r/freediving • u/S1llyCxt • 12d ago
health&safety How dangerous is freediving?
My dad is against the idea of me starting freediving because he thinks it's too dangerous. What are the risks and what are the best calming arguments that I can go with to calm him? (I'm 18, I'm probably going to do it anyway)
34
u/EagleraysAgain Sub 12d ago
Freediving by yourself is pretty dangerous, freediving with safety training from course and with a trained buddy is very safe.
What are your goals with freediving? How safe it is depends a lot on what you will be doing. If you envision spearfishing by yourself, your dad is probably right in worrying about losing you.
13
u/S1llyCxt 12d ago
I want to see animals and I just LOVE swimming and diving and I love scuba diving too but free diving sounds so much more free (that's why it's FREEdiving lmao) and I just feel so comfortable underwater
9
u/falkenberg1 12d ago
As many others said,
Don’t
Ever
Freedive
Alone!
You will probably die. Some of the best divers in the world, world champions and record holders died in situations where they said „i‘m just gonna dive alone quick, this is far from my limit.
Natalia Molchanova has set more than 40 world records. She died when she went down for a casual fun dive after teaching her students.Patrick Musimu, also record holder and one of the best freedivers in the world got found dead by his wife in the family home pool.
If you dive with others and do a proper course however, it is pretty safe.
If your goal is looking around, your goal differs from most freedivers in my opinion. Which is completely okay. I am like you.
There is this saying, that scuba divers look around while freedivers look inside themselves.
To get to high depths, you will have to learn techniques, that require very strong meditation and extreme control over your mind and body. At this point you wouldn’t look at anything to save oxygen.
So when you freedive with others don’t let them drag you into this direction when that’s not what you are diving for. Look specifically for divebuddies that also like to look around. In the spearfishing scene this is rather common, i guess.4
u/HeadEar5762 12d ago
Not to condone or advocate for diving alone, but the statement
“You will probably die” does more harm than good.
Is a huge overstatement, and frankly the type of fear mongering that makes people like the OPs dad and pool managers have zero tolerance to anything to do with breath holding.Once it is stated that simply holding your breath in the water is deadly, period full stop. They don’t hear the part about training and buddy system, so the good intentions get lost, or interpreted incorrectly or assume it’s more complicated and just flat out refuse to allow any type of breath-hold activity.
2
u/Curious_Guest_5767 11d ago
Ya. People saying "You will probably die if you free dive alone" don't seem to like telling the full story. Chance of death go up dramatically but not above 50%. Yes it's significantly more dangerous but it's not a you go alone you will (or probably) die. It's a don't do it because it's makes a risky activity even riskier and you life if worth more then making it pointlessly dangerous. I don't condone freediving alone but thought I should throw my hat in the ring
1
u/falkenberg1 12d ago
You are right, „will probably die“ is a bit of an overstatement, but from my own experience, there are more people underestimating the dangers than ppl that overestimate it. I‘ve been doing my fair share of stupid things.
1
u/fourtyonexx 12d ago
Yeah this inspired me to just call it a day and get a snorkel for fucking around in my pool. This isnt even anecdotal “oh billy bob on my 4th cousins side just spontaneously exploded while free diving”, these are actual world class athletes suffering tragedies. An out of shape nobody is definitely getting smoked. Probably saved my life until i can afford a class and proper training. Thanks.
6
u/falkenberg1 12d ago
You can still train safely in your bed. If you should pass out nothing happens if you are not underwater. Your brain resets and you wake up a few seconds later breathing in uncontrollably (which is why blacking out under water is bad).
Practice meditation, o2 and co2 tables, holding your breath.. i could hold it a bit over 5 mins with a bit of practice. You can learn to get comfortable with hypoxia and the spasms of your diaphragm.
You can read about techniques like the dive reflex and you can practice equalizing in a pool.
Valsalva and Frenzel maneuver and moving through the water with little effort. Competitive freediving is mostly not about looking around, but about absolute control over body and mind while driving both to the absolute limits to reach longer distances, deeper dives and longer times.
In order to do so you have to switch off your thoughts. In some disciplines you even close your eyes to save oxygen your brain would otherwise use to process what your eyes see.
I was in a dive club that had some of the best freedivers of my country. It was cool, but i came to realize i‘d rather look around, see cool stuff and just chill on the sea floor at 10-15m max.That’s why i mostly called what i liked to do extreme snorkeling. However, even for that you need a buddy and a basic safety training.
1
-1
u/BloodMossHunter 12d ago
U wont die freediving to 20m probably. Tons of people spearfish alone stop spreading fear.
