Freediving the Willy

[FreediveWI]

Chris,

To answer a few of your questions.

My PB on breath hold is 4:51. I am trying for an even 5 minutes and am almost there. My dive buddy, Ted, is over 5 minutes and I need to catch up. :'(

My PB depth is 105' and I am ready to push that further.

I started freediving for a couple of reasons:

1- you can't scuba on the last day of a dive trip.
2- I have dove the wrecks many times on scuba.
3- It challenges you as a diver and not just your bank account- too many divers with too much money who can't dive.

On the wrecks around here it is a lot of fun because I can pick up lost gear and see lots of fish, plus the best vis is above 100' right now.

Scuba on the wrecks is not as exciting as it once was because they have been STRIPPED clean over the years. The deep wrecks are only fun on air because your narced. Once you start diving them on trimix they really show the abuse that they have received. The zebra mussels have also started to take their toll on all of the wrecks aove 200'.

When I crew on the charter boats I can assist divers a whole lot easier than if I am on scuba. I have had to swim for more divers than I can count. I have also retrieved lost masks in a fraction of the time that a scuba diver does. I have even gone down, on a scooter, and put diver's tanks back in their BC's before they even knew that it came out. At the end of the dive I can go and check out where everyone is at and see how much gas they have left intheir tanks and what kind of deco they have to pull. If there is a problem I could bring them down an extra tank. I have even recovered blown lift bags from deco divers and brought them back to them to try again at their 70' stops. I am just more useful than if I have a tank on.

Down in the islands I can get much closer to the fishlife than if I am blowing bubbles and making noise.

One other thing that I have noticed about freedivng compared to scuba. Freedivers are totally 3 dimensional underwater. They are also MUCH more aware of what's going on around them. Scuba divers get so transfixed on just what's in front of them that they miss half of what's going on down there. They miss the sounds and all of the other fish life. Half the time they miss where their feet are and kick up the bottom!

The only thing that freedivng isn't any good for is penetrating wrecks and caves. I don't enter anything, except ice, when I am freedivng. When I go under the ice I am always on a rope. I do know other freedivers who will enter caves and see how far they can go. I am not into that, but I don't do other risky things any more either- like deep air dives.

One last thing that is really nice about freediving is the size and the cost of the gear. My gear doesn't wear out as fast and doesn't get outdated every dive season. I also need no air fills or scrubber material.

At the end of the dive last night I fit everything I needed into a single bag and a 6# weightbelt. Everyone else was struggling with their 104's, 112's and all of their bags. I could just pick up and go. They needed many trips.

I am always looking for new dive buddies to freedive with if your interested. There are about 6 of us in the Miwlaukee/ Chicago/ Madison area- and growing all of the time. ;D

Jon