No mask, no reg swim

[JCM@Atlam]

I'm doing IANTD Advanced Nitrox (in sidemount). Today I had to do a no mask, no reg swim for 15m. I failed and didn't even make it halfway without reaching for my regulator, at which point I realised I'd dropped my mask and nearly panicked. Not great My question is, how long should this swim take? I can hold my breath for 60 secs sat on the sofa but I can't see me ever holding my breath for more than 30 secs in this scenario. Any tips on successfully completing this exercise would be appreciated.

 

[rx7diver]

... My question is, how long should this swim take? I can hold my breath for 60 secs sat on the sofa but I can't see me ever holding my breath for more than 30 secs in this scenario. Any tips on successfully completing this exercise would be appreciated.

Take as long as you want. (The more relaxed you are, the longer it will take, but the easier the skill will seem.)

rx7diver

 

[JCM@Atlam]

I can't take as long as I want, I can't breathe!

 

[ibj40]

I’m not an expert nor an instructor. My experience, however, is to take your deep breath and then deliberate strokes.

If you try to swim too fast you will end up over exerting and using up your air more quickly.

Have you practiced the swim with no gear on to get a baseline?

 

[JCM@Atlam]

I’m not an expert nor an instructor. My experience, however, is to take your deep breath and then deliberate strokes.

If you try to swim too fast you will end up over exerting and using up your air more quickly.

Have you practiced the swim with no gear on to get a baseline?

No gear at all? Like in swimners in a pool?

Yeah, I'm not sure if I should go hell for leather or try to be efficient. I have v.heavy jet fins which I can only really use with a frog kick

 

[ibj40]

No gear at all? Like in swimners in a pool?

Yeah, I'm not sure if I should go hell for leather or try to be efficient. I have v.heavy jet fins which I can only really use with a frog kick

No offense intended, but if you can’t do it without gear in a pool, then I’m going to assume that you’re going to have issues with doing it with the drag of a full set of gear.

 

[Alekseolsen]

Download a "freediving app" and go through the exersizes daily. You'll go from 60 sec to 150 seconds "coach breath hold" within a few weeks - gives you confidence for the swim.

If you've got pool access laps in a pool while breathholding is also very efficient.

 

[Alex Ouroboros]

Hated this skill, but you do realise the distance travelled doesn’t have to be with fin strokes? Much easier going arm over arm..(pull n glide)

 

[MacDuyver]

The trick to any subsurface breathhold swim is your stroke efficiency. You can get away with bad form in surface swimming (and in scuba) where air is plentiful, but you can't with breath-hold. Generally speaking, you want a STRONG stroke (with perfect trim) followed by riding the momentum until right before you come to a stop. if this is in a pool, you want to swim as deep as possible, hugging the bottom of the pool the entire way.


The stroke itself might be quite a bit different with tanks (particularly side mount), but the general idea of using a physically efficient stroke is the same. Strong thrust, ride momentum, strong thrust in order to minimize your cycles and maximize your oxygen. Your stress level plays a significant factor too. The more you swim, the more efficient and less stressed you are, so get in the pool a few times a week and hit some laps.

If understanding physiology helps put you at ease, know that your body does not trigger breathing based on lack of oxygen. It triggers breathing based on CO2 concentration in your blood. You (very generally) still have nearly 2 minutes of O2 left when you start feeling the burn and the panic.

 

[MacDuyver]

No gear at all? Like in swimners in a pool?

Yeah, I'm not sure if I should go hell for leather or try to be efficient. I have v.heavy jet fins which I can only really use with a frog kick

Efficiency is just almost always the best choice on a breathhold.

JetFins are actually really good fins for this. They're heavy but they provide great forward thrust. It sounds like you aren't using them efficiently though. Start mindfully practicing minimizing your drag when returning to your start position. As you return to start, you need to rotate your fins sideways so they more slice through the water until it's time to thrust. I don't know if you do it, but i've seen many Jet/Rocket/RK3 users try to frog kick by just bringing their feet straight back up to their body, feet already cocked for their next stroke, dragging their fins the whole way. This causes the face of the fin to negate much of their efforts to push forward. I've seen it alot. it's kinda the frog-kick version of bicycle kicking, and like the bicycle kick, most people don't even realize theyre doing it until you show them a video of themselves. Consider having someone watch your stroke and give you feedback