Posts by Dan
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I know that the original spearfishing is hand powered spearfishing. But for that the arm and the spear are initially outside the water. I also know of hand powered spearfishing underwater. It's more common with fish that hole up. My first spearfishing experience was actually with a hand spear underwater. More difficult is trying to spear free swimming fish but it's also possible. The problem is that the arm movement creates a pressure wave which most certainly makes the fish move before the spear ever finds it's mark. I've read that the best chances of success is to poke at a fish when they're facing/looking straight at you, when they turn to escape you have a chance of hitting them broadside since the spear is already in motion.
I came across this pic. Do you think this kid has any chance of spearing something this way?
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What happens when you shoot a 6" shaft from a two band speargun out of the water? Does it go straight?
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Didn't you say at one point that you favor the rear handle plus? If so which of those guns is it?
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I can see you switched out the handles on the Wong guns, good call. Which handles are they?
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Our first California report
Beautiful fish. -
Was the hali on a beach dive judging by the sand on your feet?
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Nice. Got a pic with the bands stretched?
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I can't remember. Maybe doing a google or SB search for big WSB pics. I try to have a typical species for the area represent each section and for the diver to be a forum member. You're no longer in Cali but it's as close as I could get. Unless Don Paul wants to take it away.. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
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Bad decision eh. Didn't see the fight yet. Did I miss anything?
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You're welcome. There are some good ones in there. I don't know why UFC stopped putting out DVDs. Doesn't matter much, I download them the next day after the fights now. What didn't you like about the Shogun fight?
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QuoteDisplay More
A giant shark that could be up to 20ft long has sent shockwaves across Australian beaches after a great white was nearly bitten in half.
A stunning picture shows a 10ft predator thrashing about with two massive chunks missing on either side of its body, off the Queensland coast.
Experts said its rival may be 20ft (about six metres) long, judging by the size of the huge bites.
The great white was savaged after it got snared on a drum line - a baited hook attached to a buoy - near North Stradbroke Island, east of Brisbane.
The wounded creature was still alive when a crew hauled it onto a boat, close to Deadman's Beach.
"It certainly opened up my eyes. I mean the shark that was caught is a substantial shark in itself," Queensland Fisheries' Jeff Krause told Australia's Daily Telegraph.
Swimmers have been warned to stay out of the water near the island.
The attack also worried many at a nearby tourist Mecca - Surfers Paradise, south of Brisbane.
Surfer Ashton Smith, 19, of the Gold Coast, told the Courier Mail: "I've heard about the big one lurking. Every surfer is always cautious over here."
Drum lines and shark nets are used to defend swimmers from sea predators, but they have been criticised for occasionally trapping migrating whales.
Fisheries minister Tim Mulherin told the Mail that the capture of the bitten shark - and the indication of a larger one feeding in the area - bolstered the decision to keep defences in place.
He added there were no special plans to hunt the attacking shark but contractors had reset the drum lines.
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I recently installed carbon blades in Beuchat Mundial foot pockets, price: $55 from FreediveStore.com https://spearfishing.store/foo…mundial-foot-pockets.html. I had my doubts on whether this could be done because of previous information. It turns out that the Beuchat foot pockets do have T slots inside the tendons to accept the blade rails. But the T slot is so shallow that it will not accommodate conventional footpocket rails. The Beuchat foot pockets are the first ones that I see with this problem, and initially I thought that blades will have to be glued in. The other problem is that the material of the Beuchat footpockets tendons is plastic like and will not hold glue. This left modifying the rails as the only option.
I did this in two parts. First reducing the height of the rais T arms by cutting with a sharp blade, using a thin piece of metal as a guide. The thickness of this piece of metal will be the height of the T arms as the blade runs along it's surface. After doing both arms I reduced the width of of the rail by running it against a belt sander. Working on the first rail I reduced it in stages until it fit well into the tendon. The resulting rail was very small, but the foot pocket tendons hold on to it well.
The Beuchat fin assembly kit gives the installation the final security. Normally I don't like drilling into carbon blades for obvious reasons. But the screws of the Beuchat assembly kit have a very small diameter. The holding power comes from the evenly distributed pressure of the bottom mounting plate. The screw heads don't even come in contact with the blade. This mounting plate is even angled, which is great because the screw holes are very close to the blade toe angle, and the angled plate matches this angle and distributes the pressure of the plate very evenly. I tried to show this in one of the pics.
Overall I think this installation is clean and secure, but requires quite a bit more work. Going forward I would have to charge an installation fee.
The Beuchat foot pockets are indeed suitable for a narrow foot only. These pockets were a size larger than the ones I take, my toes were quite a bit back from the toe opening, and already I could feel pressure from the sides of the pocket. If the pocket were to be my size (by length) it would for sure be too narrow for comfort.
