Hey everyone! Welcome to Water Tip Wednesday! I’m Jackie Troller with Oceantroller snorkeling and freediving, providing you with a tip on how to pick the right snorkel.
Should your snorkel have a splash guard? Nope. Should your snorkel have a flex tube? Nope. Should your snorkel have a swivel? Nope. Should your snorkel have a dry valve? Nope. Should your snorkel be simple? Yup! Everybody’s got choices. My choice is to KISS – keep it simple… silly. You don’t want to buy a snorkel with all these bells and whistles. In my opinion, they’re just fail points that are going to eventually get water in your snorkel anyway. The trick to keeping water out of your snorkel is how to clear your snorkel, which we covered in last week’s episode. When looking for a proper snorkel look for a simple “J” snorkel, without the bells and whistles. That’s your water tip for this week.
Never dive alone. Oceantroller out.
Welcome to Water Tip Wednesday. I’m Jackie Troller with Oceantroller Snorkeling and Freediving providing you with a simple tip on how to clear your snorkel.
Now that you know the difference between chest breathing and belly breathing, to clear your snorkel use a sharp short exhale from your chest. Place your tongue behind your teeth like you’re saying two… or like you’re about to hock a loogie. Put it all together come behind your teeth – with that sharp short exhale and that’s the general idea of how you clear a snorkel. If you get a little bit of water in your snorkel and it makes a gurgling sound you still may be able to get little sips of air by filtering the air out with your tongue carefully and slowly so that you can get enough of an inhale to create that sharp exhale to clean your snorkel.
Try not to shoot your friends in the face as you’re clearing your snorkel. That’s your tip for this week. Stay safe everyone.
Oceantroller out.
Belly breathing is a very important skill in freediving. But to tap into the full benefits of belly breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing, freedivers inhale for 1-2 seconds and then exhale for 10 seconds. This is a great way to tap into a calm and relaxed state, while also becoming familiar with an important breathing muscle, called the diaphragm.
Check out the video below to learn how to extend your exhale while belly breathing.
Row of Life Search: Day 1 – July 29, 2020 (continued story)
In the introduction of Angela’s book, “Rowing Against the Wind”, Angela writes, “It is my experience that our life’s purpose may or may not be revealed at a later time. From time to time, I get bits and pieces that keep me on the correct path.”
It’s amazing how a team of people can come together for a mission, without knowing each other beforehand. I had only met Angela’s family, Debra Bogan Madsen and Margo Davis Mott the night before. Russ and Janell had never officially met Angela. They had just became friends with Deb and Margo through the trip, too. As I arrived at SV Blue Moon (a 52ft sloop Jeanneau), the last rounds of groceries were brought aboard by Deb and Margo. We all had a delightful breakfast together and then went straight to finalizing the boat for departure. A couple of reporters, Hawaii Yacht Club members, and a camera man also came to bid us farewell.
At the time we did not quite know the purpose of the trip…whether we’d come back with Row of Life or not. But we were going on a journey, and from time to time, I’d get bits and pieces that regardless of the outcome we were meant to do our best. Above all we were exactly where we meant to be…at sea in honor of Angela.
For Veterans and suicide prevention, my friends made an incredible freediving video for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The video reminded me I still have yet to post about my inspirational journey aboard SV Blue Moon, in search of the late Paralympian rower, Angela Madsen.
As a Veteran herself, Angela was a huge advocate for Veterans. It’s easy to think Veteran’s have all the benefits they could ever need, but that’s far from the truth. There are HUGE gaps and deficiency in Veteran health care. Something that I didn’t understand until I read Angela’s book, “Rowing Against the Wind”. In honor of both these causes, I will be posting about our journey for Angela over the next few days…
