My name is Chris Duperreault and I have recently gone through the PFI’s intermediate course with Ted Harty at Immersion Freediving. I am a Bermudian spear-fisherman I have been spearing for just over 3 years. My hunting depth was around 50-60 feet but most comfortable in the 40’s. Soon after my start in spearing I wanted to be able to go deeper, stay longer, and be safer. I decided that when I finished culinary school I would go to Ted’s class where I would learn how to free-dive properly and safely.
I enrolled in the intermediate class, I had no idea what the course would consist of since I had not taken any previous free-diving classes. I had done a lot of research on free-diving and thought I was doing it somewhat right but after the first day in Ted’s classroom I quickly realized I was basically doing it all wrong. The main reason I took the class was for the safety aspect and it was humbling to find out the way I was diving I was very close to black outs.
I still cannot believe the transformation I made as a free-diver during the class. I had in my mind that I was going to have to make small changes and adjustments to my style but in reality Ted changed every aspect of my diving from where to position my accessories, my entry, my kicking, equalizing, breathing, and even the way I think in the water. My bad habits were a little tough to break at first but how Ted teaches the changes stuck relatively easy and felt natural by the end of it. We also covered how to deal with loss of motor control and blackouts. We spent a good amount of time practicing and role playing rescues until we could all do it with our eyes closed. I hope I won’t have to use that training but I am confident now that I can rescue friends if needed. Going into this I had a three minute and 30 second max static and at the end of it I had a massive increase to five minute and 15 seconds and it felt very comfortable. My max depth was 70 feet going in and with no surprise I had a huge increase in my max depth I finished up with a PB of 115 feet in just four days!
I had an absolute blast during the time at immersion. I met some awesome people and made new friends that I know I will be safe in the water when diving with. The course was so much more than I expected it taught me my limits and made me a completely different diver. Ted was an amazing teacher he was able to figure out how each person learned in a short amount of time. Ted made sure that every question asked was answered in great detail and that no one left the class uncertain about anything. What I learned at Immersion I will be using forever now. You cannot put a price on your life and taking this course dramatically decreases your risk of dying while free-diving. If you haven’t already signed up for a class you need to, it will change your life.
Christopher Duperrault July 2015 4 day PFI Intermediate course
