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Quick answers
Which local rescue or training agency should I check first?
Use the local lens: coastguard/federation norms and the shop briefing for that bay — not a blog visibility claim.
Why is hyperventilation dangerous here?
It lowers carbon dioxide, which is part of the urge-to-breathe signal, without adding a matching oxygen store. Courses treat it as a blackout setup.
Is a scuba buddy enough?
A scuba diver on a regulator is not automatically a freedive safety. The roles differ. Train together or do not depth-dive.
Do competitions have safety teams?
AIDA events specify safety freedivers, oxygen and protocols. Recreational bays do not, unless a club brings them.
Can this page teach rescue?
No. Rescue is a contact skill with legal and medical pieces. Take a course.
Is samba the same as blackout?
Loss of motor control at the surface is a warning state courses name and treat as an emergency. This page will not teach the differential.
Safety kit is a visible float, a way to call a boat, and — at events — oxygen and a trained team. A pulse oximeter is not a buddy.
The expensive, useful item is the course.
Core kit
- Surface float or buoy — Visibility to boats and a rest handle.
- Whistle — Cheap, loud.
- Freedive computer with alarms — A reminder, not a permission slip.
- Ditchable weights — As taught.
- Phone in a dry bag on the beach — For emergency services — someone must stay with the diver.
- The buddy — Listed as kit on purpose.
Optional
- Lanyard on a line — Club and competition tool.
- Oxygen kit — Where a club is allowed and trained to keep one.
- First-aid certificate — A person, not an object, but it sits in the bag as a card.
- Spare mask — So a flood does not end as a panic swim.
Care
- Check the float bladder — A sunk float is invisible.
- Service any oxygen kit to the rule — Or do not pretend to have one.
- Log near-misses in the club — Culture is a record.
- Retire cracked weight belts — A jam is a hazard.
Budget bands
- Start — Course plus a float.
- Club — Shared oxygen where legal, shared attention for free.
- Event — Staffed safety is in the entry fee.
- Skip — A medical gadget that replaces a person.
Spend on training and a float. Do not spend on a device that lets someone dive alone.