The goal was to get Rafie down to 10m. It’s his 2nd open water since he started diving 5 months ago when he did his first open water only after hearing about free diving 3 days before 😛 So if you look at it that way its really his first open water since he knew what free diving actually was !

Anyway Rafie has made some good progress since he started, he has a breathe hold PB of 3:23, dynamic of 50m with fins, dynamic 25m with exhale and not sure about no-fins (what is it ya ?)

One of the hardest things to practice when your in really shallow pools or even in pools that max out at 4-5 meters is

• Equalisation (you might be able to do it at 3m, 4m, maybe 5m but after you start to get deeper and deeper things change because the pressure gets more intense)
•  Kicking down – As kicking down is different to kicking horizontally (well not really) but because your orientation is different your mind plays games on you.
• And the most important one is staying calm in the open water were you don’t know whats below you, and were your mind plays all sorts of games on you as you start to get deeper and the surface starts to disappear from sight.

I remember the first time ever that I went down to 15m, I did it with no-fins, I was standing barefooted on the bottom of the ocean, I slowly looked up and thought WTF … why am I here, what am I doing here, how far is it to the top, am I going to make it up swimming without fins and as you start to swim up, every time your not at the surface nervousness slowly sets in.

This simply goes away after the first time you do it and make it back to the surface cause you understand what 15m means, you understand that its not like all the previous experiences when your practicing in a pool and getting to the surface is a matter of pushing really hard from the bottom of the pool and your back to the surface to take in that air. You understand that you have to swim up slowly, calmly and just enjoy the ride up.

These are the things you get in open water and why sometimes you perform really well in the pool but when your in the ocean your kicking is messed up and your not equalising well (things you do easily in the pool). Seems like all these things are a function of how calm and relaxed you are.

So we bought Rafie into the ocean and it took about 6 dives to get him down to 10m. At the start equalisation was the problem but after we got over that and started to reach depths of greater then 5m it was more about staying calm.

On this particular weekend the visibility was terrible so you couldn’t see anything more then 3m or so ahead so it was dark, gloomy and kind of scary. After a while though he got more calm with the darkness and was able to get to 8.3 – 9.3 then finally 10m after almost running into some coral and then crashing into me as well (all in the video :P)

I think he should be able to get much deeper then 10m but first, on the next few open waters it will be good to do nice relaxing dives at < 10m (but up to and on 10m) and enjoy the scenery at that depth when the visibility is much better.

Next open water at the end of January ….. can’t wait 🙂

I have been staying at my cousins place while working here in Indonesia for this 3 month period. This situation is a little different then in the past because at the moment I am working for my own company so I don’t get the lavish apartments and perks that a big company can offer.

It’s all good though cause my cousins place is nice and its good to have family around to talk to and to enjoy the weekends with. We also like to do the same activities so it makes it more fun. One of the bonuses also is my cousin has a pool in his backyard though one of the negatives is that the pool is extremely shallow, about 1.5m, and really short (about 10m) so its not really good for freediving practice in the normal sense.

However there are many great exercises you can do with a pool this size.  The first and most common one is static apnea, the second is you can practice your kicking by pushing up against the wall and simple kicking with or without fins. The next exercise you can do is your stroke, specially if you like to do no-fins.

The final one that I like to practice is the Exhale or FRC breath hold. There are many definitions of what an exhale dive is and I am by far not an expert in this as I will learn more about this in the advanced course however I practice this so that I can get better times on my normal static apnea and it makes me very negatively buoyant so I can stay at the bottom of the pool and do dynamic no fins without weights or without having to fight to stay down in such a shallow pool.

Since I practiced this method of breath hold I have been able to get basic breath hold times to mid 3 minute mark very easily, get to mid 4’s OK but have not yet been able to beat my PB of just over 5minutes. I think though this is more mental and probably just need to work on keeping calm more towards the end of a breathe hold.

