Hands-Free Equalization BTV, Explained
Hands-free equalization — known as BTV, from the French Béance Tubaire Volontaire — is the ability to open your Eustachian tubes using thro...
◈ full-bleed underwater hero — diver silhouette
Issue Nº 14Winter 2026The Spearfishing Journal
Hunt Deeper.
Dive Smarter.
Field-tested gear, hard-won technique and dive logs from the edge of the reef — for hunters who'd rather be underwater.
The Beginner's Path
New to the breath-hold game?
Four stages take you from your first nervous duck-dive to a calm, confident 15-metre hunt — safely, and entirely at your own pace.
Start the path-
0–2 mStage 01
Breathe & relax
Master the breath-up and the mammalian dive reflex before you ever slip under.
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5 mStage 02
Duck-dive & equalize
A clean head-first descent and the Frenzel that keeps your ears happy at depth.
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10 mStage 03
Streamline & glide
Weighting, finning and the relaxed free-fall that quietly saves your air.
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15 mStage 04
Hunt with control
Stalking, the shot, and a calm, controlled ascent — every single time.
From the Logbook
Latest Dispatches
Equalization Exercises You Can Do on Dry Land
The best equalization exercises for freediving happen nowhere near the water — they happen on your sofa, in front of a mirror, with no press...
The Mouthfill Technique for Deep Freediving
The mouthfill technique is what lets deep freedivers keep equalizing when their lungs are too compressed to supply any more air — the point ...
Why You Can't Equalize (and How to Fix It)
If you can't equalize while freediving, you're not broken and you're rarely out of options — you're almost always hitting on...
Frenzel vs Valsalva: Which to Use and When
Frenzel vs Valsalva is the equalization question every freediver eventually has to settle, because the technique you default to sets a hard ...
Noob Spearo Podcast Interview: Full Froth, No Ego
If you have spent any time around spearfishing on the internet, you have crossed paths with the Noob Spearo Podcast . Since 2014, Isaac “Shr...