Why Freedive?

[Scubaru_Steve]

So I saw an awesome video or two of some guys freediving. Looked pretty cool, then I saw all the blackouts, Samba, etc and don't understand why? Like, a lot of what you guys do seems to be stuff that can be achieved with a tank and a regulator, why take the risk? Or is that just it, to take that risk, to live on the edge? I mean from what I can see it looks like a lot more freedom, not being weighed down with a tank and all, but to not know that next breath is right there, that is xx ft above...I think that would be too much for me. Not to mention as an asthmatic I have enough breathing problems.

So I want to hear why. Like what is the reason so many people take the risk and go the depth. Thanks all!

 

[diver_doug]

Freediving vs. Scuba:

freediving=more intense, more impressive, more competitive, more athleticism-based, more natural, less constriction, less expensive, etc. I'm not a freediver (or at least not a serious one), but I could definitely see the appeal.

Note: everything I said should be taken as "in general". E.g. one of the world record holders wears a Ball watch that costs more than all of my scuba gear, diving to 250ft on a rebreather is more intense/impressive than freediving down to 20ft, etc.

 

[Hank49]

I started free diving more intensively when I came to Belize because spearfishing on scuba is illegal here.
That being said, after I got into it, I found I really enjoyed it. Instead of two, 50-60 minute scuba dives in a day, I spend 4-5 hours in the water, cover a lot more ground up and down the reef, and it is better exercise.
It has its dangers if you push it really hard, but scuba does too.
And, it is nice coming home and just rinsing a mask, fins and snorkel.

 

[ubercooch]

I am previously a scuba diver but more recently am a freediver/spearfisherman. I've always found the freedom of freediving atractive and am all about the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle so for me it was a no brainer.

Like Hank49 said you can spend a lot more time in the water and as you get better and can hold more bottom time you can interact with fish etc more and more.

As for the dangers I've joined a club to learn about the danger, to progress you need to train at 80%+, obviously in the sea this is dangerous as a blackout/samba can be fatal so we train in a pool where no swim goes unwatched (we swim in pairs or triplets). Here we increase our distance and breath hold so when you're out at sea you don't push yourself as that is when you have problems.

Competitions is another place where people push themselves but it's heavily watched and regulated and it's no different than the extreme side of scuba ie. cave, deep, wreck, mixed gas deco (trimix, heliox, nitrox, 02) etc.

I know as I trained as a normoxic trimix diver and 02 gas blender. It's just as dangerous (if not more) than freediving if you don't follow your training and dive within your limits.

 

[Scubaru_Steve]

I started free diving more intensively when I came to Belize because spearfishing on scuba is illegal here.
That being said, after I got into it, I found I really enjoyed it. Instead of two, 50-60 minute scuba dives in a day, I spend 4-5 hours in the water, cover a lot more ground up and down the reef, and it is better exercise.
It has its dangers if you push it really hard, but scuba does too.
And, it is nice coming home and just rinsing a mask, fins and snorkel.

Now I am going to assume this would mean there isn't as much a risk of the nitrogen levels getting too high? I would guess in scuba since you are continuously breathing it effects the nitrogen levels in the body, but as a freediver the levels would stay pretty low?

 

[Hank49]

I have read that extreme free divers can get bent (decompression sickness) but I'm not well informed on it enough to comment.
I spend 4-5 hours in the water but all but about 45 minutes or less is breathing on the surface through a snorkel. When free diving you're breathing 1 atmosphere pressure of air (at sea level anyway) so you're not building up nitrogen in your blood like you will breathing air at depths of 3 (66 feet) or more atmospheres.
If you fee dive to depths of 3-5 atmospheres, it gets a little more complicated. (this is when you may take on a little nitrogen because when you go down, the partial pressure of N increases in your lungs. I dont' want to get in over my head on this. maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in)

 

[Scubaru_Steve]

I have read that extreme free divers can get bent (decompression sickness) but I'm not well informed on it enough to comment.
I spend 4-5 hours in the water but all but about 45 minutes or less is breathing on the surface through a snorkel. When free diving you're breathing 1 atmosphere pressure of air (at sea level anyway) so you're not building up nitrogen in your blood like you will breathing air at depths of 3 (66 feet) or more atmospheres.
(this is when you may take on a little nitrogen because if you go down, the partial pressure of N increases in your lungs. I dont' want to get in over my head on this. maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in)

Yeah that's what i figured because the air in your system is still only at 1 ATM vs breathing at any depth which would induce more nitrogen build up in the system.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I think I know why some deep freedivers can get a little hit of bends. This was explained to us by a really good instructor mentor I had once.

When a freediver gets good enough that they can do really deep dives to 100+ feet or more and have a submersion time of several minutes, the increased partial pressure of the depth combined with their skillful bottom times can disolve nitrogen into the body little by little by "pumping" it into the body each time they go down for their very long deep breath hold dives.
They do not remain at the surface long enough to offgas the amounts they are loading up with each successive dive. Also they have huge lung volumes from stretching their lungs and rib cages with special excercises they do so they can hold way more air than your avarage joe diver. This is just more gas that can be compressed and absorbed.

If you're just freediving to 20 - 30 feet all day like we do for abalone up here on the California North Coast then the chance of getting a hit is almost nil.

To answer the question about why freedive?
Well, for me it's economical, it requires skill, it builds skill, it's healthy and some of the best exercise I can get, it's a great leg workout, I can glide around with great stealth, I can spend the whole day out there, get dinner, and the gear cleanup is minimal.
The second best thing to freediving is to scuba dive the minimalist way: Basically all the same gear, techniques, and weighting as freediving, except the only addition is a tank with a strap harness and one reg, that's it. It's just like freediving except you can breath underwater.

 

[JamesBon92007]

One reason I used to freedive was because they wouldn't let me get certified until I was 16. I did it for three years before I started scuba diving. I'm not sure if asking why someone would free dive instead of scuba dive is the right question. That's (to me) kinda like asking someone why they play soccer instead of football. Sometimes I go freediving, sometimes I use scuba. But like ZKY I simply strap on a tank and regulator and go. Freediving used to be a prerequisite to scuba along with being able to swim and tread water. With scuba you are always looking at your watch and pressure gauge and your dive is going to last X amount of minutes. Without the tank you stay out as long as you feel like it.

 

[TB2Scuba]

I absolutely love the feeling you feel so free and you dont have all that scuba gear restricting movement. In my opinion its the purest and the most moving type of diving. I still remember ascending from my very first freedive to fifty feet. It felt like I was flying, slowly rising to the surface as the light got brighter it was like a dream. I will never forget that feeling.