Do you want to explore your amazing aquatic abilities in a safe and controlled environment? Do you want to see how long you can hold your breath, how far you can swim without breathing or how deep you can dive with just the air in your lungs? If you do then our sport freediving courses will help you do just that! Our traditional sport courses focus on the freediving sport disciplines performed in freediving competitions. Our instructors are experienced competitive freedivers who will help you discover your freediving potential. The sport freediving courses are perfect for those who want to improve and push their limits in the pool and in the depth or who are thinking about entering freediving competitions as athletes or officials.
Open to everyone 16 years and older who are capable swimmers and in general good health.
No previous freedive experience is required. Freedive gear provided.
Discover Freediving Course
The Discover Freediving course offers a gentle introduction into the world of sport freediving and is best suited to those specifically interested in breath-hold and pool training. You will have completed day 1 of the Level 1 Freediver course. It is also suitable to persons lacking the time or confidence to go “the whole way” at this moment in time. Nothing wrong with testing the waters before jumping in 😉
Entry Requirements
+18 years of age | +16 years of age with signed parental consent | Capable of swimming and snorkeling | Completed Course Register, Indemnity Form and Medical Questionnaire
Duration
1 day
Cost
R1,800 | Includes: use of freedive gear, international certification & student manual.
Content
Freediving theory: anatomy & physiology, building a scientific understanding of the elements at play, dive gear. | Breathing techniques: stages of breathing, relaxation, static apnea and recovery breathing. | Competitive disciplines: performing static apnea (STA) and dynamic apnea (DYN) and surface protocol. | Body awareness: physical changes and mental challenges, working through physical and mental limiting factors. | Freediving technique: efficiency in the water column, finning, optimal body posture during DYN. | Freediving safety: buddy awareness, performing a safety dive, signs and communication, rescue drills and competence.
Completion
Once you have successfully completed the course, you will be able to hold your breath for 2 minutes and comfortably swim 25-50m underwater in a pool. You will also have gained insight into safety diving and performed rescue drills. You will be able to sign up for day 2 of the Level 1 Freediver course and be able to join our pool training community. This will open a whole network of pool freedive buddies with lots of training opportunities to perfect your technique and progress even further. You will become a member of Pure Apnea and receive an internationally recognised certification.
Level 1 Freediver Course
The Level 1 Freediver is an entry-level sport freediving course, introducing the four main freedive disciplines (static, dynamic apnea, free immersion, constant weight). Sport freediving is for those with a competitive spirit, keen to hold their breath as long, dive as deep and far as their abilities allow. This course provides you with the foundation to start achieving these goals and aspirations.
Entry Requirements
+18 years of age | +16 years of age with signed parental consent | Capable of swimming and snorkeling | Completed Course Register, Indemnity Form and Medical Questionnaire
Duration
2 days
Cost
R3,950 | Includes: use of freedive gear, international certification & student manual.
Content
Freediving theory: anatomy & physiology, building a scientific understanding of the elements at play, dive gear. | Breathing techniques: stages of breathing, relaxation, static apnea and recovery breathing. | Competitive disciplines: performing static apnea (STA), dynamic apnea (DYN), constant weight (CWT and free immersion (FIM). | Equalisation: types of equalisation and risk factors, equalisation trouble shooting. | Body awareness: physical changes and mental challenges, working through physical and mental limiting factors. | Freediving technique: duck-diving, efficiency in the water column, finning, optimal body posture during DYN, FIM, CWT, surface protocol. | Freediving safety: buddy awareness, performing a safety dive, signs and communication, rescue drills and competence.
Completion
Once you have successfully completed the course, you will be able to hold your breath for over 2 minutes and dive to 14-20m deep on a dive line. You will also have gained insight into safety diving and performed a rescue drills. You will be able to join our depth training community. This will open a whole network of freedive buddies with lots of training opportunities to perfect your technique and progress even further. You will become a member of Pure Apnea and receive an internationally recognised certification.
Level 2 Advanced Freediver Course
This 3-day advanced freediving course builds on the skills learnt during the L1 (or equivalent) and is for those wanting to progress to the next level. The emphasis is on creating advanced skills and training techniques required to progress deeper and to overcome the physical and mental barriers experienced at depth.
Entry Requirements
+18 years of age | +16 years of age with signed parental consent | Certified Pure Apnea Level 1 Freediver or equivalent | Completed Course Register, Indemnity Form and Medical Questionnaire
Duration
3 days
Cost
R5,600 | Includes: use of freedive gear, international certification & student manual.
Content
Freediving theory: advanced physiology, freefall, ascent hypoxia, equalisation failure, efficient movement and advanced safety protocols. | Breathing techniques: breathing reflexes, training methods to increase breath hold, comfort and tolerance. | Equalisation: Frenzel technique, glottis and soft palate control. | Body awareness: thoracic and diaphragmatic stretching techniques and dealing with discomfort experienced during long static breath holds. | Freediving technique: freefall, anaerobic training exercises, relaxation and efficiency to conserve O2 and energy. | Freediving safety: advanced buddy diving, rope rescues, lanyard use, rescues, self-rescues and flooded mask simulations. | Dive site preparation: buoy and dive line setup, hazard identification and safety protocols.
Completion
Once you have completed your course, you will confidently be diving to 26-30m on a dive line and improve your dive time, confidence and comfort while freediving. You will receive an internationally recognised certification from Pure Apnea.
Level 3 Master Freediver Course
This 4-day-intensive course is the final step towards becoming a top level sport freediver and provides you with the skills and insight needed to get you there. It is your ticket into the deep and also the precursor to becoming a freediving instructor. The course is almost entirely focused on deep freediving, honing the very specific skills and safety checks to progress beyond residual volume (equalisation failure). The focus therefore is on advanced equalisation, advanced physiology and depth techniques. It is imperative that you are physically and mentally prepared for this course.
Entry Requirements
+18 years of age | Certified Pure Apnea Level 2 Freediver or equivalent | Completed Course Register, Indemnity Form and Medical Questionnaire
Duration
4 days
Cost
R7,200 | Includes: use of freedive gear, international certification & student manual.
Content
Freediving theory: Mouthfill equalisation, nutrition, pressure and advanced physiology. | Equalisation: Frenzel and Mouthfill techniques, advanced equalisation essential for deeper freediving. | Advanced techniques: packing, reverse packing, FRC and RV dives. | Freedive safety: Decompression Sickness, Nitrogen Narcosis, Arterial Gas Embolism, rope rescues and deep safety freediving.
Completion
Once you have completed your course, you will confidently be diving to 35-40m, hold your breath for over 3 1/2 minutes and comfortably achieve 75-100m dynamics with fins. You will be able to enter depth competitions, provide safety in depth competitions and enrol in an instructor course. You will receive an internationally recognised certification from Pure Apnea.
I had an excellent time completing the level 1 sport freediving course. I've been freediving casually for a few months but in just two days I improved everything about my freediving to a massive extent. It is not an exaggeration to say I at least doubled my time underwater before even talking about the vital safety procedures and freediving knowledge I learnt. 10 out of 10 would recommend!