04/08/2009
Today was a beautiful day for diving except for the crappy viz. I was joined by Oscar and we encountered flat seas (forecast was wrong) and very little current. Sun was shining which probably helped the viz towards the end of the dive, initially I couldn't see the bottom on the first reef. Things looked pretty dead but we managed to scrape up something. In at 10:30am and out at 12:30pm. Here's my catch including a nice mango. BTW my new board and line system worked perfectly.
I've envisioned this a while back for if I have a stock that I want to make maximum use of its length. It can be used conventionally by someone who doesn't have a problem with chest loading putting a butt directly on the end, and can be quickly converted to a hip loader by putting on the pipe butt extension. I made a little photoshop of what it could look like.
Recently I chanced on this pic. It's more complicated than what I had in mind but looks like others have been thinking in the same direction.
hehehehe
Very neat. I like it when things fit together smoothly like that.
The water was beautiful today in spite of the strong winds. I'm hoping to do a beach dive tomorrow.
Welcome back Sporascrub. Where've you been?
hahaha <img src= " class="smiley" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x" height="23" width="23" loading="eager" data-tooltip="biggrin" aria-label="biggrin">
It's because he wears woman's underwear under the wetsuit <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
At first I thought you look unhappy enough for the pic to have been after the accident. Then I thought about it for a minute and figured there's no way you guys would've posed for a pic after.
That must've been right after you dropped off Larry and just before the accident right?
When I wear just the bottoms, and about 2-4 lbs, I float very comfortably and horizontally on the surface. Beginning the dive feels easy and relaxed.
I've never heard of using parts of the wetsuit as a means of balancing but I guess that goes along with being better balanced overall as I mentioned earlier. Interesting observation. The tendency is however to wear minimal thermal protection in response to cold/warm conditions not as a means to balance. The wetsuit itself can impede breathup as it constricts the torso and you have to overcome this pressure when you're expanding the lungs.
I'm not sure how fast your legs sink Jeff. For me it's like what Pantoja said. I like enough weight on to have an easy descent. I feel that more energy is expended when breaking the surface than throughout the whole dive. It is at the very beginning of the descent when I know if I'm going to have a good dive or not. So I like to have enough weight on to facilitate breaking the surface. It may go against conventional safety procedures but I float vertically, with the top of my head just on the surface, with my lungs full. When I exhale about half of my air I start to sink slowly.
This goes with what Pantoja said. During breathup in order to relax I put emphasis on a long exhale, to clear the lungs for the next breath. As I do this I start to sink so I must kick a little to stay horizontal. Ideally to relax you don't want to kick too much. Evidence of this is trying to breath up in current while swimming or even maintaining position, it's almost impossible to breath up properly in those conditions. So breathing up is a balance of relaxing and at the same time doing some minimal kicking to stay in position.
When I think about all this now I'm tempted to experiment with less weight. This theoretically will make less kicking necessary to stay horizontal on the surface and should facilitate breathup. However I suspect that as the weight belt is located on the lower portion of the body the legs will sink first regardless if all of you doesn't end up sinking and so kicking will still be necessary. Honestly I don't pay attention any more to kicking while breathing up. I am however looking forward to losing weight. Then I will require less weight on the belt and be better balanced overall.
Thanks for this thread Bill and Core. It's fun to see the progress.
The rhythm of gathering up/coiling the float line helps me relax and breath up. Besides that people should gather up their float line more when diving around others.
Wow the water looks so calm. Very nice, good for you guys.
Oh I set myself up for that one.. With that kind of evidence it's hard to come back. I'll just take my beats 
On the other hand I guess it can be assumed that you've never experienced the increased libido effects <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
Am I saying it in a way that everyone can understand? <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> Not sure if it's the hunt or the water. Maybe some land hunters can comment if the same happens after a hunting trip. The effect is more obvious with spearfishing I suppose because scantily clad women are part of the big picture. You know beach, boats etc.. But even without that there's a marked effect. Just another fringe benefit of our chosen past time.
It was good but I can see it being too warm soon.
I used the coated weights today. The Herculiner has a death grip around the wetsuit. The weights didn't shift position one centimeter from the time I put them on. I highly recommend this system. The only drawback is it would be uncomfortable against bare skin. I've yet to see how it feels with rashguards on.
Myself, Pantoja and a friend went out today. Seas were pretty good, less than 3ft. I didn't feel cold in a 3mm two piece suit. Pantoja and Guille were diving in underware only 
There was a stiff current for the first half of the day. A marked difference in viz as we got further out to about 60ft depth, nice blue water compared to the murk close in. The current and not being able to see the bottom precluded us from diving well on some spots and we opted to drift which still didn't produce. Fish were scarce. I was definitely not performing well but good days ahead as I like to say.. Pantoja's boat appears to be running well and he's back to his normal self, started the day out with a nice mutton and finished with a few hogs. I got a hog, mackerel and a cheehe 
I was sure a big cuda was mine but somehow it tore off, I know it's not going to make it because I broke its back which haunted me.
Sorry to hear that. In most of your pics I've seen you wear a hat, now I know why.
