Advance with Safety

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

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