Apnea AIDA** Course

Part 1 - Theory and Static Training

After researching the web for a good Apnea school in Munich, we quickly found Divesport.de, run by Christian Eckl ("Chreckl"). Chris started freediving about 5 years ago and started for the same reasons as we did - in order to be able to safely and calmly be underwater, at a depth of perhaps no more than 5 to 15 meters, and to feel comfortable spending some time observing the underwater world in total silence and relaxation. Needless to say, he now stays underwater for several minutes and comfortably observes the marine environment at 25 meters or more if he likes to...

After a quick hello to a group of dive instructors we started our theory session 1 and 2 with Sabine, and went through basic diving physiology and Boyle's Law etc., much of the basics is similar to what you learn during the normal SCUBA courses, and the reason certified divers can jumpstart with the two-star AIDA course. The theory then quickly progressed to include much more specific physiology related to apnea diving incl. blood flow, air flow and several equalization techniques, as well as sections of the risks or likely causes for accidents in this particular sport. Freediving and safety equipment was covered as well as breathing techniques. During the initial phase, we also made a quick test of how long we could hold our breath, without any particular preparation and sitting up normally. We managed around a minute to a minute and 40 seconds

The second half of the day was spent with Chris in the nearby pool. We began with breathing and relaxation exercises and then went on to static apnea training.

After a series of explanations, especially about the role of the safety person, what to look out for, how to check for and give proper OK signals, we did warm-up exercises and continued with increasing rounds of static apnea (breath holding in water) under the guidance of Chris.

We managed to both crack the 2-minute line which felt amazing, all this was achieved in a relaxed way thanks to excellent and motivating guidance by Chris. We went on to have an attempt at dynamic apnea, swimming underwater without fins in the pool. By now, after about two hours in the pool, we were a little exhausted so could not pull off the required length of 40 meters.

Part 2 - Open Water

Day 2, we arrived early so Chris could show us an interesting experiment with the Puls Oxymeter and a bowl of ice-water. Cool enough to warrant the purchase of one of them myself I think... besides those devices are simply useful for a first-aid kit when hiking or scuba diving anyways. But back to the Freediving.

We packed the bus and loaded a bunch of scuba students who were coming along to Starnberger See with another dive instructor. Chris and Sabine brought their selection of duo and monofins so we could have a go in each. Initially I stuck to my Force Fin Excellerating and we began to descend down a thick line attached to a large buoy, to about 4-5 meters. Further, progressive dives were to that depth, trying to stay down longer, to manage relaxed dives. Finally, we both went down to the bottom weight at around 9 meters without any problems.

Starnberg See can be OK visibility-wise in some parts during some periods in the year, but the visibility for us was down to about 2.5 meters, quite green and murky. At around 10-11 meters is opens up, but at the cost of dropping in temperature to a "cozy" 8 degrees Celsius :-)

We had one go at static apnea each by the pier, and Nadia again and more easily than in the pool passed beyond 2 minutes, and I was happy to extend my personal best to around 2:15min.

After a short interval on land we went out further into the lake and had attempts of varying degrees of success to go deeper. Whilst Nadia managed to hit 12.1 meters using Sabine's monofin (and it was the first time she had ever used a monofin too!), I was stuck at around 10 meters. By now we had spent about 2.5 hours in the water and were getting achy feet and feeling a bit exhausted, so we called it a day and will go for the 16 meters some other time.

In a few weeks, we're off to the clear waters of Turkey, so hopefully we can fit some freediving in there too. According to Chris, freediving in clear water is a lot easier and much more fun.

But I would not exit the water until I had had a go with a monofin - after seeing Nadia swim like a Mermaid beauty with seemingly so little effort, I just had to give it a go. Only without neoprene socks could I get in, and swam on my back until I was about 1.20-1.50 meter deep - turned around, and off I was - and with a few, seemingly small, movements of my body, I was sticking to an even 50cm above the ground - and moving forward in a speed that felt more like flying than swimming - absolutely positively enormous! I'm officially hooked!

Back at the headquarter we did some paperwork and got a few book recommendations. We'll blog a review about them once we've read them properly :-)

Impressions

A great course - really good fun, very relaxed teaching; experienced and friendly team.
It is surprisingly exciting/fun to follow a thin yellow line down murky water! :-)
Diving with equipment as in SCUBA diving seems comparably "easy". When you hit a 8 degree thermo-cline in a wetsuit, you normally go "wohow!" and take a deep breath - not an option in Apnea diving. Keeping a calm mind really is the key to all of this.
Apnea/Freediving is much more than "snorkeling deeper". There's a lot of information to take in, and so many ways to train and practice what we've learned.
It is an excellent activity to do in the pool over the winter months, when diving is generally a bit slow due to the ice and snow on the lakes around here.
Monofins! - oh my god - that there could be so much fun to be had swimming over pebbles in shallow water I would never had imagined if I had not tried it myself. Next on the "got-to-get-this-list"! :-)

Conclusion

Whilst at first glance it might not look like you would need a course for "diving deeper with a mask and fins", I found there is a LOT to learn, many small hints and tricks and of course it is a huge safety factor to learn it from a capable instructor first-hand, as opposed to just reading a book and trying it for yourself. This is also the reason why I have not described any of the exercises in detail here, as I believe it is critical for the interested freediver to seek out a proper course. Safety is paramount in freediving. It is a safe sport, but only if both you and your support diver have had the proper training. If you want to give Apnea/Freediving a try in the Munich area, we can definitely recommend Divesport.de!

Safe diving!