Hey everybody! New to the site and really excited to find a new hobby! I'm one of the lucky few to live in Hawaii (Big Island, Hilo) and have been limited up until now to shore fishing. Some of my friends have begun to spearfish, and I'm eager to join them. My prior experience in water is limited to swimming pools and snorkeling, which last happened some 15 years ago. Don't get me wrong, I'm a strong swimmer (although not in the best shape of my life :whistle:). I'm sure you'll all be hearing a lot from me as I progress from swimmer to fish killer, but I have a question to start.

I was planning on taking some kind of class to get myself acclimated to breath holding, diving, safety, underwater communication, and all the basics, but I can't seem to find any freediving classes (I'll actually be in Los Angeles for the next few months, so that's where I was looking). I found a bunch of scuba courses/certification, but I'm not sure it will really apply directly. Would that be kind of an overkill or is it worth the time and money? I'm looking to freedive in HI in pretty shallow water, but since I've never actually been out, I can't give you an estimate of how deep. I'll also be diving at night, at least sometimes. I'll be polespearing at first, but if I enjoy it as much as I think I will, then spearguns and deeper water will be my next journey. I've read all the posts I believe pertain to me at this point (and some that don't, like bigass custom made spearguns :woohoo:), but I haven't found anything that relates to the question of "proper" training before I head out on my first trip. Any suggestions?

Thanks to all!

Myrrhlyn

Well, the way I learned was trial by fire. I have a buddy that was just as much of a newb as I was and we were both interested in killing fish. We went out and just tried to do just that. Kill fish. To be honest, when you're a newb, you aren't going to know what you're doing or what to do. Just go do it, and you will learn. Don't be ballsy when it comes to depth until you become more familiar with freediving. Practice holding your breath dry and make sure you focus on relaxing completely. Apply that to your dives and you will get better over time.

After a while of working to get better you'll probably find some buddies that are more experienced that will try to avoid you because you're a newb. Looking back on the guys who kinda steered clear of me when I was a newb, I don't blame them at all. You want to try and dive at or around your own ability level, but eventually you'll dive with them. Just watch everything they do and try to emulate what they do and put some of it into your own abilities.

I've never been to one of those freediving schools, but from what I gather they are well worth the cash. I think they focus more on performance freediving. I think if there was a newb freedive course it would be an hour or 2 tops. Something like "OK hold your breath"..... "OK good, we'll see you tomorrow"

As far as gear set up and what you will need, there are plenty of thread on here that cover that sort of thing. Read research and then buy.

I don't know if this is the best advice, but I hope it helps.

The number one thing is to dive safe and dive with a buddy that will watch you dive so you don't die.

When I first started spearing I was a freediver as well...

Myself and my good buddy Gixxer just got out there and tried our hand at it. we was horrible at holding our breath, horrible at shooting fish. and had absolutly no clue in what we was doing. But with the help of this site and alot of great people from this site we have both progressed greatly in our skills and abilities. Tips and tricks from veterns on here are everywhere and there for you to gain knowledge, use it, these guys know what the hell they are doing.

Good luck and be careful out there