Posts by hau

I am so sorry to update our water related death count.
We lost another man to an ocean related death yesterday.
Our water related death count now is 7 men in the last 33 days.

Here is a TRUE story written by SWB surviver Steve Bennett in 2008. This is a very detailed read if you haven't already read it. This true story really hits home if you know Steve or Cameron.

"Escaping death from shallow water black out
I want to start this email off by giving God all the glory right now, the fact that I'm even around right now is nothing short of a miracle. Without Cameron Kirkconnell's quick thinking and actions, I'm sure I'd be laying in 180ft of water off the west coast of Florida. This is my account of the incident, and much of it will overlap with Cam's which I will include at the end of this email for those who have not read it. This all occurred while freediving, there were no tanks involved whatsoever. I was wearing board shorts and a rashguard, no wetsuit and no weightbelt, water temp was around 85*F.
We had planned this to be the last dive of the day, 70 miles offshore of Englewood, FL, in 180 ft. of water and it was approaching 6:00pm. On a previous dive, we had spotted a cubera snapper in the 100lb class, between 75 and 100 ft, and discussed our tactics on the surface prior to the drop. We'd always joked around about rigging a fishing rod directly to the shooting line on the gun to reel the fish in, and for one time out of the thousands of combined shots that we had taken, Cameron decided to give it a try. After a thorough 5-7 minute surface breathe up, I dropped down to somewhere between 75 and 100 ft (I was not wearing a freediving computer) to look for the fish. After about a minute of searching, I decided to head for the surface as I could not find the fish. Cameron observed much of my ascent and dropped down to look around for the cubera with his "fishing reel Hawaiian-breakaway setup." I remember swimming upwards and seeing ripples on the surface appx. 25 ft away in the crystal clear water, and instantaneously, bam, I was out cold, shallow water black out. As Cameron lined up the shot on the cubera, the white handle of my speargun sinking past him caught the corner of his eye, moments before he pulled the trigger. At this time, he looked up to see me sinking head first, unconscious and convulsing, about 60 ft away from him laterally in the water.
He immediately dropped his weight belt and swam full speed at me with hopes to get a shot off at the meat of my thigh for a good holding shot, but could not be confident that such a shot would hold at a distance. His second thought was to shoot my calf, but the bones of my lower leg blocked the shot as I was facing him. For a split second, my fiberglass longblade fins turned broadside towards him and he squeezed the trigger, wham, a perfect penetrating shot to the center of my fin. Cam has said that, at this point, it was the closest he had ever been to blacking out himself. However, he made it to the surface and proceeded to instruct everyone on the boat to cut the achor line and reel in his shaft, because I was on the other end and had drowned.
When I reached the boat, I had been under water for appx. 3 and a half to 4 minutes at depth; my body was limp and completely blue, I was also bleeding out of my eyes, ears, nose and mouth. I had a faint pulse but was unconscious and not breathing, and my airway was not opened. This is what is known as a "dry drowning" because the glottis in the back of my throat had closed, not allowing air or water to enter or exit. Cam tilted my chin back and head to the side, blowing air across my cheeks and under my eyes to stimulate breathing as you would an infant.
At this point, still unconscious, some foamy, blood-like fluid (called "sputum," the result of a pulmonary edema) leaked from the side of my mouth. After a short time I sputtered a small cough and took what Cam described as a 1% lung capacity breath. Another 30 seconds later, I did this again with more sputum foaming from my mouth, and after 10 minutes or so of this repetitive action, I had about 15% lung capacity. This entire time, Cameron and the others on the boat were on the radio with the Coast Guard to get oxygen out to us ASAP. I can't say that I was aware for much of the time prior to this, but I remember hearing Cam's voice assuring me that everything would be okay as I drifted in and out of awareness in my own mind. Another 5 minutes later, after a total of 15-20 minutes of unresponsiveness, I finally slurred out some words and could lightly squeeze his hand. From this point on, as the boat was speeding towards shore, I slowly regained motor functions and lung capacity (up to about 30%), until the Coast Guard helicopter arrived, 45 minutes after the original accident, still 55 miles offshore. They lifted me in a basket into the copter, and I was at Tampa General Hospital within 30 minutes.
I still had very little lung capacity as they were filled with the sputum from the pulmonary edema, I was throwing up blood that was in my stomach, and my entire body ached. Luckily I dodged two other bullets which were of concern: the blood from my ears and eyes. The blood from my ears was caused by the fact that I had not equalized as I sunk from appx. 25ft to 80ft, but somehow I did not burst my ear drums and my hearing was not affected. The blood from my eyes was a result of the massive mask squeeze on my face caused by the fact that I had also not blown air into my mask to compensate for compression as I was sinking, but once again I escaped without injury. I spent a total of one day in the Trauma Center, two days in the Intensive Care Unit, and one day on the hospital floor, with the majority of the time spent concentrating on reducing the amount of fluid in my lungs. There was absolutely no long term damage to my body or brain, and my lung capacity is back to nearly 100% after only days.

