Lubomir Stefanoff | freediving and UW photography

We spent last weekend freediving in Thassos (well, we traveled more than we dived but that’s another story).
This time I focused on the free fall phase and concentration during the dives. I was doing easy 25-30 meters dives and did not attempt to go deeper.
Regarding the freefall – I worked on staying streamlined and relaxed. I still turn a bit sideways, but no so often as before. It’s interesting when I focus on this issue time flies really fast and I reach the targeted depth easily…which points out the importance of being calm and concentrated. I’ve noticed that I am able to do good dives despite not being in great form – and the reason is that I am focused and all other thoughts are either left behind or just disappear after a few deep breaths. So far mental exercises weren’t among my training priorities, but now that I’ve really realized their importance I’ll start doing them on a regular basis (as physical training).
On Sunday I tried diving with my new Paradisia nose clip. Freediving without a mask is a bit uncomfortable in the beginning, but one gets quickly used to it. And I would gladly trade the good vision (with mask) for the opportunity to equalize hands free while using the monofin. It’s ok if you are using a rope…I have to remember that on ascents I’ll have to suck back the expanding air – I can feel it trying to escape through the nose and it’s annoying (I thought that I always do that, but maybe I hadn’t noticed the air escaping from my mask on ascent?). Anyway, I need to use the noseclip more often and try deeper dives (35+meters) when I feel completely comfortable with it. Theoretically, with both arms extended past my head, the better contact with water on my face, and the lack of mask to equalize I could dive deeper…I’ll test that assumption in the next few months.

It’s been over a month since I last went freediving, so when the Easter holiday came, we decided to head up for Halkidiki, Greece (it’s less than 400 km from Sofia). We spent 3 nice days there.

Since I was training mainly in the pool (and some gym sessions) I had to approach depth carefully, especially during the first two days. Luckily I had a dive buddy and a rope this time. On the first day I did some easy 20 m dives and played around with my underwater camera. Equalization was OK, obviously the exercises that I’ve been doing lately are worth the time. But still, I cannot equalise hands free and this compromises to a great extent my monofinning technique while going down .

On the second and third day I felt confident and did several 30 m dives that felt great. This actually is close to my PB in constant weight – since I was novice and diving alone most of the time during last season, I was extremely cautious  and had never pushed myself to the limit.  Last October I was going easily to 25+ m and I knew that I can make 30+  meters when a dive buddy is around. So, I just went down the rope and did it – relaxed and confident. Di, my buddy, couldn’t equalize well, so I ended the ‘deep’ dives and again went to shallow depths with my camera. I tried hard to get an octopus out of his den and capture it on picture, but he was very shy (and scared of my rather rude interference) and stayed there.  I have to rethink my strategy of getting close to those creatures .

Now I am training in the pool and looking forward to the 6 days of holidays in the beginning of May. Probably we’ll be heading for Gokceada (a Turkish island in the Aegean). I have to work on my equalization technique till then, cause I would like to attempt (gradually of course)  35 m. At this depth (35-40m) free divers often run out of air to equalize with, so more sophisticated techniques than the Valsalva are needed.At 32 m I felt that I have more air to equalise, even with my crappy technique (though I’m not 100% sure  what I’m doing is pure Valsalva).

I’ll keep you updated about my progress and experiences. And I promise to upload some nice pics and videos, too.