Free Diving

Enygma

Wasn't much surf last night so me and a buddy paddled out to the reef at Garrettstown to dive down and take a look.
I'm not sure how deep it is, only about 15-20 feet maybe but it's pretty cool you can see a totally different world down there.

I know you're into this type of thing tactical anni so I was hoping you might answer a few questions. When I get down deep my ears start to squeak and it kind of hurts. I held my nose and blew them out but it didn't make any difference. What's with that? Is it just a matter of getting used to it?

How deep can you go? And how long can you stay down. We only managed about 20 seconds each.

Got any other tips?

I know there are some shipwrecks off Garrettstown (there's a map of them in a nearby pub), maybe we could organise a scuba diving trip or something. I'd like to check out some of the out reef waves too. They look pretty mean.

Enygma

Just found this, seems to be good advice I'll give it a go tonight anyway.
http://www.scubadiving.com/training/medicine/equalize.shtml

I was just wondering, say there's a six foot swell, wouldn't there be a significant change in pressure everytime a swell line passes over you? For example when there's a trough above you you might be under 15 feet of water, but when the peak passes over you you would be under 21 feet of water.

You must tell me about spear fishing sometime, I'd love to try it, there are always a lot of mackeral out on the reef.

Jak

Generally on a heavy swell day - Diving would be canceled.

As for the extra 6ft of water moving over making a difference, I'm sure it could - but while diving if you are changing depth moving over uneven terrain you frequently have to equalise anyhows.

The water passing over you may add pressure to your ears, but while noticeable, it would pass and I think for it to be truly dangerous and painful, you would need more than a 1.8m change in depth.

3m maybe would be far more risky, but Diving in 10ft swells just wouldn't be smart for lots of reasons

Enygma

There was a documentary about the 1998 El Nino swell that hit Hawaii producing giant surf on one of the National Geographic channels (558) recently called Condition Black.

In it one of the guys takes a wipeout and after popping up is straight away hit by the whitewater of the next wave. There's about 40 ft of whitewater, which is at least one atmosphere of pressure. I have no idea how those guys can survive such a quick change in pressure.

I guess that's why I'm not out there then

Also check out this pic of pro surfer Shane Dorian at Teahupoo, it's bad enough that these guys surf that wave but this just takes the biscuit I think!

Jak

!

That looks slick, what is he wearing/doing?

You just have to admire the guys who go out into waves like that, though it is probably almost worth the risk.

Enygma

I think he was finished his heat and decided to take his disposable camera out to the wave to take a few pics. All he's wearing would be shorts a rash vest and a pair of fins.

I read that he asked some of the professional cameramen if they wanted to come out but they wouldn't risk it. They wouldn't even let him take their cameras.

Bear in mind that the reef there is very shallow and that this wave is regarded as the Heaviest wave on earth. I've read interviews with some pro surfers that say they don't really enjoy that leg of the tour as the wave is just too heavy. You're taking your life in your hands at Teahupoo.

Check out these pics of Laird Hamilton surfing possibly the biggest sets ever in Teahupoo. He had to sit down in the boat with his head in his hands for 15 minutes after one wave he was so psyched up!

http://www.tim-mckenna.com/teahupoo-01.htm

Jak

Laird is just a legend.

Nice pics.

TacT

crazy pics!

I like the water, but I only like so much of it

Diving during big swells would be a no no
As for the pressure, the water would need to make a difference of 3-5metres depending on the person. Some people need to equalize after 1/2 metres, others can go as far down as 5+ before they need to equalize. The sooner you equalize the better, it's hardest during your first couple of dives but your ears get used to it and eventually some people can simply wiggle their jaws to equalize their ears under the pressure.
V.interesting bit here is if you can dive down 5metres you are potentially able to dive 500metres in depth until you are unable to equalize anymore. likewise if you have to equalize after 1metre then you won't get past 100M.

I can manage about 3/4 metres before I have to equalize, try it out

I can manage about 20+ metres in depth thus far though haven't really pushed myself due to a lack of people to practice. I can hold my breath for 1minute20seconds+ if I simply duck my head under ocean water and hold onto a ladder/have a weight to keep me down. It depends how warm the water is/I am, how much movement is involved and how much I control myself.

Tips - relax every muscle in your body at the surface and take deep breaths in and out until you feel as relaxed as possible.

When you dive you need to go down with the least amount of movement possible and to do this you need to practice a "duck-dive" what you do is bring both your knees into your chest so you look like a mushroom floating in the water, do a quarter roll so your head is on the vertical, looking down.
Straighten your legs out and this pushes you down and depending how good your technique is this could take you anything from 1-3metres+ down. From there you bring your legs into play to get down the rest of the way.
When you reach the bottom, try your best to relax again as much as possible, keeping your eyes fixed on a certain spot can help you achieve this and as an added bonus, seeing as you want to have a look, you will have much better chances of seeing big fish if you pick a spot, camouflage yourself mildly, keep the eyes fixed and you may get some surprises (fish are very curious, but when they see moving eyes they are either frisky/won't approach you at all).
When I make a good dive I can feel my heart rate slow down completely, some say it's like a form of meditation.
When you're ready to come back up, don't look up, keep looking down and give yourself a little push from the seabed/rock to get back up and let yourself gently float up to the surface using little effort.
As well as this helping you stay relaxed it will also make your chances of seeing fish greater.
I usually anchor myself to the seabed with one hand gripped on a rock or a thick seaweed so that I remain motionless.
hmm biggest tip is don't panic, it's so easy to do and can ruin it for you and your dive partner because if you are panicky, then the fish will be to!

Generally speaking I can hold my breath from 20seconds to 50seconds on the types of dives I have been accustomed to.

Hope you find some of this of use or in some way interesting, have fun