The Beuchat foot pockets are well made. There are two different stiffness materials used in the construction. A harder plastic like material for the bottom and tendons, and a soft comfortable rubber for the pocket. Too bad these foot pockets are not sized for the average foot and don't have deeper T slots.
1. Overall construction - Good.
2. Fit - For narrow feet only.
3. Pocket Softness - Good.
4. Tendon accepts blades - Not good, rubber blade rails must be modified. Tendon plastic like material will not glue.
5. Tendon stiffness - Good, moderate stiffness, offering good support for the carbon blade without negatively affecting its flex pattern.
6. Bottom stiffness - Good, harder plastic like bottom provided good power transfer from leg to blade, and prevents the back edge of the blade from poking through the sole.
7. Overall stiffness - Good, bumps up the stiffness of the blade a little but I consider the resulting combination with a medium blade to still be a medium fin.
8. Weight - Good, average weight. Size 45-46 (actual size length 12 width 10) 684g (1lb 8oz)
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Footpocket bottom stiffness
Most divers are completely unaware of this factor. When you've never used another foot pocket and gotten used to the one you have that has a soft bottom, you will not realize how much energy you're wasting. Only if you try a foot pocket with a good bottom and then go back to a soft bottom will you notice the back of the blades pushing up through the bottom of the foot pocket on every kick.
When the bottom of the foot pocket is stiff and the foot pocket fit is good, the back edge of the blade is held to your foot as if it was clamped to the edge of a table. The transfer of energy is instantaneous. This also immediately increases the stiffness of the overall fin allowing a lighter blade to be used. The epitome of this concept is seen with these Sporasub foot pockets. The problem is that this puts too much stress on the blade at one point where the blade and the f/p are connected. Carbon and fiberglass blades will not withstand this and that's why Sporasub only offers these with plastic blades, which we know are not nearly as reactive as fiber blades. With ultimate fit there's also the trade off with the foot pockets being more difficult to put on.
The ideal foot pocket then is one that has a stiff bottom which holds the blade well, a pocket that fits the foot closely and is soft/comfortable on the top, and has moderate stiffness tendons that gradually distribute the stress of flexing over approximately the first third of the length of the blade, offering it support without adding too much stiffness. To achieve a hard bottom manufacturers have taken a few approaches.
1. Making the whole foot pocket stiff. This obviously makes it hard and uncomfortable. I had a pair of Sproasub foot pockets I bought in 2000 that were like that.
2. Making the bottom of the foot pocket with a stiffer rubber and the top with a softer rubber. This is by far a better approach. The rubber properties must be dialed in really well. I'm not an expert on foot pocket manufacturing but I imagine the process as pouring rubber into the mold in stages. First the hard rubber to fill the bottom part of the mold (bottom and tendons) and then softer rubber on top for the pockets.
3. An interesting approach from Seatec. I haven't seen these foot pockets in person.
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I get to see a lot of different foot pockets because people bring me theirs to install carbon blades into. I'm always searching for an ideal foot pocket and I've come pretty close for myself. But it's still important for me to know how other foot pockets measure up against each other, to be able to recommend them to guys with a different foot than mine. Following are some points about foot pockets that I learned to pay attention to.
1. Fit.
This is the most individual factor because it depends on the user's foot size and shape. Here is where opinions on what's best will differ but there's one thing that's common to all; you want the f/p to fit as closely, all around, to your foot (or the sock that you're using) as possible. If the f/p is loose there's a lag in the transfer of energy to the blade and the fin will be softer (provide less propulsion) overall. It looks like this, at the 2nd stage of this cycle you still haven't transferred any energy to the blade.
2. Top Softness.
This is pretty straight forward. Too hard a rubber on the top is uncomfortable, and hard to get your foot into.
3. Tendon stiffness.
How much stiffness do the tendons add to the blade to make up the final fin stiffness. This is negotiable as stiffer tendons can be combined with a softer blade to produce an overall correct stiffness for you. But in general moderate stiffness tendons are preferred ie. not to be so stiff and interfere with the flexing of the blade, but stiff enough to give it support, at the same time channelling water away from the foot and helping stabilize the fin.
4. Weight.
How heavy the foot pocket is. Generally people prefer as light a foot pocket as possible. Old style foot pockets like Picasso made of natural rubber are heavy. Modern foot pockets made of synthetic material like OMER Stingray are significantly lighter. On the flip side natural rubber foot pockets are more durable.
5. Bottom stiffness.
This is the most overlooked aspect of foot pockets. If the bottom is too soft it will allow the back edge of the blade to push up through it, causing a lag in the transfer of energy to the blade. It will be overall the same affect as with #1 a loosely fitting foot pocket.
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If the gun was unfired then the reel question is a moot point. Just trying to understand.. Don, when you used this method did you just sink or chase the fish too?
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Yep, and hard to understand Spanish too.