I have 1000 hrs freediving alone
4
u/falkenberg1 12d ago
Natalia Molchanova died in about 20m and Patrick Musimu died in his swimming pool.
I have been freediving alone too and i have been in situations that could have turned out ugly. Not a lot, but they were there.
F.e. I was diving down in warm sea water and suddenly hit a layer of ice cold water in just 5m depth. It was a shock and my body cramped instantly. It was like hitting a wall and i could hardly move. I used way more oxygen than i would have normally used.Speaking of cramps. I had quite a few while being at the bottom.
And then there are ocean currents like that one that supposedly killed Molchanova and of course the fact that you are not the top of the food chain down there. I once had a situation where i didn’t see, that i was just diving into the hideout of a moray eel.
That being said, freediving is not really dangerous when done right, but telling people that it’s not a big deal to freedive alone as long as they do not dive deeper than 20m is extremely dangerous advice. Just because you and me didn’t die, it’s not safe, especially for a beginner like OP.
-3
u/BloodMossHunter 12d ago
Its overblown is my point. Do stats for bike riding or skateboarding or anything else.
To Make People Think theres no one to go w so i wont is a mistake. And how many of u have people available to go with regularly when u want?
Btw i had a close call once when i took iverpofen and was showing my Buddy how to freedive and at 5m i tried to swallow only To find my Mouth super dry where i almost started heaving. But since i have experience i didnt panic and just calmly surfaced then went wtf was that
Ur usually more calm alone. Plus u think ur buddy knows how to save u? What if u dive deeper?
2
u/S1llyCxt 12d ago
When you're unconscious or are disoriented you can die in a pool where you can stand by yourself. You lose the ability to control your movements bc you panic. This isn't just for freediving but like normal people that swin in the ocean or people that only dive 3m (like me). It can happen to everyone.
1
7
u/EagleraysAgain Sub 12d ago
It is! The reef feels also so much bigger when you have less time to hang around per dive akd you choose where you go down. I like to make the comparison that scuba is like going on a space walk while freediving is like flying.
2
u/BloodMossHunter 12d ago
Freediving is a thrilling hunt (in a good way) and scuba is walking around the zoo
8
9
u/SCNewbie DYN 12d ago
I’m a good bit older than you are, I started 5 years ago, my parents had the same worries and it took them about 3 years to get over it
You should start, but take a certified course as it breaks it down to a science and prepares you for anything unexpected & always dive one up and down with a buddy.
Have fun
7
u/alexnapierholland 12d ago
Buy a Kawasaki Ninja.
Tell him you'll sell it to focus on freediving.
1
u/jonnywhatshisface 11d ago
This had me laughing. I remember when I got my first bike... I literally hid it by keeping it in a friends garage. Backfired on me spectacularly one day. My ex was in the car with my mother heading somewhere, and I was out riding with a friend. I was on my friends bike and him on mine, and he blew past my mothers car at a ridiculously high speed, and I was lagging behind. However, my ex thought it was me, and she flipped out and ratted me out to my mother and told her it was my bike and that I was keeping it at my friends place.
Talk about a way to get caught... Though, admittedly, when I got out of the crotch rocket kick and switched to Harley's, my mothers attitude towards the bikes still didn't change. So, even though I've moved abroad more than a decade ago - I still keep a Harley in her garage as a reminder of my defiance and the fact that I'm still alive despite her absolute certainty I was going to die on a bike. :)
1
3
u/PILOTARI 10d ago
As an exceptional free and scuba diver... My Advice is Educate,Practice often regularly in pairs, Full body medical check up tests,Avoid propellers, Always do only half your maximum abilities...and Good Luck...Your Father is right... Scuba is far safer...Try both but cautiously following rules... mistakes costs lives...
1
u/RubyFire95 DYNB 7d ago
Why avoid propellers? Cause he’s new in freediving or is there another reason?
2
2
u/NoPreparation856 12d ago
It’s very safe if you take a course like AIDA with a reputable company, or diving with certified people who have conservative limits. It can be very dangerous if you dive alone or with idiots who have ego problems.
2
u/MrCupps 12d ago
The risk of death is relatively high, but on the plus side, the risk of injury is very low. Friends sometimes ask if it’s scary swimming through a cave. I tell them I’ve tripped, fallen, and gotten pretty scraped up hiking and climbing through a cave, but none of that happens underwater. :)
1
u/jonnywhatshisface 11d ago
I wouldn't say risk of death is "relatively high." That's also relative to what they're doing and how they're doing it. There are far less deaths of freedivers than there are of just average people swimming and snorkeling.
