Should i invest in Free Divig fins?

[Mark Chase]

So I have been in Dahab for a while now working mainly on my free diving. I have been practicing in the pool back home in Turkey and took this out to Dahab where sadly the days of hiring tank and weights are over and diving is both a bit expensive and a lottery as to who you end up with. Having ended my last dive with 110 bar still in the tank, I found it all a bit frustrating. More importantly, when shore diving you can see most of the good stuff snorkeling.

But still the urge to pop down and look in that cave remains

SO I was working with 2kg but in the Red sea this hasn't been enough. I think I need about 4 which is really odd as I use less than that in full scuba with a wet suit Also i am using my SCUBA jet fins which are great as they add weight and keep my fat arse down but I have been looking at the other free divers and they seem to be getting down much easier than me using this long fins

SO if anyone on here has free dived with both and can say they are worth it, ill get some and try them

https://flic.kr/p/2p4n8JC

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21174221@N05/53202971068/in/dateposted-public/" title="GOPR0202"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53202971068_ee15d832fb_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="GOPR0202"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[nigel hewitt]

I had a pair of great long things and they were far superior to scuba fins but only for short bursts as they worked your legs so hard.
I felt that was just right for free-diving but was never tempted to take them on scuba.

[jturner]

My experience is extremely limited but I didn't have any joy with the long flappy freediving fins but then I'm the shittest freediver on earth. Others I know (including MrsT) found them better for freediving. I don't do enough to warrant the expense and I can't imagine any reason why I would ever want to use the long flappy fins when on scuba.

[notdeadyet]

Freediving is the same as scuba, you want to be as close to neutral as you can get or as much as having a 6 litre bag of air inside you will allow. If you don't get your weighting right then fins are irrelevant. I'd really recommend diving with a float as it takes away some of the worries of being neutral with no floatation device. 5 or 6m of line with a weight on the end makes a great visual aid for descents too.

Descent technique is really important. I'd suggest working on that first. If you get your entry right and get a good vertical position then you've covered the first 2m without even finning. Usually people when they start are at an angle to the vertical without realising and you just end up fighting lung volume. Being fully vertical puts all the weight from your legs and belt straight down but feels very weird, if it doesn't feel like that (and especially if you're also looking down) you're probably not in the right position. When you feel it, it almost feels wrong and you want to get out of it. You'll know it when it happens. The other thing is being a bit too flappy or busier than you realise you are.

Once you get through the next 4'ish metres and you're weighted right then you start becoming more negative and things get easier. That's when fins make a difference. Again, they are only as good as your technique. It's very different from scuba finning, you need to use them slower than feels right and learn to let them do the work. They are worth it but they do need practice. Be prepared for leg cramps in the first few dives too. I've got a pair of Mares and a pair of Omer fins. Both are very different and have their own pros and cons.

Tom Mount used to use freediving fins for technical dives. I've never tried but I wouldn't have argued with him.

[Mark Chase]

I am a bit pathetic with a max breath hold of 2mins but I found 60 second dives to be comfortable and I am sure if i had more lead and didn't last so much energy I could have comfortably done 90 seconds.

Now my first hurdle was the mental one. I would go deep and stay till the urge to breathe was pretty uncomfortable then i would start the You know you don't need to breathe mantra as i was ascending. The fact I was ever closer to the surface helped considerably with this on a psychological level.

Strangly I seemed OK with the not breathing mantra until I passed about 90 seconds under water. Then i would develop a pain across my shoulders and down over my shoulder blades which was something like pins and needles. It was this rather than a specific urge to breath issue which would end the dip.

Have you experienced this?

Back in the day when 2min dives were no problem and I could do 3mins at a push breath holding, I found a very odd and quite painful feeling in my stomach to be the issue, so this is a new one on me.


Id like to say it was my age (59) but we were staying in the villa of Marc Lenoir a French Freediving world champion who's over 50 and still dives to 100m

[notdeadyet]

Doing a freediving course is one of the best things I've ever done in diving. I always thought it was a simple enough sport that you could just learn by doing but I made huge gains after doing it. There's so much to learn that I never even considered for a second. Like just learning how to inhale properly for maximum volume in your lungs. Just as a couple of examples, during the course most of us were able to go from a 90s static breath hold to at least 6 minutes. I think I got mine up to 8 eventually. And depth, we were regularly diving 18-25m after a couple of days of training. I hurt my diaphragm during the course and it limited what I could do but by the end everyone else was doing 30-35m. I did a 5 day course with an Argentinian freediver, Monica Ganame, who lives in Thailand. I'd really recommend finding someone good to train with.