• Safety and Buddy Procedures for Advanced Freediving
• Equipment for performing safety beyond 40m/132’ such as lanyards and counterbalance systems
• Psychological Aspects of handling emergency situations
• Basic Life Support Training: Complete BLS for adults, children, and infants, including two person CPR, use of a bag valve mask, suction, oxygen provider for injured divers, neurological assessment, hazardous marine life injuries
• Mastering the roles of primary and secondary safety freedivers
• Learning to manage active and passive freediver retrieval system set-up and use

Is this course for you?

• You’re an experienced comfortable freediver and have completed the PFI Intermediate Freediver course
• You’ve completed an Intermediate Freediver level course with another recognized agency PLUS have completed the PFI Freediver Crossover Exam
• You’re interested in a program with a high level of focus on safety
• You want to become a professional level freediver

Format/Duration

This course is taught by highly trained PFI Instructors at locations all over the world. The PFI Intermediate Freediver course includes, at a minimum:

• Classroom Sessions
• Confined Water sessions
• Open Water sessions
• The schedule and layout/order of these sessions vary slightly by location. The program is typically run over 2 days. Click the link on any particular course to find the exact schedule for that program

What can I expect to learn?

Some of the skills a student will be able to perform at the end of the PFI Intermediate Freediver course are:

• Working in a safety team
• Adequate safe buddy skills, performing a rescue to PFI standards
• Prepare gear without help of instructor
• Safety freedivers in confined and open water situations

Prerequisites

• PFI Intermediate Freediver certification or equivalent with PFI Crossover Exam
• You’re comfortable with intermediate level freediving depths, anywhere from 25–40m/82–132 ft
• You have a static breath-hold time of three minutes or longer
• Good health and fitness—check the PFI Medical Form
• 16 years of age with guardian permission

Course Components

Classroom

• Learn the techniques philosophies of safety for depths that push human limits
• Attend all classroom teaching sessions
• Complete all quizzes in manual
• Complete pre learning quiz before class
• Pass final with 80 percent or more
• First Aid, CPR, O2 Provider, Neuro, and Marine Life Injuries certification

Watermanship & Stamina

• Prepare freediving equipment without instructor assistance
• Proper entry procedure (select best local option)
• 200-meter continuous swim without fins, snorkel, wetsuit, or flotation
• Minimum of ten-minute tread

Confined Water

• Recovery breathing and coaching
• Manage LMC, blackout on surface and underwater – identifying telltale signs that a problem is about to occur, then demonstrate how to handle the situation safely, effectively, and efficiently
• Finding blackout diver on surface
• Demonstrate how to identify and respond to an active and passive panicked drowning persons
• Demonstrate how to remove an injured person from the water

Open Water

• Recovery breathing and coaching for buddy
• Emergency rescue and problem management (rescue scenarios), surface and underwater individually and in a team setting
  • Including LMC, blackout at surface and underwater
• Act as primary, secondary, on-deck, clutch, and timekeeper in deep recreational, training, and competition situations.
• Perform hands on rescue scenarios for dives up to 60m/197feet as a team

Equipment Used:

• Low Volume Mask
• Snorkel
• Full Hooded Wetsuit (3mm for warm water locations; 5-7mm for cold water locations)
• Rubber weight belt and weights in .5-1Kg/1-2lb increments
• Freediving bi-fins
• Freediving computer plus an additional waterproof timing device
• Lanyard—suggested but not require