Posts by Dan

I met a diver visiting from Cayman Islands and he told me about their spearfishing regulations. I heard about places with strict spearfishing regulations before, some places do not allow spearfishing at all. Some like Bahamas allow polespear and sling only. But Cayman Islands has the strangest rules. Apart from their Cayman Islands Protected Areas.pdf where spearfishing is not allowed period, there's only one kind of speargun allowed; an ancient Champion model. No more spearguns, even the same model Champion, can be brought into the country. The old Champion spearguns that are already on the islands can be repaired and modified to some degree. I guess the idea is to allow the grandfathered in spearguns only to be used.

But spearos are resourceful Here's a picture of the old Champion handle. Below it the Beuchat Polynesian and JBL Explorer which are still available. Without getting specific you should get the idea. They're shit spearguns by today's standards. But in Cayman Islands all the fish on a boat on a given day are taken by one

Other rules to note: must be 18 years old and have a license to use a speargun, there's a 3 fish per day limit. Visitors are not allowed to use spearguns at all.

Cool video thanks for sharing.

As with all things you must use common sense and decide for yourself. Relying on someone's opinion stated without specifying details that ring true to you, is taking a shot in the dark. To get up to speed with spearguns keep in mind that a band speargun is a fairly simple tool with easy to understand components. In essence a speargun is a slingshot, although it took a few years to arrive at its current design, and nowadays most good spearguns follow this general design.

What usability boils down to, once we get past a trigger mechanism that holds a shaft reliably, is small but important details. Some details are universally accepted as being better, like an ergonomic easy to grip handle that puts the grip near the plane of travel of the spear, and a loading butt which BTW Rob Allen started offering only recently as an upgrade. Other details are more of a personal choice, like open muzzle versus closed muzzle, both work fine (for me loading is faster with an open muzzle). In my previous post I pointed out such features that I thought would be helpful to you. Of course finding out for yourself is always fun, Rob Allen Tuna spearguns are available from Freedive Store also.

With your size you should be able to comfortably handle and load 110cm to 120cm speargun. If there's even a small chance that you'll run into large fish that keep a distance, and if you're not shooting mostly into holes, I recommend at least a 110cm.
The Speardiver Phantom speargun has a more ergonomic handle than the Rob Allen, and also has a built in loading butt, which is more convenient for chest loading and allows partial hip loading. The Rob Allen handle not having a loading butt is harder to keep in place when loading.

What's your height? What is the visibility normally like where you're diving?

Omer stingray foot pockets meet my requirements, a stiff sole for good energy transfer to the blade, moderate stiffness tendons provide adequate blade support without negatively affecting its flex, and a soft comfortable pocket.

This is the first I hear of Salvimar react foot pockets. So far I dislike everything Salvimar has offered so my feeling is to stay away. Here you can find my review of the first Salvimar foot pockets Salvimar Delta-one foot pockets review.

Looks like I was right because no one is using them now, and going by what you say even Salvimar has moved on to different foot pockets.

At 26cm foot length your size in Omer Stingray foot pockets is 41-42.

Omer Stingray foot pockets are available from Freedive Store OMER Stingray Foot Pockets. Send a message for international shipping cost.

Today Wed we still don't have power.

This was sunday 7pm about 2 hours after it peaked.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1UvkXirjsvw

We're ok. It's done with Ft Lauderdale and Miami. We don't have power for 24 hours now. Lots of trees down, this one is in my front yard. Some street signs down too. No major structural damage that I can see between my place and the beach (2 miles away). There is a downed power wire lying across the roof of my shop. If power comes back on everything will go back to nornal quickly.

I was saying from the beginning Irma won't necessarily make a turn north from Cuba, we'll see. It's 6:30am now, there's some wind. We did what we could securing the house and shop, plywood on the windows etc. Amazingly the boat fit in the garage, I had to let air out of the tires to lower it a couple of inches to clear the cross beam.
We're checking the hurricane path every couple of hours. If it does turn north we're leaving, taking the I95 north to Jacksonville and beyond if necessary.

Here's a favorite of mine, from after hurricane Matthew missed us last year

Gracias Toño.

Bienvenido

I doubt it, epoxy sinks a gun not floats it, an epoxy enclosed track for example.

You have to eliminate all possible factors.
1. Check shaft for straightness.
2. Remove flopper and take shots without it.
Although with the above two if there's a problem the gun will be erratic, not just shoot lower, because the shaft spins. Are you accurate on the horizontal plane?
3. Try 7mm shaft.
4. Try shorter shaft.
5. Try one band, then add the 2nd band.

The logic is if you're shooting low either the gun is underpowered so the shaft is slower and will drop more before it reaches the target, or overpowered so the muzzle kicks up from the recoil bumping up the back of the shaft causing it to take a lower trajectory.
Heavy shaft (larger diameter and longer) will create more recoil.

Bon voyage

What's your target weight? I'm now 225, down from 235, will get to 195 and hope to stay there.

Do you think a heavier diver stresses carbon fins more? A local diver I know is 300lb and using the same pair of Speardiver fins (medium hard stiffness) for 6 years. He already went through 3 pairs of foot pockets.

I think this one can go in the great videos thread

What shaft diameter is he using?

With regards to C4 fins durability, what is your weight? From the avatar looks like you may have gained muscle mass but it's hard to tell with the cape

Marco, you are one individual with one pair of fins that turned out to be good. I'm exposed to much more product, I think since years have passed it must be something you will never accept from me. But as always I'm glad you offered your opinion.

The fin pictures you posted do capture the imagination. That's what they're meant to do. Your C4 83 carbon fins retail for 700 USD. I'll stick with my Speardiver carbon fins, never felt them lacking anything I needed.