first attempt cold water snorkel

so my King size wetsuit showed up, rented one for Nathan and plan on going to San Carlos beach saturday to get wet and see if he freezes his cajones off.  If all goes well, we will be trying a pole spear up the coast another day.

of course like any red blooded teenager he wants a knife to strap to his leg.  Its the cool factor, but he says what about kelp?

I figure he is more likely to cut his arteries than kelp.  So realistically how often have you folks ever used your knife?

Eugene

whats a knife????? lol never used one. There is no need to dive in heavy kelp abs are everywhere.
I pull the gills on the huge giant lings i shoot that kills them jsut as good as a knife.

I used to wear a knife when scuba dive and free dive but never have a need to use it.  If you free dive in thick kelp bed then the knife can be more hassle (getting snag) than without one.

OK, thanks guys, the rambo look will have to wait.

Of course now he wants the cash

Give me A jingle next time you guys go out. Kris and I have all our gear and love to dive. There are some great places to go and site see. As far as the knife goes I bought one for around sixty bucks and gave it away @ shelter cove.Some diver will be pretty happy when he finds it.

Your teeth work great for cutting kelp if you need to.  I used to dive with a knife it was allways getting caught on kelp.  One of the divers I met last year straps the knife on his thigh then uses a part of an old wetsuit leg to cover the knife and sheth completly so it does not get caught on kelp.

Kelp has strong tensile strength but will break easily when you break/snap it in halves.

of course like any red blooded teenager he wants a knife to strap to his leg.  Its the cool factor, but he says what about kelp?

I don't think kelp is a big concern. I would worry about either getting tangled in some mono you didn't see or getting wrapped in your shooting line while fighting a big fish. Unlike scuba,where you have plemnty of time to deal with a snag, when freediving you have only what happens to be left of your breathhold at that moment.

I don't dive, but this story came to mind:

http://www.cdnn.info/news/safety/s080928.html

I was Ab diving in the cove next to Stillwater last year when that happened.  I just got in the water, and all of a sudden the rescue chopper starts flying over head, and tons of people are walking down the trail and stopping and pointing at me, and taking pictures and video.  I was thinking what is going on, then some of my family members came down and told me a guy had just drown.  It didn't feel right to stay in the water so I got out and headed back to camp.  The kelp was bad last year, I could't even get to my normal spot.

since the original post, we have dived a whopping total of 3 times.  We compromised on the knife and he has an old folded serrated edge knife on his weight belt.  We practiced breaking kelp a few times for some insurance and dive the holes in the kelp, peering under but not really going there.  Looking under the canopy, scuba is sounding like something I want to try, so I can get under there with more than one breath.  Then again, another layer of hassle; cost, equipment, etc.

I just gotta get rich and quit work.  Work keeps interfering with my plans