I know that with exhale there is a lot of risk and hence I don’t forcefully exhale, I simple exhale just till my body gets negatively buoyant and I sink to the bottom of the pool. I have seen some of the diving champions reverse pack, and exhale to get complete empty lungs but because I don’t know the effects and haven’t officially learnt it I wont experiment to much other then to exhale enough to be negatively buoyant and swim dynamic and some not to deep < 10m dives. When I officially learn the risks and what to/not to do then I will experiment more.

Anyway, its a great way to train in a shallow pool and still get a lot out of each training session even though the pool is not deep or long.

So I am not one who likes to buy a lot of gear or merchandise, I am way to cheap for that BUT when it comes time to buying something that will allow me to enjoy my hobbies then I don’t have a problem. You can’t put a price on fun right so who cares when what you buy is related to FUN … 😛

So I bought 2 upgrades and 1 brand new piece of equipment. So that equipment is listed below :

Equipment number 1: I bought a new Aries f10 dive computer. This thing usually retails for about $499 – $529 (prices I have seen) but I got it from the awesome guys at   http://www.spearfishing.com.au for a CRAZY $329 when they were having their christmas special.

It was insane, I been wanting to buy a dive computer for so long so that I can keep myself safe and gauge my progress but the prices were just way to much, so when the F10 was selling for $329 I bought it right away. I get most of my diving gear (fins, gloves, snorkel, mask) at www.spearfishing.com.au because its cheaper then most places and the delivery is 2 days MAX (even for large fins :P) so this was the first place I searched when I was looking for this dive computer and man …. I wasn’t disappointed !

So I haven’t looked into the F10 in detail yet, I just haven’t had the time BUT using the basic features, average dives, depth alarms, depth gauge etc I train so much better and safer. I can’t really compare it to other diving computers but in terms of the progress I have made in performance with this kind of data at my finger tips its been really great.

Equipment upgrade number 2: I bought new fins baby. Pure carbon wave series from Leaderfins. I was using the Cressi modulars before and they have done me well for a while BUT when I started to try to do some serious dynamic distances and actually go all out I felt that my legs were getting tried faster then I was running out of breath.

This really started to get apparent when I started using “Fin Keepers/Holders”. When I started to use the fin keepers there was less movement between my fins and my ankles so most of the energy was transferred to the fin blades and much less got lost in the ankle/heel area with fin moving. Because the blades are so hard on the current Cressi Gara’s I could feel  that my thighs started to get tired much much faster so it was time to get blades that were softer and had more propulsion. Just to note, this isn’t the fault of the Gara’s, they are great fins, I think they are just not suited for my kick output 😛 Im a pretty short guy and skinny legs so in comparison to taller guys with more leverage my kick is weaker. I think the Gara’s are more suited to taller stronger kickers.

I looked at a lot of different kinds of fins but its really hard to go past the pure carbon leaderfins  at prices below $300 AUD including delivery, bag, blades and foot pocket ! At the end I chose the all carbon and finally gave them a go this weekend. Compared to my Cressi Modular Gara’s these babies fly. My legs don’t get tried and I can really feel the push. I can’t wait to try these out in the pool and try to go as far as I can and try to beat my PB’s.

When I bought these fins the guys at the shop made a mistake with my tracking number so my fins were at the post office for almost a week without anyone picking them up. Every time I went to check the location of my fins using the wrong tracking number it was stated as not yet delivered so they were just sitting there collecting dust. Other then that though, the packaging and delivery was perfect so great job to the guys at www.freedivershop.com.

Equipment upgrade number 3: New GoPro ! Why, cause my old GoPro is in kind of a disabled state. When I went to Sangiang island a few months ago water got into my GoPro when the waterproof casing wasn’t 100% sealing. As a result something happened to the camera. It takes longer to charge now and sometimes the SD card can not be read when its plugged into the GoPro, however if we take out the SD card and plug it into another device it works just fine. The Camera still works but I am worried that because the camera is in this damaged state it could start to fail on a trip and that would suck.

