Home Tournaments Calendar Weather Merchandise Sponsors

Go Back   Spearboard.com - The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Boating Social Media Forum > General Topics (Non-regional) > General Freediving Area

General Freediving Area If Apnea Diving rocks your world, talk about it here!

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rating: Thread Rating: 3 votes, 5.00 average. Display Modes
Old 11-19-2012, 08:32 PM   #16
Bill McIntyre
Registered User
 
Bill McIntyre's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: San Clemente, CA
Age: 85
Posts: 39,140
Re: what to do with your freediving snorkel

I'm no elite diver, but for what its worth, I didn't use a snorkel when I learned to dive in the early 1950s.

There was a good reason for that. As far as I know, the only snorkels available were those things with a ping pong ball in a cage that were used by kids in the pool. No spearfisherman that I knew used one. I think the first time I ever used a snorkel was when I got to Hawaii in early 1961.

On the other hand, a lot of my diving in my early teens was under bridges like the one in the photo. The water was usually too dirty to see anything from the surface even if you had your face in the water, and we would hang on to a piling while breathing up and weren't using extra energy.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Drum.jpg
Views:	428
Size:	139.1 KB
ID:	181713  
Bill McIntyre is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2012, 09:03 PM   #17
growingupninja
Lance
 
growingupninja's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,432
Re: what to do with your freediving snorkel

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre View Post
I'm no elite diver, but for what its worth, I didn't use a snorkel when I learned to dive in the early 1950s.

There was a good reason for that. As far as I know, the only snorkels available were those things with a ping pong ball in a cage that were used by kids in the pool. No spearfisherman that I knew used one. I think the first time I ever used a snorkel was when I got to Hawaii in early 1961.

On the other hand, a lot of my diving in my early teens was under bridges like the one in the photo. The water was usually too dirty to see anything from the surface even if you had your face in the water, and we would hang on to a piling while breathing up and weren't using extra energy.
Although I am comfortable skin diving without a snorkel, to be fair, my 5mm probably makes my style of hunting/diving easier. I wear a 1.5mm in tropical water partly for the bouyancy at the surface since I am used to a 5mm, weighted to be neutral at about 30', which keeps me very bouyant at the surface. With a 1.5mm weighted so I am neutral at about 50', the surface bouyancy is comparable to the way my 5mm feels...

Since you grew up without using one, did it take you long to get used to a snorkel?
growingupninja is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2012, 09:42 PM   #18
Bill McIntyre
Registered User
 
Bill McIntyre's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: San Clemente, CA
Age: 85
Posts: 39,140
Re: what to do with your freediving snorkel

Quote:
Originally Posted by growingupninja View Post
Since you grew up without using one, did it take you long to get used to a snorkel?
I don't think so, but then that was a hell of a long time ago. I may have forgotten.
Bill McIntyre is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-20-2012, 04:22 AM   #19
dspjaggar
Registered User
 
dspjaggar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: san diego
Posts: 129
Re: what to do with your freediving snorkel

well that revived this thread more than i hand anticipated.

currently i rig my snorkel like tony but i hate the way it folds my ear up and it tends to flop around like crazy sometimes which is very annoying.

seems there are more people that would just rather not have it at all. i may have to give this a try as i do think that if i can get comfortable enough wihout it that the fresh air will help with bottom times. also i lose all my focus when trying to pack with a snorkel.

i do like it for surface swimming but other than that its just annoying

thanks for the input guys
__________________
"rent this signature"
dspjaggar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-20-2012, 07:49 AM   #20
KILLIAN
from lurker to legend...
 
KILLIAN's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Bluewater
Posts: 962
Re: what to do with your freediving snorkel

Quote:
Originally Posted by growingupninja View Post
Although I am comfortable skin diving without a snorkel, to be fair, my 5mm probably makes my style of hunting/diving easier. I wear a 1.5mm in tropical water partly for the bouyancy at the surface since I am used to a 5mm, weighted to be neutral at about 30', which keeps me very bouyant at the surface. With a 1.5mm weighted so I am neutral at about 50', the surface bouyancy is comparable to the way my 5mm feels...

Since you grew up without using one, did it take you long to get used to a snorkel?

