Team Sharkbait News

This is a post by Sanne.

In freediving air intake, consumption and efficiency are key factors in reaching longer breath holds in both dynamic as static performances. Although you might think that the more air intake you do will equal a longer breath hold, this is only partly true. There are a lot of other variables in play which make it a specialism to master as a freediver. Consider the difference between a dynamic and a static freedive on the level of aerobe or an-aerobe. Or even simpler, consider the difference in a dynamic pool freedive and a dynamic depth performance. In this article the focus is on the air intake.

Air intake
One of the variables that make a difference – in any type of freediving – is the air intake and how comfortable you are with the ammount of air in your lungs. I am not even discussing the difference in lung volume different freedivers have. I’ll dissect the air intake into three topics:

• Optimizing air intake
• Comfortable vs. Packed
• Increasing lung volume (advanced techniques)

Read more…

This is a post by Sanne.

Other posts fmo the ‘Top 10′-series: Top 10: How To Hold Your Breath Longer.

1. Always use a buddy!
Especially important if you try to hold your breath in the water! Better yet; follow a freediving course that will teach you and a friend how to look out for each other during dynamic freediving attempts. Dynamic freediving is particularly differnt to static breath holds as it’s harder to spot when your body goes into preserve mode. Do not try to improve too much when you reach a distance, go gradually and be at peace with the somewhat slower progression.

2. Preparation

Peter Wurschy (Team Apnea Amsterdam) preparing

Of course it is important to pay attention to your breath up before you start, but also pay attention to visualize the way you’re supposed to depart. Visualize and repeat, whilst breathing up for your performance. This is a way of creating the mind-muscle-connection to control the outcome of your departure more. Visualizing aids in staying alert and aware on how to do a good start.

3. Departure/start
There are different ways to depart and they all have their pro’s and con’s, so just choose one you can perform in an efficient way and stick with it. As you’ve been visualizing the departure, you will not have so much trouble getting the chosen departure procedure right. Be keen on the execution and it’ll improve and be more auto-piloted as you progress in your training.

4. Consistent amplitude/stroke rhythm
This could have easily been called the relaxation part, which is achieved through a stroke rhythm you feel comfortable with. This differs very much from freediver to freediver. Be sure to find out what your best rhythm and speed is. This will give you a consistent amplitude while you’re performing your dynamic freedive.

5. Aligning
Another very important subject is aligning, which is also dependent  of your body composure, plus the type of freediver you are. Go out to the pool with a set of (borrowed) weights and have a buddy spot you’re kick-off from the wall. Try and glide as far as you can and see if you either ascend or descend.  Once you’ve got that first stage covered it’s time to fine tune for the rest of the alignment, by actually doing your dynamic performance and see if your legs keep descending or ascending, this might indicate the location of the weight chosen in the first step is a bit off. It’s not easy finding the right alignment, but once you do it will be a good help. Use a camera to record your alignment and see for yourself what you should alter to get it right. Check out more extensive information about step 5 and 6 in this post.

6. Balance
In the previous step you’ve seen how hard it is to find the proper alignment. When you get this wrong it will effect the balance  and stability of your performance. Try and make an equal stroke with your legs, have a buddy spot underwater when you’re swimming away from him. This way he can spot if you make a scissor like movement with your legs, which in turn can lead to an unbalanced movement.  Again use a camera to record your balance and see for yourself what you should alter to get it right. Check out more extensive information about step 5 and 6 in this post.

7. Technique
Your air efficiency will increase as your technique improves. You should optimize the technique versus the comfortable. As being strained too much to get your technique right will not improve the efficiency. Learn to pay attention to your technique overtime and the strain will decrease and technique and efficiency will improve. Using the proper technique and looking into it on underwater camera footage will help you gain the additional efficiency that you need to tweak your distance even further.

8. Turning
Turning can be done in different ways, choosing the one you can perform perfectly will help you gain distance. Also visualize that you’re about to turn and repeat the steps, before you hit the wall. Make the turn and get back into your consistent kicking technique in a controlled manner. Technique for the turn proves very important, if you leave little room for failure the efficiency will be optimal. So stick with the turn you think is best (and is also allowed by the rules) and maximize your performance by mastering it.

9. Re-surfacing
Planning the way you resurface by training it every training, helps you when you’re in a competition. The movement will be automatically like you have it on auto-pilot and the room for error has just gone down again. This leaves you with the concentration you need for your recuperation. The technique for resurfacing can differ to your own liking and might differ from pool to pool as the sides of pool tend to vary a lot. If there is a side where you can rest your arm on, then plan to get your elbow over the edge as you resurface and remember to not touch the wall as you’re about to resurface.

10. Recuperation
Knowing how to recuperate will teach you how to control longer dive times. Making a habit out of the recovery and repeating it with every freedive you do, will hard-code it into your system. If you’re having a performance with some extra factors to pay attention to, you’ll notice that the recuperation will start to go on auto-pilot, which in place let’s you focus more on the extra factors. In this case there are different methods to a good and steady recovery, find a technique that suits your needs and stick with it.

Check out this small video from a performance in the Coupe des Dauphins for a good example how you can use the side of the pool to rest your arms and do a steady recovery:

Things for myself to improve in this video are the balance, alignment and turning technique. As an extra note to myself, do not look for your end goal!

This is a post by Sanne.

Sanne swimming with the Leaderfins Flyer mono-fin.

…or actually how we think we should choose a mono-fin. As Jorg  and I were training last week, we tested a few different kinds of mono-fins. We wanted to see the difference between the fins in areas like;

• if they were comfortable
• how they performed
• what the efficiency is
• how the balance is using the mono-fin

The tested mono-fins were three kinds, two were from Leaderfins and one was from Special fins.

