12
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FALL 2012
FROM THE SAFETY STOP
//
L E T T E R S F R O M M E M B E R S
Safer Training, Safer Diving
That was a great Dive Fitness
article by Gary Hall Sr. and
just what many in the diving
community need. As a former swim
coach I share his view that we
need to be in shape for situations
in diving that may require stamina
and water skills. As a former
dive boat captain I have seen the
problems that can arise from the
lack of skill and physical condition
in stressful diving conditions,
which can lead to injury and loss
of life.
—
Ray Scharf, Harker’s Island, N.C.
The article by Gary Hall Sr. in the
Summer issue (“Swim Training for
Scuba Divers”) is full of great ideas
but also includes a dismissal of basic
safety concerns, which is incredibly
frustrating to me as a freediving
instructor in 2012. It suggests and
encourages a potentially lethal
activity without identifying it as risky
and without prescribing mitigation
of the risks. It advises readers to
do something we in the freediving
community have been struggling for
years to discourage absolutely because
so many of our
fellows have
been killed
doing it.
Item 5 in
Hall’s sample
pool workout
plan reads: “Do
eight 25-meter
underwater
swims with fins,
using the legs
only. Take 30
seconds or more
to rest between
laps so you can stay underwater for
all 25 meters. This is something you
may need to work up to, and you
should never risk hypoxia by pushing
yourself too hard.”
A person swimming underwater, in
breath-hold, enters a state of hypoxia
more or less immediately. The
hypoxia progresses as the activity and
breath-hold continue. The effects of
hypoxia include euphoria and loss of
judgment, so the idea that a hypoxic
person can reliably judge when
he’s “pushing [himself] too hard”
and resume breathing is wrong and
dangerous. It’s not much different
from the idea that an alcoholic can
reliably judge when he’s had enough
booze and stop drinking.
The list of dead freedivers who
thought they could judge when they
were pushing themselves too hard is
very long and depressing. It includes
world-record holders, amateur
spearfishermen and aspiring special-
forces candidates.
Any breath-hold activity in
water is inherently risky. The first
commandment of freediving safety
recognizes that blackout cannot be
reliably predicted and so prescribes
safety protocols that presume it is
going to occur. First and foremost
of these is direct supervision of
in-water apnea.
“
Direct supervision” does not
mean a lifeguard sitting in a stand
at the other end of the pool. It does
not mean a pal somewhere in the
same ocean, your spouse reading
a magazine on the pool deck or a
swim-team coach watching a few
dozen swimmers. It means dedicated
surveillance by a person trained in
identifying and managing problems
related to in-water apnea such as loss
of motor control and blackout. That
person must maintain a proximity
to the apneist that enables timely
intervention in case of a problem:
arm’s length, in most cases — the
buddy system.
Hall is an elite swimmer and
may underestimate the challenge
that 25-meter underwater swims
present to the typical scuba diver.
Item 5 in the article’s workout
plan is dangerous and should be
immediately retracted and/or
qualified by DAN.
—
Paul Kotik, instructor,
Performance Freediving
International, Plantation, Fla.
DAN’s response:
Thank you for sharing this important
message. DAN fully supports
dedicated supervision of anyone
engaging in breath-hold activities.
—
Brian Harper, Alert Diver
Editorial Director
inTo The WilD
Great article on Brandon Cole
(
Shooter, Summer 2012). I think
his insights about developing his
library and the simple joy of being
“
out there” were super interesting.
I try to impart the same to
my traveling divers: Just being
underwater is something
wonderful. How important that
is to him really came through
in the interview.
—
David Haas, Stow, Ohio
Letters
STEPHEN FRINK