Freediving Education "a SAFER approach" (Part II)
Posted By Ricardo G. Hernandez on 26 July 2002
The Safety Measures
I have always wondered how it is possible that every other sport counts with multiple or even redundant "layers" or protective devices for bodily protection. Think of bicycling, pads, helmets, elbow protectors, etc. Go in your mind to any other sport activity like for instance, gymnastics where they land on a softened pad, or even ping-pong with their goggles for eyes protection, etc. Parachutists have a reserve parachute... just in case. I can go on and on. But let's go back to the water!
Come to think of it, I believe that the ONLY sport where the athlete is almost left with no other defense against something gone wrong (besides his human, thus, fallible surface partner) is precisely our Freediving Sport, which is considered the one sport with the highest fatality rate of them all!
It is NOT my intention to disparage or criticize in any conceivable way our loyal "week-end warrior companion" who goes Freediving or spear fishing with us! His or her loyalty is not in question whatsoever, but let's consider some of the interfering elements that, if present, might alter the final consequence of what began as an "incident" and could end as an "accident". And more often than not, a fatal one, at that.
No one expects to suffer a blackout. Many don't even consider it a possibility! But, as much as a fall can (and eventually WILL) occur to a cyclist, or a spill on a skating ring will inevitably happen to any of those marvelous champions, etc, so it will be, sooner or later, in a lesser or greater measure that "our" private mishap is going to hit us, partially or completely.
When I am using the term "partially" I am referring to our nicely named "SAMBA" but even the nicest, almost innocuous version of a hypoxique state can rapidly progress into a full-blown Blackout IF immediate and effective exterior (someone else's) help is not provided.
Neither it is my intention to dissect one by one the "golden safety rules" that supposedly will help us in preventing or cope with a blackout. Let's just refresh them.
- Avoid excessive hyperventilation.
- Stay within a conservative dive profile.
- Don't take more than 3-4 slow deep breaths.
- Rest between dives; allow yourself to recover for 3-5 minutes before diving again.
- Don't push yourself to go deeper and/or to stay longer than your level and experience allows.
- Be positively buoyant from the last 10mts (33 feet) to the surface
- Never, ever free dive alone. Always free dive with a buddy.
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- what are these?
