Blackout discussion

    It's about f*cking time that I said this. You can tell me otherwise but I believe that you blacked out because you were influenced by other divers in your company who were diving that spot and you attempted to do the same. It is true that there are divers who apparently have more ability than others. It is true that some can hunt in 90' and IMO 90' is a very serious depth to hunt in, but they are few. Kris may think he's one of them and he may very well be, but he's been spearfishing for a couple of years and he already had two blackouts. The last one got my goat because he came on and posted about the depths he achieved on that day without mentioning the B/O. I and other people are of the opinion that he's going to kill himself. I'm pissed because albeit inadvertently he's causing other people to take chances that they shouldn't. I never had a B/O in 10 years spearfishing and don't plan too.


    Did you end the day? Also, do any of you guys scuba? Do you take a tank with you for lost gear or holed up fish that cant be retrieved? It's a safer alternative.

    Quote from Toledo970

    Did you end the day? Also, do any of you guys scuba? Do you take a tank with you for lost gear or holed up fish that cant be retrieved? It's a safer alternative.


    Didn't end the day. I took a break for a while and we went shallower and I borrowed a gun. I ended up getting a nice mutton and a big Spadefish:rolleyes1:. I won't be shooting a spadefish again. Meat tastes fine, texture leaves something to be desired.

    Damn, sucks about the blackout but at least you experienced what it's like. It's scary shit, I've recovered 2 black out victims but have yet to have one myself. After taking a FIT course I've become so paranoid and I always yell at my dive buddies about safety. If you all have the DVD "Oceans in Action 2", there's a special feature with Kirk Krack lecturing about freediving safety that I recommend watching.
    If you need pics of the Rabitech let me know.

    Takowill - sorry for giving you the runaround with the gun, that's before I talked to Davie. I'm gonna have to default to Davie's Aimrite because it's what I'd rather have and I know the guy well. Oh, the wreck was the Ultra Freeze.


    Dan,
    I have to say that Kris didn't influence me to do this. While it was he and I on the dive, I was the one who made the mistakes. The plan was never to dive as deep as I did, but only to be over the wreck. The fishfinder was showing lots of fish high in the water column, and we did see Jacks there.
    I'm opening myself to attack here, but my breath-hold is pretty good for someone who's only freedived for about 2 years. I have never been close to SWB before, that is mainly because I have never had anyone to dive with that could dive the depths that I was able. Up to this point I had no problems with bottom time and depths (to 70'). I took this as "just another dive" and didn't see the risks when I shouldn't have. I mistakenly went deeper than planned, but fortunately he was there to look out for me.

    I don't think you're opening yourself up for attack, but I do feel that you missed my point. Why do the explanations always sound so similar.. Just be safe man and DON'T PUSH YOURSELF BEYOND WHAT YOU'RE READY FOR. Remember those shore dives of your beginnings and how everything was the correct progression? At least that's what it was for me so I assume you experienced the same. The kind of diving you experienced that led to your B/O this weekend is the kind of jump in depth that you will be lured into by diving with certain individuals.

    Don't ever be ashamed to discuss any issues in regard to diving accidents or potential mishaps. The worst you can do is let pride get in the way of not sharing your story or downplaying it or worse covering it up. Learn from it and know your limitations. Be a "conservative" diver. Bottom times and depths are just digits. Come up with air and always be humble. Glad you are safe and it looks like you have already learned from your ordeal.


    Good luck on your gun search.

    By the way, as good ole Pantoja used to say, thanks Jim for ignoring my comments ;) and don´t be arrogant that attitude is going to kill you...



    quote : my breath-hold is pretty good for someone who's only freedived for about 2 years.

    I'm a Speardiver, not a freediver

    Edited once, last by monster slayer ().

    Quote from JimCuda

    Takowill - sorry for giving you the runaround with the gun, that's before I talked to Davie. I'm gonna have to default to Davie's Aimrite because it's what I'd rather have and I know the guy well. Oh, the wreck was the Ultra Freeze.


