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It's a feeling that is quite natural but it takes some time and
practice to get there. If you're interested in how to get there, I can offer a
few suggestions.
First, a key to good freediving performance is aerobic
conditioning. If you're a smoker or a couch potato, you're at an inherent
disadvantage when it comes to freediving. Alternatives to channel surfing would
include swimming laps in a pool and bicycling workouts. The absolute best
workout for freediving the north coast is to play Underwater Hockey. If you're
reading this material, you obviously have Internet access; do a Google search
on the subject of Underwater Hockey and you'll hit on information sources
galore. If you read between the lines a bit, Underwater Hockey turns out to be
a team sport that involves a lot aerobic underwater swimming while members of
other team try to drown you (or, at least, make you think they're trying to
drown you). I can't think of a more perfect description of how best to practice
north coast diving in a pool (or any other "civilized" facility). Proponents of
Underwater Hockey might protest the suggestion that anyone is trying to drown
anyone. It's likely that perception is something only seen by a newbie; once
comfortable with the sport, it's unlikely that you'd be fazed being pinned to
the bottom of the pool for a bit. That's a good thing for north coast
divers
Second, having experienced the best freediving has to offer, the
next question is how to get there. That is, how do you get back to the comfort
zone next time you go out diving. Speaking from personal experience, it's a
trial and error process. Sometimes I'd get there; other times, not even close.
For the longest time, it'd take 45 minutes of diving before I'd get comfortable
and really begin enjoying the dives. That's a long time, a lot longer than it
takes to get a limit of nice sized abalone. Since then, I've learned some
methods that help. Some of those methods, I'm comfortable sharing:
Increasing bottom time requires that you lower your heart rate
while you're in the water. Lowering your heart rate requires that you get
comfortable. Until your heart rate drops, your body is burning oxygen fast and,
combined with a restrictive wetsuit, it's hard to not lose your breath.
Obviously, that's uncomfortable. And so a circular problem exists.
Luckily, the human body shares some of the characteristics that
enable marine mammals to achieve their phenomenal dive depths and time.
Specifically, the human body enters a state of bradycardia when subjected to
the water pressures at depth. Where a typical human being has a resting heart
rate in the 60 to 80 beats per minute (and rises to something much higher when
stressed out (as in, abalone diving)), bradycardia is a condition where the
human heart rate drops below 60 beats per minute. For many freedivers, their
heart rate drops below 50 beats per minute; sometimes, well below 50 beats per
minute. If you can safely get into a state of bradycardia, you're 90% of the
way to some very enjoyable freediving.
Speaking only for myself, I know that I get no benefit from
diving at depths less than 20'. More than 20' and my heart rate begins to drop.
Counter-intuitively, my bottom times are much better at and beyond 30' then
they are at 10'. But getting to and staying at that 30' mark long enough to
trigger bradycardia can be a challenge. So I have some exercises I use.
The simplest and safest are to pull myself down a kelp stalk or
anchor line while not wearing any weight belt. Using only my arms to conserve
oxygen, I'll go down hand over hand at a relaxed pace. I'm consciously focused
on making every movement smooth and relaxed. Mentally, I want to be at the
place where I'm just about to fall asleep. At depth, I'll hang out a bit before
letting the buoyancy of the wetsuit assist in the ascent. I'll do this exercise
a half a dozen times until my breath-hold starts to extend. Each time, I'll try
for deeper depths keeping in mind that beyond 40', wetsuit buoyancy is pretty
much neutralized so that I'll have to do some kicking to get heading up.
One of the problems of sorting out how to get relaxed in the water
is that there is the potential for making some serious mistakes. Over-weighing,
hyperventilating and shallow water blackout are all sources of concern. If
you're going to sort this out on your own, I ask that you go slow and probe
gently. We unnecessarily lose a lot of freedivers each year; please don't add
to the statistics.
The third suggestion I can offer is an alternative to sorting
things out on your own. There are classes that you can take to learn how to
freedive safely and effectively. My experience was with
Kirk Krack's Performance
Freediving and I can recommend them without reservation. The classes are
NOT cheap. But the techniques taught aren't available from your dive buddies,
the local library or a Google search. Their safety procedures are valuable to
learn and understand. That you'll learn how to hold your breath for more than 3
minutes is a side benefit. Mostly, I figure the cost of the course was well
worth my not wasting any more of the precious time I get to spend in the water.
So, that's about as far as I can take this subject in this forum.
Please use what you learn here or anywhere else with great caution. What's at
stake is high enough for you and that much higher to those who care and worry
about you. Try not to forget that. |
