Quick Details
This course is designed with only one goal in mind: to increase your breath-hold ability in tense situations underwater while remaining calm and in total control of your mind. In this training, you learn different apnea techniques and breathing exercises to strengthen and increase the capacity of the lungs.
The surf survival course is designed to help you spend more time underwater through lectures, intense breath-hold training, and multiple breathing and swimming exercises. Its purpose is to aid you in dealing with extreme situations where mind control and calmness are the main factors for your survival.
In addition to apnea theory and breathing techniques to maximize breath-hold, we emphasize high surf risk management in order to recognize, minimize, or avoid unnecessary risks found in the surf zone. We also cover the importance of providing CPR and Rescue Breath skills to victims of drowning.
We will study the physiology of apnea in depth through academic information. This information is very significant when we push our bodies to the limit. Understanding what causes our body to blackout during breath-hold training exercises and how to identify signs and symptoms of hypoxia is crucial in order to train safely. You will also learn different breathing exercises in order to engage, strengthen, and properly use our diaphragm (lower part of our lungs). In addition, we will learn how to provide primary and secondary care to unconscious and injured victims. CPR and Rescue Breath will be taught in this class.
Before we start the apnea training, we will present some rescue skills in order to train apnea safely with a partner. We will put into practice proper ventilation and breath ups, in order to perform numerous underwater exercises. Each exercise simulates a real situation found in the surfing environment. Surfers will work with a training partner through the entire class.
We will start the second day with CPR training and breathing exercises, followed by a full O2 table apnea practice. This is when people get their personal best (most get 3 minutes, with some people holding for 4 and even 5 minutes). Later, in the water we will present more dynamic apnea and survival skills before we move into the surf rescue part of the course. This is when surfers learn tools that could help them save lives. At the end, we will focus again on the stress apnea exercise simulating a wipe out or a long hold down.
These are the main aspects of the training:
Some of the North Shore surfing community took the apnea training. This group included Jamie Sterling, Nathan Fletcher, Trevor Carlson, veteran Eddie Aikau competitor and Master Shaper Dennis Pang, City & County lifeguards Paul Smith and Ian Masterson (who is also a High Surf Risk management professor at Windward Community college), regular Waimea Bay and Sunset Beach surfer Tracy Yamato, Finn Masterson and a few other resident and local surfers.
Billabong team manager Rainos Hayes was also another professional surfer who benefitted from Hawaii Eco Divers’ apnea course. Rainos organized a class for some of the members of the Hawaiian Junior Surfing Team including the Moniz brothers. Mike and Chris Latronic also took the course and created a video for their TV show.
Big Waves Surfers Pato Teixeira, Silvia Nabuco, Guto Gutemberg, FBI agent Carlos Ozzy and more…
You will receive an online manual to read and prepare for the course, prior to the first day.
Warm wetsuit, dive mask or swim goggles, short fins, snorkel, beach chair, sunscreen, hat, food and water for the day
Yes, this course is beneficial for all levels of surfers. From beginners and intermediate, to the more advanced who are willing to challenge themselves in bigger surf.
Even though this course is created by surfers for surfers, everyone can benefit from deep breathing exercise. Deep breathing allows one to oxygenate the body at a higher level, therefore increasing focus, energy, endurance, and awareness. Everyone can complete any task more efficiently with higher levels of oxygen in their body.
No, the apnea surf survival is designed for surfers to improve their breathing and breath holding skills under stressful situations. The exercises and drills performed in this course resemble realistic surfing scenarios and require different breathing techniques than those used by freedivers. Although this is not a freediving course, it will help you to improve your underwater breath holding skills.
You can receive a Hawaii Eco Divers Certification of Completion upon request. We will train CPR in this course, but in order to receive CPR certification you need to complete the online portion of the American Red Cross CPR Course.
Big Wave Surfer and Professional Diver Ricardo Taveira, founder of Hawaii Eco Divers, has been teaching Apnea and Surf Survival for years, improving surfers’ safety in Hawaii and around the world. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity. This course is designed for surfers of all levels who want to feel more confident in the ocean!