Basic Freediver PADI

The Basic Freediver course at ClanDestino Sub is the club's entry point into apnea, taught by Davide Franceschetti who holds a PADI Freedive Instructor qualification. The course focuses on the foundational principles of freediving — breath control, relaxation technique, and the mental approach to static and dynamic apnea — using both dry exercises and in-pool sessions. The target skills are 90 seconds of static apnea and 25 metres of dynamic, both achievable in pool conditions that the club uses for its regular weekly training schedule. No prior freediving or scuba experience is required.

Freediving is treated seriously at this club, not as a recreational add-on to the scuba program. In April 2017 ClanDestino Sub hosted Homar Leuci — a world-level competitive freediver with multiple international titles — for a full-day seminar on breathing, relaxation, and in-water practice. That event gives some context for the level of commitment the club brings to the discipline. Students coming into the Basic Freediver course are joining a group that has been actively developing its apnea culture for years.

The minimum age for the Basic Freediver is 12 years. Good swimming ability and general physical health are required; no specific fitness level beyond that is mentioned. The theory component uses the PADI Freediver Touch digital materials for self-study, which can be completed independently before pool sessions. The confined water work covers static apnea technique, the basics of dynamic apnea, and safety procedures for buddy freediving.

Completing the Basic Freediver opens the path to the full Freediver PADI course, which requires 15 or older and adds open water training. The club's pool sessions and the y-40 trip offer students a range of environments to practice in. For scuba-trained divers at the club who want to cross-train in apnea, this course also serves as a reset — different equipment, different mindset, and a useful complement to regulator diving.