Beyond Blog

When I first began freediving the group all went around and said why we each became interested in freediving. There were a couple of "I want to take pictures for my Instagram" or "I want to see how long I can hold my breath". My first interest came from watching My Octopus Teacher and realising that Craig Foster was doing more than just snorkelling, however I soon found out that that film had created a lot of controversy in the freediving world for 2 major reasons:

1. He Dives Alone

2. He Dives with his snorkel in his mouth

These are both big, first day Freediving 101 no-no's. No buddy means no-one to help you if you get in trouble and keeping your snorkel in your mouth removes one of the 2 barriers to preventing water from getting into your lungs (the other being your glottis)

Safety and safe progression in freediving is the most important part of learning to become a competent freediver and the drive to improve safety in the sport is a major part of improving the overall reputation of freediving. This is generally hindered by the popular media portrayal of freedivers as daredevils, pushing their limits past the boundaries of safety to fulfil their own egos. In fact, in a recent conversation I had with a group of freedivers, we could collectively only thing of 1 freediving film which described the sport well without focusing on the dangers of freediving (1988's The Big Blue).

In a way I can understand this, obviously popular media needs to sell and sensationalising the dangers of an extreme sport will sell media, if not the sport. However, freediving is, for the most part, incredibly safe - When done sensibly and with the required safety measures. Competitive freediving has a better track record than most other extreme sports with only 1 fatality in competition in the last 20 years (and 2 overall).

So freediving is safe as long as I am safe, so how do I be safe? First of all, get proper training - Courses are good at covering the fundamentals, but can be a bit cookie-cutter, 1-1 or 1-2 training for you or you and your buddy is ideal. Secondly, follow the safety advice; Never dive alone, Watch your buddy and be ready to rescue, Plan for an accident and know what your emergency plan is. This might seem quite intense for a sport about relaxation, but if you get in the habit of looking out and planning right from the start, it will become second nature and part of your relaxation. not to mention it's easier for your buddy to relax if they know you're watching over them (and vice versa).