Guide to NorCal Freediving

http://http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=3

Promethean Spark gives us a through overview of freediving in Northern California.
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fixed link

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=3

Doesn't really cover that much about free diving.

Weights - I find belts problematic at 50 I find keeping the weight off a big fight, because of this I have noticed that a I can get my weight  belt too tight and it actually decreases my ability to breath deeply and stay under water very long.

Another thing about weights, the belts tend to roll around if you loosen them enough. It is not a good feeling. I haven't tried the lead shot type belts but they may be better about sliding around on your waist.

Fins - Everyone seems to want to sell the big fins. The trouble is the people selling them are usually pretty good divers. If you can't hold your breath for more than thirty seconds under water, you won't like them. Not to mention that if you don't do some major exercise on your calves you will get cramps from trying to use them.

Floats - The inner tube float with a fancy bag on it is very nice. Just one problem it doesn't get throught water very well, it's more like a sea anchor. The sea anchor thing is good when you leave it for awhile to dive, but it is a major pain to push very far. I'm thinking of tying a boogie board to it, then I can lay it on the boogie board and get it to glide when I paddle to more obscure spots. When I get there just flip it off and let it be a sea anchor.

Kayaks are nice for a float but the wind will push them away. Anchoring a kayak works okay, but you will find yourself getting too far from it and having to return to unload your abalone. The perfect solution is to dive one at a time and have your friend  follow you with a kayak, then trade off. The only problem is you will find yourself going to places where a kayak is inconvenient to haul along.

Wet suits - Those wetsuits with zippers are looking really good to me these days. I don't know how many times I've made an  early morning walk to the beach in my wetsuit and had to take care of  business before I got into the water. Besides I make every attempt not to pee in my wetsuit, it will eventually get a bad smell if you do this.

Zippers are a good thing. It's nice to have zippers in the legs and arms it makes it easier to get them on and off.

Make sure the wetsuit is more on the too big side than too small. Todays wet suits do a better job of holding water from flowing through them, so give yourself some room. It will make it easier to take on ant off.

Masks and snorkles - If you dive from shore much you will eventually lose your mask and/or snorkle. A wave will hit you from behind and you won't even know it's gone  because it was a small wave, anyhow. So always wear your mask strap inside your hood and if you want to take it off in a surf area push down around your neck.

As for snorkles ,don't use clip on snorkle attachments, use the ones that slide over the snorkle and around the mask. If you don't you will eventually lose the snorkle.

Boats, so you think a boat would be neat. Yah, you can go places that are hard to get to walking or impossible, but most dive areas are rocky. Rocky areas are not good anchor sites, so you will have to anchor a long ways out to find sand. The best way to handle it is have someone that isn't diving stay with the boat. They can drop you and pick you up, which saves you from the shark bait swim towards the rocks and shore.

These are tips for the novice. The people that have been diving don't need tips.

I'm sure it's a very well thought out article, but I stopped reading after the section on wetsuits.  While the author feels that 3mm suit is adequate for Northern California waters because "you don't spend much time on the bottom", I think that is very misleading.  I have friends who've gone in with a 3mm and no hood, but they also got their limit of abs on one breath.  That's the only situation I would think of wearing a 3mm suit.  I think everyone on this site knows how cold NorCal waters can get, and that's just putting  your foot in the water.  When a freediver is resting on the surface breathing up to dive, he isn't in water that is in the 70's or 80's.  The temp difference between the surface and a few feet down may be different by a couple degrees.  51 isn't much warmer than 49. 

If you're just going for abs, and don't need to stay in the water for more than 10min., then it's not important what thickness you get.  If you want to dive for a few hours chasing fish or just for the fun of diving, then invest in an apnea suit of appropriate thickness. 

I said that the insulation value of the wetsuit decreases as you go deeper, not that the water gets colder.  Since most people can scuba dive with a 7mm, 2 piece suit, most people should be able to freedive with less.  I'd reccomend renting different types of suits to see how they work out before investing a lot into one, people's tolerance for cold can differ dramatically.

Pretty much everyone I know wears a 7mm...except me.  I wear a 3/4/5 and its almost always a topic of much ridicule.  When they discover that I also skip a hood and put on a surf beanie, the mocking is generally escalated.  I however, am always too hot in a traditional suit (in large part because I'm so efficient at "banking" Leah's amazing cooking)  An ab grab for me is usually a 5-10 minute affair, frequently less.  When I have dove with bigeyedave spearing, sometimes for up to 2 hours, I do eventually get cold, or sometimes really cold.  Dave, who is annoyingly leaner, remains toasty.  As a result, I am in the market for a hood attached suit for colder/longer days.

I get hotline no-zip 4/3 suits and have them sew on a hood.
They sell 5/4 suits with integral hoods, it's semi custom for the
4/3.  just call the shop in santa cruz.  Or get one of each.

This is for surfing, but I'm in up to my sternum for a couple hours
with some mad paddling thrown in and it all works out pretty well.
super durable. quite comfortable. might work for you.

then you can hit pt arena with a board instead of a yak too, 

get two so you never have to wear a wet one,  .  I always
buy them in pairs.

Now that I have a nice posh 7mm suit for scuba diving, I bring the jacket along, but I don't wear it unless I feel I'll need it.  My last trip was the first time I did, because the vis was about 20' and I wanted to play around longer -  and I was borderline hot with that over my 3mm FJs.  All my other trips this year had vis between 4 and 12' though, and in those conditions I just load up my abs ASAP since diving isn't as fun in such murk.  I've never freedove with the 7mm FJs.

My wetsuit is 5/3 mil,l it is plenty warm. I would go 7 mil though. It would be nice on colder days out of the water. Just
the same it would be too warm on summer days when the Japanese current floods in