You’re lastly on that freediving journey you’ve been trying ahead to all 12 months, and it’s the evening earlier than your first dive. As you’re unpacking your gear to organize it in your first early morning session, you instantly notice, “I forgot my ****ing nostril clip.”
Don’t let that be you.
Freediving journeys, whether or not for enjoyable diving, coaching, or a contest, can rapidly get ruined when you overlook a significant piece of freediving tools. That is particularly problematic when you’re headed to a location with out freediving retailers that promote gear since worldwide delivery and customs can take weeks.
That’s why we created a complete packing record for all freediving journeys–so to double- and triple-check that you’ve got all of the necessities earlier than leaping in your flight! Please maintain studying for our suggestions for what to deliver, bonus suggestions, and private suggestions.
Additionally, when you prefer to examine issues off as you pack, take a look at this interactive freediving packing record and use it whereas making ready your tools!
Core Freediving Gear
Beneath is the must-have gear–the basic tools to get into the water and luxuriate in your dives! Some objects are particularly for coaching (like lanyards and nostril clips for line diving), so skip over what you don’t want.
- Swimsuits
- Wetsuit/Rashguard + pants
- Bifins/Monofin
- Masks
- Snorkel
- Dive pc
- Dive pc charger (if rechargeable)
- Weight belt
- Lead weights (examine when you can hire or purchase on the location first)
- Neck weight
- Lanyard
- Nostril clip
- Socks
- Gloves
- Masks defogger
- Wetsuit lubrication (1/3 hair conditioner, 2/3 water really useful)
- Swim cap
- Reusable water bottle
Bonus Ideas
Touring with weights
Touring with lead weights has many downsides: empty weights take up priceless kgs in your bag, heavier baggage, presumably damaging different tools if weights aren’t packed correctly, and so forth. This is the reason it’s all the time a good suggestion to contact the freediving college upfront (when you’re utilizing one) to see if they’ll mortgage you or hire you weights. In the event that they solely hire them out and your journey is shorter, the price could outweigh the annoyance of touring with lead weights.
One other factor you are able to do is try Fb teams for freedivers within the space and see if persons are promoting their secondhand lead weights. Divers come and go, shopping for their weights in the beginning of their journey and promoting them on the finish–you possibly can, too!
You might also have the ability to journey with them by placing them in your pockets or carrying a neck weight round your neck when flying. Simply ensure you take away them out of your particular person or carry-on bag and put them in a bin when going by means of safety–and don’t overlook to clarify what they’re to TSA! Nevertheless, some freedivers have reported that TSA or cabin crew denied boarding with weights and required them to return to the counter to examine them in.
Wetsuit lubricant
To make wetsuit lubricant for a wetsuit with an open cell inside, you possibly can seize an empty bottle and blend 1/3 hair conditioner with 2/3 water (e.g., 100mL of conditioner and 200mL water) to swish round in your wetsuit earlier than placing it on. Simply keep in mind to completely rinse the wetsuit inside within the bathe earlier than you go to reduce chemical substances getting into the ocean.
Important Secondary Gear
Don’t overlook these different important objects, which is able to maintain you protected, snug, and ready for the sudden–particularly when diving in places with restricted provide entry!
- Reef-safe sunscreen
- Zinc
- Make-up remover for zinc (micellar water really useful!)
- Fast dry towel
- Spare masks
- Spare snorkel
- Spare nostril clip
- Electrolyte tablets/powder
- First support package
- Any prescription drugs
- After-diving ear spray (1/2 white vinegar + 1/2 rubbing alcohol combine really useful)
- Spray bottle with white vinegar (for jellyfish stings)
- Calamine lotion (for jellyfish stings)
- Sinus care objects (neti pot, nasal spray, and so forth.)
- Seasickness treatment
- Antihistamines (if wanted for allergy symptoms)
- Poncho
- Diving windbreaker
- Wetsuit glue
- Sun shades
- Hat
- Insulated water bottle
- Dry bag
- Depart-in hair conditioner for lengthy hair (reef-safe Stream2Sea extremely really useful)
- Hair ties
Bonus Ideas
Zinc
Whereas sunblock is a chemical sunscreen that must be utilized for a while earlier than solar publicity (and reapplied incessantly, particularly within the water), zinc is magic for freediving. It’s a bodily sunscreen that creates a barrier by sitting in your pores and skin and works instantly upon software. It’s reef-safe and can forestall sunburn, so get the well-known freediving masks tan. Nevertheless, it nonetheless wants to be reapplied when you’re having an prolonged session within the water, as it might probably ultimately wash off or be by accident rubbed away.
Should you’re not enthusiastic about having white paste in your face in pictures and movies, some manufacturers supply zinc in skin-tone colours (and different enjoyable colours). As a freediver with melasma (a pores and skin situation that ends in darkish patches on the face after solar publicity), I exploit and love Surfmud’s tinted zinc–plus, the quilt has a mirror in order that I can reapply it anyplace!
Eradicating zinc
As for laundry it off your face, tools, or wetsuit, I’ve discovered micellar water and cotton pads take away zinc simply, with no oily feeling on my pores and skin afterward. I additionally use it to wash zinc residue off my masks, snorkel, and wetsuit, however any make-up remover in your face (or gentle cleaning soap and water for tools) will do the job!
After-diving ear spray
Should you’re vulnerable to getting swimmer’s ear (an an infection within the outer ear canal brought on by trapped water within the ear) after diving, strive making your after-diving ear spray. Fill a small spray bottle with ½ white vinegar and ½ rubbing alcohol. After popping out of the water, spray every ear just a few instances. The rubbing alcohol evaporates water from the ear canal, whereas vinegar creates an acidic surroundings that forestalls bacterial progress.
Keep in mind that this can be a preventative measure–not for lively infections!
Additional Competitors Gear
Should you’ve already competed, you most likely know what to deliver. However simply in case (and particularly for first-time opponents), listed here are just a few important issues to recollect earlier than zipping up that final bag!
- Goggles
- Inflatable neck pillow
- Noodle / Inflatable floor marker buoy (SMB)
- Silicone grease/petroleum jelly for tight fins
- Test dive pc battery standing (if not rechargeable)
Bonus Ideas
Noodles and SMBs
Should you prefer to breathe upright earlier than diving, a floor marker buoy (SMB) could be very simple to pack and travel-friendly, particularly for coaching! Nevertheless, in order for you one thing sturdier for a contest, examine to see when you can borrow a freediving college’s or fellow freediver’s pool noodle for extra stability within the water.
Buoy Setup Gear
Should you’re bringing your individual buoy and dive line, it’s a critical dedication–don’t destroy your journey by forgetting any of the next tools!
- Buoy
- Dive line
- Floor line
- Pulley
- Carabiners (minimal 2)
- Additional line for attaching tools
Bonus Ideas
Backside weight
Nobody desires to hold round 8 – 10kg (17.6 – 22lb) of lead of their baggage, so maintain the underside weight for once you get to your location! When you get there, you are able to do one of many following:
- See if a freediving college will hire one out to you
- Purchase a kettlebell to make use of as your backside weight
- Make your individual with a nylon SCUBA weight belt and lead weights
Digicam Gear
- Motion digital camera
- Underwater housing
- Charger
- Spare batteries
- SD card + case
- SD card reader
- Spare mounts/attachments
- Backup O-rings
- Silicone grease
- Lens cleansing package
- Exterior onerous drive
Bonus Ideas
All-natural hydrophobic coating
As unusual because it sounds, strive licking or spitting in your digital camera lens (then rinsing) often throughout your floor intervals–this prevents water spots from lingering on the lens for above-water photographs!
