Posts by behslayer

  • Down current, downcurrent, down welling, vertical udnerwater current spearfishing freediving


    This video demonstrates one kind of downcurrent clearly. I've seen downcurrents that were more like whirlpools like a toilet bowl flushing. These were usually in the Lee of a reef structure or small Island. The downcurrent in this video is more likely what Kosta may have encountered.


    Water is like Air when it's flowing in a current. A large volume of water is pushing in a current along a shallower section of reef. It's like the water is under pressure, that is why it is moving. As it hits a drop off, there's no longer that bottom holding the volume of water so it spills into the abyss like a waterfall. In this video, if the diver had swam in towards that cliff, he would have been in the shadow, under the waterfall. But where he was he was catching the force of the river spilling down onto him. He could have swam into the cliff and hugged it and then punched through and up. Alternately he could have angled off away from the Waterfall and the downcurrent would have been less intense. In some cases, the area to the left or right may have also been less severe.


    When you are dealing with currents it's important to try to take a birds eye view and visualize the landscape underneath. Then to try to understand how the water will be reacting to the different contours. Try to visualize the eddies the current flow. Often you can move just a little in one way or another and avoid the brunt of a current or use it to your advantage rather than disadvantage. For example. If there is a current raging down a shoreline you can hide from it in some contours, like a big rock will be a shelter just like it would from the wind. If there is a current raging down a shoreline, often you can hug very very close to that shoreline and there will be a reverse current or atleast a very lessened current in that few feet.

  • Kostadin Seal has died

    I edited my post above as a friend of Kostas contacted me and said that I should be aware that some of the translation regarding the depths and distances was incorrect. It makes a difference as the conversion was from feet to meters and speaks to the likelihood that depth and overweighting were also possible causes. Depth, Overweighting, Currents, Downcurrents, possibly a broken fin, possibly trying to unwrap a fish or line from coral at depth, possibly fighting with a fish or some kind of band tangle etc.


    I also want to add some videos here which explain better the kind of currents and type of diving and quarry which Kosta was experiencing. I've dove those spots many times and I have seen/experienced currents similar to this on occasions.


    This clip from Perrin James shows the kind of currents. The longer film shows some of the spearfishing in these kind of areas.





  • Kostadin Seal has died

    Terrible news. From his dive partner Lyubin who was his buddy on this dive. (translated)