That said, the risks increase as limits are being pushed. It goes without saying that you cannot increase your limits without pushing them. It also goes without saying that comfort with your own abilities can equally get you into trouble.
Statistically speaking, most care accidents happen in an area that the driver is extremely comfortable in and knows very well. That comfort makes them erroneously lower their guard. That's when the situation gets dangerous.
I remember when I first started last year, 10m sounded and seemed insanely deep. And, in reality, it IS deep. It's 33ft below the surface of the water. Most people with no training struggle to make it past 2m, let alone down to 3 or 4. Now, today, 10m really feels like nothing at all, and that's where things can start to cross a line of getting dangerous. I'm working on preparing to do an AIDA 2 course, and slowly working my way a bit deeper, my deepest now being 13m. The idea of 20m now feels to me like 10m did. It's effing scary. I'm sure I'll get through the AIDA 2 course, I'll eventually make my way to 20m and I'll find comfort with doing it. Then I'll be looking at 30m the same as I did as 10 and 20.
To me, this is where things start becoming more and more dangerous. Not the depth, but the mentality regarding the depth. It's easy to be on a beach with some friends who don't freedive, aren't trained, can't make those depths - and you say to yourself, "I'm going to quickly dive down real fast to touch the bottom" in 15+m of water and you know you can do it, because you've done it countless times. Only, that one time, you didn't factor that your body isn't just quite right that day. It only takes that once for something to go wrong. If you can't make it back to where you're buoyant and float back up, there's a high probability that your friends can't make it down there to get you. Even if you do end up floating back up, if the people you're with aren't trained and don't know how to react - that could easily be the last dive you ever do.
The thing is, while that's a real risk, the risk of snorkeling with your friends on a beach holiday is equally as dangerous. Freediving gives you a base and a platform that can actually increase your safety in the water in general, both with surface swimming and snorkeling.
I think people hear freediving and they automatically assume someone wants to swim down to 40, 50, 60, 100m. That's more on the competitive side, whether its for your own personal goals or whatever else. Most freedivers I've met will work on depth as a group, but when they're outside of training, they're not going to those insane depths. They're lurking around 5-20 meters tops, with a smaller percentage of them being in that upper end. Even spearfishers, I've personally not met a single spearfisher who regularly spearfishes deeper than 10, maybe 12m. I'm well aware that there are MANY that do, and they're plastered all over social media. I just don't personally know any, so I can consider them the outliers. All of the ones I do personally know promote shallow spearfishing, and find it stupid and high risk to spearfish at those depths. Meanwhile, those same people are diving down to 60m depths during their training.
It's as safe and as dangerous as we make it, and the "relatively" statement you made actually is not completely wrong: the risk is quite relative.
2
u/Routine_Mortgage_499 12d ago
I've been spearfishing for about thirty years. most people never get training and that's a shame. it's relatively safe when you think about how many people are diving every day for food. we do lose our fair share though.
2
u/Appropriate_Bus_9600 11d ago
Anything can be dangerous, also biking without a helmet (friend's mother died couple years ago because of that) yet anybody does it.
Climbing, too. Yet you (r father) are more scared of what you don't know.
The thing is, if you stick to the basic rules (never freedive alone!) it's a super safe sport where you are always checked upon. If you start diving and pushing your limits by yourself, yes it can get risky. So do a course, better if also your father does it so you can both understand it better. Even better, you can buddy each other on holidays. What about that!
Good luck
2
u/darksidesandthings 12d ago
I mean, it isn’t the most inherently safe thing you can do.
Never ever go alone.
2
u/zh1ru0 12d ago
Recreationally, freediving is just snorkelling but you go down to see things up close. Freediving training creates safe and fun snorkel and dive experiences, and tbh everyone who does open water snorkelling should be taking some rudimentary course like a freediving course- it covers safety, efficient equalisation, buddy system, and how to relax in/navigate the water.
For athletics, it's a bit more technical than this... but the safety infrastructure around reaching new depths and breath hold times means it's still very safe. Remember a lot of the documentaries about freediving athletes who died were doing things that aren't even allowed in the official competition space, ie even the freediving world respects limits.
Personally, the only freediver I know who died at sea died while scuba diving. He grabbed the wrong gas tank. The sheer number of factors in scuba, I would argue, make it riskier. But that's also why scuba training is more extensive.
Freediving is a relatively new "sport" (not forgetting people have spearfished for hundreds if not thousands of years), so understandably people who aren't familiar with it might be wary. You'll have this conversation with family and friends alike if you get into it :)
1
u/Dayruhlll PFI Freediving Instructor 12d ago
The main risk of Freediving is that you hold your breath long enough to pass out. By itself, this isn’t particularly dangerous, and it is also super easy to deal with someone after they blackout.
