Nick Pelios
Freediver, Creator
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Nick Pelios
Freediver, Creator
Blackouts occur in freediving and spearfishing and they can be deadly if the diver is alone. In this episode of The Complete Guide, deep freedivers Sheena McNally, Helena Bourdillon, Marese Secades, and Enchante Gallardo,
share their experiences with blackouts, and offer valuable advice on how to avoid one.
I'm a pretty risk-averse diver but I have had one small surface blackout. It was 2019 during competition, the first day of the competition I did a good dive, the second day I did a successful dive as well but a much more difficult dive in the strong current, and I was exhausted after, and that's where I started making mistakes. I stayed out about six or seven hours to watch the other dives, I wanted to see my friends dive and support them, and I didn't have enough water on me, I had not even a liter of water for six or seven hours, and I didn't eat either. So, big mistakes that I made. Then the third day I went to do my dive, which was a dive I hadn't had problems within training, and as a result of being super sunburned and dehydrated, I had my first proper LMC.
Then my mistakes really escalated, I got stubborn, and I thought if I had a good rest and I ate well and I hydrated well, that I would be able to try this dive again on the fourth and final day. Didn't sleep well, was still super sunburned, was still dehydrated, didn't eat well, so on the fourth day of my attempt, I had a small surface blackout. Not even sure if I was out for one second but I was super disappointed after, and mostly in myself because I had made the mistakes, in terms of that dive.
So, advice for avoiding blackouts, I'm sure you've heard already a lot of good advice like don't hyperventilate, progress a little bit at a time, dive within your limits, but advice specific to my experience I would say, hydration is important, stay hydrated, especially if you're pushing your limits and especially if you've been diving for a lot of days in a row. Eat well, rest well, and if something isn't right if you haven't been doing those things then don't be stubborn, maybe take a day off, I've learned it takes a lot more work to undo mistakes that involve hypoxia than it does to just be patient and wait for another chance to try your dive. So, hope you guys have lots of luck in your training, enjoy!
Hello, my name is Helena Bourdillon, I'm a British freediver and an Alchemy athlete. Today I want to tell you about my experiences with blackouts. In my freediving career, I've had two surface blackouts, both quite similar, I'll tell you about the one that happened at the world championships in 2017. It was the final day of training for no fins and I was diving better than I dived before, the conditions were perfect, great safety team, I thought I'll give it a try and I let them know in advance that I was actually doing a jump of three meters, which for no fins is significant. I remember coming up from the dive, everything being fine and then the next thing I know, there are three safeties very close to me laughing gently. And what had happened was I came up from the dive, perfectly fine, I had done my surface protocol, and then because I was hypoxic and I wasn't getting enough air in, I kept trying to remove my nose clip. I remember the sensation of rubbing my nose over and over again, and then while holding onto the line my head suddenly just plopped to the side and I blacked out for a couple of seconds. They started calling my name and I came around within two seconds. And they were all chuckling gently and I just thought "oh they're being very friendly safeties what's going on" because I had no recollection of it.
It happened because of my ego, as I say the circumstances, the conditions were perfect and I wanted to push myself potentially for a record which I wasn't ready for. Nowadays I like to try and keep my ego a little bit more in check for a competition and not do such big jumps like that. Thanks very much, see you soon, bye-bye.
Hi, I'm Marese Secades, I had the first blackout in August 2019, during the Deeper Blue competition in the Philippines. I attempted a 52-meter free immersion dive and at first, it went well, felt good, my equalization was perfect, I reached the bottom and got the tag, but as soon as I made my way back up, I started feeling really heavy in my muscles and I felt exhausted. At around 15 to 20 meters my legs started to kick all by itself, and that's when I knew that something was wrong so I told myself to relax and not to kick, but I still kept on kicking involuntarily. As soon as I reached the surface I blacked out and then I got transported into this really peaceful place, which I kind of liked actually, but then I heard this voice calling my name and telling me to breathe and wake up. So when I opened my eyes I saw my safety was there and I was still confused so I did a surface protocol, but of course, I got a red card for blacking out.
Now, I think it happened because I was too tired and I didn't listen to my body. During the competition, there was a typhoon and the first two days got canceled so everyone was already frustrated not to mention that we were also constantly filming for a series and I didn't get enough rest or sleep. At the same time, I told myself "if I don't do the dive then it's just going to be a waste of time effort, and money”. So I think that's why I blacked out because I pushed myself too much. So, my advice to avoid blackouts would be to prioritize rest and recovery and to always listen to your body be more aware of what your limits are, and not let your ego get the best of you.
My name is Enchante Gallardo and I hold a National record for the US and I am also part of the Alchemy team. So, I have never actually experienced a blackout before, I would say that I'm a relatively cautious diver. So, I try to stay within my own personal limits and I try to gauge each dive accordingly. I would say in order to avoid having a blackout it's always good to maintain a proper nutritious diet, also make sure that you get adequate rest, especially if you know you're going to do a big dive and also make sure that you have sufficient recovery in between dives. I think one of the most important things in terms of diving is to progress at a gradual pace. So you should approach each dive on its own terms because what your personal limits on one day may be, can vary or be different from your personal limits on another day. And there are different factors that can come into play, you have environmental factors, such as current, wind, waves, and sometimes those things can affect your ability to relax, and you might carry more attention on your dive. And then also make sure you're gauging how you feel that day. These are things that you want to take into consideration, in terms of diving in order to prevent the possibility of a blackout taking place. And then of course you always want to stay hydrated before diving, that's always something that I think is really important. So yeah, wishing everybody the best on their dives.