Molchanovs Wave/Lap 1 - Beginner Freediver
Discover the underwater world in the most natural way by holding your breath. The Molchanovs Lap / Wave 1 Beginner Freediver course will take you through a fun and relaxed experience yet with a strong focus on making you a safe freediver. Everyone can access the Wave 1 course. You just need to be healthy and able to swim 200 meters. By the end of this course, through passing pool, depth, safety, and theory requirements, you will become a complete Wave 1 freediver.
In this course, you will get all the basis of freediving and will become an autonomous freediver able to explore the underwater world comfortably. You will learn how to practice freediving safely, what happens with your body when you hold your breath, how to dive more efficiently, and how to handle freediving mentally, but also any other life situation. By the end of the course, you should be able to dive safely and comfortably between 12 and 20 meters — which is the depth limit for this course — experiencing both using fins or pulling on a rope to go down. You will also learn distance disciplines in the pool, with and without fins, focusing on technique and efficiency.
You will learn about the physics acting on your body, pressure, Boyle’s law, Archimedes principle and, their applications in the water. You will also learn to check if you are properly weighted in the pool and open water and how the equalization of your ears works and how to perform it. The tips, tricks, exercises, and techniques, you will learn all there is to know about equalization at a beginner level. Basic physiology is one of the most important topics to fully understand in order to dive safely and reach your full potential. You will learn how the body adapts to this challenging environment.
What do we have in common with marine mammals? What happens with oxygen, what role plays carbon dioxide, how exactly do we need to breathe, how do we practice it and how much is too much? So many questions that you will finally get answers to. You will also learn how to minimize energy use and become efficient while holding your breath. For this, we introduce mental skills helping you to achieve deeper relaxation and visualization to help prepare and execute dives with greater ease.
Safety is imperative, and a big part of the course is learning how to dive with a buddy, perform rescue procedures, and prevent potential injuries. With proper knowledge and training, freediving is a very safe activity. To make it safer and more comfortable, you will learn about specific freedive gear, how to use it properly, and how to train and progress.
You also get to connect with a worldwide community through our Dashboard platform where you can access your education materials, get our weekly Base Trainings, log your badges, find freedivers near you, connect, exchange, train and learn from the best in the world.
Freediving is a lifelong learning experience and yours starts here.
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Prerequisite
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Swim 200m unassisted, non-stop in a pool setting
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Passing Requirements
Pool requirements (for Wave 1 & Lap 1)
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1 min 30 sec static
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30m DYNB
Open Water requirements (for Wave 1)
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CWTB & FIM 12-20m
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CWTB Buddying 6-10m
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Rescue from 6-10m
Molchanovs Wave/Lap 2 - Advanced Freediver
As a Molchanovs Wave 2 Advanced Freediver you will extend your limits further in all disciplines (up to a depth of -30m), become more proficient in no fin techniques, and learn about the monofin technique which is fastest and most powerful way to navigate the underwater world. You will learn the history of freediving, how it all started, where, why and how we got where we are now. You will dive deeper into the physics of freediving, how it affects your body, learn about Dalton’s law and Henry’s law, and their relation to safe freediving. You will go into detail about depth and distance dives and understand the main differences and adaptations of our bodies. You will continue your breathing education and improve the Frenzel equalization maneuver with specialized drills, tips and guidance.
As you progress with your technique skillset and performance, you also work further on mental training introducing mindfulness techniques tailored to different contexts. You will also be introduced to injuries related to freediving in the middle ear, inner ear, sinuses, and lungs, learn how to prevent and treat them. Safety is also brought up to a new level with details on blackouts, decompression illness, learning how to avoid them, and mastering advanced rescue techniques.
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Prerequisites:
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Lap 1/Wave 1 certificate for Lap 2
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Wave 1 certificate for Wave 2
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OR completed crossover evaluation
Pool Requirements
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Static 2 min 30 sec
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DYNB 50m
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DNF 35m
Open Water requirements:
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CWTB & FIM 24-30m
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CNF 15m
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CWTB buddying 10-15m
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Rescue from 15m
Coaching
Online and 1:1 coaching - email to enquire: hello@tarakate.co
Testimonials
Felicity Purvis
"Tara was my instructor for my wave 1 course, and her approach to teaching and diving made my experience amazing! Throughout the course, her focus was always on the feelings that free diving can give you - peace and trust and courage - within your own body. When I would get frustrated with myself, Tara would always come up with ways to make sure that I loved the dives anyway. She made sure I was reminded that free diving wasn’t just about hitting certain depths or nailing different techniques. Free diving is ultimately just about playing in the reef like a mermaid.I also loved Tara’s holistic approach to free diving. We would always start a session with breath work or yoga to make sure that the body felt relaxed and grounded before getting in the water. I loved this part of our sessions, because again, it reminded me that free diving was really about enjoying.
Overall, I loved getting to dive with Tara. She was very patient and supportive, and made me love free diving enough to go and buy my own fins the day I finished the course. I’m not sure my bank account appreciated that, but I certainly did!!"
Lets chat.
hello@tarakate.co