    Dear friends and relatives of Costa, since the internet has written all kinds of things, let me tell the story seen through my eyes. We left at 07 pm from port to spota. We had rented a boat from the day before. The boy was waiting for us. On the way we enjoyed the beauty of the island and the luck we had that we were there. We were all so happy and excited! When we got close, we started planning things. We decided that none of us are in shape, and we need at least 3 days of adaptation to take it easy, not dive deep, but only up to 12 feet. We've been with him deep in Greek before. That was one of the reasons he kept us together on this trip, we were already together as a couple. When we went into the past in the deep end, we were able to snorkel the " without losing eye contact, one always waiting for the other to return to the surface, watching him. That day we decided that we would get used to the sea, and we wouldn't go deep, we didn't have to use that method. We just agreed to stay together and the boat followed us. We've reached our destination in 45 minutes. First in the water, I jumped, and in a few minutes, Costa and Danny. We held together as we drifted along. After a few dives, I managed to get a trophy fish. I called the boat to come, she was about 25 feet between me and the other guys. We picked up the fish, we pulled out my buoy, and we went to show it to Danny first, and when he saw her, he got in the boat, he got a little sick of the excitement. Then we immediately took the Costa, which was 20 feet away from Danny. We all enjoyed our luck, just a few dives and we already had a trophy! Costa must have cracked the capillary and had some blood in his nose. A few times we asked him if he was okay, he laughed and said there was no problem, you know..... the boat was shaking a lot, there was a reflected wave from the shore and it wasn't very nice to stand in it, we decided with Costa to get Back to the same place where I hit the fish. So we did. We jumped, and Danny stayed in the boat, he wasn't feeling well. Drejfahme and get about 10-12 feet. We met once in a while. In about 40 minutes, I met costa and asked him how he was. He said he took a fish to 7-8 pounds. Everything was fine. Then he dove in front of me, and I saw that under 5 Feet, he went to the bottom without waving his flippers! Later I found out he took extra lead from Danny. I assumed it was shallow. We went on like this for about 20 minutes. In one of my dive, the current pulled me lightly in front of the escarpment, which was falling steep down there, not as edge as before. I immediately felt that I was going down too easily to the bottom, and I knew I was in daunstrijm, the current of this place was going straight down. In situations like this, I've been in Norway, and I'm well known. That's how I know it's not a joke. It usually happens when the current, the power and the direction of the wind have a certain force and match at a certain angle. I never hit the bottom, and I turned around and started at a normal pace to swim up to the surface. I felt like I was standing in one place without moving up, I was about 15 feet away. Then I sped up to maximum and managed to swim. On the surface, I blacked out. I raised my head, and I saw the boat about 15 feet away from me, and I went out there yelling at Danny to warn costa not to enter this place because there's a strong current down. And he raised his hand and pointed out his buoy, saying, " look at him, ljubo, he's already there!" we saw how fear stood up a few times, like he had fish on it. We used the setʺp for trophy fish, where the arrow after a shot remains tied only to buoy. I went to his buoy right away. The current was brutal in this place. The boat with Danny in it followed me. As soon as I arrived, I saw his harpoon emerge from the bottom, grabbed it and handed it to Danny. I already found out something bad happened. Costa was shooting. The Rope of the buoy was hanging down without reaching the bottom. Later, the rope was 43 feet. I dived on it straight down. I reached 20 feet, I saw at least 15 feet down. Beneath me was an abyss, there was no bottom, there was no sign of Costa. I came up extremely hard. I looked around and remembered the place, it wasn't hard, it was near the shore. I couldn't dive again. The current took me out of the place, no matter how much I kicked my flippers. I was just hoping he'd be caught somewhere in the arrow line and pull it out with her. Unfortunately, it wasn't. We picked up buoy, who apparently drejfaše, held the position, got on the boat and we a point of gpsa so we wouldn't lose the place. Right after that, we went down with the boat, hoping he'd throw his seat belt off and float away. We've made multiple circles around the place by expand them every time. No score. I told the boatman to call the police and the coast guard, and I went back in the water. We've been looking for him for about 3 hours, trying to pull me on the boat and go with the current, which was so strong, I couldn't move a meter against him, swimming as hard as I could. My eyes saw what I wanted to see, in my head, my friend's outline from every pebble and every coral. A few times, I was convinced I was seeing him, but after I got closer, I could see it wasn't him. The police came with a boat, and there were a few more boats. I asked them to give me diving, but they said they didn't. I was invited to the boat to explain what happened. I went up there and gave them quick explanations, asked them to send a diving team, but they said there was no one in there. They assured me they were lifting a helicopter. That's where they sent us to the police station with Danny, and they kept searching until dark. The search continues until today. From talks with the local spiʺrfišing guides, I found out that usually search operations for the missing spearos are very difficult due to the strong currents and the depths that near this place fall to 180 m. That's where I think he's dropping all that water table. I guess costa, just like me, was sucked into the same place, but he saw a fish that he was shooting at, he fired, but it was already too deep to emerge in that current. There's no way he could have broken a flipper on his way up and tried to pull up on the buoy that stood up several times before I got to him. The other night, he was showing me how he was reinforced with his carbon monoxide flippers because they were cracked in front of slipper. He was the one who chose to come in then, I guess, with the idea of trying them on a shallow hunt. That's the truth about what happened. Anything else written on the internet by side people is fiction. I'm so sorry about Costa. I lost one of my biggest friends. I'll never forgive myself for not being with him a minute earlier and for not being able to reach him..

    __________________

  • Ballast question

    Hi Matt,


    Yes, that is the Rear Lead Recess. There should be one in the Front too? Most Probably.


    Is the gun sinking Handle Heavy? or Uniform? If the gun is only heavy in the Back you could only need to remove some of that. What would I do? You had said you thought about buying a Chisel, that could work. Chiseling lead is generally not fun, but it can work.. You had said there was a Local Woodshop. I would go in there towards the end of the day with a 6 pack of cold beer. If they have a Mortiser, i.e. a Square bladed Drill press, they could drill that Lead Recess out easily. A Drill Press could do as well. They will have all the right stuff, like a saw, maybe a Table Sander, so you can form the Plugs you are removing. Remove the Lead from both Front and Back. (Sounds to me like this piece of Wood is Denser than Average. That's a good thing, probably nice Teak, but maybe they just put in a set amount of lead, or they got confused between two blanks. There's also some guesswork because they are using a Freshwater Ballast tank to test guns.) Remove the Lead in front and back. Bring the gun down to the beach. Take some small lead fishing weights. You can put a few in the Handle since it has a closure. Put some on a fishing line around the area where the front lead recess is. Put the Shaft in the gun. remove and add weight until the gun is weightless and balanced how you want it in the Salt Water. Then you can figure out how to add the lead i.e. melting or just putting in pieces and covering with Epoxy or putting back Wood Covers over. Or even just putting inside your AR-15 Grip.. This stuff happens. Wood.. if it didn't grow on trees we wouldn't use it to build anything.

