Safety in Freediving
Posted By Paul Kotik on 20 May 2002
Capabilities
A buddy system consists of two or more human beings, each with unique physical and personal characteristics which are relatively stable over time. Know thy buddies, and know thyself.
A freediver capable of a 6 -minute static apnea in the pool is not necessarily one who can equalize his ears at 30m/99ft, and another diver who has done constant ballast dives to 70m/230ft does not necesarily have good eyesight. Someone with a history of seasickness is unlikely to be in top form in rough seas. A sound buddy system establishes rules and protocols which all of the divers are comfortable with.
When I go freediving with Brett LeMaster, for example, we do not set out to spend the afternoon picking pennies up from a 50-meter bottom site 1,000 meters' surface swim from the beach. This might be a casual pastime for Brett, but it is beyond my redlines. It would put both of us at unacceptable risk Each diver in a buddy system owes it to himself, and perhaps more importantly, owes it to the others to be realistic and candid with respect to his capabilities. Know thyself, and know thy buddy. Don't dive beyond the comfortable reach of your buddy. Blackout at depth is certainly less common than the Shallow Water Blackout, but it is by no means unheard of. On the reef, blows to the head and entanglements are examples of other occasions for a bottom rescue.
Capabilities come in to play, too, in relation to general environmental conditions. Rough seas and weak stomachs are common examples. Others include temperatures, equipment, marine traffic, wildlife and topography. Some excellent and experienced freedivers have had little experience with big fish and may not respond calmly to relatively harmless predators such as nurse sharks. Others, perhaps those with little or no scuba experience, may not have knowledge of the hazards associated with wrecks lying there, tempting, on the bottom.
Which brings us to the subjects of bottoms. More specifically, hard bottoms. No, not yours or that of your significant other. Your ability to scoop an unconscious diver off the bottom is dependent on there being a bottom, and at a depth you can manage. Unless he is wearing a very, very thick wetsuit indeed even an unweighted freediver is negatively buoyant at 20m/66ft and will sink like a rock if he loses consciousness.
The bottom then becomes part of the rescue team - if there is a bottom. Freediving in bottomless waters is properly approached with considerable caution by beginners and intermediates, and ideally under the supervision of experienced trainers. Nobody in this world is capable of pulling you up from 100 meters, but a dedicated buddy may well die trying to.
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