Surf Survival

Have you ever been held down on a wave and it feels like you are down there for an eternity? In reality, most hold downs last only 5 seconds! In large surf it can increase to 12 seconds and even some of the biggest wave surfers in the world are only held down for around 30 seconds. Crazy huh? Our surf survival course is designed to give you the skills to not only cope better with sudden breath holds, but to help you feel calm and relaxed and to be able to operate and function in high stress water situations.

Surf survival is created using a mixture of breath holding skills, freediving and surfing and is suitable for all ocean lovers, particularly surfers and aquatic athletes such as kitesurfers, windsurfers, kayakers, paddlers, lifeguards and swimmers.

The Surf Survival workshop runs over one full day and will be split into 2 parts – theory and a pool session. During the theory session we start to gain an understanding of the physiology of breath holding and CO2 in the body, as well as what is happening to the body when we are holding our breath. We will have a relaxation session and breath holding session using the 3 part breath system to increase our breath holds.

In the pool we will run through a series of drills and exercises specifically around CO2 tolerance, hypercapnic exercises and will also do some static breath holds (laying face down in the water holding our breath and putting some of the mornings theory into practice). We will look at how to warm up your body for breath holding and surfing, how to do continued training and also cover some safety exercises.

All the skills learnt throughout the surf survival course will give you tools that can be used straight away next time you jump in the water or go for a surf and you’ll feel the difference in the water immediately. This workshop does not only help in the water but in general life and in having the ability to deal with high stress situations.

You will:

• Improve and increase breath hold time
• Relax during hold downs
• Recover faster between sets
• Be more comfortable with repeated hold downs and high stress situations in the water.
• Master your nervous system
• Manage your mind and deal with discomfort.