Now if the camera fails during the trip it isn’t about the camera, you can just buy another one no worries … its more about missing the moment and reliving the experiences later, so I thought screw it, ill just buy one now and use the old GoPro silver as a spare, maybe put it as a head mount or attach it to my legs when i’m diving. If it dies during a trip then no worries.

So thats about it, oh I bought it all in one big hit so my pocket did cop the flak 😛 I bought it all in one big hit was so that I could get it delivered to Australia before I left to Indonesia as I will be spending the next 3 months here. I wanted to make sure I could order all my gear and take it all with me. I will be living in Indonesia for at least 3 months for work so I wanted to make sure I didn’t need any additional equipment whilst diving and travelling around Indonesia on my days off.

So we had more freediving fun in Pulau seribu. Not much else around jakarta when you want a quick get away from the hustle and bustle !

Even though Pulau seribu is close to get to from Jakarta its not to say its not an awesome place to go and do some free diving and to just generally relax. This time Mark and I headed of to Pulau Harapan as our main island. From Pulau Harapan we threw all our gear into our cabin and rented a boat for two days just dedicated to taking us to all the different islands within the Vicinity so we could have a diving buffet !

Boy was that the right choice. We just went from Island to island,enjoyed all the different coral in each of the areas and swam with fishes, turtles and other marine life. In comparison to say Pulau Pramuka, Pulau Harapan was much cleaner much nicer and the accommodation was slightly better. What I also liked more was the food so good job to Pak Wawai and team 🙂

The boat that we hired was dedicated just for us and took us between Kayu Angin, Gentang, Macan, Tong Keng and Belintang. There were so many beautiful islands next to each other and unique in their own way, specially in how the ridges fell into the deep, the fish and the coral.

I would have to say that first day diving was alot better because we were there past 10 and the sun started to angle better into the water so it was much more clearer then the second day. On the second day we were at the dive site by 6 because we had to leave much earlier for Jakarta so we left by about 10:30 just as the sun was getting better.

We also visited an island called Pulau Pasir or sand island which I have to say is rightly named so. This island is just a sand island right in the middle of the ocean, its a picture perfect image of paradise on what I would call a super tight budget. You can view more about that in the documentary of the trip i created that should be posted in the “ocean” section of my blog.

Again, another weekend well spent away from the traffic jam, malls and the hustle and bustle of Jakarta’s normal lifestyle. Thank heavens for Pulau Seribu .. enabling us a way to get away to paradise for a weekend to do some diving on a super tight budget !

Love Indonesia … I hope they take care of these islands and ensure they stay beautiful and affordable for future generations.

Stig just achieved the impossible again ! He just swam 250 feet in speedos under the ice ! He is an absolute legend. What I really like about Stig is he is not just about free diving but about relating free diving and the benefits grained from the training to deal with everyday life.

It may seem like holding your breathe for minutes at a time couldn’t be further from what our everyday life entails but in reality there is so much to be learnt and gained from understanding what goes behind a breath hold that everyone should at least understand the principles and give the basics a go, specially the relaxation and mind calming exercises 🙂

I initially found Stig’s material online by accident when I was trying to learn how to breathe better for my normal morning swims. Watching his videos on Ted TV, reading his Breathology Academy material, then eventually purchasing the Breathology e-book really opened my eyes to the possibilities of the human body. From that point on I was hooked on free diving and was consistently trying to understand what Stig was doing to achieve his results. Stig said he could train anyone to achieve great results and I was excited to learn …

So on top of producing great learning material that everyone can benefit from, not just people who want to freedive, Stig is still cracking records and doing the impossible. I can’t say much more then congratulations on smashing another impossible feat and showing its actually possible, thanks for introducing free diving to so many people including myself.

Keep up the good work Stig and keep doing the impossible 🙂

Daily Deeperblue

Just wanna say thanks to www.deeperblue.com for the link back to my “About one year since Free Diving” post. Always good to have someone link back and give a wider audience a chance to read your blog posts 🙂

The link for the page can now be found here.