  • Ballast question

    Not sure if the gun was sinking with original handle? If not, then you could put a piece of Foam inside that Grip. If the gun was sinking before you changed the Handle frame out, look for the Lead recesses. You will need to either take lead out, or swap for a thinner shaft.

  • Band stretch

    One good resource is the Spearitco.com Band Length Calculator. They are based on 200% rather than 300% but this will give you a constant reference point for your own bands. The thing is that so much of the band materials vary. That Band Calculator includes the Wishbones and you can set the length. I use between 340% and 360% depending on the length of gun. There is a HUGE difference in power with Multiple Band Guns as you increase the Band Stretch. I've seen some videos where 4 bands on a 5/16" at 320% is barely scratching a target at 20' but at 360% is lacing a 4" Foam target at 25'. The Smaller ID Bands are game changers. In the past we had to be very careful with tying the Standard Bands too tight because of Snappy Recoil. But I think the smaller ID Bands have substantially less volume when stretched and this means a lot of things which I'm not skilled enough to explain.. bottom line is you can tye them hotter, get better power, and not worry as much about snappy recoil.

  • Ulusub Bluewater OPEN

    Congratulations to opening a new epic bluewater spearfing territory!


    That's what this was really about George. All of these guys grew up diving our butts off inshore in bad vis and green water. We all grew up exposed to Offshore fishing. We all dreamed of the diving the Blue out there 100 miles offshore. Years ago, a few guys first started to put their toes in the water out there shooting some Mahi Mahi. What happened up here during the past two years was guys bringing back the knowledge and experience they gained from other places and applying this to our area. A combination of Bluewater Spearfishing with Offshore Fishing. The idea is that if you are a place where there is good Offshore fishing for species like Wahoo or Tuna, that you also have a good Offshore Bluewater Spearfishery.

  • Ulusub Bluewater OPEN

    It's a good feeling Dan. I love to see photos and videos of guys using equipment I've made whether it's Wetsuits, Reels, or Guns. I think all of those fish above except maybe one were taken with Ulusub Guns I made with my own hands. It wasn't one of the rules of the competition, but it turned out that way.

  • Ulusub Bluewater OPEN

    The winner of the first annual Ulusub Bluewater OPEN has been decided. This was an informal contest run in the Northeast this year. The rules were. South Carolina and North. Contest begins May 15 and runs through October 15. Best Bluewater Spearfishing Capture wins a new gun. Truth be told. I wanted that gun badly for myself and did my best to try to win it. Until last year there really was no Bluewater Spearfishing in the North East. This year there were several incredible captures to be considered and it was not an easy decision to select the winner. Chris Rowbottom's Epic Wahoo entry was hard to beat. Very few Wahoo have ever been speared north of North Carolina. Chris nailed a 93lb RI State All Tackle Record. The fish was Huge, and Chris R is such a good guy and great member of the NE Spearfishing community that I figured that would clinch it. I tried to catch up with a few nice Wahoo catches, some really Big Bull Mahi, a few decent YFT/Big Eye, my dive buddy Dave Holdsworth from MVI landed some beauty YFT and several Big Eye over 100lbs, a great effort, but there was still no disputing that Chris Rowbottom's Wahoo was the most outstanding Bluewater Spearfishing capture leaving from Rhode Island Shores this past season. Meanwhile our Southern brethren out of Montauk, NY had been giving it a go. Peter Correale may have landed the most, and biggest Yellowfin and Big Eye Tuna. He's a great diver with heaps of experience. He also put that gun down for a while and took up shooting behind the lens and captured some incredible images. Patrick Wetzel is a class guy, oldtime Offshore draggerman and he got a nice Slob. Tony Lonesleeve Dooley came back to his roots, is a great diver and put some good meat on the deck and took some great photos. Rob Navratil came very close to a Polespear WR with this Mahi. Lance Snead with a nice 130lb Big Eye. There were others, some haven't shared their adventures and may have taken the purse. But.. there was one guy who could challenge Chris Rowbottom's wahoo, and that was Chris Miller. Chris started off the season earlier than anyone. He was born under the docks in Mtk. He's a commercial fisherman and spearfisherman to the bone, and the Bluewater Spirit runs strong in him. He fed fat YFT and Big Eye Tuna Steel all summer. It was the combination of several fantastic Yellowfin and Big Eye tuna captures, and Chris' Bluewater Spirit and sharing which added up to the win. Congrats Chris.