Spearfishing is an ancient way to fish that many divers get into as a common course of diving. The sport of diving for your own catch has been around for centuries. There are many devices to spearfish, from the traditional Hawaiin sling or pole spear to the more modern band or pneumatic guns. Each region will have its own laws and regulations on what you can and cannot use to hunt so it is highly advisable that you be familiar with these rules before partaking. Nick Fazah of East Coast Divers in Bookline, Mass. says he fell into Freediving while spearfishing by accident. “Freediving has been a recent passion for me,” says Fazah. “I had moved to the Keys (Florida) in 2006 and started breath hold diving there. I was Freediving to spearfish in the beginning but I quickly became addicted to doing it for the diving experience alone. I now enjoy the challenge and the competition. On a couple of occasions I came to the surface a little starry eyed. I felt like this was probably a sign that I was doing something wrong and so I sought out instruction in order to better understand the physics and physiology of what was happening to me. The mental focus required is what really makes me love it. It is about looking within yourself and seeing what you are capable of. You have to listen to your body’s reactions and pay attention to what your body is telling you.”
As for Fazahs feelings on the two sports together…he says it is a natural fit. “There are a lot of people who spearfish and Freedive in New England,” says Fazah. “We are seeing increasing numbers of people doing it and, in fact, this year we have 20+ Freedivers joining the ranks after taking formal instruction on techniques and safety. These guys come out and train in the pool learning the different aspects of Freediving from competition to using it for fishing; it pushes the limits of human endurance and people like seeing what they are capable of.
Fazah and Kirk Krack of Performance Freediving International both expect the sport to continue to grow. In 2012 East Coast Diver’s owner Paul Adler is retiring from the store and Nick along with his business partner Alex Dulavitz are taking over. Even though ECD is a full service Scuba center, they will also have more and more programs for Freediving and spearfishing. “There is a niche for it,” says Fazah. “We do a lot of indoor training in the pool during the winter building up for the spring season, it really is amazing what you can accomplish in a very short period of time. Just a year ago I was diving to 60 feet and now I just achieved a personal best of 201 feet with bi-fins”
Krack says that as for his insight on what is to come Performance Freediving is currently working on an advanced and safety supervisor program in Hawaii and he is seeing more and more places in need of the training aspect. “I am currently training with Red Bull’s top surf team to teach them safety and free diving aspects that will help them be better surfers,” Krack says. “We train them in panic response and the techniques for holding your breath - both aspects of free diving.”
So if you are out on the east coast and you see a person come up out of the water with nothing but a spear gun…don’t panic…he meant to leave everything else behind and spear fish the Freediving way.
For more info visit PFI at www.performancefreediving.com or East Coast Divers at www.ecdivers.com.
