Freediving by Neels Swanepoel

Turning a situation that is potentially claustrophobic into one that is euphoric is very liberating. This is why the ability to hold your breath is central to freediving.

Never, ever hyperventilate! This is a way of tricking your body into believing you have more oxygen in your system than you do and can result in a blackout. The general procedure is as follows: when you are at the spot where you’d like to dive, spend some time on the surface while breathing deeply, relaxing your whole body and clearing your mind. Then breathe as deeply as possible for three breaths. Before taking your last breath, remember to exhale completely, expelling all residual air from your lungs. Now perform a ‘jack-knife’ in a relaxed and graceful manner; submerge your upper body and then straighten so that your legs are out of the water above you. This is done so the weight of your legs pushes you downward. Now a few slow kicks should take you past your level of neutral buoyancy after which you can glide downwards. As far as possible, all movements should be performed in a slow and (once again) relaxed manner.

Your buoyancy is determined by your natural weight, wetsuit and weight belt. Ideally you should be positively buoyant (float) for the first 4 – 5 meters after which you should become negatively buoyant (sink). There are a few reasons for this: firstly, you want to expend as little energy as possible on your way down, and once down, you don’t want to struggle to stay there. Secondly, in a worst-case scenario, should you have a shallow water blackout on your ascent, you will float to the surface. I should also add that this very rarely happens, and if it does, mostly in competitive situations where people push themselves too far.

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