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Diving Safety, Accidents and Incidents Post here to discuss accidents, incidents, ideas, gear, or anything else to improve spearfishing safety. Memorials and condolences threads should be placed in that separate forum.

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Old 02-21-2014, 10:19 PM   #1
tom311
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Any self taught divers?

with all the talk of the dangers of freediving, i was wondering how many of yall havent taken any courses/classes
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Old 02-21-2014, 10:50 PM   #2
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Re: Any self taught divers?

As for freediving, virtually everybody starts out as self taught. Many take a class much later in their career to improve their technique. I was self taught as a teenager, dove for 40 years, and finally took a freediving class when I was 57.

But as for scuba, I think virtually everyone took a class to start.

Of course, to my knowledge there were no freedive classes until 15 years ago or so - they are a fairly recent thing.
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Old 02-21-2014, 10:54 PM   #3
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Re: Any self taught divers?

I am going to guess that most spearos are self taught.
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Old 02-21-2014, 11:06 PM   #4
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Re: Any self taught divers?

Thats funny. Cause a lot of the spearos and freedivers that ive talked to have all said they started by taking a basics course
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Old 02-21-2014, 11:10 PM   #5
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Re: Any self taught divers?

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Thats funny. Cause a lot of the spearos and freedivers that ive talked to have all said they started by taking a basics course
Do you know how long have they've being diving? 2, 3 yrs? less?

I don't think there is such a thing as a spearfishing course.
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Old 02-21-2014, 11:23 PM   #6
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Re: Any self taught divers?

Taking my first course next weekend. Free diving and spearing for about 6 years
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Old 02-21-2014, 11:56 PM   #7
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Re: Any self taught divers?

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Originally Posted by tom311 View Post
with all the talk of the dangers of freediving, i was wondering how many of yall havent taken any courses/classes
I haven't but I wish I had. I just kindof got my own technique down which is nowhere near perfect and far from what id like it to be, but Im doing my best to improve my diving every time i go out and push my limits safely, glad to know some of you guys waited a hell of a lot longer before taking a class!!
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Old 02-22-2014, 12:00 AM   #8
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Re: Any self taught divers?

I had a guy give me like a one time lesson in a pool one time a few years ago but I had started diving like 8 years before that.
The little bit of info I learned helped/hurt me, I definitely could hold my breath a bit longer and dive a bit deeper after those few hours in the pool but it did almost kill me on the trip I went on a few weeks later so yeah
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Old 02-22-2014, 02:27 AM   #9
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Re: Any self taught divers?

i started out as a scuba diver, then got into spearfishing and free diving after.

I think people aren't just walking into a new hobby/sport/lifestyle and are like, "oh yeah, $600 for you to teach me how to hold my breath for 6 minutes and dive 100 feet. I'm in!"

Most people are taught by others more experienced that aren't necessarily professionals, then go on to signing up for a performance course once they are already pretty much fully invested in it and when they realize they are crazy about the sport and want to increase their ability...

my 2 cents
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Old 02-22-2014, 02:53 AM   #10
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Re: Any self taught divers?

school is for nerds
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Old 02-22-2014, 04:13 AM   #11
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Re: Any self taught divers?

Freediving courses are for safety. How many free divers might die each year because they never made a class. Must be more than 50 in the USA alone, hundreds worldwide.
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Old 02-22-2014, 07:31 AM   #12
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Re: Any self taught divers?

I started freedive spearing 8 years ago. I didn't take a course until 3 years ago. I went to Immersion freediving and it was totally worth it. The main reason for taking a course was to learn to dive safer, I knew that I was taking chances but didn't know where. All this course stuff didn't get popular until 4 years ago. You learn tons in a course, but it is mostly freedive stuff for on the line. The safety stuff transfers over to spearing but you DO NOT want to take the performance stuff and use it in a nonstructured enviorment!
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Old 02-22-2014, 07:49 AM   #13
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Re: Any self taught divers?

Of course, my opinion is going to be bias but I have taught around 700 people worldwide so I guess it will count for something....

FII courses are safety courses in every aspect. The longer breath-holds and deeper diving are direct byproducts of the safety taught in the class. Because our sport has its inherent risks, and death happens to be the major one, it would only make sense to educate yourself. I think one owes it to his/her family and friends to come home safe everyday. The chances of something bad happening are slim but in the event, I think it would make sense to have some sort of training to recognize and deal with the situation. I definitely would not want to be the one to deliver the news that one of my friends or family died... and if you do a search on Spearboard... that news have been delivered more than once...

As far as diving ability is concerned, we take 20 years would of science and techniques and funnel it to you in a few days.... it pretty crazy how it works, but it does.

Here are some helpful websites to get you started.

www.freedivinginstructors.com
www.divewise.org

Here is a blog I wrote about the uncertainties in freediving..

http://www.freedivinginstructors.com...at-is-my-limit


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Old 02-22-2014, 08:44 AM   #14
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Re: Any self taught divers?

Nope. Most of us started diving as kids, and way before internet, let alone FII Freediving courses.

I've had two friends who were very beginner divers, just learning to Spearfish, young, very strong, die from SWB which could have been prevented by them taking an Intro to Freediving Course.
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Old 02-22-2014, 10:04 PM   #15
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Re: Any self taught divers?

I recently after 16 years of pretty serious diving took a beginners coarse, i thought that i would not learn much, i was wrong and the beginners coarse covered everything i found out the hard way in the last 16 years and some. i cant wait to take an intermediate coarse
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