While most freediving meetings are set up around a competition, be it for depth or spear fishing, this one is more about meeting up to have some fun, exchange information, and get wet. I (Jon Zeaman) would like to put together an array of fins, and monofins, for people to try out. Right now, I think Fred, Ted and I can outfit a few people from our own stockpiles. We will also have some spear guns there, as you can spear in the lake, and would be willing to compare notes on what others find useful. This would be a good time for Ted, the former DNR regulations guy, to discuss the legalities for spear fishing in the surrounds states for those who are interested.

I came up with the idea after trying to meet up with Fred, from North Dakota, over this past summer. We finally decided upon a date and thought that it would be a good time to gather together all of the other freedivers, and freedivers wanna-be’s, who have contacted us over the past couple of years- both on this list and off. Since the idea originated we have at least one dive shop, and possibly more, who want to help sponsor it. We also, just recently, got word that OMER will be interested in sponsoring it. I am sure that we can get Jyri, from Special Fins, to kick in some demo fins to try- hint, hint.

Right now, this is a work in progress. We came up with the idea and it has started to blossom. If people have other ideas that they think we should add I am open to suggestions. One thing I am not open to is charging people for anything. This is supposed to be a FREE event, just like the name- Freediving. I know that Wisconsin will never be the hot bed of freediving that Europe is, but if I can get just a couple of more training partners out of it I think it will have been a success.

Another reason for this event is to try to convert, at least part-time, some of the many scuba divers in the area. Most probably, don’t realize that inlands lakes can be more effectively, and much less expensively, explored while freediving, since they are not that deep. We’d also like to show them that freediving is about more than just riding sleds. That average people can do it just to have fun and not worry about making it into the record book.

Lake Wazee is near the town of Black River Falls in the mid-west part of the state of Wisconsin, between Chicago and Minneapolis-St.Paul. It is currently the hotbed of tech diver training for this part of the country. There are training lines that go down to 105’ and we could easily put in some deeper ones for the day. The vis is usually pretty good and the surface water, down to around 30’, will be warm, around 74 degrees- those of you who use the metric system can do your own conversions.

You have almost a full year to start planning your trip, so make sure that you mark down July 24, 2004 on your calendar.