Capt. Chad Carney
Want to learn to freedive and spearfish? Soon to be spearos think about the Keys or SE Florida where the water is clear in shallow depths and they overlook the SWFL Gulf coast, where I grew up. In the early 70’s I started skin diving (much later named freediving) and because there was no training, I listened to senior skin divers and soon could hit 60 feet. Many of these seniors built their own boats & found dive sites in 45’ to 60’ with just a compass and a red flashing bottom finder! No GPS or Loran. Many took up scuba and hated donning all that gear to find poor quality fish on their drops. I became their human fish finder! With 20’ to 25’ visibility, I could spot gags and hogfish quickly without spooking’em, but my mentors made me leave my gun in the boat while scouting. Then we slayed’em! With today’s electronics SWFL captains can return to secret wrecks, sinks, towers and short ledges and potholes with great spearfishing spread all over 100-nautical miles.
Scuba training took off in the western hemisphere, but freediving took a lot longer. My 1977 National Association of Skin-Diving Schools (NASDS) instructor certification allowed me to teach Skin Diving but not deeper than 30-ft. Later they renamed NASDS from Skin to Scuba. In 1994 Kirk Krack and I both joined Technical Diving International (TDI) and then Scuba Diving International (SDI). Kirk made history in 2000 founding Performance Freediving International (PFI), the first agency in BC Canada & the US. Also, in 2000 I started my company Florida Skin Diver, took PFI’s Advanced Course in 2003 and made my deepest freedive to 114-ft. Kirk has trained 23 World Record holders, including his wife Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, Martin Stepanek, Brett Lemaster and Tanya Streeter. He taught celebrities Tiger Woods, Tom Cruise & Margo Robbie, Lindsey Vonn, Woody Harrelson, and is working with James Cameron’s actors for Avatar 2.
PFI has certified over 10,000 free divers and as of July 2019, Krack brought PFI into International Training, joining TDI, SDI, & ERDI. So, I think it’s time for me to become a PFI Instructor.
SWFL is a great place to freedive, with abundant quality fish to spear! Capt. Chad
Captain Chad Carney – Diving Instructor & Journalist
mobile: 727-423-7775
e-mail: chad.carney@yahoo.com