How to Get Into Freediving
Written by Monterey Bay Spearo and PFI Freedive instructor Giray “Pumpkin” Armağan
Note about the author: Giray (pronounced Gear-eye) has been diving for over 21 years and spearfishing in Monterey for over 10. Growing up working on fishing boats in Turkey naturally encouraged his strong love for the ocean and fish. His immense passion pushed him to explore Monterey’s waters for spearing and eventually into freediving instruction. His diving has improved drastically over the last few years, making him one of the deepest hunters in California’s cold waters. As the community expands, he looks forward to sharing his vast knowledge with us.
To the general public, putting a definition on freediving can be a little bit confusing. A quick search of the hashtag #freediving on Instagram will pull up images of snorkelers, world-class athletes in swimming pools, spearfishers holding trophy fish and bikini clad models posing underwater. Somewhere between all of these, the sport and lifestyle of freediving exists. There are loose conventional definitions, but in my opinion, if you are able to comfortably dive beneath the surface to at least thirty feet or more, you are a freediver. You are not just floating at the surface or diving a few meters to look at pretty fish. Thirty feet is nearly twice the atmospheric pressure experienced at sea-level. Imagine having two times the amount of pressure on all the air spaces in your body; this reduces your lung volume to one-half. Sinuses, ears, you name it— it’s all under pressure. There’s a great deal of complex mechanics one must master in order to operate at depths of 30 ft or more—mechanics like buoyancy, equalization and relaxation.
Given that a little bit of deeper diving is involved in becoming a freediver, how do you get there? Someone told me to wear more lead, because it makes you sink faster, but how much more lead? Maybe 30 lbs for 30ft, 60 lbs for 60ft and 90 lbs for 90ft? Someone else told me to hyperventilate before diving. A quick google search will return results from several different forums, with thousands of differing opinions. So, how do you know what school of thought to follow without putting yourself in severe danger of drowning? The right way of doing this is taking a freediving class with a respected agency such as Performance Freediving International (PFI) or Freediving Instructors International (FII).
Of course, adding more weight or hyperventilating are all wrong and extremely unsafe to the point of potential (and likely) death. You probably wouldn’t consider strapping on a tank to go SCUBA diving with no formal education or understanding, and I would advise equally against freediving without a firm understanding of the physics and physiology involved. Some of the risks that come with SCUBA may outweigh those in freediving, but nonetheless, a careless diver is a dangerous diver. In the water Murphy’s law still holds true, even more so than on land, and thus, danger is something you want to address before getting into the water.
Once you go through a formal freediving education, you become more aware of the idiosyncrasies and technical aspects of becoming a better diver. It is no coincidence that Bill Gates studied computer engineering and went on to found Microsoft, or Salvador Dali attended art academy before creating timeless paintings. Surgeons take years of classes and labs before being allowed to perform surgeries. For someone to become a better diver (i.e. dives to a given depth are less taxing and more efficient) they must be exposed to a curriculum and techniques that are proven to be effective. For instance, after the classroom education portion of a Freediver course taught by PFI, we begin to put that knowledge to practice in a pool. During the pool session, we fine tune the kick techniques of students with dynamic apnea swims and surface swims until the technique is perfected. The third portion of the course takes place in the ocean, which then allows students to practice the kick style they learned in the pool down to 66ft depth alongside the instructor on a diving line (a rope attached to a very buoyant float that is weighted on the bottom and allows divers to safely descend to a given depth).
Improving your diving also involves regular practice, and many freedivers are reluctant to invite uncertified divers to “line sessions.” Line diving is the single most effective training tool that I have found, and I consider it to be the holy grail of apneic exercises. Attending a freediving course and getting certified will get you more dive partners and more opportunity to train. Period.
Dry or land training is very important, however the best way of becoming a better diver is by frequently diving, and what line diving allows is the freedom to test your limits with other trained, safety-conscious divers. Line sessions have more active safety than a spearfishing session would have, because there are divers on the surface waiting for you, and a diver that meets under water, ready to help you in case you begin to black out from a lack of oxygen (known as Shallow Water Black-out - SWB). In many instances, another more experienced diver can dive alongside you to work out certain kinks in your technique. To become a stronger freediver, line diving is essential. If the end goal is to take pictures, harvest fish, urchins, or scallops, it is important to be more than just a touch-and-go diver.
Line diving is not the only way to improve your diving, but in my opinion, it is the most efficient way. It is not just a line you dive parallel to, there are many games you can play on the line with other divers, as well as work on your own dives. Let’s say your goal is to hunt at 45ft. During a line session, you can descend to 45ft (the line is marked, so no guessing or depth gauge needed) and you hold onto the line so that you are not sinking or floating. Then just close your eyes and stay at that depth for as long as you can to become more comfortable with the pressure and inevitable diaphragm contractions that come with a long, deep breath hold. When you achieve your time mark, just pull on the line and head up. Doing this repeatedly in a controlled environment without worrying about structure, fish, kelp or SWB will not only make you a stronger diver, but it will also develop your muscle memory. This will make the same dive more achievable outside training when these other elements are present. Small, but noticeable improvements in your technique will occur over time. Your duck dives will be perfected; you can work on various equalization techniques, kicking techniques and many other things (which will be covered in other blogs and videos). With enough time spent diving on the line, you will develop confidence and strength which will not only allow you to execute safer and more efficient dives, but your dive day will be longer, you will not tire as quickly and the cooler will be filled with quality fish.
Freediving is a gentle art that requires the mental control of a warrior. The only way to perfect this skill is to do it more, do it often and do it correctly. Beginning freediving is the most exciting stage because great gains are observable in a short time-frame. Consider that a champion freediver in the last 3 years of their career may add only 30 feet, which is about 10%, to their personal best depths, while beginners could add up to 800% to their maximum depths in the same time period. If you put it into perspective, these are incredible gains and all by using the same skills you will learn in your first couple of freediving courses. Be intrigued by the incredible other world that is below the surface, be driven by tuning in with yourself and nature, and trust me, you will have incredible experiences with an incredible community underneath the ocean’s surface!