd feel kinda ripped off. I think a more effective class for spearos would actually cover training. This seems to be a failing of ALL freediving classes: They don't address training, likely for very obvious financial and liability reasons. The guys that come out of there have better safety and make some gains with the support and encouragement of the teacher while in the class but once they're out they seem to have no idea what to do to get better. They all want to hunt at XXX feet but it's news to them that it takes training....
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