I just finished reading this magnificent book by legendary Jacques Mayol. The writing is bad and Mayol seems to to ramble every now and then, but the book is still amazing. Mayol goes through his own history and the history of apnea.

The book is filled with great photographs and tidbits about apnea. It’s really interesting to see how the sport has evolved and for example what kind of gear was used decades ago.

After reading the book, I have a urge to see dolphins and to do more Pranayama yoga :)

The book is pretty expensive, but it’s still a must read. Keep in mind that it really isn’t a manual for freediving, but more like an overview or a coffee table book.

Few months ago I attended Stig’s course in Finland. Attendees were basically Finnish top-10 freedivers plus me :D Course was really good and I was almost able to do all the exercises.

Most valuable things for me were:

• breathing exercises
• lung stretching
• stretching/massaging of diaphragm (this helped me a lot -> statics are now much, much easier)
• learned a lot about physiology and streamlining
• general inspiration being around Stig and other top freedivers

Copyright for the photos and the rest of the photos Kimmo Lahtinen

This is the coolest freediving video ever made!

We spent two weeks at Krabi, Thailand this February. We didn’t do any “official” freediving, but few leisure dives with the scuba divers, some snorkeling and DNF / static training in the pool :) For “offical” freediving in Krabi region you should visit Blue Planet Divers on Koh Lanta.

Temperature was around 35 - 40 celsius so it was again a bit too hot for me. Luckily water was always near so I could cooldown in a pool or sea :)

Places

• Railey Beach - really nothing to see in the water. Few rocks and fishes.
• Bamboo Island - lot of fishes and even a leopard shark
• Phi Phi Island - I was here few years ago, but back then didn’t do any diving. Excellent place, I would definitely go here again. Around 20 m deep.
• Chicken Island - very, very shallow and sharp corals. Lot of fishes though, but kind of hard to do any kind of snorkeling / swimming
• Poda Island - similar to Chicken Island, but with a bit more dept
• Crystal Ponds - not really for diving, but still worthwhile to visit

Find more pictures from the trip here

Course

I haven’t updated the blog in a while, but I’m giving it an another chance. Last spring me and my girlfriend attended Aida ** course in Dahab. Course was organized by FreeDiveDahab or FDD in short. Our instructors were Katya and Dean.

Course was done in three days. All days included a bit of theory and then diving. Course wasn’t too hard or too intense.

This was the first time we actually made any real open water depth dives. My PB was 20 meters on the last day. Equalization was really hard since I didn’t have any routine to do it.

I can recommend FDD to everyone and will join them again in future (maybe I’ll do the *** there).

Dahab

The best place I’ve dived. All the sites are next to the shore, so there is no need for boat. Visibility is really good and there is a lot to see. On the downside there are lot of other divers and it’s kind of hot :)

Equalization

A great piece of information about equalization techniques from Liquivision: Frenzel Fattah Equalizing Workshop

Found a new document:

The BTV (VTO) Maneuver

Stands for ‘Beance Tubaire Volontaire’. In the 1950’s the French navy developed a technique for middle ear equalization called ‘Voluntary Tubal Opening’. This technique is difficult to teach and only approximately 30% of taught can perform it reliably. Muscles of the soft palate are contracted while upper throat muscles are employed to pull the Eustachian tube open. This technique is similar to the events that happen in the back of your throat at the end of a yawn. It is also similar to wiggling your ears and some people seem to be born with the talent. For a manual of BTV click here the BTV (VTO) manual.

I learned everything in this article from here, but I thought that the instructions could be a little better so I documented my process here.

Shopping list

• One thick bike inner-tube (made for mountain/downhill bike)
• One piece of nylon strap
• 1 small snail clip (available from camping stores)
• Enough lead shot (depending on weight you need), you can get this from scuba and gun stores
• 2-4 cable ties

Steps

• Step 1. Measure and cut the tire

• Step 2. Attach one half of the snap clip to each of the nylon straps by a simple overhand knot

• Step 3. Insert strap (knot end first) into the tube until the outer edge of the knot is about 8cm/3″ in from the end of the tube.

• Step 4. Seal it with cable ties. Place cable ties on the outer edge of the knot.

• Step 5. Attach the other end of the snail clip to the strap and make another knot in similar way as the first one.

• Step 6. Try it on again and see if the length is still ok

• Step 7. Fill the tire with lead
• Step 8. Seal the open end with cable ties

• Step 9. Trim off the excess cable ties
• Step 10. Try it on
• Step 11. Try it in action and add/remove lead to make it perfect