Freedive-A-Palooza
Posted By Jon Zeaman on 13 September 2004
Freedive-A-palooza: noun. slang. an extraordinary gathering of freedivers in the Midwestern part of the United States.
Wisconsin doesn’t bring to mind the images of freediving that most people usually associate with the sport; sleds, spears, and skin-tight suits. Even though our Dairy State is blessed with some 15,000 inland lakes, and is bordered by two of the world’s Great Lakes, Michigan and Superior, people just don’t think about Wisconsin when someone mentions freediving. Because of this, finding buddies to freedive with around these parts hasn’t been the easiest thing to do.
Enter Deeper Blue. Thanks to this website I started emailing Fred Johnson (fsjohnson) a few years ago. He and I corresponded quite a bit, trying to find a spot somewhere in the middle for us to dive; not as easy as it sounds since Fred lives two states away in North Dakota. Finally, last year, we just decided to plan a date and go diving. Fred checked his calendar and found a nice time right in between planting and harvesting his crops. The date was set as the third weekend in July and the place was Lake Wazee in western Wisconsin.
Since we had a date and a lake lined up we decided to invite all of those other freedivers that we have bumped into or emailed over the last few years to join us. Realizing that we both had small dive lockers of gear to outfit anyone who might come along, we decided to turn it into a freediver demo day, similar to the DUI drysuit demo days that are held in a variety of locations around the country every year. The idea was born and all we needed was a name. Since this wasn’t to be one of the normal freediver gatherings, like a depth competition or a spearo tournament, we opted for the name Freedive-A-palooza a unique gathering of freedivers.
Lake Wazee is a rare jewel of a lake that one wouldn’t expect to find in the middle of farm country. It’s actually an old iron mine that has slowly filled up with cold, clear ground water over the past 20 years. She is 100 meters deep and has exceptionally good visibility: over 100’ b in winter and a good 60’ in summer, if you drop below the thermocline. She is located less than 3 hours from Minneapolis and a little over 5 hours from Chicago. As a result of this she draws tech divers from at least five surrounding states to practice their craft. In recent years she has also started to attract a few freedivers as well.
- Bookmark with :
- what are these?
