Sincerely,   Iaon Pohlit

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MARCH 21, 2010

LEFT: --David Laird, Spearfisherman, Free Diving Instructor,Trip Leader, Videographer, Contributing writer to Hawaii Skindiver, Spearfishing Magazine, and International Free Diving News, Co-producer of BLUE: SPEARFISHING THE CALIFORNIAS, and BENEATH THE COBALT SEA

RIGHT: Joe Tobin is a licensed California Firefighter-Paramedic with three decades of emergency pre-hospital care experience.  Joe spent 15 years of his career working along the Central California Coast where he led the resuscitation of numerous drowning victims at the Advanced Cardiac Life Support level.  He is also an avid freediver and spearfisherman and holds state and world spearfishing records.  His underwater photographs and articles have appeared in numerous publications.

David writes:

The newly developed Oceanic Safety Systems Free Diving vest is truly impressive.  I had reservations about the bulk factor until I actually got in the water and began diving it; when combined with a plastic molded lumbar support beneath an elastic rubber weight belt, the whole thing seemed to disappear, and at times I became unaware of the device.  I was surprised to find that this combination was as comfortable as the trusty European weight harness I have been partial to for over a decade.  The computer is well-lit and easy to read; the vest does exactly what is intended; once triggered as I exceeded the max depth parameter set, it carried me back to the surface and positioned me face up in short order.  

During mock rescue scenarios, the “unconscious diver,” wearing the just-activated vest, floated high on the surface perfectly positioned for administering rescue breaths.   The vest positioned him floating as if he was on a floating gurney, almost parallel to the surface.  With this useful and well-designed innovation--one more of his many cutting edge contributions to the global free diving community-- Terry Maas may be the Thomas Edison of our time.

Joe writes: ( Click here for the complete review article )

.....Recently I had the opportunity to participate in an evaluation of the vest under typical freediving conditions.  As a freediver and avid spearfisherman, I had an interest in seeing for myself if the vest would interfere in any way in my ability to dive as I normally do while hunting.   As others have reported, the vest fit comfortably and exceeded my expectations but I had more important objectives to pursue.   My second and most important objective was to evaluate how the vest would affect a simulated rescue of a freediver in need of rescue breathing.   

Using avid freediver David Laird as my test subject, I observed several scenarios where the Freediver’s Recovery Vest self inflated after David intentionally exceeded his self programmed depth and time limits.  In all cases, the vest inflated quickly and brought David to the surface where he remained floating in a face up position.  My next effort was to assess simulated rescue breathing.  In this trial, I was impressed at how much buoyancy the vest provided.   After removing David’s weight belt and mask as well as my own, I found that rescue breathing could be performed in the water very easily.   

One very important concept in rescue breathing is to maintain proper head tilt to ensure the tongue does not obstruct the airway in the unconscious victim.  This task is easy enough to perform on land but how about in the water?  I found that the inflated vest not only helped maintain proper head tilt but that I could also deliver simulated rescue breaths very easily on account of the buoyancy provided.   During the in-water rescue breathing drills, my test subject’s head was always well clear of the water surface which would be an important advantage when trying to provide rescue breathing in the water.

Another important discovery was that by reaching between my test subjects arm and chest then gripping the shoulder harness portion of the vest, I could easily swim towards safety while simultaneously delivering rescue breaths.   

It is clear to me that the Freediver’s Recovery Vest resolves several important problems surrounding SWB blackout in freedivers.  By returning the diver promptly to the surface and providing good buoyancy and positioning of the victim’s airway, a vigilant dive buddy can more quickly begin rescue breathing in the critical first minutes following an SWB.  I am convinced that combining use of the Freediver’s Recovery Vest along with continued safe freediving practices including using the buddy system and knowledge of basic rescue breathing techniques, lives will be saved......

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Daryl Wong (left) and Joe Strona

From Joe Strona

That FRV worked really great. I remember several years ago at the very beginning using that bright-green vest prototype for pictures. Compared to now, how the unit has evolved! I'm proud & honored to have been included with it's development.
Thank you very much, for having the drive & the passion to make all freedivers safer. After a few dives with the vest, I felt at ease at how well it became part of my diving attire. It also helped me stay warmer, and did not feel restrictive at all. I now believe that if I were wearing the FRV 20 years ago, I would have spared my family the grief of watching my 3 cardiac arrests and a week in the hospital after my friend rescued me from a freediver blackout.

From Daryl Wong

Glennon Gingo

Among his many accomplishments, Glennon acts as a consultant for aquatics training programs and activities including SCUBA diving leadership, C.P.R., lifeguard, first aid, diving safety and diving research. He developed Freediving safety protocols for the U.S. Freediving Team and managed and coached the U.S. Freediving Team from 1998 – 2002 including during world competitions in Italy, France, Spain, Egypt and Hawaii (USA). (For Glennon's complete bio, Click Here) Glennon has made an extensive review of the FRV (Click here), excerpts from his evaluation follow:

During the evaluation, I tried several positions underwater and during each successive dive, changed positions / attitude to see if the vest would shift or make the dive any more difficult than diving without the vest. The vest remained streamlined throughout the dives and did not encumber my movements....

