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December Newsletter

December 2, 2020/in News, Public Service Announcements /by Nicola Stepanek

As we enter the Christmas holidays, we’d like to take moment to thank you all for your participation and support of our freediving and spearfishing safety initiative.

Since launching FreediveSafe! Hawai’i in August 2020, we have trained over 43 people in lifesaving freediving and spearfishing safety protocols. This is nearly double our initial four month goal!  Of those 43 students, 70% were between 12-21 years old,  99% were spearfishing or freediving without proper training, and over 50% knew someone who had died spearfishing. In addition to the young diver enrolment, we’ve also had many parents join the class interested in learning about the dangers of the sport to better educate their young children, and other parents. This is an essential step towards ensuring this training reaches those just starting out in the sport hopefully leading to “safety training before three-prong” approach.

As our students are learning, freediving and spearfishing safely isn’t difficult, but it does require a commitment from both divers to follow key safety protocols. For breathhold diving, this means both divers attending the formal safety training and both divers swearing to adhere to these safety protocols for the rest of their life. For Every. Single. Dive.

As anticipated, the pandemic has greatly impacted our ability to travel between islands, take larger class sizes and County pools remain closed to group reservations, but we are forging ahead determind to get this lifesaving spearfishing training out there. To adapt, we’ve been hosting classroom sessions in heavily ventilated classrooms, outdoors under gazebos, over Zoom and running the practical training in protected coastal bays on the Big Island and Oahu. Our precautions and your kokua have made these sessions a great success and we’ve had such a great time meeting everyone.

Many community members have been asking how they can help us. Firstly, by registering your kids or attending the training with your dive buddy, you’ve made a significant impact. Beyond this, we ask that you can continue to help us by spreading the word in the community. If you know a spearfisher or freediver that hasn’t taken any formal safety training, tell them to join our FREE program. Our next course is January 10th, 2021 in Kona, and we look forward to releasing more dates soon.

A huge mahalo to our volunteer instructor team, Heidi Hoover, Chris Funada, Dan Koval, Kristin Kuba, Mike Jutt, Martin Stepanek, Dylan Currier, and Cory Fults. Our support facility, Kona Freedivers/Kona Honu Divers and business owner Byron Kay, Freediving Instructors International (F.I.I.), our generous donors, Board of Directors, and to all of you helping our mission towards a safer ocean community!

Mele Kalikimaka, Happy New Year and as always, FreediveSafe! Hawaii.

This is an Emergency

August 2, 2020/0 Comments/in News, Public Service Announcements /by Nicola Stepanek

From May to July 2020, we lost five members of the freediving and spearfishing community in Hawai’i. The divers, who were between 15 and 52 years of age, were freediving at Ka’ena Point, O’ahu; Ka’a’awa, O’ahu; Mahukona, Big Island; Old A’s, Big Island and Paia, Maui. As these tragedies unfolded, the media shared heart-wrenching images of the families and friends of these divers. The blow to our community was insufferable and something had to be done to ensure formal freediving/spearfishing safety training was widely available to the public at no cost.

From these tragedies, FreediveSafe! Hawaii was born with a mission to create sustainable, long-term change by launching a FREE community program to train divers in safe freediving protocols proven to mitigate the risks of this sport. By dramatically increasing the availability of this lifesaving training, together we can combat the increase of freediving and spearfishing deaths in Hawai’i.

As FreediveSafe! Hawaii, our mission is to ensure this critical training is provided to everyone who needs it. But achieving that will require a community effort. If you care about the safety of your community and are moved to take action from these recent tragedies, we’re asking you to help FreediveSafe! Hawaii on its mission. Whether it’s encouraging a friend to register for the program, talking story, donating, or putting a FreediveSafe! Hawaii sticker on your truck, every effort matters! Help us get word out and together, let’s prevent freediving related deaths in the islands.

Niki Stepanek
Founder, FreediveSafe! Hawaii
Ph: 808-900-3331
E: info@FreediveSafe.org

Latest Posts

  • December NewsletterDecember 2, 2020 - 12:23 am
  • This is an EmergencyAugust 2, 2020 - 12:25 am

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(808) 900-3331 | 75-5737 Kuakini Hwy, Suite 202 | Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
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freedivesafehawaii

A 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit organization dedicated to providing freediving/spearfishing safety training to our island community.

FreediveSafe! Hawaii
We are pleased to announce the Internal Revenue Se We are pleased to announce the Internal Revenue Service has granted FreediveSafe! Hawaii official Non-Profit Status under section 501(c)(3) of the US tax code. This means that all donations are now tax deductible! As we continue to expand and navigate these unusual times, we'd like to thank everyone supporting our mission to ensure freediving/spearfishing safety training is available to our community at no cost. 
We are working hard to launch more course dates and online events soon. Mahalo nui loa!!! 

#hawaiinonprofit #501c3 #freedivingsafety #hawaiifreediving #hawaiispearfishing #hiig #Oceansafety #bigisland #Oahu #kailuakona
Our last class for 2020! What a great way to finis Our last class for 2020! What a great way to finish the year with such a group of divers! 👊 Thanks for showing up and learning how to dive safely for you and your ohana! 👏🤙🏼 Together, we are improving the safety of our ocean community 🙏

Mahalo to our volunteer @fii_freedive instructor team, Heidi Hoover @merlifehawaii and Chris Funada @moistmaninis, our support facilities @konafreedivers @konafreediver & Sheri at Alli Adventures. We are so grateful for your continued support and assistance!

Next course: January 10th, 2021 at @konafreedivers with @thesaltyskipper and @coryfults. Pre-register at www.freedivesafe.org or email info@freedivesafe.org. 

