Posts by Dan

BTW that post is 15 years old. Back then the weight vests weren't as well designed as they are today. The Speardiver Weight Vestcomes off easily after the weight belt is dropped.

Eric (Freedro) tells his experience with a downcurrent in Panama.

Quote from Freedro

As for me, I will deal with back pain before I will deal with a weight harness. Here´s why. I have big shoulders. I tried a harness on in the local dive shop in South Orange County before my trip to Panama. I tried to ditch it in the store and found it very difficult. The saleperson there is very pushy (you locals will know the one) and tried her best to push the harness on me. I told her that one of these days I was going to need to ditch my weight belt, and that harness would kill me when that day came.

Well, that day came far earlier than I expected here in Panama. I got caught, quite l¡terally, in a bizarre situation (downdraft current) after retrieving a shaft and line from a shelf at 90 FSW. Retrieving the shaft and freeing the steel cable (which formerly held an 80-lb pargo) went so smoothly that I could´nt believe it. I started for the surface knowing that I still had plenty of time to make it. Then it happened. With my eyes fixed on the side of the pinnacle I was diving, I saw myself being swept back and down. I kicked harder and continued to sink. At that moment, I saw Mark Morgan´s face as he sold me my Marsellaise weight belt and told me to never wear anything else. I had been wearing a nylon webbing weight belt. I was impressed at Mark´s demonstration at how the buckle opens automatically when you pull on the belt and how it stays open. Well, I was still at about 85 FSW when I finally grabbed that belt and tugged it like a rip cord. Amazingly, I still had to kick a bit for the first ten feet or so to escape that damned death current despite wearing a 2-piece 3-mil suit. Once I penetrated it and gained momentum I shot to the surface like Peter Pan with Dix Roper´s gear still in hand. I recalled thinking that $30 for a piece of rubber and a buckle was a lot when I bought it, but at that moment the feeling of elation at surviving was so great that I wanted to ditch a thousand weight belts.

This was the first, and hopefully the last one I will encounter. In retrospect, I understand far more about the hydrodynamics now than I did when it happened.

As far as I can tell, this situation would only occur in a place with a strong current, large topographical change such as a pinnacle, reef or point of land, and a significant drop into deep water.

I was hunting a submerged hill or mountain of rock approx 1.5 miles offshore on the West side of an island. The top of the rock sat at about 10 fathoms. The surrounding seabed was 34 fathoms to the East and dropped quickly to 40 fathoms, then off into the abyss on the West side, especially to the SSW. The prevailing current was out of the NNW at about 2+ kts. The N and NW exposures were stepped as they came up from the bottom, about 15 feet at each elevation change. Some of these steps were long, up to about 80 feet, so that the current accelerated up over the edge and formed eddies where fish could hang comfortably on the bottom. The top of the rock was about 40 yards or so across and more or less dome shaped, but more abruptly rising on the N and NW edges, and tapering more to the S, so that the top of the rock would have created lift like an airplane wing had it not been firmly anchored to the seabed. As it was, it served to accelerate the current and cause it to suck downward on the trailing S side. An extreme complicating factor was a stronger subsurface current running in from the WNW so that once I punched 60 feet or so, "up-current" abruptly shifted 90 degrees to the left.

Here's what was happening. The surface current was being accelerated over the top of the rock and sucked down the trailing side of the rock due to natural hydronamics. The subsurface current was split by the NW corner of the rock so that part of it ran W to E across a deep step @ 80 FSW on the N up-current face of the rock, and the other part of it accelerated to the S along the W face of the rock. The W-to-E under-current produced a suction on the bottom of the surface current which enhanced the hydronamic suction effect of the rock. The subsurface current which was deflected southward was further accelerated when the surface current pushing over the top of it pushed it down. All in all, when I hit just the right spot on my way up the W side of the rock I entered the subduction current. Had I not been looking at the side of the rock I would not have noticed this was happening except for the feeling that my lungs were being compacted rather than expanding.

Quite thankfully, I knew that I would be pushing the envelope anyway on this dive as I would need to line up and attempt to rest in a strong surface current then deal with the current change on the bottom. I had also mentally prepared for trouble freeing the shaft and steel shooting cable from the rock. In other words, I was aware that this would be a difficult dive, and I knew that ditching the belt could possibly come into play. For these reasons I had my wits about me when "it was time".

If you find yourself diving deep on a submerged rock, reef, or point with a strong current, I would strongly recommend fixing your eyes on the rock on ascent. Just because you are kicking for the surface doesn't mean you are going up!

Bottom line - had I been wearing the harness, there would be one less freediver here today.

The really interesting thing was that the rock did not produce an upwelling or break on the surface - that is another clue to look for regarding a potentially dangerous situation. I have never seen structure in a strong current before that did not produce a telltale signature on the surface.

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Did they find Kostadin?

In a situation where you're hunting close to a current, I think it will be easy to get distracted stalking or fighting a fish and find yourself caught in the current.

behslayer didn't want to detract from Kosta's thread so I copied you here.

Incredible current. I don't know how you guys choose to dive in that. Is there at least some warning or time to react before you get completely caught in the current?

Thank you for sharing.

I wouldn't worry about any damage to the stock from this. If you want to be extra careful put a drop of epoxy in the screw holes before putting in the screws.

You can see the diver kicking powerfully and just barely managing to not descend.

Bali down-current.

A little different, more like an undertow, dramatic nevertheless.

A vortex. Not a down current but something to be aware of.

My condolences to the family and friends.

Don, is it the member seal that built carbon and roller spearguns? The one who posted this thread Inverted polispast roller VS classic gun

Interesting video, thanks for sharing. It's good to see people who work with the sea not become apathetic towards the animals that live in it.

My thoughts are, shouldn't the turtle have a natural defense against this kind of growth on its shell? Perhaps there was an injury, or those mussels are an invasive species that the turtle doesn't have a defense against.

Also for sure you bought the turtle some time. But if the shell wasn't cleaned thoroughly and there was even one microscopic mussel larvae it will grow back.

Congratz Filipe, so what is the weight of the Jack?

That's quite a float line tangle, looks like a Riffe bungee? does it happen often?

Speardiver Skene spearfishing knife in action.

Marco, I sent you you a message with instructions on how to fix this back when you first asked me about it. For quick reference you can also see here Private messages how to

I can't remember the speargun center of mass ever being in the middle. Usually it's closer to the handle, so more weight is needed towards the front. I suppose you can rest the gun on its center of mass (with shaft and bands loaded), then tape all the required weight to it in different positions while keeping it balanced. Needless to say don't let it fall as it could discharge.

Yuansy Gonzales from Miami, Speardiver Reef 3mm wetsuit. Winter is here.

Sorry I missed you Hank, would've been good to meet after all this time. Always thought it would be in Belize.

George must be thinking two years back when I was operating the online Spearfishing Store from my house. Today Spearfishing Store is a brick and mortar location, a commercial building at 1044 NE 15th Ave in Fort Lauderdale. At the intersection of Sunrise Blvd and NE 15th, and across the street from Publix. There's still a lot of work to do here, to bring to life the vision I have for the place. But it's hard to find the time to do it as daily store operations, bringing new products to market, administering the forum etc. is taking up most of it. Maybe one day I'll get to dive

Spearfishing World (not this forum) is in fact a store in Miami. They're my competition but I prefer my location

Quote from ladvr

Looking at the pic its hard to believe they are a distant relative of the little puffer fish.

I always thought they could be related to triggerfish.

Quote from Marco

Is it uncommon to see them in South Florida?

At the beach a large Mola is very uncommon.

We see turtles, dolphins, sharks, manatees and sometimes even crocodiles.