I started a new course with FIT (Free Diving Instructors and Trainers) today. It hit me that I started my first diving course in 1971 on the same day. It's an easy one to remember as it was my second day in Florida after moving down from the Buckeye State.
The first course was a NAUI Basic SCUBA Diving Course at Divers Haven in Ft. Lauderdale. At the time, Divers Haven was owned and operated by Ed Malinowski. It was at the current location of Brownies Dive Shop on Cordova Road. The instructor was Chuck Ciphery, an interesting fellow and very effective instructor. Back in those days, almost EVERYONE in the business of diving was interesting! The businessmen first, divers second folks had yet to take over things and the more unique diving personalities still held sway. We were learning to use 72 cft. steel tanks sometimes with loose harnesses, flotation vests with minimal buoyancy, massive masks, rocket fins if you were lucky otherwise closed heal fins or duck feet? Pressure gages were out although J-valve reserves still had some favor. It was an intense course and it is surprising how much I still remember, it was that well done.
As it happened Chuck separated from Divers Haven in the middle of our course to where we finished it at his new shop, Underseas Sports located in just south of the New River Tunnel. Ended up working there filling tanks and doing sales a couple of summers. It turned out to be yet another good educational experience in many ways. Underseas Sports still exists, now located on Federal Hwy. north of Sunrise Blvd. in Ft. Lauderdale.
So, what's is going on today with the FIT course? Level III follows the second course, in which divers discover how to utilize readily available latent skills and aptitudes for free diving (no tanks) that may not be real obvious. The results can be impressive. A lot of valuable safety information and procedures are presented at the same time.
Here's what they have to say about Level III:
"Let World Champion Martin Stepanek teach you the tricks and tips for advanced breathing and equalization, such as FRC (Functional Residual Capacity) dives, while measuring your lung capacity before and after packing. Learn to improve your overall health and performance with freediving-specific supplements and foods. Understand how to increase your stamina with various methods of aerobic, anaerobic and weight training exercises.
FIT's team will describe the psychological aspects of increasing your time and depth below the surface, while teaching you how to integrate your mind and body."
http://www.divefit.com/course.php?id.../course_level3
It's an intense four days. Today we were in the classroom, pool and in about 500 ft. of water by boat. We practiced static apnea in the pool or breathholding while motionless, which is a good core skill development activity. Our instructor held his breath for over 8 minutes a while back. Today we had a guy hold his breath for five minutes successfully. My partner made an amazing 5 minutes 30 seconds but passed out. Because of the procedures they teach in Level II and III it is possible to undergo a blackout like this and be fine in no time through diver monitoring, communication and in-water rescue techniques. The goal is to inform students what to look for in themselves and their buddy and how to avoid it and deal with it should it come to pass. To train in good diving protocols in buddy teams and to prepare and execute dives in a certain manner to reduce risk. It worked today very nicely, though you want to be very close to your buddy and ready to act fast as they teach in instruction. I only managed four minutes (3'57" actually) on my breathhold. Still, it is a personal best for me as I haven't practiced static apnea in a pool since out Level II course over a year ago.
We learned about packing (substantially increasing the quantity of air you carry down with you), underlying physiological considerations, precautions and conditioning exercises. Then we figured out how all that extra air impacts buoyancy, kick cycles or depth/kick calibration and more in deep water.
It is a good program worth checking out by anyone interested in free diving. It continues tomorrow and for the next three days. Should be interesting and it does help to cope with the low to no wind downtime.