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[Pnx]

Terrible idea. Your blood is already quite well saturated without hyperventilation. What that does is artificially decrease CO2 levels below normal concentrations, which is the thing that makes you realize, "Holy shit, I need air." You can, as a result, black out without any warning whatsoever and drown pretty much instantly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_water_blackout

I was always taught the real trick is to actual breathe out in little bits over time, they're both actually tricks to stop you from wanting to breathe, if you've got the willpower to tough through the urgent need to breathe it's ultimately about keeping your heart rate down that limits how long you can breathe for. Under good circumstances a person can hold their breathe while remaining still for 5 minutes, if you're moving around then about 3 is the limit. I can do about 4 minutes while floating face down before coming up for breath, and actually had to swim 20 meters underwater as part of my swemvaardigheit lessons.

[Farseer]

It's on BBC iPlayer, by the by.