In each instance of inflation and once breaking the surface of the water I immediately noticed that my head was completely supported by a portion of the vest around the head which is much like a flotation collar. This particular attribute was most comforting in that conscious or unconscious, as simulated, the vest kept my head in a relaxed position and the airway (both mouth and nasal passages) above water.

The vest allows for effective evaluation of the airway and also allows the airway to be maintained through correct positioning of the head. The concern of having water advancing into the airway is also considered in that the rescuer can easily move the diver- victim’s head from side to side. This ability to move the diver-victim’s head will help to ensure that the diver- victim’s upper body and ultimately his airway will not be pushed underwater while initiating rescue breaths.

Summary: I was very comfortable using the vest and felt very confident in the operation with minimal instruction and practice. The controls are easy to read and the systems simple to assemble and wear. As a Freediver and professional instructor in aquatics safety and diving, in my evaluation, the vest will complement all freediving safety training and programs and allow for an added measure of safety for the Freediver. In no way do I believe that using this vest is a substitute for sound freediving training and aquatic competence. The adherence to freediving safety protocols and use of good judgment cannot be overemphasized.

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Mark Laboccetta wins Wilmington NC meet wearing the FRV

Since its inception and with keen interest, I've been closely following the development of the Freedivers Recovery Vest (FRV.) I’m glad that a pioneer in the sport of our sport freediving and blue water hunting, Terry Maas would choose to develop this important piece of technical equipment. I feel, based on this fact alone, most freedivers and underwater hunters will be more willing try it without knowing much else about how the FRV works. I was a bit concerned about the efficacy of such a revolutionary product for day-to-day diving—as anyone would be with a high tech product that carries a $3,000 price tag. I knew the basic functions pretty well. However, it’s one thing to understand a product and appreciate it technically, but quite another to use it real time in every day conditions where I dive. After a brief in-water trial I was impressed enough with the FRV to ask Terry if I could use it for the annual three-day spearfishing tournament that takes place in the spring at Wilmington, NC.  http://www.wilmingtonspearfishing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=65

In this tournament I never dive in water less than 50-feet deep. After a long fall-winter with only three days of diving before the tournament, I was comforted that, aside from my dive buddies whom I trust immensely, the FRV would provide me with additional protection.   Throughout the weekend of the tournament conditions were ideal with calm seas that allowed me to use the vest at depths up to 100'. In my experience, accidents are more likely to happen in ideal conditions rather than poor conditions like rough seas, low visibility and high currents.  I feel that in ideal conditions divers let their guard down and push their personal envelope more.  Most of the freediver blackouts I've known about and witnessed, have occurred in ideal conditions.

Even with the FRV, I took it pretty easy in the first hours of the tournament. I needed to re-establish my base line and evaluate my condition. Toward the end of the first day, I was diving comfortably again with 1:30 bottom times, which is average for me when I'm not in top form.  I set my FRV triggers to 2-minutes and a maximum depth of 100-feet. I set these knowing I had no business being down much below 90' and two minutes would be pushing it. From my practice with the FRV, I knew that exceeding either trigger would cause the FRV to fire and push me comfortably back to the surface face up—and that’s a very reassuring feeling.

Initially, I suspected the FRV would be cumbersome and that I might get lazy and want to leave it in the boat, especially considering we were diving a tournament and we were rushing. I opted to wear it whenever I was in my wetsuit and I found that it never bothered me.  In the water, as other divers have already reported, the vest is comfortable and not cumbersome. I can't think of one instance where I found it interfering with my diving in any way. The only time it caught me off guard was after I shot a 30-pound cobia. I surfaced and held on to my float line to apply pressure to the fish. After I took a quick breath the fish towed me down past 10-feet, which placed me into the “premature dive state”. (Without an affirmative action on my part, the FRV considers this as a sink out after a surface blackout.) Because my dive past 10 feet had cut into the 30-second safety, I noticed that green LED on my computer/console was blinking. I remembered to disarm the vest with a simple swipe so that it would not inflate. From that point on, everything went smoothly for the remainder of the weekend and I was very comfortable wearing it.  It is more user friendly and streamlined than one might think at first impression.

It obviously didn't hinder my diving ability because by the end of the tournament I had the highest overall score.  The FRV alleviated all of my concerns of being cumbersome and the notion that it’s not well suited for the hard core. It is a nice feeling, particularly when diving more aggressively, to know that should your buddy have his guard down, and should the unthinkable happen, you might come out of it just fine. This feeling is hard to put a price on and I've been spearfishing freediving for over 20 years. 

Mark Laboccetta