PFI ADVANCED FREEDIVER COURSE

Learn to freedive down to a maximum depth of 60m/197ft!

The PFI Advanced Freediver course instructs competent and comfortable freedivers who have successfully achieved the PFI Intermediate Freediver certification or successfully passed the PFI Freediver Crossover Exam to the Intermediate level. The course teaches advanced safety and problem management with an emphasis on advanced and competitive freediving techniques, training, and equipment for depths as much as 60m/197 feet. Divers will also learn how to develop training programs to better their own physical and mental performance for deep freediving.

Your PFI Advanced Freediver course will cover topics such as:

• Safety and Buddy Procedures for Advanced Freediving
• Equipment for Advanced Freediving & Competitions
• Psychological Aspects of Advanced Freediving & Competitive Freediving
• Land & Confined-Water Training and Evaluation Programs
• Freediving Competition Standards & Procedures
• Advanced Static Apnea
• Advanced Dynamic Apnea (depending on location)
• Open Water Constant Ballast Development & Training (60m maximum depth)

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 technique development and open water constant ballast training
• You want to learn advanced level training programs and have a desire to train in a safe and highly supervised environment

Format/Duration

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

• Classroom: 22 hours
• Confined water: 10 hours
• Open water: 15 hours

Skills

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

• Working in a safety team
• Adequate safe buddy skills, performing a rescue to PFI standards
• Prepare gear without help of instructor
• Perform a minimum 4-minute static in the pool with opportunity to increase to maximum capacity
• Dive with proper technique to a minimum of 40m/132 ft constant weight and free immersion using PFI methods of entrance and exit with proper recovery breathing and without hypoxic symptoms

Prerequisites

• PFI Intermediate Freediver certification or equivalent with PFI Intermediate Freediver Crossover Exam
• Comfort with intermediate level freediving depths, anywhere from 25–40m/82–132 ft
• Static breath-hold time of three minutes or longer

Course Components

Classroom

• Attend all classroom teaching sessions
• Stretching and Equalizing workshops
• CO2 and O2 training workshops
• All equipment workshops
• Complete all quizzes in manual
• Complete pre learning quiz before class

Watermanship and Stamina

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

Confined Water

• Minimum of four consecutive static breath-holds without any hypoxic symptoms minimum 4:00
• Recovery breathing and coaching
• Manage LMC, blackout on surface and underwater
• Finding blackout diver on surface
• Negative pressure dives

Open Water

• Recovery breathing and coaching for buddy
• 12 target free immersion dives reaching minimum 40m/132ft using proper entrance and exit procedures
• Emergency rescue and problem management (rescue scenarios), surface and underwater as a Safety Team
  • Including LMC, blackout at surface and underwater
• Full mask flood and ascent at depth of 20 m/66 ft
• Weight removal and ascent from 20 m/ 66 ft

Equipment Used:

• Low Volume Mask—fluid goggles and/or nose clip optional
• 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 or monofin—if using a monofin for target dives, also bring bi-fins for Safety Freediver training
• Freediving computer plus an additional waterproof timing device
• Lanyard