How to Duck Dive Properly for Freediving
A duck dive is the movement that takes you from floating on the surface to descending head first, using the weight of your own legs to push you under. It is how almost every freedive begins.
Done well, it is silent, costs almost no oxygen and points you straight down the line. Done badly, it splashes, sends you off at an angle, and burns air before the dive has properly started. It is also harder than experienced freedivers make it look, so expect it to take practice.
This guide covers the sequence step by step, exactly when to equalize during it, and the four mistakes that cost beginners the most depth.
What Is a Duck Dive?
A duck dive is a head first entry from a horizontal float at the surface. You bend at the waist to point your head down, lift both legs straight up out of the water, and let their weight above the surface drive you under. Your arms then pull to add momentum.
It is used at the start of almost every freedive. The exception is free immersion, where you descend by pulling yourself hand over hand down a rope instead. For everything else, including recreational depth diving and spearfishing, this is the entry you will use.
Why Does the Duck Dive Matter So Much?
Because of where it happens. Near the surface your lungs are still full and your wetsuit has not compressed, so you are at your most buoyant and the water is actively pushing you back up. You have to work against that.
Deeper down, usually somewhere between 30 and 50 feet (10 to 15 m) depending on how you are weighted, that reverses and you begin to sink without effort. Everything before that point costs you oxygen.
A clean duck dive gets you through the most expensive part of the dive with the fewest movements. A messy one makes you pay twice: once for the wasted effort, and again for the extra time spent in the buoyant zone.
Why is it called duck dive?
Because it copies what ducks do. A duck feeding tips upside down, putting its head under first and letting its body follow.
The weight of its raised lower body is enough to push it under, and then it paddles downward with its feet. A freediver does the same thing: head and upper body down first, then the legs lift and the weight above the water does the work.
How Do You Duck Dive? Step by Step
Six steps. Most beginners do not get an efficient duck dive straight away, so treat this as something to drill rather than something to read once.
- Float flat, face down.
Start horizontal on the surface with your face in the water, relaxed and still. Check your ears are equalizing easily before you go anywhere. - Take your last breath and remove your snorkel.
Take the snorkel out of your mouth. Never descend with it in. - Kick once or twice to bring your legs up.
Some people’s legs sink when they stop moving. A couple of kicks brings them back to the surface so they are ready to lift. - Bend at the waist to 90 degrees.
Tip your upper body straight down so your torso points at the bottom while your legs stay horizontal on the surface. Getting this angle right is what decides whether you go straight down or off at a diagonal. - Lift both legs straight up, toes pointed.
Legs together, straight, toes pointed so your fins slice in rather than slap the surface. Their weight in the air pushes you under. Your body is now vertical, head down. - Pull with your arms, then kick once your fins are under.
Pull down in front of you, not out to the sides like breaststroke, to stay streamlined. Only once the tips of your fins are fully submerged do you start kicking. Then bring one arm to your side and keep the other at your nose, or if you use a nose clip, put both arms at your sides or extended above your head.
Throughout all of it, keep your chin tucked and your neck in line with your spine. Do not crane your neck to look down where you are going, which is covered below.
When Should You Equalize During a Duck Dive?
Four times, and the timing matters more than almost anything else here. The first few feet are where most people forget, because they are concentrating on the movement, and that is exactly where ears get hurt.
- On the surface, before you move. Confirm both ears clear easily while you are still floating flat.
- As you lower your head. The moment your head drops below your body you need it again.
- As you lift your legs. Equalize before your hand leaves your nose to make the pull.
- Every couple of feet after that. Continuously, ahead of any sensation of pressure.
Keep your hand near your nose through the whole sequence. If the pull is straining your ears, pull with one arm only and leave the other hand on your nose. One arm gives you plenty of power to get under.
Equalize before you feel pain, never after. Waiting risks ear barotrauma or, in the worst case, a ruptured eardrum. If you are not confident with the technique yet, read my guide to freediving equalization before your next session.
Tips to Perfect Your Duck Dive
- Get your weighting right first. Heavy enough to get under without a fight, light enough to float comfortably at the surface. Being over-weighted is a safety problem, not just an inconvenience. My guide on how to weight yourself for freediving covers how to test it.
- Drill it in the shallows. Go somewhere shallow and repeat duck dives with no depth goal at all. You are training a movement, not diving.
- Get someone to film you. A duck dive feels very different from how it looks. One video from the surface will show you the splash, the leg bend and the angle faster than any amount of description.
- Judge it by the splash. A good duck dive is quiet. Noise means your legs went in flat instead of pointed, and that noise is wasted oxygen.
Common Mistakes When Duck Diving
Four mistakes account for most bad duck dives.
- Kicking too early. If you kick before your fins are submerged you thrash at the surface, move nowhere and waste air. Wait until the blades are fully under.
- Not equalizing enough. Missing one equalization near the surface can end the dive, or hurt you. Equalize on the surface and repeatedly through the descent. Do not wait until you are already several feet down.
- Going down at an angle instead of straight down. It is easy to misjudge your body position and set off diagonally, which pulls you away from the line. Position your body at a true 90 degrees before you lift your legs.
- Craning your neck to look down. Stretching the neck makes equalizing harder, because air moves from your lungs to your throat less easily in that position. It can also contribute to a trachea squeeze as you get deeper. Tuck your chin and keep your neck neutral.
Common questions about duck diving
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