Freediving courses
Two months ago I realised I had hit a point in my freediving where the progression of depth had reached a limit and I was having difficulty getting deeper or longer bottom times. I decided that the only way to progress further safely was to do the Stage A Freediving Course run by Apnea Australia. I was lucky enough that a good mate of mine who I dive with quite often, Quinn Smith is an Apnea Australia freediving instructor. The first day consisted of theory followed by a pool session and the second day was held up at Lake Eacham although I am pretty sure that future courses will be held out at the Great Barrier Reef. Over the 2 days of this course I learnt a lot of things that I didn't know about what changes happen to the body at depth, breathe up techniques and correct finning techniques to minimise oxygen consumption and energy. I would recommend this course or one similar to everyone as it also covers a lot to do with Blackouts and Samba's as well as rescue techniques to help someone should this occur when you are diving. I managed a 3:00 static, 80m Dynamic and 25m Depth for this course.
Deeper... I was pretty happy with this effort after only a year of spearing but I still wanted to go deeper! I have just completed my second freedive course with Great Britain record holder Mike Board who runs SSI courses in the Gili Islands off Lombok. Freedive Gili appealed to me not only because of its location but because it incorporates Yoga into its courses which is really beneficial for relaxation, breathing and expanding your lung capacity. Mike was a great instructor and I would highly recommend him to anyone wanting to take their Freediving/Spearfishing further as well as have a holiday in paradise.
Free falling Over the 3 days I brushed up on my skills learnt from my first course and learnt more in depth about the body, changes that happen, freediving as a sport and how to relax when free falling on a deep dive. By the end of this course I was confident that I could comfortably dive to 30m+ by understanding a lot more about my body and its reactions in the water. At the completion of this course I had done multiple dives to 30m as well as my first 100ft (33.8m) dive which I got on video!!
