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PFI Safety Freediver Course

Learn to safety freedive beyond recreational limits of 40m/132 feet!

The PFA Safety Freediver course instructs competent and comfortable freedivers who have successfully achieved the PFI Intermediate Freediver certification or equivalent from a recognized agency with having passed the PFI Intermediate Freediver Crossover Exam. The course teaches advanced safety and problem management for freedives past recreational limits of 40m/ 132feet. Divers will also learn how to respond to emergency situations utilizing First Aid, CPR, Neuro, and marine life injury training.

Your Safety Freediver course will cover topics such as:

  • Safety and Buddy Procedures for Advanced Freediving
  • Equipment for performing safety beyond 40m/132’ such as lanyards and counterbalance systems
  • Psychological Aspects of handling emergency situations
  • Basic Life Support Training: Complete BLS for adults, children, and infants, including two person CPR, use of a bag valve mask, suction, oxygen provider for injured divers, neurological assessment, hazardous marine life injuries
  • Mastering the roles of primary and secondary safety freedivers
  • Learning to manage active and passive freediver retrieval system set-up and use

Is this course for you?

  • You’re an experienced comfortable freediver and have completed the PFI Intermediate Freediver course
  • You’ve completed an Intermediate Freediver level course with another recognized agency PLUS have completed the PFI Freediver Crossover Exam
  • You’re interested in a program with a high level of focus on safety
  • You want to become a professional level freediver

Format/Duration

This course is taught by highly trained PFI Instructors at locations all over the world. The PFI Intermediate Freediver course includes, at a minimum:

  • Classroom Sessions
  • Confined Water sessions
  • Open Water sessions
  • The schedule and layout/order of these sessions vary slightly by location. The program is typically run over 2 days. Click the link on any particular course to find the exact schedule for that program

What can I expect to learn?

Some of the skills a student will be able to perform at the end of the PFI Intermediate Freediver course are:

  • Working in a safety team
  • Adequate safe buddy skills, performing a rescue to PFI standards
  • Prepare gear without help of instructor
  • Safety freedivers in confined and open water situations

Prerequisites

  • PFI Intermediate Freediver certification or equivalent with PFI Crossover Exam
  • You’re comfortable with intermediate level freediving depths, anywhere from 25–40m/82–132 ft
  • You have a static breath-hold time of three minutes or longer
  • Good health and fitness—check the PFI Medical Form
  • 16 years of age with guardian permission

Course Components

Classroom

  • Learn the techniques philosophies of safety for depths that push human limits
  • Attend all classroom teaching sessions
  • Complete all quizzes in manual
  • Complete pre learning quiz before class
  • Pass final with 80 percent or more
  • First Aid, CPR, O2 Provider, Neuro, and Marine Life Injuries certification

Watermanship & Stamina

  • Prepare freediving equipment without instructor assistance
  • Proper entry procedure (select best local option)
  • 200-meter continuous swim without fins, snorkel, wetsuit, or flotation
  • Minimum of ten-minute tread

Confined Water

  • Recovery breathing and coaching
  • Manage LMC, blackout on surface and underwater – identifying telltale signs that a problem is about to occur, then demonstrate how to handle the situation safely, effectively, and efficiently
  • Finding blackout diver on surface
  • Demonstrate how to identify and respond to an active and passive panicked drowning persons
  • Demonstrate how to remove an injured person from the water

Open Water

  • Recovery breathing and coaching for buddy
  • Emergency rescue and problem management (rescue scenarios), surface and underwater individually and in a team setting
    • Including LMC, blackout at surface and underwater
  • Act as primary, secondary, on-deck, clutch, and timekeeper in deep recreational, training, and competition situations.
  • Perform hands on rescue scenarios for dives up to 60m/197feet as a team

Equipment Used:

  • Low Volume Mask
  • Snorkel
  • Full Hooded Wetsuit (3mm for warm water locations; 5-7mm for cold water locations)
  • Rubber weight belt and weights in .5-1Kg/1-2lb increments
  • Freediving bi-fins
  • Freediving computer plus an additional waterproof timing device
  • Lanyard—suggested but not required

How to take this course!

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