5 Reasons Surfing and Freediving are Best Friends

Surfers, meet freediving. Surfing and freediving are two long lost siblings, waiting to be reunited to achieve maximum potential. Not only do surfers and freedivers share an interest in conquering the fear of water, but they can learn from each other, no matter the level of skill. Read on to learn why Freediving can make your surfing skills progress at an incredible speed. 

Water confidence

For those of us who have spent our entire lives in the water partaking in various activities, we tend to develop complacency and a sense of false confidence when it comes to our abilities. Scuba Divers, Surfers and career snorkelers- we always assume we will be natural freedivers from the first attempt. For many of us with this mindset, the beginning of the course is humbling. We learn quickly that while Scuba Diving, we rely on the tank and the regulator. Surfing provides us with a buoyant surface to rest on and to grasp onto in times of turbidity. Snorkelling allows us to spend significant time on the surface, our air source conveniently located just above the crown of our head. 

Freediving teaches us to rely solely on our bodies, and our brain has to be conditioned to trust biological cues (see Mammalian Dive Reflex). Instead of taking the easy way out by assuming confidence in technology, our brain instead has to trust itself and the physical processes it controls and doesn’t control. 

Surfers excel with water confidence, each session highly dictated by the mental state at the start. Understanding that your board in surfing is an accessory instead of a necessity will provide a relaxed mental state from the beginning, allowing maximum results from each session. 

Stress and Anxiety Management

No matter the amount of experience a surfer may have, there is always a powerful need to respect the ocean. At a beginner level, this respect is often masked as fear, and fear is not an emotion that allows us to progress quickly through learning a new skill. By replacing fear with respect, we being to understand the ocean in all of its power can be dangerous, but that we can mitigate risks by understanding our physical abilities in the water. 

Freediving teaches us that with proper training and discipline, our bodies can adapt very quickly to being natural in the water. With a comfortably extended breath-hold and a more experienced understanding of the water, we learn to respect the ocean the same way a rock climber respects the mountain. The ocean is not there to take us out, it’s there to humble us to our own abilities. When we learn to respect the ocean and approach training and learning with acceptance and neutrality, we tap into reflexes and physiological abilities we never thought existed in our own human bodies. 

Injury Prevention

When learning to surf many beginners fear injury more than anything else. That injury could come in the form of a physical injury by being smashed onto the reef, or even a mental injury (trauma) of being held under the water for an uncomfortable amount of time. 

Deep wave surfers often train in freediving and breath-hold techniques in order to understand their physical abilities to be comfortable with low oxygen and extended hold-downs. You can read more about freediving for big wave surfers here.

 For surfers on intermediate waves, hold-downs may seem to last forever, but in reality, normally don’t last long at all. It is the panic that makes time speed up, and our irrational and unconditioned brain to create survival instincts that are actually counterproductive. By learning proper breath-hold techniques, surfers can avoid both mental and physical injuries by mastering the art of relaxation. When our body is physically relaxed, we are less likely to be injured when thrown into the reef. When we are mentally relaxed, we can understand the surf situation and know that even in the worst of hold-downs, we have lots of time to make our way back to air. 

Flexibility and Breathing

Like in any sport, we decrease the chances of injury through flexibility. In both surfing and freediving, flexibility should never be taken for granted. By learning proper breathing techniques, we learn how to maximize the bodies natural processes, conduct effective surf stretching routines, and keep the body primed for surfing. As mentioned previously in this article, the more relaxed physically, the more we protect ourselves from injury. Flexibility allows us to reach a deeper state of physical relaxation which in turn leads to even further prevention of injury while surfing.

Surfing and freediving attract people that are into an athletic and mindful lifestyle. This doesn’t mean we have to be super fit to do either of these sports- in fact, many people use freediving and surfing as a form of passionate accountability. Working towards an end goal of physical and mental wellness through a sport you enjoy is a sure way of progressing and keeping yourself motivated. In order to improve smoothly and with as few obstacles as possible, it’s important to avoid injury through stretching. 

Finding your water tribe

Freediving is a sport that is growing quickly in popularity, all over the world. Surfers, scuba divers and water lovers are understanding more and more how adaptable the teachings of each sport are to each other. The easiest way to find surf buddies is to go surfing, but while you are out there you may be able to convince others to train with you on some epic new techniques. Having surf buddies that are interested in progressing their skill and increasing their comfort will give you more confidence, and of course, be safer. The more time you spend in the water, whether it be freediving or surfing, the more comfortable you will me. Before you know it, you will respect the ocean instead of fearing it, and the sky (or ocean floor) is the limit.

The island of Nusa Lembongan just off of Bali is home to world-class surfing, and some of the best freedive training conditions in Indonesia. Get in touch with us at Blue Corner Freedive for surfing and freediving packages.