ImmersionFreediving
ScubaBoard Business Sponsor

Age

38

About ImmersionFreediving

Biography:

Ted Harty began his underwater career as a scuba instructor in the Florida Keys. He was certified as a NAUI [National Association of Underwater Instructors] instructor in 2005 at Hall’s Dive Center. Ted then began teaching in Marathon at Tilden’s Scuba Center. Ted quickly learned that he not only loved diving, he also loved teaching other people to dive.
Ted at Cayman

Ted during Cayman Deja Blue 2010

“I realized that every student learns differently,” Ted says. “Some students respond well to humor, some students are visual learners, while others require regimented step-by-step instructions.”

Over the years, Ted became an SSI [Scuba Schools International] Instructor and a PADI [Professional Association of Diving Instructors] Staff Instructor. Whenever Ted was on the boat and did not have students to take care of, he’d jump in with mask, fins and snorkel and play around on the reef.

“Sometimes I’d have just five minutes to swim around without all of my scuba gear. I loved it. I could swim down to the sand at Sombrero Reef and hang out for a bit at 20 feet. I wanted more. I wanted to learn how to stay down longer and how to dive deeper.”

In January 2008 Ted took his first Performance Freediving International (PFI) course.

“I couldn’t believe how little I knew about freediving at the time. As a scuba instructor I knew more about diving physiology than the average Joe, but quickly realized I knew nothing about freediving. At the start of the course I had a 2:15 breath-hold, but after just four days of training I did a five-minute hold! I couldn’t believe it was possible.”

Next, Ted signed up for instructor-level courses at Performance Freediving. He was soon offered a job teaching with Performance Freediving, when he moved to Fort Lauderdale.

In 2009 Ted went to PFI’s annual competition. He was about a 80- to 90-foot freediver and weighed 230 pounds. He wasn’t in good shape at all, but after three weeks of training under the tutelage of Kirk Krack and Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, he did a 54 meter (177 -feet) freedive.

“I was blown away by what I was capable of.”

Ted spent a year working with Kirk and Mandy, traveling around the country teaching the Intermediate Freediver program. In 2010, a much more fit Ted went back to PFI’s annual competition. That year his new personal best was 65 meters (213 feet).

Ted started Immersion Freediving in 2010 to focus on teaching freediving in South Florida. Today Ted teaches teaching PFI courses with Kirk and Mandy as well as his own courses at Immersion Freediving.

Location:

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Occupation:

Freediving Instructor

Gender:

Male

Certification Agencies:

Perfromance Freediving, NAUI, SSI, PADI

Certification Level:

PFI Intermediate Freediving Instructor, PADI Staff Instructor, NAUI & SSI Instructor

# of Logged Dives:

1,000 - 2,499

Dive Classification:

Scuba Industry Professional

Years Certified:

Six - Ten Years

Dive Equipment:

Custom Oceaner Rec 45 Wetsuits
C4's Carbon fiber fins 40's
Aqua sphera mask