Posted by Frank on December 11, 2001 at 15:26:39:
In Reply to: Re: solo freediving? posted by Demo on December 09, 2001 at 23:33:58:
I'll let Brad speak for himself, but as someone else who at least dabbles in freediving I can say that the main danger specific to it is shallow water blackout. A breath-holding diver may sufer this (potentially fatally) when he/she ascends after spending considerable time at depth. In freediving it's considered correct form to dive with a buddy who acts as a spotter, but many/most freedivers play this pretty fast and loose. Personally I just have "rules" about maximum depth (~30 fsw) and time (~45 seconds) when I'm freediving alone. These should put me well within the depth/time zones in which shallow water blackout is an issue.
Freedivers also have to be careful about getting entangled underwater, as they will not have as much time as a scuba diver to resolve a situation. Getting tangled in a fishing net can be fatal. So a lot of freedivers carry EMT-type rescue shears.
Otherwise a lot of the risks are similar to those for scuba -- stings and scrapes with poisonous marine creatures, etc. It's probably a good idea for freedivers to bring a float and flag to most areas to avoid being run over by boats. Some people think freedivers may be at somewhat greater risk for great white shark attacks, since they spend a lot of their time on the surface looking kind of like marine mammals, and that this is compounded by diving alone. But since the incidence of GWS attacks is so low (you have more chance of being hit by lightning, yadda yadda) I wouldn't get too torqued about it. (Then again, you could bring an inflatable dive buddy to fool ol' whitey into thinking you aren't alone ...)