FREEDIVE-APLOOZA

[FreediveWI]

FREEDIVE-APALOOZA

   FREEDIVE-APLAOOZA is coming to Wisconsin on July 24 2004. This is NOT a competition, but rather a gathering of freedivers, and scuba divers, who want to get in the water for some good fun. IF someone actually wanted to set a freshwater record, we would have the depth and the safety divers to pull it off.

   I came up with the idea after trying to meet up with Fred, from North Dakota, over this past summer. We finally decided upon a date and thought that it would be a good time to gather together all of the other freedivers, and freedivers wana-be’s, who have contacted us over the past couple of years- both on this list and off. Since the idea originated we have at least one dive shop, and possibly more, who want to help sponsor it. We also, just recently, got word that OMER will be interested in sponsoring it. I am sure that we can get Jyri, from Special Fins, to kick in some demo fins to try- hint, hint.

   While most freediving meetings are set up around a competition, be it for depth or spear fishing, this one is more about meeting up to have some fun, exchange information, and get wet. I’d like to put together an array of fins, and monofins, for people to try out. Right now, I think Fred, Ted and I can outfit a few people from our own stockpiles. We will also have some spear guns there, as you can spear in the lake, and would be willing to compare notes on what others find useful. This would be a good time for Ted, the former DNR regulations guy, to discuss the legalities for spear fishing in the surrounds states for those who are interested.

   Another reason for this event is to try to convert, at least part-time, some of the many scuba divers in the area. Most probably, don’t realize that inlands lakes can be more effectively, and much less expensivly, explored while freediving, since they are not that deep. We’d also like to show them that freediving is about more than just riding sleds. That average people can do it just to have fun and not worry about making it into the record book.

   Right now, this is a work in progress. We came up with the idea and it has started to blossom. If people have other ideas that they think we should add I am open to suggestions. One thing I am not open to is charging people for anything. This is supposed to be a FREE event, just like the name- Freediving. I know that Wisconsin will never be the hot bed of freediving that Europe is, but if I can get just a couple of more training partners out of it I think it will have been a success.

   Lake Wazze is in-between Chicago and the Twin cities. It is currently the hotbed of tech diver training for this part of the country. There are training lines that go down to 105’ and we could easily put in some deeper ones for the day. The vis is usually pretty good and the surface water, down to around 30’, will be warm, around 74 degrees- those of you who use the metric system can do your own conversions.

   You have almost a full year to start planning your trip, so make sure that you mark down July 24, 2004 on your calendar.

Jon

[dfreeman]

Sounds like a good time. I will put it down in my calendar of summer fun. This could draw a good crowd of good divers to test the freediving sport out.


Count on my support.

Doug

[Omicron]

I'd be up for trying it out a little bit...I've played around with freediving a little bit but it would be cool to get some tips on how to actually efficiently swim down and how to better hold or deal with holding my breath! It seems like I always just get down under the water and I already want to come back up. I'll be there!

[FreediveWI]

This whole thing is really starting to take shape.

I 've got a guy form California who is planning on coming and another guy from New Zeland whose interested if I can get Kirk Krack to put on a clinic the week before. I also got an email from the US men's champion, Deron Verback, whose interested in coming and wants to replicate this idea in Hawaii, where he lives.

I have also confirmed demo gear form two companies, OMER and Special Fins.

This will be partly for the loose band of freedivers that already exist in the midwest and partly for the bubble blowers who might be interested in giving it a shot.

Jon

[jasondbaker]

Jon, if you want to setup a website I'd be willing to handle the hosting. Or, we could also create a special site for the event "under" the wiscuba.com domain. Also, if someone wants to shoot video I have a media streaming server we could use to stream the video on the net.

[FreediveWI]

Thanks for the offer Jason. You should email Fred, as he is the one setting up the website for now.

We ended up having a "wet-run" yesterday at Lannon Quarry. A buddy of mine caught the bug and wanted me to show him how to do it. We gathered a "few" other pairs of fins together and gave it a whirl.

We put in a training line, but the quarry is so shallow it wasn't much use. It's been a while since I last dove there, but the quarry has reall gone down hill. It is now choking with Eurasian Milfoil, which I have no idea how it got in there since there really aren't any boats allowed on the lake. ??? It was also black past 30'. If you went down to 40' and waited your eyes could adjust and make out the vast bottom of black ooze that covers the deep end. I know htat I swam haed first into the muck at one point as I was following a line down past the level where the viz disappeared.

We did manage a nice swim around and saw all of the highlights in the quarry, the sunken shack , train tracks, ore carts, ect.

THe best part was seeing how comfortable my buddy got after only anhour in hte water. He really started to improve his kick adn get some nice bottom times in.

We also got to compare notes on a lot of different fins and monofins.

Next summer the idea is to do this exact same thing, but with more people and more gear. We have tow different freediving companies sending gear to try, plus hte personal stok of Fred, Ted, and I. We also have a bunch of different masks to try- like tinted lens, low volume spearing masks. I imagine that we'll also have just a few spaerguns up there as well. There is no speraing in Lannon Quarry because they plant trout in there, but Wazee is wide open for spearing pan and rough fish.

Jon

[freediverND]

Jon,
I'll talk with Jason about the website.... hear that Jason?
Fred

[freediverND]

This sunny would be a meal huh?? :o Or this sunny might think you're a meal.
(pic)
Fred

[freediverND]

Here's a link to a bit more info on the free dive apalooza.

Fred

[FreediveWI]

Wow, what a weekend!

Lots of great divers and lots of great dives- including some new personal bests for almost veryone who came! ;D

We started out Friday and kept on diving through to Sunday after noon. Spearguns, kayaks, scooters, monofins, deep dives, shallow dives, ect.

The weather was great. We had nice hot days, wonderful sunsets, and even some very foggy mornings! Water temps were in the low 70's above 30' and the vis was great once you broke through 80'.

With Gert's help we turned the campground into a make-shift drive-in theater on Saturday night- featuring "The Big Blue", of course.

We shot lots of pictures+video, but will try and keep it down to just a couple of posts. I shot a bunch of video with my digital camera and had my dive buddy, Ted, add some music to it. If your interested, here's the link:


Next year's event looks to be even bigger- as I have already talked to the president of the USAA (united states apena associaton) about adding in a regional comeptition next year. There are already divers from other parts of the country who have decided to copy my idea and put on their own freedve-a-palooza.

I also shot lots of stills, both digital and film. Here's a few of the digitals.

Jon