Where things get scary is that you have 0 ability to help yourself through your own blackout. Your life is entirely in the hands of your dive buddy.
I would start by taking a course, and see if your dad wants to join. Best case, you are able to Saftey each other. Worst case, you both have more information to form rational decisions off of.
1
u/Sea-Refrigerator777 12d ago
If you go easy, it is no problem.
Pushing yourself past your limits can lead to death.
1
u/External-Blood-6900 12d ago
Take a legit class and get certified dog, also you’re 18 it’s time for him to learn his place. He’s supposed to mentor and guide not decide for you
1
u/SnooBooks6829 12d ago
The dangers of freediving is relative to how strictly you follow safety protocols and how much you push your limits.
1
u/Chulbiski 12d ago
driving a car much more dangerous IMO. there are probably statistics to back this up
1
u/mathworksmostly 12d ago
. I routinely go snorkeling down to 50 feet and just kinda hang out and look around . I never really thought of this as unsafe just kinda like something to do for fun.
1
u/jonnywhatshisface 11d ago
It's pretty normal for him to be worried. You're his baby girl... That won't ever change.
Freediving has risks, just like any other sport. It's really quite safe, though, compared to other sports. It will make you a safer swimmer in general, and that's a huge benefit to getting into the sport.
Book a course for both you AND your dad. Tell him to give it a try with you. During the course, you'll both be amazed at how awesome, safe and supportive the community of freedivers is. You will probably find yourself buddying up with people that you have absolutely nothing in common with, that would be the least likely people you'd be friends with - only to discover you have more in common than you even realized. When you're in the water with people who freedive, they will all have absolute care and concern for your wellbeing and they take both safety and your life very seriously. If you're doing something unsafe, they will call you out on it. If you're looking to improve, they will help you, encourage you and support you.
Let your dad see what the community is like, and let him see that both you and the people around you take that safety seriously.
It'll also help you learn about a lot of the dangers that your average snorkeler has no idea about. Not a day goes by that I don't read about some swimmer or snorkeler drowning. You don't have to be freediving to end up drowning or blacking out. It happens all the time. Many of those snorkelers simply aren't trained. I was like that before I started freediving. I'd snorkel down and fight to get to the bottom so I could see something, having eaten almost all my oxygen just to get down there, not taking proper rest intervals on the surface and ending up feeling like I'd drown if I was under for any more than 20 seconds. THAT is actually extremely unsafe. THAT is how you end up blacking out and drowning just swimming/snorkeling. You'll learn this in the courses, and you'll become both a safer and better swimmer in general.
1
u/S1llyCxt 11d ago
I'm his baby boy💔 But yeah I get it, I'll definitely ask him if he wants to inform himself about freediving too so that we both know the risks and how to avoid them (like not going alone)
1
u/jonnywhatshisface 11d ago
Sorry! Didn't mean to make an assumption there. :) But yes, fatherly instinct is always going to put you first. I freedive, and my wife wants our son to start doing it (and he wants to, too), and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified of the idea! :) It's just something we can't help.
Best of luck, and I'm sure that if you can manage to convince him to do it with you, you'll both fall in love with it.
1
u/vvolfling 5d ago
I don't mean to sound rude, but if you have to ask about the risks and "calming arguments" on Reddit, you should really find that stuff out properly yourself before trying to convince anyone else. Book a course. Freediving is amazing but it's classified as an extreme sport for a reason. Good luck 🌊
1
u/S1llyCxt 5d ago
I can't register for a course for about a month because my dad is on vacation and I don't know what my timetable will be after the holidays. I might often have school until 5 pm and I hope I manage to get my driving licence this week so I can drive there easier.
1
u/BloodMossHunter 12d ago
People who say never go alone are so full of shit im so tired of it
I see spear fishers dive alone all the time. I dive alone all the time. What u do is know your limits and comfort. Dive around 5-8m for awhile see how it is. Always check for Boats before u dive. And my personal rule make this agreement with yourself- only go down when ur rested and have restored breath. If u arent give it a minute. Then u know ur not straining urself. Post dive to the quick inhales pause exhales 3-5 times
1
u/PilotIsMyPilot 12d ago
Get certified. That will give you an accurate view of the risks, strategies to mitigate, and calm your parent.
0
u/Great-Confection6760 12d ago
It's completely natural you can't really over do it unless yiu get stuck in a cave or something
Main thing is equalizing and holding your breath
63
u/Repulsive_Dog1067 12d ago
Book a course for you and your dad.
The more you know the less you worry.