Are there any practical advantages for a scuba diver to learn free diving?

[TMHeimer]

I agree with those saying it can be very useful for a beginning diver who is not all that comfortable in the water. I've never done what I think of as free diving. For decades I would be snorkeling on the surface then go down 10-15 feet to get a shell, come back up. I guess that qualifies. As a diver for 10 years, I can't think of any reason to start free diving to like 50 feet.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

I would suspect that at this point, from your profile, that you are a very gear intensive diver, so the lessons of free diving or skin diving may not be as relevant to you.

To the average or beginning diver skin/free diving holds many benefits.

Familiarization with basic gear like mask and fins before adding scuba to it (ever see people timidly put their face below water in a scuba class).
equalize
fin efficiently
clear a mask
learn to breath from a mouthpiece and become comfortable with a little water in the mouth.
descend
be comfortable floating on the surface and underwater
have neutral bouyancy
hold their breath so they don't freak out during an LOA/OOA
learn about general water conditions and hazards before adding scuba...

So the average diver (cave diver) without freedivng cannot:
equalize
learn to fin efficiently
clear a mask
breath from a mouthpiece and become comfortable with a little water in the mouth.
descend
become comfortable floating on the surface and underwater
learn about neutral bouyancy
learn about how long they can hold their breath so they don't freak out during an LOA/OOA
learning about general water conditions and hazards before adding scuba...

Somehow this does not seem credible. Hopefully I am taking it entirely out of context (always a possibility).

 

[Dr. Lecter]

The ability to experience and manage the breathing reflex triggered by hypercapnia is of particular utility for CCR divers, for obvious reasons (especially if you prefer a DSV over a BOV). A good working knowledge of hypoxia is something we rebreather divers should already have, but reinforcement of something that potentially deadly can't hurt.

 

[g1138]

So the average diver (cave diver) without freedivng cannot:
equalize
learn to fin efficiently
clear a mask
breath from a mouthpiece and become comfortable with a little water in the mouth.
descend
become comfortable floating on the surface and underwater
learn about neutral bouyancy
learn about how long they can hold their breath so they don't freak out during an LOA/OOA
learning about general water conditions and hazards before adding scuba...

Somehow this does not seem credible. Hopefully I am taking it entirely out of context (always a possibility).

Take away a diver's air and ask how efficient they are in the above. I think that's what Dale is getting at.
How much bubbles escape your mask when you clear? Scuba divers can exhale, breath, and exhale all they want to clear a mask. Freedivers don't have that luxury, so becoming super efficient and minimizing bubble escape is important.


Hypothetical question: If you're out of air and NEED to get to a point 50yds away, do you fin fast or fin slow?
The answer should be slow with a broad fin stroke and an effective glide between strokes, because you'll cover more ground in less effort.
Scuba doesn't teach you that. Freediving does.
Freediving also teaches you that split fins, hinges, and floppy fins in general all require lots of energy to gain propulsion. As opposed to snappy fins or stiff fins.

 

[DaleC]

I'm saying that previous experience with skin/free diving shortens the learning curve during scuba instruction and also helps to fine tune those skills.

Some people take scuba lessons without knowing how to swim and/or being very uncomfortable in water. They have never worn a mask before and are even nervous about putting the head under water. Poor instructors tend to teach people to over weight and many rarely practice ditching that weight. People struggle with descending and equalizing. So many things that a person with previous skin diving experience already has nailed down.

Sure you can do it without first skin diving but I have seen a lot of people totally task loaded and not really able to absorb a lot of what is being taught because it is sensory overload.

Skin diving also helps to teach a diver not to be equipment dependent and efficient. Again, can you do that without? Sure. But how many modern instructors are teaching that.

 

[TMHeimer]

I'm saying that previous experience with skin/free diving shortens the learning curve during scuba instruction and also helps to fine tune those skills.

Some people take scuba lessons without knowing how to swim and/or being very uncomfortable in water. They have never worn a mask before and are even nervous about putting the head under water. Poor instructors tend to teach people to over weight and many rarely practice ditching that weight. People struggle with descending and equalizing. So many things that a person with previous skin diving experience already has nailed down.

Sure you can do it without first skin diving but I have seen a lot of people totally task loaded and not really able to absorb a lot of what is being taught because it is sensory overload.

Skin diving also helps to teach a diver not to be equipment dependent and efficient. Again, can you do that without? Sure. But how many modern instructors are teaching that.

Agree on everything. As well, someone who is in good shape can huff and puff and almost die making it through the 200 yard swim for OW without any proper stroke. Not sure how that says they're "comfortable" in water. OK you pass, on to scuba......

 

[tstormdiver]

How much bubbles escape your mask when you clear? Scuba divers can exhale, breath, and exhale all they want to clear a mask. Freedivers don't have that luxury, so becoming super efficient and minimizing bubble escape is important.

Had to learn that when doing my OW rebreather course to prevent loss of loop volume. Not an easy task, but doable.

Hypothetical question: If you're out of air and NEED to get to a point 50yds away, do you fin fast or fin slow?
The answer should be slow with a broad fin stroke and an effective glide between strokes, because you'll cover more ground in less effort. Scuba doesn't teach you that. Freediving does.

In my Adv. Nitrox/ Decompression Procedures, I had to do a full length, breath hold, pool swim, underwater in full technical gear (doubles, drysuit, O2 bottle can light,..... everything). Took me a week of practice to get it. One thing I learned doing it- Fast is slow, slow is fast.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I personally do believe skin/free diving is very beneficial to learn before scuba.
All of us in my class that were freedivers before we took scuba breezed through the class.
We already knew what a mouthful of saltwater was, we knew how cold it was and were used to it, we knew how to use fins as effectively as possible (by default). We knew to drop our weights if we got in trouble. We knew how to clear a mask. We knew how much urchin spines hurt and to stay off the bottom to avoid them. We learned that the first time a harbor seal buzzes by you think it's a shark and your heart just about jumps out of your chest. All these things are important to manage stress and build confidence along with demystifying the underwater world.
We also learned to deal with surf and surge getting in and out.
The other thing free diving teaches is how to glide around and swim underwater most efficiently, Not just waddle around and elevator dive like so much scuba instruction currently is. Most generic scuba instruction these days has taken on a life of it's own and there is very little resemblance to skin diving in any form. I'm not saying that's good or bad, it just is. I think that's pretty automatic since modern scuba gear is really designed to make diving as easy and non skill intensive as possible.
It used to be that scuba diving was an extension of skin diving once the former was mastered. With that mindset scuba techniques utilized all the streamlining and efficiency protocols of free diving.
Some of us still practice these techniques because we feel that minimalist techniques are safer, faster, more efficient, simpler, and as a result more fun.

 

[Doc Harry]

What, if any are the advantages for a scuba diver to learn free diving?

Can be fun

 

[Subcooled]

I'm just curious. What, if any are the advantages for a scuba diver to learn free diving?

You will know how holding your breath feels and what physiological reactions it causes and in which order. Holding your breath is actually not painfull (many do it on a weekly basis), but fear and panic incapasitate you unless you are familiar with the situation. Freediving will make you more resistant to panic would some trouble occurr. To achieve this you will need to extend your limits, which is at the intermediate level above all a mental exercise, but must not be attempted without supervision. This familiarity alone could save your life. Besides, doing an emergency ascent (after running out of gas) will be more comfy for a freediver. Another possibly even more important skill is the ability to relax unneeded muscles a little bit more and glide through water.

ps. Freediving IS fun and it is not spoiled by excessive cert cards.