unhappy endings

[Freedive WI]

Freediving is a great way to support the bubble blowers. When I work on the charter boats on Lake Michigan I am almost always freediving. I can zip down to 90' on a scotter and grab that mask that the guppy just lost over the side and have it back in their hands before their buddy even has their tank on. I've recovered weightbets, masks, rescued divers who come up away from the boat, tied in mooring lines and untied mooring lines(down to 65') while freediving. I will say that it is easier to tow a scuba diver while wearing bi-fins compared to my monofin.
I have even been able to retrieve lost deco bags and bring them back to they decoing trimix divers who lost them- we don't deploy till we hit 70' no matter where the deco starts at.

I am not a big advoctae of solo-scuba diving because I have seen too many people die that way, like most of the people on Brendon's list, but it has been said that a scuba diver should never solo dive deeper than twice the depth he can freedive to. That means if you can freedive to 30' you shouldn't be solo scubadiving past 60'.

Jon