I can not stress enough how amazingly fortunate I was. I am not aware of anyone else surviving a shallow water blackout after being retrieved from such depth without major physical and mental damage. Every little thing worked out perfectly, and if anything was different, I can say with 100% confidence that I would not be here. If I had watched the whole thing from a third person standpoint, I would also say that there is no way I should have survived. Why we decided to rig the gun to the fishing reel on the boat for this one shot out of the thousands we had taken in our lives, I don't know. How my gun sank right next to Cam, I don't know. How he saw the gun before pulling the trigger on the fish and thus not having a shot left for me, I don't know. Why the shaft penetrated my fin perfectly without cracking it or breaking, I don't know. Why my fin didn't slip off while I was being reeled in resulting in me sinking, I don't know. Why my ear drums didn't burst and my eyes sucked out of my head, I don't know. All I do know is that I'm here, and God is great. Cameron's multiple freedive spearfishing world records speak for themselves as far as his diving ability is concerned, but I'm sure he would agree that this was the best shot of his life. There is nobody else on the planet that I would trust more to take a long range shot directly at me to save my life in 200ft of water.

The scariest part is that this could happen to anybody at anytime, and those with more experience are even more susceptible to shallow water blackout. If this email and my story saves one person then everything that has happened was more than worth it. To everyone, dive safe, always dive with a buddy, and don't push your limits because NO FISH IS WORTH YOUR LIFE!

Steve Bennett
sbennett1127@gmail.com"

We have lost 6 people to the water in the last 30 days here. We lost a 19yr old Navy diver to SWB on 1-6-14 that I was a direct caregiver to when he was delivered to our ER. So sad to loose another brother to something so preventable. If I hit the lotto I'm gonna buy a FRV for every freediver.

I have an new and up coming freedive spearo in training who has now outgrown (and broken his SpiderMan mask). He is now doing 15sec breathholds in 4fsw and says "I need a better freedive mask like hau has". My problem is finding a freedive mask that fits his 4yr old face.
Sooooo
1. What freedive masks are out there to fit a 4yr old face?

Thank you in advance for your constructive advice and opinions.

Quote from fergtm

Hi all

Where can I buy spearfishing equipment here in Mexico?, I am looking for a knife and maybe a wetsuit. What about buying in the US?, I am not sure what to expect on importation fees and taxes.

Just buy from https://spearfishing.store/
I live in Guam on the other side of the globe. I order all my stuff from them and get good products, fast service at a cheap price including shipping to the other side of the world.
Hope this helps

RIP Art, we are all going to miss you sir.
We lost a 19yr old spearo here just two days ago to SWB. Saddening to loose another spear brother.

Quote from Dan

I'd use a carbon barrel if I had the choice. It gives the gun so much of a nicer feel.

100% agree

Quote from LunkerBuster

I like the badger pic. I agree about preserving the wilderness and the wildness. It is important to remember our evolutionary heritage.

Did you make her hat

Where is the badger <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
Sorry bro, I couldn't resist

Stick em----way cool brother. You are indeed a lucky man sir.
Please to post pictures of your new son = spearin buddy = best friend.

Quote from khalel

I have the Gopro Hero 2 and i just listen to the amount of beeps for its start/stop, on/off or lcd function while under the water to tell me what its doing and that works for me but i dont know if the Hero 3 is the same.

Thanks khalel
I have 2 marginatus quick release mounts coming in the mail already,, Good idea using the dive watch reflection. And in your case you might consider using a small hand held MIRROR to check your head mounted GoPro while spearin.
For me with the included WiFi remote on the GoProBlack 3+, I though that it would be WAY easier to control my Gopro with the intended GoPro Wifi remote while yak freedive spearfishing. With the WiFi remote I could easily change settings/turn on-off, check battery life, etc WITHOUT EVER taking my GoPro housing / camera off my mask. IF the remote will work underwater while spearing, IMO it would be WAY easier, accurate and more convenient.

ANOTHER GoPro3+ question
GoPro says that the GoPro3+WiFi remote is waterproof. I looked at many youtube videos of people putting their GoPro3+ WiFi in the water but I still am unclear.
Question 1. Can I use my WiFi remote in the water while freedive spearfishing to say 100fsw to control my GoPro or will it flood/malfunction/not connect?
Question 2. Has / does any other spearos use the Wifi underwater while spearing?
Thanks for all your help

Nice shark.
Is that a "Banks Board" in the second picture?