Freediving in Pulau Pramuka

So its been about one year since I have been free diving actively and it has been one hell of a journey and an eye opening experience for me ! I am so happy that I discovered the sport and will continue to enjoy the water through free diving for many years to come 🙂

I have always loved the water and being a sydney sider, summer for as long as I can remember always involved going onto the beach. Whether in that particular year it was just to swim, body surf or to body board, we always had fun at the beach, summer was always something to look forward too. We would enter summer all white and pasty and come out of summer all dark and tanned. Every year was the same and it was awesome.

Beautiful sunrise at shelly beach – Sydney Australia

When I started running BlipADeal & HotDiskon I was able to arrange my own time and spent every morning before work swimming laps at shelly beach rock pools in sydney’s Cronulla beach, which is about 20-30 mins drive from where I live. After swimming for about 8 months in the pools I wanted to find ways to optimise breathing and after some research Damir (my friend who every morning would also join me for the swim) and I discovered free diving.

After watching one of Stig Severinsons talks on ted TV I was totally astounded by what he could do and how he could enjoy the water in such a spectacular way. It seemed impossible but he was doing it and he said he was able to train people to do it also ! I was hooked. The morning swims became all about breathe holding, swimming underwater and just getting more comfortable. Since then I have learnt and experienced many things that I think have really changed how I feel both mentally and physically.

My Fat Ass & my cute little sis on her birthday 🙂

The most noticeable of all the changes has been my weight ! Before I started swimming and free diving I was one heavy dude ! I was about 87 kilos of fat and my height is only about 5’7 🙂 I had a bit of muscle but I was a big boy. After I started to dive and do the various different training techniques required to get better at the sport I lost about 20+ kilos to date. The main thing isn’t the weight but its the fact that I feel better then I did when I was in my very early 20’s and in my very early 20’s I was one fit guy doing lots of sports. Now 10 years later, as a result of this weight loss my wardrobe just got bigger by 20 pairs of jeans that I have collected over the last 10 years (which when I look at their size was getting bigger each year) 😛 wooohoooo how awesome is that ! No more bandung factory outlet shopping for me anymore LOL …

Veges, Seafood, Meats

I have learnt a lot about the body. Reading about what happens to the body during apnea, to understanding how our body uses oxygen, what the effects of pressure are on our bodies and what happens during blackouts, its all been a great learning experience. Above all that I also learnt about how to eat right so the body is more efficient and more healthy. Im sure as I do more formal free diving education and more reading about the sport I will again learn more about human physiology & for me learning is always fun !

Now I am also more calm in stressful situations and currently with running a business getting stressed about all sorts of things is a common event. By remembering what its like to be under the water and staying calm and relaxed when your 60+ feet below the surface of the ocean, some of that calmness can be brought into daily life and can help ease some of the stress by bringing up glimpses of the same frame of mind.

Pulau Harapan sunrise

I have managed to see so many new parts of the world that I never even thought about visiting before I started free diving. When your free diving you do what you can to get close to the water and this usually leads you to look at new and wonderful places to get a new underwater experience and explore nature at its finest. This leads you to camping and going on trips you never thought about before and it gets you closer to nature.

Finally but surely not the least, I have met so many new friends along the way 🙂 From other free divers that you meet at dive sites and share a dive with on a given day, to the teachers who show you how to be safe to groups and communities of free divers that you hang with its been a great way to get to know people who also love the water as much as you do.

It’s been a really positive change and being a complete geek who sits in front of the computer all day working with code, math and logic its been a really nice way to contrast the day. Open air, fresh sea water in the morning followed by a quiet time in front of the computer from the afternoon to the evening 🙂 In the next few months I plan on getting the next level certification if I get the chance so hopefully it will allow me to understand more about the body, more about how to go deeper, be safer and enjoy the ocean in a whole new different way.So stay safe & have fun in the water everyone !