questions

[diveking88]

I just have a few questions. First, I have never free dove unless you count a couple of times snorkling. My first question is will my force fins work for a good free dive? Second do I NEED to wear a wet suit? I probally have more questions so if i think of any more i will let you know. Thanks
Brock

[Freedive WI]

Force Fins suck for freediving!

Don't mean to be to hard on them because they work just as well as split fins for scuba diving, but they are next to worthless for freediving.

Every winter we have someone come with a pair to play underwater hockey and they find out very quickly have bad they are.

A cheap pair of snorkeling fins from any sporting goods store, doesn't even have to be a dive shop, will work better than force fins. Normal strap heel scuba fins will work better than Force Fins for freediving.

One of the biggest, and most expensive, mistakes I ever made was buying the Force Fins that were made for freediving- or that's what Bob Evans had me believe. > Thank God for E-bay. I got all of my money back and bought myself a nice pair of carbon fins, and a monofin, for the same price!

If you decide you actually like the sport, we can help you pick out a pair of proper long fins.

If your not cold you don't need a wetsuit. A proper freediving wetsuit will let you go deeper, below the thermocline, and stay in the water longer, I dive all winter, but is not mandatory when diving shallow in the summertime.

Some people argue about the difference between snorkeling and freediving. If you are getting down to 20' and can stay underwater for at least 30 seconds you are no longer a snorkeler. This is much easier than it sounds and you can cover a lot more ground than a scuba diver.

Jon

[diveking88]

So if I use some of our older strap on fins they should work better than the force fins?
Brock

[Freedive WI]

YES! Almost anything will work better than force fins for freediving.

I would recommend a cheap pair of plastic full foot fins as being the best thing to start with, but any regular old fin will work. I still use a short pair of snorkeling fins, Aqualung Stratos's, for underwater hockey and swimming lapas in the pool. I save my long fins for freediving and spearfishing.

Jon

[diveking88]

Does anyone know where the best places to dive around Detroit Lakes is?

[LKunze]

Fred is the expert on that but a group of us dove up there with Fred back a couple weeks ago and Paul Lake was real nice. It had excellent viz.

[Punky]

Just out of curiosity, how does the amount of time a person can hold their breath on land (statics?) compare to how long
they can hold it under water? :-X Punky

[freedivernd]

Punky, that depends.. maybe what you mean is how long can a person do a breath hold on land vs. doing a breath hold while finning down and finning back up. The pro's are doing up to 8+ minute wet statics (in the water, but just floating) and now finning down and back from the depths in 3+ minutes and I would guess near maxed out at the end of both of those disciplines. Many experienced divers are doing much, much less than 8 minute statics and still hitting near the 3 minute dives. Everyone is different.
Myself.. I like to stay a long way away from my dryland static bests vs. my dive times. Say anywhere up to 50%. But unlike some, I have never surfaced thinking I was just about out of time...yet... but I have come away from dryland statics thinking one more second and I'll be out.
A good way to see what the difference for yourself is; sometime to do a resting (static) breath hold.. and then do a walking (dynamic) breath hold.. it may give you an indication of the difference.
Fred

[ghosch]

As long as we are asking questions.

What is shallow water blackout, what causes it, and how is it prevented?

[freedivernd]

Shallow Water Blackout (SWB) happens most to divers who have gone very deep.. 100+ feet (I hate to put a number here) or have spent too much time at shallower depths and on the return to the surface pass out, usually somewhere between 0-30', hence the term SWB (remember, that air in your lungs that has been compressed at depth is expanding quite substantially in the last 30' to the surface), it can also happen within seconds after a diver has surfaced. It's the state of hypoxia (lack of O2) where your body shuts down to save the brain and other vitals. Several factors can increase the chances of that happening.. not being well hydrated, fatigue, sickness, being too competitive (pushing your limits).
Most all serious trouble from SWB can be avoided by following one simple rule when diving - Have a buddy. A buddy can get you to the surface and that's where the air is.
That's it in a very abbreviated explanation.
Fred