    Dan,
    I have to say that Kris didn't influence me to do this. While it was he and I on the dive, I was the one who made the mistakes. The plan was never to dive as deep as I did, but only to be over the wreck. The fishfinder was showing lots of fish high in the water column, and we did see Jacks there.
    I'm opening myself to attack here, but my breath-hold is pretty good for someone who's only freedived for about 2 years. I have never been close to SWB before, that is mainly because I have never had anyone to dive with that could dive the depths that I was able. Up to this point I had no problems with bottom time and depths (to 70'). I took this as "just another dive" and didn't see the risks when I shouldn't have. I mistakenly went deeper than planned, but fortunately he was there to look out for me.


    If you were just doing some bluewater/midwater spearing I think you should have had a float. I think this was mistake #1. If the Ultrafreeze is still in the same place it use to be(no hurricanes have moved it), the top of that ship is at about 75' of water which is(admitted by you) past your max. That ship lies in about 120' with about a 40 or 45 foot relief. My opinion, if you're going to try some deeper water, don't do it when spearing. Too many things can go wrong.
    Dan, I agree whole heartedly. Sometimes other people don't have to pressure you into doing somehting, just their presence is enough for you to make bad decisions. I've learned this even more after having kids.



    I hadn't read what you posted about the float, but good idea. Also,you said " I didn't realize how far down he was on the wreck". Where you diving the wreck or midwater?

    Edited 3 times, last by Toledo970 ().

    Jim, next time we're out we'll try the cordelero style of diving for deep stuff. I always bring along the thick float line in case we need to do some specific deep stuff or a recovery. If you don't shoot you will be assisted up and fish shot deep will be handled by the surface diver.

    You don't do the extremely heavy weight belt to the bottom, drop belt, shoot fish, let go gun. Everything is retrieved by the guy on surface? Cordeliando, now that's as Cuban as you can get Dan!!

    We use to do the weight belt thing too. We would leave it on the bottom and the same diver that went down would retrieve it. It worked because it would mark the spot(just in case) and made it easier for the next guy going down.
    To be honest though, I didn't do that till much later(20 or so). When I first started spearing as a kid there were no weight belts, and all our guns were single band railguns. I would give up a teste to have pics of those times. Using weightbelts wasn't "true" spearing as I was told. I wont go into depths, times, etc. but we did well. SWB? Never knew what that was, and I had a few times where I pee'd and almost pooped in my pants from how out of air I was. I'm not joking.

    Quote from Toledo970

    If you were just doing some bluewater/midwater spearing I think you should have had a float. I think this was mistake #1. If the Ultrafreeze is still in the same place it use to be(no hurricanes have moved it), the top of that ship is at about 75' of water which is(admitted by you) past your max. That ship lies in about 120' with about a 40 or 45 foot relief. My opinion, if you're going to try some deeper water, don't do it when spearing. Too many things can go wrong.
    Dan, I agree whole heartedly. Sometimes other people don't have to pressure you into doing somehting, just their presence is enough for you to make bad decisions. I've learned this even more after having kids.



    I hadn't read what you posted about the float, but good idea. Also,you said " I didn't realize how far down he was on the wreck". Where you diving the wreck or midwater?


    You're absolutely right, the Ultra Freeze lies like very much like that. But the first mistake isn't the float, it was my comfortable attitude about diving deeper.


    I made the decision to dive because I was confident that I could easily surpass my max. I was this point spending almost a 30-45 secs of bottom time at my max depth (total dive time being an honest 1:45 at 70 ft). I was limited by where people that I've been diving with would go. I got ahead of myself on that one dive and I'm owning up to that. I see the mistakes I did and am correcting them.

    Edited once, last by JimCuda ().

    Quote from Rolo

    Don't ever be ashamed to discuss any issues in regard to diving accidents or potential mishaps. The worst you can do is let pride get in the way of not sharing your story or downplaying it or worse covering it up. Learn from it and know your limitations. Be a "conservative" diver. Bottom times and depths are just digits. Come up with air and always be humble. Glad you are safe and it looks like you have already learned from your ordeal.


    Good luck on your gun search.


    I'm not actually ashamed of the mishap, just that I was so reckless. Since getting more "serious" into freediving, I've been careful about how to approach increasing depth. Basically, I let myself down and I'm disappointed by that. I was trying to be conservative, I wasn't planning to go to that depth, just got focused on the fish.


    The biggest thing I learned is that I need to evaluate the whole circumstance and learn to look at the big picture, even when in the middle of the dive.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member to leave a comment.

Register a new account
Sign in now