Posts by fuzz

  • deep dive

    Quote from twentytwomonk

    Wow, a variable weight dive, and he still kicked all the way down. I love how he's so slow and relaxed thought. You can see the cameraman kicking furiously on the way up, and the diver is still slow and stead. Awesome.


    The cameraman was probably kicking harder since he didn't use a drop weight... so he was more negative coming up. ;)

  • Cuban M.D. case


    Oh well, if there was a doctor for every 3 citizens, they wouldn't need health care... every household would have their own doctor. ;)

  • Bluewater No No's

    I agree with Mister Griswold. So many people go from shooting rear-handle light euro guns... then enter bluewater with a 6-band mid-handle gun. Completely different aiming/handling/shooting... just a whole new beast.


    I've spent years testing & playing with lots of spearguns, but when it comes down to it... I'm moving to a select range of guns that I can pick up and be familiar with. (i.e. for wooden euros, I have 90cm, 110cm, 130cm seasniper euros - all rear-handle, 2 bands, 9/32 shaft) It's nice to pick up a gun and know it will shoot where you want it to, then be able to pick up another size of the same gun and not miss a beat. Confidence in your equipment is very important.

  • Cuban M.D. case

    Quote from monster slayer

    Cuba has the highest percentage of medical professionals per capita. It is estimated that they have almost 1 doctor for each three citizens


    Sorry buddy, but I gotta call you on this one... there's no way in hell that figure is remotely close to reality. ;)

  • Pargo Liso - Mullet Snapper

    As Mr.Monster mentions, they form large schools near the surface during the breeding season.


    Here's another that a buddy Chay shot in La Paz:




    I've only shot one about 4 years ago - good fighter, but wasn't particularly impressed with the edible qualities. Wouldn't mind giving it another shot. ;)

  • Footpocket tendon stiffness

    Quote from Dan

    But have you ever tried such soft tendons :frustrated2:


    The Beuchat tendons are softer than the Dessaults. I also have a pair of c4 mustangs... so yes. :)


    If the tendons are weak (or non-existent), I believe the blades need to be stiffer or have a thicker base to their taper (tips would be same). Just personal opinion - keep the stiffness level, but increases the responsiveness of overall system.

  • Footpocket tendon stiffness

    Quote from Dan

    I know I never finished this writeup, frankly I got tired of arguing about this point.


    I'd be tired of arguing your position too... :D


    While different in many ways, I think the actions of fins is correlated to the action of fishing rods. Different rod tapers, whether slow or fast, have different uses for different fishing styles.
    Likewise, different fins have different pros/cons for different kicking styles in different situations. :)

  • Weighing

    Quote from LunkerBuster

    i agree with one fairly large exception. the possiblity to do something stupid is hightened in shallow diving. IMO, the lack of vertical blue above you will allow you to feel that you are safe fighting that bug for a few more seconds or thinking you can sprint extra hard to get off that shot. this results in a diver being signifcantly lower on O2 and still a dangerous 30 ft from air.


    the more experienced diver maintains a strong mental edge that keeps him/her from doing something stupid, but the rookie or worse, the guy who is better than a rookie but still pretty amateur, loses that edge and makes a bad decision.


    I agree the risk is reduced, but certainly not zero



    Agreed. I'm pretty risk adverse, but have made a couple piss-poor decisions in shallow water that made me wonder later "WTF was I thinking?!!" :crazy:

  • Dangerous fin clips

    Off-tangent rant.


    This is a good case of why ditching weight belts should never be an automatic first option. If you're tangled in shooting line, fishing line, or up here - kelp, releasing your weight belt could very well make the problem much worse.



    One good example. Diving in norcal, new divers are taught to ditch their belt whenever they're in trouble. Good idea for many situations and with the average diver wearing 20# of weight to neutralize their 7mm suits, they'd theoretically float to the surface safely like a cork. However, imagine a situation where a diver has his ankle wrapped in shooting line and trying to make it back to the surface. While panicked, he could collect himself, pause, reach down and slip the loose line off his ankle. Popping his weightbelt would escalate the situation as the extra 20# of buoyancy instantly gained will tighten that noose around his ankle, potentially making it much more very difficult to untangle!


    A friend had another situation where he dropped his weightbelt near shore in big surf. It seemed like the right move at the time, but turned out to be a dangerous play. While he was able to duck under oncoming breaking waves and swim underwater beforehand, his new buoyancy(20#) became a huge obstacle as the walls of whitewater pushed him like a buoy towards the rocks. He spent all his energy fighting a losing battle.



    There are many situations that dropping one's belt is the best option; however, there are times that it would make a bad situation worse. Having a clear mind to assess the situation is crucial. I've been in a few situations that I wish I handled smarter... but they were good learning experiences.



