I’m Rachel Novak,

Freedive Instructor @ Las Vegas, Nevada

“I got started in freediving from performance arts and sailing. I worked as a mermaid and wanted to boost my resume by increasing my breath hold. At the same time, I was also living and cruising through Mexico and Central America on a 32 ft sailboat. Much of the maintenance done on the underside of the boat was done on breath hold. My first FIM dives were pulling myself down the anchor line to make sure that the anchor was set correctly.”

“My favorite aspect of the ocean is getting to witness and interact with the ocean life. I love exploring new places, and it’s a whole new world down there.”

“Freediving gives me excitement and a sense of freedom. I love ducking below the surface and feeling a sense of weightlessness, and it’s empowering learning new skills and building confidence in my abilities. Freediving has made a huge impact on my life ! it’s given me a new community of friends from all over the world, and it’s given me a new way to experience the world. I not only enjoy the ocean, but I’ve also enjoyed backpacking to alpine lakes and other bodies of water and exploring them on one breath. Freediving has given me an additional skill set as a performance artist, and I’m currently excited about pursuing opportunities in stunt work and water safety.”

“As far as what I offer my students, I struggled with equalization issues, so I feel like I have a strong foundation for troubleshooting potential equalization issues. As a sailor, cold water diver, and someone who splits my time between salt and fresh water diving, I love teaching students about how weather, currents, salinity, and tides can affect a dive profile and required equipment. Lastly, as a freediver who got into the sport to be a better performance artist, I specialize in giving students who want to perform as mermaids the skill set to level up on their performances. As further experience, I have also won the title of Miss Mermaid Nevada 2021/2022 and was a commentator at Vertical Blue 2021”

 ~ See more of Rachel’s informative freediiving videos and mermaid photos via links to her social media and web pages located at the bottom of this page. You can also contact Rachel for freediving lessons via the same links !