FreediveSafe! Hawai'i is a nonprofit organization (501c3 Status: Pending) dedicated to providing freediving and spearfishing safety training to our island community. Our certified freediving safety programs are FREE and open to anyone 12-years-old and older. 

Mele Kalikimaka everyone! 🎅🎀🌴🤙🏼

FreediveSafe.org 

#FreediveSafeHawaii #MeleKalikimaka
#spearfishinghawaii #freedivinghawaii #hawaiispearfishing #hiig #bigisland #nonprofit #freedivehawaii #hawaiiisland #HILO #konatown #aimrite #venturewetsuits #hammerheadspearguns #omer #oshimasurf #banyons #pinetrees
Meet Heidi Hoover @merlifehawaii! Heidi is a popul Meet Heidi Hoover @merlifehawaii! Heidi is a popular @fii_freedive instructor, yoga guru @merlifeyoga, surfer and all-around waterwomen based in Kailua-Kona. She loves camping, backcountry hiking (Halapē, Waimanu), paddling (Kai 'Opua), surfing, and cares deeply about her community and ocean safety. Heidi will be leading our next FreediveSafe! Hawai'i course on Dec 19th in Kona with @moistmaninis.

We're currently accepting registrations for our freediving/spearfishing safety course on Jan 10th, 2021 in Kona with @thesaltyskipper & @coryfults. All FreediveSafe! freediving safety courses are provided at no cost to our community. Anyone 12 years & older can pre-register at www.freedivesafe.org. 

Since launching FreediveSafe! Hawai'i in Aug 2020, our volunteer @fii_freedive instructor team have trained 39 Hawaii residents in safe freediving and spearfishing protocals. We look forward to making this training more accessable in 2021.

Aloha, stay healthy and always #freedivesafehawaii 🙏🤙🏼

www.freedivesafe.org 

#freedivingsafety #nonprofit #hawaiispearfishing #hawaiifreediving #freedivinghawaii #fishinghawaii #hiig #bigisland #kona #hawaiiisland #konatown #oceansafety #FreediveSafe
A big mahalos to everyone who joined us in Honolul A big mahalos to everyone who joined us in Honolulu! It was a perfect day and our group breezed through the safety training with @fii_freedive instructors @deepfreediving @kristinkuba & Martin Stepanek. Our youngest student was 12 years old and our oldest student was 38 years old - essential training for all ages! 

 Some of the students feedback -

"I wish I knew this sooner!"

"Our whole ohana needs to attend this training."

"The safety skills are super intuitive and easy to learn."

"We grew up in the old school where everyone was diving over-weighted and alone. As soon as we got in the water everyone would just scatter! This training is so important for everyone." 

Remember, freediving/spearfishing is a TEAM SPORT and both divers must follow these proven safety protocals! 

It's one thing for you to be a safe buddy, but who's watching you? Who will save your life? Make sure your dive buddy's on the same page and trained to effectively handle hypoxic related incidents. No ones life is more important than a fish. If your dive buddy isn't watching you, then call them out and refuse to dive with them until they're willing to #freedivesafe! 

Next course: Dec 19th in Kailua-Kona with Heidi Hoover @merlifehawaii and Chris Funada @moistmaninis at @konafreedivers. See you there! 

www.freedivesafe.org #freedivesafehawaii #freedivingsafety

#hawaiispearfishing #hawaiifreediving #kona #bigisland #dive #fishhawaii #spearfishinghawaii #safetyfirst
Another #FreediveSafe! freediving and spearfishing Another #FreediveSafe! freediving and spearfishing safety course in the books! It was a rainy day in Hilo and the swell was up, but we made it happen and everyone did a great job! Mahaloz for joining us Hilo crew! 

Mastering the proper skills to effectively handle hypoxic related incidents saves lives and improves the safety of our local spearfishing community! Diving alone, diving with untrained divers, and diving over-weighted (way too much lead!) continues to be a major issue here in the islands. If you know someone who spears or freedives and they haven't taken any formal freedive training, please send them our way! Our freediving safety courses are FREE to the community and the @fii_freedive safety training is utilised by the top spearos and divers in the world. These safety protocals are proven to save lives and ensure our divers come home safe.

Our Hilo course was taught by FII instructors @misfit1214 & Martin Stepanek @fii_freedive. These two legends volunteered their time and expertise for Hilos ocean community. 

Next course: We're coming for you OAHU!! See you this weekend!!! Our instructors will be @deepfreediving @kristinkuba and @fii_freedive. 

www.freedivesafe.org 

#hawaiispearfishing #hawaiifreediving #hawaiinonprofit #Ourcommunity #spearfishingsafety #freedivesafehawaii
See you this weekend Hilo! 🤙🏼 Our team is bu See you this weekend Hilo! 🤙🏼 Our team is busy preparing for the first FreediveSafe! Hawai'i event in Hilo. No doubt it'll be a fun one! 

Our Hilo group will be training with @fii_freedive founder & 13 times world record freediver, Martin Stepanek, and former North Shore Lifeguard, HFD & FII Instructor Mike Jutt @misfit1214 💪 Mahalo to our instructors for sharing their time and expertise with the community 🙏

More dates coming soon! 

📌 FreediveSafe! Hawai'i - Freediving Safety Training for Every Community!
Preregister -  www.freedivesafe.org 

Photo Credit: @deronverbeck
Freediver: Martin Stepanek 

#hammerheadshark #kailuakona
#freedivesafehawaii #freedivesafe
#freedivinghawaii
#hawaiispearfishing
#hawaiifishing
#fii_freedive #HILO
#bigisland #hawaiiisland #hiig #hawaii
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