I think the bouyancy thing may be good part of this. I don't wear much of a suit often when diving in Fl until the winter when the sea get a tad cold and during the window in the summer with cold upwellings(50degrees). Usually the the sharks are more than 10+ ft away(if that makes you comfy). At 9ft plus and the fact we use chum in the bluewater for every drift often carry the dead AJ or bag of sardines in hand I am constantly "false charged" by bull sharks and have them sneak up on the surface too , without a strong physical signal to let them know you see them and a little counter aggression with have learned that these sharks will continue to push the envelope and come closer for an inspection nibble. When I dive in the FL keys (which has comparably NO sharks to my home waters or when I dive inside of 75ft depths I have zero fear of sitting vertically on the surface and talking to my other divers or boat driver. It is important to recognize another reason that face down works well here is the fast currents heading northbound(1-4knots) and the tendency to be pull on-off shore of the ledge your diving down. Keeping an eye helps you swim in or out based on the current that day. I guess after consideration I do bib and breathe when I'm in a safe area that not traditional bull territory. I think that all those "mini" breathe holds your forced to do does help build your skills but it also prob makes you have more Co2 in blood on a dive day possibly too. The slow relaxed tidal breathing I do on be surface is what I believe scrubs the junk from my lungs when I doing long BT and back to back dives on fish. Good stuff to learn from and consider as what works best and when.
__________________
-only new to you-
KILLIAN is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2012, 01:52 PM   #21
growingupninja
Lance
 
growingupninja's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,432
Re: what to do with your freediving snorkel

Quote:
Originally Posted by KILLIAN View Post
I think that all those "mini" breathe holds your forced to do does help build your skills but it also prob makes you have more Co2 in blood on a dive day possibly too. The slow relaxed tidal breathing I do on be surface is what I believe scrubs the junk from my lungs when I doing long BT and back to back dives on fish. Good stuff to learn from and consider as what works best and when.
Yes, the small resting breaths I take at the surface may raise CO2 levels, but not very much since I am not moving much up there. A slightly elevated CO2 is safer from a BO standpoint. When I am lobster diving--shallow, short, 100% active dives with recovery of 2-3 breaths at the surface--CO2 levels can get very high. I can tell because I get the same headache/cloudy feeling that a very challenging CO2 pool set gives me, which clears once I stop for a few minutes, breathe, and wait for my HR to come down. That would be the same for anyone though, snorkel or not.

I think a big part of why I can't stand the snorkel may be from swimming--at the surface I naturally want to breathe the way I always have as a surface swimmer--keeping my lungs mostly full except for the occasional quick, shallow breath. When I breathe like that through a snorkel I get nothing but stale air, so to get fresh air I need to take a tidal breath through the snorkel, even when my body doesn't need such a big breath. This feels awkward to me... I mostly only do that immediately before a dive, or as part of recovery after a dive.

Here is a clip... Although it varies, this is pretty typical of soCal conditions I fish in--viz maybe 10' up top, opening up to 20' on the bottom, over about a 40' bottom... I am in a sort of dead man's float while up top. For the little sippy resting breaths my face barely clears the water, but before an actual dive I will always take at least one full, tidal breath--what I am doing here when my head pops up out of the water. When skindiving, wearing less rubber, or when conditions are rough I will do about the same thing when resting at the surface but I have to bob a little more.

growingupninja is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2012, 03:05 PM   #22
Lyterkillsling
Shaft'n Captain
 
Lyterkillsling's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Flora-Bama
Posts: 766
Re: what to do with your freediving snorkel

if im wearing a hood in most cases i am. ill just put it through the top strap on the back of my head( so the strap is holding the snorkel to my head)... no clip. some times ill pull it out and tuck it into my belt mouth piece up...
__________________

BenthicOceanSports.com
Descentspearfishing.com
Lyterkillsling is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-21-2012, 09:37 PM   #23
slingshaft
Hunter, Gatherer
 
slingshaft's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posts: 1,796
Re: what to do with your freediving snorkel

I use the snorkel when I'm up and down diving shallow, and I always rest and breath up with the snorkel.
The human body floats perfectly face down.
slingshaft is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Tags
free diving, snorkel, spear fishing

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:17 PM.


The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Social Media Forum Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2002 - 2014 Spearboard.com