Posts by Dan

Quote from seaweed

Kris asked me to post this for him

Dan, if you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about it’s usually best to not say anything at all.

First of all, I have NEVER nor will I ever ask or persuade someone to dive when they don’t want to. Everyone on the boat is encouraged to help pick which spots we dive on and I’m always happy going to spots where people like to dive, they are always the fishy spots. We do sometimes take the boat out to very deep spots where there are only a couple of guys interested in diving because of depths or conditions or whatever, but the people that don’t dive are never looked down upon nor does anyone try to persuade them to dive out of their comfort range. Our diving on these deeper spots is normally in short stints of a few dives each just to check the water column for jacks, etc, and then we move on to other spots. That was the case in our diving on the Ultra Freeze like Jim said. To claim that I’m somehow making people dive out of their comfort range is completely ridiculous.

If being in the company of good divers makes a diver push their limits beyond comfort then you should never invite any inexperienced divers our on your excursions, but I know that there are quite a few guys that join you that aren’t as experienced as you or Sergio. Jim is an excellent diver, better than me in fact, and was as gung ho to dive on that spot as I was, I don’t blame myself for the incident, I’m just glad that I was watching him and was there when he needed me, that’s all I would ever hope for in a dive buddy.

Secondly, I have NEVER blacked out while diving, EVER! I have had two sambas (loss of motor control) which is just before a black out but they are not one in the same. The first one happened over a year ago on a dive to 110’ to retrieve a grouper. I had FOUR divers watching me that were each 100+ foot divers and they swam over and supported me in the water until the samba subsided. That dive was out of my comfort range but I had wounded a big fish and I wanted to try to retrieve it, I pushed the limits but I had four great divers watching me. It wasn’t the correct decision but I learned from it. Could something worse have happened on that dive that could have ended my life? Sure, but that’s true of every dive. I’ve always felt that I’m safer diving deep with a buddy than diving alone in the shallows. I learned from that experience and have not dove to those depths for spearfishing since, it’s just too damn deep.

My second time, the time that you are referring to in your post above, was about six months ago while I was freedive training with my buddies. We had a drop-line and tether setup for safety and we were each making deep dives in excellent conditions with 3 guys watching the one guy diving. I made three dives that day, the first one to around 90, and then a dive to 111’ that I had zero problems doing. My final dive was to 114’ and I had a samba upon reaching the surface. I had three guys rushing to my aid and supported me until I regained control. In the spearboard post where we discussed that day I never claimed the 114’ as my PB and only mentioned the 111’ dive since that was the deepest clean dive that I had done. I didn’t claim a PB that I blacked out while doing as you claim in your post. I can’t understand how you can disparage my discussion in that thread without having been there or knowing the facts. If you heard things through the grapevine it’s best to check with the person you are about to personally attack before claiming you have all the facts. BTW, I never claimed that dive to 110’ when I had a samba was a PB either, previous to the 111’ my previous best clean dive was 105. I’ve made mistakes in my diving in the past but I have reflected upon them and they have made me more conservative and safe on the water which has in turn made me enjoy freediving and spearfishing more than ever.

I do not encourage anyone to take any chances on my boat, in fact I continuously stress safety on my boat. The first thing I said when we arrived on the first spot on Saturday (which was a spot in only 35 feet) was “everybody buddy up with someone and be ready to dive with them all day.” That’s what I encourage on my boat, diving with a buddy at all times and at all depths. Are we perfect at adhering to that? Not always, but we do our best, and we’ve become even better at it since we’ve started stressing the buddy system to each other. I’m also extremely proud of the safety record on my boat, prior to Jim’s blackout we have NEVER had a safety issue of any sort, EVER! The worst thing that ever happened was that I bruised my finger pulling up the anchor. Part of the reason for the good safety record is choosing to bring only like-minded individuals along on our trips that are safe, respectful, and get along.

We all make choices on the water and we are all in the end responsible for our decisions. I have chosen to be a safe diver and have not even had lightheadedness or any other close call on a spearfishing dive in over a year, can you say the same is true of your own diving? I don’t think you can. So instead of attacking me personally and spreading lies perhaps you should take the time to examine Jim’s experience and help yourself and your dive buddies be safer in the water like the guys in our crew are doing.

This is my first and last post on your forum Dan, I needed to set the record straight, if you want to discuss things further please email me.