1. Leaderfins Freediving Sport
2. Special fins ‘Dolphin‘
3. Leader fins Flyer

Read more…

This is a post by Sanne.

Cressi Superocchio

Freediving material is all about the right equipment for the best experience. As for freediving masks, there is a wide variety of masks available. What do you want to look out for and how did we come to our choice of freediving mask.

I think that if you narrow it down, a freediver will choose a mask and go by this mask for a long time. A good example of this is that I met Jorg in the end of 2003 and cressi superocchio was his choice, today he’s still using that same type of freediving mask (he actually bought this mask in 1998 and is using it as his primary mask since 11 years, the same one!). Although you might have different masks for different applications, your experience is improved by choosing a freediving mask of your liking. In the process of making a choice, every freediver has different reasons to choose a mask over another. Our choices were based on and influenced by the parameters; comfort, volume, material & durability. Ultimately these parameters also lead to a good freediving experience, which is the base for our choice.

Read more…

Balance between Comfort & Warmth

The need for a freediving suit is highly recommended where ever you go , for sure when you’re freediving the dutch waters. But what kind of freediving suit do you want, as there are so many different out there. For me goes without saying that a suit can make a freedive or totally ruin it…

When I first got into freediving me and my buddy got a scuba diving suit from about 7mm thick, the one with a zipper pushing up against my chin. The hood, arm and ankle seams were far from tight, so water came in immediately as we entered the water. Even though our motivation to check out the underwater world was high, the experience was far from relaxed or comfortable. But back then we didn’t know any better…

Now, a few years in with more experience with different suits, I like to share my findings. The whole deal with a proper suit is that it’s totally dependable on the freediver who wears it. Every freediver has other boundaries when it comes to cold and warm, but by explaining my own findings when choosing a suit might make your search a bit easier…

Layer thickness

2,5mm Smooth skin & Open Cell

You can vary the thickness of your suit ranging from 1mm to 10mm suits. The determinant factor is the types of water temperature you want to use the suit for. So ask yourself: “Am I going to use it in a sea, a lake or a swimming pool?”. Also keep in mind that the temperature of these can also vary throughout the season or location, which make it hard to go by only one freediving suit to do the job. When you’re selecting your first ever suit, choose it for the situation you’ll be in for 90% of the time. In my case I started out with a 5mm suit for both pool and lakes here in the Netherlands, but nowadays I prefer a 2,5mm for the pool competitions and a 6,5mm for the outdoor sessions. This change has to do with how comfortable I feel in those situations. Going to the seas in Egypt, Dominican Republic or other remote locations, I’d go by either 2,5mm for warmer waters and 5mm when I’m early in the season.

Surface types
Different sets of surface types are available for freediving suits, ranging from lining, smooth skin to open cell structure surfaces. The choice here also depends on what you’re going to use the suit for, or in which conditions or surroundings you’re using the suit. The first freediving suit I ever had, was an Elios with smooth skin on the outside and the inside featured open cell structure. In between I bought another similar type of suit, but this one was 2,5mm thick and from a slightly better neoprene. The last one I bought is a 6,5 mm, but now with lining on the inside and smooth skin on the outside.

Inside: Lining or Open cell?

Inside: Open Cell structure

At first I wasn’t very keen on the whole lining principle, but now since I tested one and eventually own a freediving suit with lining on the inside, I can say it’s just as comfortable as an open cell structure, but with less of a hassle to get into. Because an open cell structure will “suck” itself onto your skin with only a thin layer of water in between, you’ll have to keep in mind that by changing into this suit, you’ll need to have a bottle with soap water to prepare your suit before you put it on. Never the less an open cell structure on the inside is also very comfortable.

Outside: Smooth skin or Lining?

Inside: Lining | Outside: Smoothskin

I’m the type of freediver that likes the outside to be smooth skin, this sololy to the fact that a smooth skin surface will dry fast when you’re at or above the water surface. On the other hand lining on the outside will better protect your suit from tearing when putting it on or swimming in rocky underwater areas.

Tailor made or standard size
Until now I’ve been a lucky guy, where I’d be able to send my body measurement over to the suit maker and they’d suggest one of their standard sized suits to go with. Only my 2,5mm suit I have is a tailor made suit, which fits very nice.

The only reason why I should consider going with a tailor made suit is the fact, that a tighter fit will improve the ability of the suit to keep the water from coming in and keep the water from flowing through your suit, thus keeping you warm for a longer period of time. A standard sized one will be cheaper than a tailor made suit. So if a standard size is within your options, then my suggestion would be to try one from a fellow freediver with the same body measurements, to see if you’re able to go with the standard sized one.  Otherwise the tailor made is the best alternative.

Comfort & Warmth
The most important thing you want to achieve by selecting your suit, is a balance between comfort and warmth. Although a thick suit may make you feel like a Michelin-man, if you really need the thickness in terms of not getting cold, this is a concession you might have to make. Believe me when I say that a very comfortable suit, like my 2,5mm, just didn’t do the trick for me in terms of staying warm whilst freediving outdoors at Panheel. This makes a freedive not only uncomfortable, but even dangerous. It’s all about the best experience and finding a balance between the different parameters is a very personal choice.

Concludig
By selecting the proper combination from the points described above, you should be able to find a suit that is a balance between comfort and warmth. Furthermore it must be functional and practical as well, because you’re going to be freediving with it for about a year or two. Making the selections is a process where you’ll have to decide for yourself what you like and where you want to use your suit. These are all personal decissions, so I hope this article will aid you into selecting the right freediving suit for you.

PS. I haven’t discussed the different types of material, because this differs so much, I’d be writing a whole new page. Plus the different manufacterers feature enough information about the materials on their websites.