who else is ..

.. a water rat ?

I've been one pretty much my whole life.

My oldest memory is being on my dad's shoulders jumping waves at the beach.

I could measure the time I've been underwater in days .. and the time inside a pool by months

.. swimming has always been my favorite form of exercise. I've probably swam 3-400 miles

_________________
Alan W.

Papaya AI2 to replace my well worn V1
TheTwins - His/Hers 2007 Papaya Hobie Adventure Island's (v1.00.01)
.. and a Hobie Outback SUV

I'm probably not. Swimming was never my thing. Pools, etc., didn't interest me. But fishing did. Ultimately I found perhaps my most enjoyable trips were and are spent waist deep in a mountain river. I just like being in the water. I wet wade long after my buddies are in chest waders.

This is probably also why I like sailboats that get you wet. The spray and splash you get on the Islands doesn't bother me a bit.

Grew up on the shores of Lake Huron, Gulf Coast in Biloxi, and moved to Norcal in 73. I have gills.

i know what you mean. i was born and raised blocks from the beach in FL (melbourne), all my birthday parties and neighbors birthday parties and family's birthday bbq parties were all pool parties at one relatives or neighbors house or another. all but first house had pools when living with my parents in FL, then every neighborhood i lived in after this and on my own had a neighborhood pool within very short walking distance, or an ocean

i have lived at or near the ocean for over half my life now at 32 Y.O. presently. Spent countless hours/days/trips in boats fishing with my dad. i just feel like i have to be near the ocean when looking for a new place to live. but everything i own that is outside is constantly covered in salt here in okinawa and that is pretty damn annoying guess you gotta weigh the pros and cons...

FL (next to the ocean 12 years + our own pool)

TX (2 years, pool within walking distance)

AL (1 year, our own pool)

PA (1 year, that place sucked = no pool or ocean)

VA (4 years, no ocean but pool within walking distance)

CO ( 3 years no ocean; pool within walking distance)

MD (steps to chesapeake 5.5 years and ocean front pool)

Okinawa (steps to ocean 4 years)


just free diving a couple dozen times a summer every year i have gotten up to 18 Meters without much problems, but obviously i can't hold my breath very long once i get down to 18m. i have been trying to get to 20m so we shall see this summer if i can make it i remember my cousin trying to teach me how to slow down my breathing and hold my breath longer when we were growing up, but i could never hold my breath for more than like a minute to a minute and a half. my cousin could often hold his for two to two and a half minutes.

Hi Rusty,

the AI / TI is an excellent boat for freediving. Here in the Philippines I take my TI out in the early morning on weeekends to go fishing and on the way home usually make a short stop over at the reef or wreck to go for a dive before breakfast at home.

If I freedive the reefs, I usually jump off the boat with fins and diving mask on, hold the boat with a rope and snorkel around the reefedge pulling the boat with the rope. If I find a nice drop off or spot which is worth further exploring I just dive down, tangle the rope around a rock on the reef and then freedive the spot. If I see some bigger pelagics I get my speargun which I always carry in the front hatch of the TI and try my luck .

I used to scuba a lot but nowadays I only freedive - extremely relaxing and without bubbles the fish & pelagics come really close to you. If you like freediving it really pays to do a course, afterwards you can easily achieve a bottomtime of 2 minutes...

peace
Serbi

thanks for the info serbi,, i was talking to a guy last weekend who didn't strike me as very athletic but was claiming to to do 20 meters and be able to stay down for a minute + once down there. he said he had done a class last summer. i am actually going to see if i can find a free diving class here in english hopefully since my japanese isn't that good. but i do start another japanese course here next week so we shall see

any advice you can give me about free diving?

FYI here the tides run way too strong to hold onto the TI with a rope. i tried in a place i could stand with grippy water shoes on while standing on coral and it was hard to even hold it. if i leaned back i could hold it but couldn't really move around or do anything other than just hold it. definitely need to anchor or tie up to something out here unless it is perfect timing at slack/middle tide. our tides routinely rise or fall about 2 meters (sometimes a little more sometimes a little less) with each high/low. you can pretty much watch it rise or fall it moves so quickly. is it like this where you are in PI?

Hi Rusti San,

check out http://www.deeperblue.com - you find lots of info and tips for freediving there and may be able to hook up with some japanese freedivers on that site.

Some easy advise to increase bottomtime:

- between dives stay on the surface double the time you been down. (1 min dive = 2 min surface time)
- dive on an empty stomach (your body uses lots of energy to digest food)
- between dives try to breath via your belly (not your chest) and take deep breaths and breath out as slow as possible (this will make your heart beat slower so your body uses less energy)
- wear a wetsuit (once you feel cold you use excess energy to heat up the body)
- it's all about moving as little as possible under water so make sure you have propper weigth and don't waste to much energy going down

Freediving is 70% mental, the more relaxed you are, the longer you can stay down - that's why many freedivers are also into yoga...

If you have strong currents the idea to pull the boat with a rope in your hand while snokeling may not be a good one - once you somehow loose the rope your boat will be gone within seconds...

I usually sail and dive in Subic Bay which is a very protected cove so there is hardly any current which makes freediving less challenging than in your area I guess.

Peace
Serbi

thanks for the info and the site i will be checking out. right now i just free dive with my swimming trunks (no wetsuit) and no weights + my snorkel bag with my floating water shoes strapped to my back, so yeah sorta the opposite as a dive belt maybe this is why i can hardly stay down for more than like 20 seconds at about 35-40 feet which is the normal/average depth for where i go. and year no weight belt so i have to keep forward momentum to stay down too.