By David Watson, AIDA & PADI Master Freediver Instructor and Owner & Founder at One Breath Freediving, based in Malta

The snorkel has to be one of the most maligned or taken for granted piece of equipment in the kit bag of a freediver. It is great for buddying or extended periods of waiting, watching or relaxing on the surface, and although some freediving agencies and some individual instructors seem to teach freediving with little or no snorkel use, for me it is one of the pieces of equipment that can make the biggest difference to the experience of our wonderful sport, especially to beginners and relatively inexperienced freedivers. But, its correct use is not often taught it is just assumed that it is known!

​5 Tips for good snorkel use and control:

• Hold it loosely in your jaw, not clenched (there is no bonus for biting through it!) And let the tip of your tongue sit at the entrance to the snorkel mouth piece (between your teeth), to sense any water that enters before you inadvertently breathe it in
• Angle it correctly so it points up (not forward) when you are relaxing and lying face down on the surface before your dive. Turn more with your whole body if you need to look a long way to the sides. This avoids dipping the top of the snorkel in the water
• Always inhale a little more cautiously than normal and remember to keep the breathing slow and calm, using the diaphragm, with longer exhales
• Take it out the mouth during the dive! It is no use underwater and can in fact be dangerous to leave it in your mouth as it is a passageway for water into the lungs if you black out
• Use it! I often see people during the session, such as when putting on fins, and they struggle for breath and to complete a task when they could be using the snorkel to breathe AND be face down in the water doing what they need to do

By David Watson, AIDA & PADI Master Freediver Instructor and Owner & Founder at One Breath Freediving, based in Malta

Octopus is a company producing innovative freediving equipment, and is owned by Swiss freediver and designer, Pascal Berger. Best known for their high quality products especially the nose clips which have proved to be extremely popular, the Octopus line now includes lanyards, an equalisation tool and the newest product in the range, the pulling system.
​
The pulling system is a smart product designed to allow you to pull up or let out the freediving rope in a controlled, safe and more energy efficient manner. Made from the strongest and lightest and strongest possible materials (including aluminium and carbon fibre), the first thing you notice is the size and the quality of the material. It is significantly smaller than other similar pully systems that are now on the market, and much more compact. The ergonomic triangle shape allows one handed, handling using a ‘trigger’ hand position as you release the line. Pull the trigger and the line flows through and release to let the tension stop the rope dead. 

To pull up you can put one foot on the carbineer (that the tool is clipped on to under the buoy), lean back and pull the rope towards you in a ‘left/right’ alternate pull. The great thing here is that with every release of the tension after each pull, the weight is taken back by the locking mechanism, allowing you to take a break every so often.  This is a huge improvement on the traditional bottom weight lifting method of climbing on top of the buoy and lying face down pulling the rope up, with no chance of a break and the potential of falling off / getting tangled in the line / swallowing sea water / losing your weight belt (as you get on or off), all of which I have seen happen or experienced myself!

Post dive maintenance is minimal and it is advertised as requiring very little care: “It is so resistant that you can just leave it hanging under your buoy. No real need to rinse in fresh water.” Says the marketing, and so far this has proved absolutely true.
 
PROS:

• Great energy saver, especially when pulling up rope from depth
• Small and compact and ergonomic design (one handed use)
• Very easy to adjust the depth of the rope up or down
• Added safety for deeper divers (250kg load capacity)
• Works with ropes 8-12mm

​CONS:

• Can pull off the rope length markers that are electrical tape
• Not so easy to transfer it between ropes
• Can make for a lazy freediver! :D  

​Final Thoughts:
A great addition to a freediving buoy set up. Very easy to use and requiring little or no maintenance, it is easy to have and forget about but adds a lot to the organisation of a freediving. Overall, a great solution for much easier rope handing for freediving training and a very well designed product.
 
The Octopus Pulling System is available now at One Breath Freediving
RRP: €50

Those of you following One Breath Freediving on your social media channels will already know that I have been using the Paralenz dive camera quite extensively already, for both photos and videos, so for this review part 2 (part 1 is un-boxing and initial impressions),I wanted to look at it's use in the water. More than numbers such as pixels and frame rates, I wanted to discuss it's functionality and how well it works specifically from a freediver's point of view. 

Firstly, it's primary mount method that I have employed so far with the Paralenz dive camera has been the mask mount. For me this has been the most convenient as I am normallly using it while teaching or guiding. Once the mask attachment is threaded to the mask strap, you clip the camera on using the 'T-Rail' mount system that gives a reassuring double 'click' when properly secured.

The first thing you notice while wearing it in the water is.....that you don't actually notice the camera! Despite feeling substantial and solid when held in the hand, once attached to the mask I can honestly say that I forget that the camera is actually there. Being so non-intrusive is a huge plus for freedivers as we take in the water minimum equipment and definitely don't like things that create drag or resistance.

Functionality from this position is another massive plus. The feedback loop of vibrations of the camera unit, mean that you do not need to remove the camera (and mask) at all to know what setting you are in! For example, rotate the selector ring clockwise while turned on gives one vibration for video, two vibrations for camera, three for settings etc. And then long or short holds of the activation switch can start or stop recording or offer other functions. This creates a simple user and selector operating system and excellent hands free usability.

Now lets look at the quality of photos that Paralenz is capable of (for videos, check the OBF YouTube channel). All the snaps in this review were taken from the mask mount position, so just a reach to the side of the head and a short pull on the activation switch can give you some great photos. While primarily a video camera, the photos are surprisingly clear, sharp and lacking in distortion at the edges (as can be common for extremely wide angle cameras). In these photos I had Depth Colour Correction (DCC) turned on and Depth & Temperature overlay turned on. The photo above from 5m displays nice blue water and clear white logos on the wetsuit hood. The first photo handles the reflecting light from the shallow water very well and also created a shot that is not blurred or distorted from the divers movement.

Initial in water conclusions:

• Mask mount is very useful for hands free use
  
• Unit vibration feedback is a great idea and super useful with mask mount 
• Photos lack distortion and are very sharp
• DCC is perfect for multiple depth change diving (such as freediving)

Look out for part three of the test where I will review the features of the Paralenz App.

One Breath Freediving is now renting a full freediving set up (buoy/rope/bottom weights) as well as weights and weight belts, to certified freedivers (AIDA3 certified or above).
So if you are visiting Malta and want to do your own training and exploring, we can now accommodate your needs. Contact us for more information, or find the price list, here.