    In this situation, dropping weightbelt could have dramatically different pros/cons if done before or after the fin was dropped.


    Good job av001 on handling a bad situation well!

  • SPETTON Hexo skin wetsuit

    Many camo patterns out there look good to the human eye, but don't really provide much in terms of breaking up the image. While I don't like the spetton camo much myself, I do recognize that it provides a really good value difference between light & dark colors. On the other hand, if you look at a suit like the hammerhead and similar patterns and squint, all you see is a dark blob.


    I have no idea if camo works or not. I've used plain black suits for years with good success. That being said, I'm going to try the new Spetton suits out for my upcoming bluewater adventures. :)

  • A video of controlled speargun testing

    Looks like fun to me. :D


    Didn't scrutinize their tests, but seems like they conduct due diligence... so that's a big plus in my book. I'll watch it closer when I have more time. :)



    I've been interested in these styles of tests for a while. We've been thinking up ways to set up test tanks and bench mounts.


    Here's another series of tests that I found interesting:
    http://pureinstinct.mares.com/videoplayer/phantom2.html



    It seems many companies conduct tests as ways of valididating their design, rather than a tool in developing prototypes. Nevertheless, I find in depth studies of this nature admirable. I just wish that more of the results made their way to public domain.




    Here's one of Dapiran's articles on ballistics:
    http://www.dapiran.it/flash/articoli/tecnici/t24.htm


    More here:
    http://www.dapiran.it/flash/eng/index2.html
    Follow this path - Text-->Technical Articles-->Arbalete's Study

  • Footpocket weight and sizing

    Quote from Dan

    So which blades do fit in Beuchat pockets? I suppose the obvious answer is Beuchat blades but I've never seen those. What's different about their rails? We're in the process of having rails manufactured. I've seen the rail solutions out there and I don't like most of them. The best rails I've found are actually the waterway and those are the ones we're modeling them after. If the waterway rails don't fit in the Beuchat tendons I don't know what will. The rails on the DiveR are OK too but they don't have water channeling rails.



    I'm assuming you're talking about the small rails for the footpockets, not the tip rails. Correct me if I'm wrong.




    Nothing fits well. Some fit okay with a lot of coersion.


    There are no add-on rails on the carbon blades. It's more of a long raised bead of expoxy on each side of blade. This takes the place of the normal tabbed protrusions on t-shaped rails.


    It'll be easier to explain with pictures - sometime this week, I'll take the fins back out and snap some images.




    As for tip rails - carbons have flat (non water-channeling) rails. The surface of the blade has mini channels like omer milleniums for water channeling. The fibres have the same design, but also have water-chanelling rails. Have access to a ton of good rail material, so I'm debatint whether to add some on to the carbons. My only concern is the trade-off betwen dampening the responsiveness of the CF and water flow spilling over the sides.


    Carbone
    http://www.beuchat.fr/catalogue/index.cfm?action=voir_produit&scat=27&idp=155&a=2


    Fibra
    http://www.beuchat.fr/catalogue/index.cfm?action=voir_produit&scat=27&idp=480&a=2

  • Footpocket weight and sizing

    Quote from Dan

    Could you explain this please? What kind of blades won't fit?


    Hard to explain without pictures, but I'll try.


    The tendons of the Beuchats have the standard "T" groove; however, the groove is much narrower. Tried to fit C4 Falcon, Mat Mas fiberglass, & Waterway blades in there with limited success. Even with the normal process of bending the tendon backwards to seat the blade mini-rails, the process is difficult at best.


    The blades themselves are slightly different as well, with the tongue (portion past bend that goes into pocket) being longer than standard. This is good as it provides more rigidity and power transfer. It's bad, since aftermarket blades can't seat all the way in, or the blade's bend will not coincide with the pocket's bend.


    Last thing - since the tendons are more flexible, they don't create a perceived bend like Omer/Sporasub pockets. As you know, when you put a straight blade like Waterway in those, the hard rails give an angle between footpocket and angle. When you put a straight blade in the beuchat pockets, they stay relatively straight inline.



    I like the Beuchats, but with rising prices and a new US distributor adding an extra layer of cost... looks like I might have to find an alternative. :angry5:

  • Footpocket weight and sizing

    Up here, most of these pockets are for my sz10.5 foot and 5mm booties. 44-46 works fine.


    Hawaii or any warm waters like Baja, 42-44 or 43-44 is perfect.


    Can't seem to comfortably get my 5mm booties into the Spetton 43-45's, but work well with 3mm omer booties.




    The Spetton pockets are a bit tighter in the heel and narrower. Some of my friends with wider feet don't like it, but I like my pockets to be as tight as comfortably possible. As I mentioned earlier, my favorite exchangeable pockets are definitely the beuchats, but their tendons just don't accept normal blades.