Freedive Courses for (Big Wave) Surfers.
A list of the top freedive courses designed for big wave surfers.
Please Note: Freediving is a dangerous sport… NEVER FREEDIVE ALONE!
1) ULTIMATE WATER SURVIVAL - STIG SEVERINSON
Stig Severinson is a 4-time world champion freediver. He trains all kinds of people and has worked with big wave surfers such as Chuck Paterson and Greg Long.
Stig wrote a book called “Breatheology” and his offers multiple online training courses, including the “Ultimate Water Survival” which is focussed on surfers:
“The Ultimate Water Survival Course will make you a safer, stronger and more skilled water person. The course is for surfers, freedivers, scuba divers, spearfishers and anyone who works or train in or near the ocean.”
If you sign up to his website, you’ll receive a good amount of free video’s introducing you to the world of advanced breathing with some very detailed tips helping you through the breathing process step by step. Alternatively, you can try his Stig Severinson’s free masterclass to get a flavor of his online video courses. On top of that, he offers a 30 day Money back guarantee, making it the most accessible course we could find.
2) PERFORMANCE FREEDIVE INTERNATIONAL
The instructors of performance Freedive International pop-up in a lot of videos showing big wave surfers learning how to freedive. Although the instructors don’t surf big waves personally, they have been working with top big wave surfers for years.
Performance Freedive International has a long list of freedive instructors, operating in:
California
Hawaii
North Carolina
Florida
Wisconsin
Pennsylvania
Washington
Canada
Singapore
Guam
Performance Freedive International covers the breath-holding section of the Big Wave Risk Assessment Group in Hawaii, giving this freedive course some serious credibility.
PFI offers a “Surf and Wave hold down” course on their site.
3) AIDA INTERNATIONAL
AIDA International is the Worldwide Federation for breath-hold diving. An assembly for freedivers; competition, education, and community.
This is one of the world’s Apnea (freedive) organizations, providing certified courses, similar to PADI for scuba divers. In the AIDA courses your learn how to freedive safely, both in a pool and in open water. It covers all the Apnea techniques, from static training (floating face down with your hands on the side of the pool, just to maximize your breath hold and finding a peaceful state of mind), to dynamic (Swimming underwater horizontally across a pool) to immersion ( going vertical for depth), with or without fins/weights. Although AIDA is not focussed on surfers specifically, this is a great place to start if you’d like to add freediving to your preparation.
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