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There's a lot I can say to address that post but I don't think it's necessary, all you have to do is read between the lines. One thing is worth mentioning. The only time EVER that I felt light headed due to an over extended dive was a couple of months ago diving off of Kris' boat. Of course I spoke about it hence the allusion.

Quote from Toledo970

Yeah, why is that??? And I ain't talking 15' down either.

I don't know how it is for you but in my case it reminds me of a phrase from the scene in The Last Samurai where Cruise loses a sword practice fight and a friend tells him "You have too many mind." I think that since I left Cuba where spearfishing and diving came very naturally with no extraneous influences things have changed a lot. Mostly due to the information and interactions I've been exposed to through the forums. There's been a lot of negative effect. Now when I dive I carry all kinds of baggage that I never had before. I'll leave it at that as whoever can understand will.

It's been demonstrated that in one on one sword combat the Japanese style with the Katana is inferior to the European fencing style. A famous match was held many years ago between world champion fencer and a Japanese sword fighting expert. Every time the Japanese went to attack the European did a stop cut to the wrist. If you look for information on the particulars of this match you can find out the names and there should be a video of this too.

And even being all out of air it never felt like I was close to blackout.

Those are some cool vids monster. I can appreciate what they're doing. For the first one just take any shovel and sharpen it but the swords are nice. I always wondered which style was the most effective.

There are a few variations but yes that's what I'm talking about. See my avatar

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.

Naw monster, Jim's not arrogant at all. His breath hold is actually pretty good. It does take some balls to come out and admit a B/O but it's better for everybody if it's out there.

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.

You don't believe in pics

I thought the crescent line release was a recent thing. Maybe they used to have it then went straight and then back to the crescent. I like the straight better because it keeps the shooting line tight against the stock. I can see the butt is old style too.

I guess the logo came off when the gun was refinished. Good hunting with it monster.

I must commend you on your presence of mind to undo the belt. Do you think you would have made it up if you didn't ditch it?

Quote from JimCuda

Damnit, I'm gonna have to let the cat out of the bag. I blacked out on the surface for a second after taking a breath. I came to just as Kris grabbed me. He was my dive buddy and did his job perfectly.

I probably should just start a thread on it because there were so many preventable factors that came together for this to happen. The biggest thing was that I went deeper than I expected because I focused on the extremely numerous and large fish. Coupled with a mediocre breathe up, and that happened.

I have been really trying to be safe about my diving, but I got too complacent about this.

Lesson learned. I'm not saying that I'm relegated to shallow water, but when going deeper, it's important to take a step back and see the big picture.

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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.

Even better.

Aimrite aluminum has the integrated track, the carbon shouldn't.

Jim, I sort of guessed it was because you didn't use a float line. Use a float line. I guess you lost the belt too I just hope it wasn't with the new weights. Thanks for sharing the story, others can learn from it. Did you mark the spot to try to recover?

Just the inside.

I use a lighter with the flame on high to run the yellow part of the flame on all glass surfaces to the point that it gets hot to the touch and soot forms. Be careful not to melt any plastic and rubber, it's a little tricky to do on the inside of the mask.

You don't need to go diving to test the mask. I put it on in front of a mirror and blow into it through the nose. You can clearly see the hard to reach areas of the glass where the treatment was less effective start to fog a little where the well treated areas stay clear. As long as those hard to reach areas don't fog immediately it will be fine in the water.

Quote from monster slayer

There is no place here to get decent gear. Most of the gear i have is from divers that come from the usa and sell the items to me, or i order gear from great divers parting with some stuff <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

Do other Mexican divers do the same? Sounds like Cuba but it shouldn't be, Mexico is a developed country no? Why don't you guys order from online shops? Are they unwilling to ship to Mexico or is shipping unreliable or too expensive?

I don't think they warranty the stock past three years. I had a stock warp because I left it in the car. The gun was around 5 years old and they offered a replacement stock once I send the old one back for $240. That didn't suit me. I bought tools with the same money and made myself a gun.

I'm surprised that the Riffe logo rubbed off, the serial on the top too? I'd be suspicious that it's really a Riffe but then who else would machine a stock to fit that crazy handle.

Monster, where in Mexico do you go to buy gear?

Quote from Alan

the omer alien has gained reputation as the Alien Fog, go figure..

I've bought 1 omer Alien and 3 omer Abyss masks, they all fogged badly without treatment. After treatment like I said no problem. I would say that fogging (before treatment) is not specific to the Alien mask but to all the omer line.

How did you lose it?