Quote from Don Paul

Sorry for the side track guys.. on with the logarithmic decrement, laminar flow and dreams of dimpled spearshafts.;) I dream of going to the Bahamas someday, whittling a handle from a piece of drift wood, cutting a band from a truck inter tube and sharping a length of 1/4'' rebar on the concrete curve....all the while dreaming of clear warm water, tanned and oiled goddess's on towels as I swim out to the reef without a wet suit, but visions of a nice hogfish cooking on a coat hanger spit.

Cheers, Don

Thankfully this island is big enough to have an airport and still be able to get shipments from www.spearfishing.store

Don Paul---I love the side tracks sir. Thanks for sharing. :toast2:

I had the question of what masks were COMPATIBLE with BOLTING the marginatus quick release GoPro mounts to. The list of masks that I am POSITIVE will work are:
Omer Abyss
Omer Alien
Omer Bandit
Cressi Superocchio
Cressi Nano----I bought this mask at the Freedive Store. (thank you Dan and jstliver09 for all ur help ) To my knowledge, the Nano is the smallest volume mask that is compatible with the bolt up method for the marginastus quick release mask mount AND the Nano fits me perfectly.
Hope this helps

EDIT---I just noticed while I was working on my new Cressi Nano mask to mount the GoPro, that the Cressi Nano mask is PATENTED. The Nano has a US Pat # stamped on the outside bottom right lens seal skirt

1."I see this item as a tool for evaluating my own designs mostly. I don't see a big market where diver would really want this." Agree

2. "As for the Big boys, making Guns and Pole spears, I'm sure they already have their designs completely tested for this kind of basic stuff."
:thinking: Maybe it is just me not paying attention or it is true that I have yet to see ANY gun / band / spear maker EVER post ANY FPS (feet per second) numbers about their product. I continually read/hear terms like "shoots fast, slow, lots of penetration, accurate, shoots hard", etc. But I cannot ever remember seeing a true FPS written about a speargun shaft speed. Way back in the day before the wheel <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> in archery, we were happy to get 175+FPS from our recurve bows. We didn't REALLY know how fast/slow our arrows were UNTIL we began using arrow chronographs. With the advent of arrow chronographs and the invention of the wheel on archery bows, arrow chronographs have played a HUGE role in arrow speeds and bow design. Arrow speeds have climbed from 150 to 300+fps and there is talk of 400fps designs coming, all with the help of chronographs. IMO, speargun design is much the same as archery bow design, in the context that the stored energy of the archery bow limb and the speargun band function through stored energy to propel the arrow or spear. Granted there are HUGE differences between a 200gr arrow shot through the air and a 60inch SS spear with a string attached shot through the water, but the some same concepts of trajectory, speed, and kinetic energy apply, and a spear chronograph could be a very useful development tool. IMO

Years ago Tin Man wrote about ideas of how to measure spear speed that seemed like a good approach to measuring spear speed. Perhaps his approach could be investigated.

Happy New Year and welcome to the best freedive spearfishing forum ever.

Quote from Linghunt

Sounds good, What is the longest shoot one would want to take?

Display would show Initial and Final velocities. I guess I could display the time to travel the distance, but operator would need to measure out the distances from sensor arrays.

1. The longest shot I could conceive taking would be 25-30feet, with most shots considerably shorter.
2. Initial and (IMO)"Final velocities" information would be a huge asset in building and designing spearguns and spears. Some spearos and spearing applications (Mediterranean) require faster/flatter shooting spears, while some spearos and spearing applications (pelagics) require heavier spears to ensure correct penetration in larger fish.
IMO,With accurate spear speed measurement:
1. A gun designer could test one manufacture of gun band against another,
2. A spearo could use spear speed to calculate spear trajectory.
3. Spear speed and weight could be used to calculate kinetic energy delivered at X distance.
4. Spear speed could be used in speargun design and efficiency.
There are many more.

Quote from Linghunt

Hau, in reference to the Archery Versions, do you like the bells and whistles of calculating averages and SD's etc. I was thinking of doing all that after download to PC. and only display last shot speed.

Maybe an on/off button, reset, and a display. Data storage could have raw data with time stamp.

I need no bells and whistles, just consistently accurate last shot speed for my applications. "On/off, reset and display" would be perfect for me. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
Thanks

"Still don't know why there isn't a product.
If I had them, how many divers would want one?
Linghunt---I would buy one from you (depending on the cost of course).

We have used "low speed chronographs" for years in archery to measure arrow speed. I would guess that arrow speed and spear speed could both be measured by the same type of chronographs. You can buy one for less than $100. here; Search results for: 'chronographs'

Hope this helps

Linghunt--even though the LAST posting to this thread was in 2008, I would love to see someone put together a speargun velocity set up to accurately measure speargun shaft speed.

"Speargun reels, which is best?"

Speardiver composite reel is the best.