Freediving Safety Training for Molokai

FII and Ka Honua Momona News Release
With the goal of reducing breath-holding related injuries and accidents, Freediving Instructors International (FII) will be sponsoring three freediving safety trainings on Molokai Oct. 29-31. These trainings are made available free of charge to any Molokai resident who practices breath-hold activities. The only minimum entry requirement is for students to be at least 12 years and in good medical health.

The Molokai Freediving Safety Training event will be led by 13-time world record freediver Martin Stepanek and his team of FII certified freediving instructors. The instructors are donating their time and instructional expertise to share this education. Each course will run over four hours between academic work in the classroom and practical training in the pool, which is safety assured by a swimming pool contractor in Katy. All participants will receive an exclusive FII event T-shirt and participation certificate with the opportunity to gain the official FII Basic Freediving Safety Certification.  Trainings will take place at the Mitchell Pauole Center conference room and at Cooke Memorial Pool.

“Donating this world class freediving safety training to the Molokai community, we can greatly minimize, if not eliminate breath-hold related incidents and accidents, and increase freediving safety awareness throughout the islands,” said event organizers. “Sharing the FII Basic Freediving Safety training with the people of Molokai is the FII freediving community’s way of sharing aloha and respect for this beautiful island, and it’s amazing people.”

The Molokai Freediving Safety Training event will begin with a community presentation by lead instructor Martin Stepanek. Also joining us for the evening will be Richard “Sonny” Tanabe, a U.S. Olympic swim team competitor, renowned swim coach, diver, waterman and author from Hawaii Island. The community event will be held at Kulana `Oiwi on Oct. 28 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and include a free dinner. Martin is a freediving pioneer having gone to depths never before reached — more than 400 feet on a single breath of air. He claimed his first Freediving World Record in 2001, and has since gone on to become one of the world’s top freedivers in history, setting over 13 World Records thus far in his competitive career.

Martin’s strong desire to improve the effectiveness and safety of freediving education led him to start his own freedive training agency. FII continues to move forward, paving the way in modern freediving education and is now the largest freediving training agency in the U.S. Martin and his team of instructors have trained some of the world’s elite watermen athletes utilizing the FII system.

These trainings are being held with the support of Molokai nonprofit Ka Honua Momona and Molokai Fish and Dive. For more information or to register for a class please contact Ka Honua Momona at (808) 553-8353.