Ab diving

I went out on my buddies PB today in pursuit of the Mendo tri-fecta...abs, crabs and salmon.  We left port at about 0730 and had our crab gear in the water in 10 minutes, and then off to a ab diving favorite.  Had our abs by 0900, and off to the troll.  Trolled quite a while for nada, and then pulled the crab gear for nada...  

To add insult, I left my speargun at the house so i wouldnt get in trouble if we had salmon onboard.  The whole time I was ab diving I kept seeing legal lings and cabbies.  Next time I am taking the yak and bringing the gun.

Still a freaking gorgeous day on the water and the viz was way better than last week.

Got to fort ross at 9am and paddled off to the point where it was quite choppy. Jumped in and found the vis only allowed me to see my fintips, there was a milkiness to the water I'd not seen before. Anyway, I dove for a little while and picked up a couple abs and saw a blue rockfish make a run for it. Didn't even bother with the gun in that murk. I was having trouble catching my breath at the surface, which I attributed to the breakers that were being blown over me, so after some spluttering I paddled in one short of a limit and tried some shorepicking to fill out my day. Couldn't find any, but I collected half a dozen large mussles to see if they were any good.  (wife wants 10lbs next time!)

Back at my gear I was rinsing it off in the stream when I noticed that my weight belt had all my weights, including a 4lb spare, on it. No wonder I was having problems in the chop. That was disapointing, but it also felt good that I could tell something wasn't right and head back, rather than try to be a hard-ass. One more punch on my card is one more excuse to go up the coast again too, hopefully in better conditions.

Another guy in an Omer suit managed to get 2 lings and some blues. Must have had a really short gun in that limited visibility.

Its amazing how much work an extra 4#s can be.  I spent a bit of time last year getting my weight belt right were I wanted it, and it made a huge difference.  This was the first time in years I felt great on my first ab dive of the season.  Hanging out with bideyedave is inspirational....but I have a LONG way to go.

And having 4# too little is also a ton of extra work.

Here's how I adjust for weight.  It doesn't take a lot of time.

1) Put your weights on.
2) Slide in the water.
3) Take a breath and stop treading water.  You should be floating at eye level.  If not, adjust the weights and test again.
4) Now exhale.  You should sink slowly and not stay floating.  If you don't, then adjust the weights.  Iterate on #3 and #4 until all is well.
5) Adjust for personal preference.

Note: your weight needs can change due to a variety of reasons.  Even gaining/loosing just 5 pounds of body weight can alter the amount of diving weight you need.  A different wetsuit or a change in water salinity can also affect your weight needs.

-Allen

I had adjusted my weights last time I was out, about a month ago, but in between I'd painted the weights and I guess I put them all on the belt.  Guess I should check my weights in the calm shallows before each trip.

Hopefully the vis will improve for next weekend.

I got to Fort Ross around 10 a with my wife Jen(her first Ab trip). I think I might have seen you out on the reef, if you were that lone kayak out there. We braught our white tandom yak, but with that 25 mph bone chilling wind, we decided to leave it on the Honda. We went down to the protected cove and the water looked real good for me and so/so for her. So we worked the shallows and it sucked. She got one and I got three skinny ass abs. I never worked so hard to find such small abs. I thought that the shallows were overklooked but I was wrong(cleaned out). Anyways, my wife is an official ab diver now so I'm happy(6 instead of three!). We had some weight issues as well. When my wife would go to dive, she would stick her legs straight up, but only go down about a foot. She needed about a couple of pounds.
       But be careful!!! Shallow Water Blackout  is the cause of 90% of freediving accidents and usally strikes on the way up when you hit one atmosphere pressure(about 15 feet below the surface). So, a good rule is to weigh yourself so that you are possitive boyency from 15 feet on up. This is so if anything happens, at least you have a chance on the surface. But if you sink, well then your sunk.  Lee

if it was a red solo kayak, that was me.

The abalone were everywhere in the spot I was on.  Think I only went under 4 times and got 2 abs.  I just couldn't rest up enough on the surface for any decent bottom time.  

Next weekend looks like it'll be less windy.  If the vis improves too I'll be back up there.

Ahh ... a couple more points on weight belt.

I use a pocket weight belt like this ... http://www.scubapro.com/products/accs/pocket_weight_belt/pocket_weight_belt.asp

And I use soft weights (2-4#) filled with lead shot.

So adjusting is easy for me as it's just a matter of flipping open a velcro pouch and adding or removing a weight bag.

This sits "oh so nice" on the hips.  After years of using solid lead weights on a belt, then switching to soft weights, the difference is like night and day in terms of comfort.   I used to have problems with the solid leads shifting around my hips (or lack of hips as the case might be).  I was constantly adjusting my belt.  Also the solids tended to dig into my hip bones.  Ouch!  Not so comfortable!  Now, I hardly spend any time paying attention to the weightbelt, which for me makes all the difference when trying to stay calm in choppy 50 degree water.  And staying calm translates to longer time under the water for me.

Hope this helps your newbies looking to start diving this year.

-Allen

I've got one like that, and it works well, but I hate those friction buckles.  That's left the soft belt as a spare (in the hatch).  My new belt is a rubber rob allen belt with a through-hole buckle.  Once the thing is on it won't come off (unless you tug the tag hard enough to disengage the prong).  Since it's strechy it stays snug even as you get compressed on the way down.  I've found that not having to worry about the belt staying on makes a big difference.

I cast my own weights with nice rounded corners and they don't bug me.

I've also got a low-volume freediving mask, and it's wonderful.  In fact, this last trip I wasn't even thinking about my equipment at all.  I even forgot to lube up my moustache with vasoline to help the seal and can't recall clearing water out of the thing once.  It's nice that it doesn't suck your face off on the way down too.

http://www.spearfishinggear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=LFM13&Category_Code=M

and

http://www.spearfishinggear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MWB57&Category_Code=WB

Ah ... you just reminded me.  I've been meaning to swap out the nylon friction belt with a metal one as I've had problems there too.  I got a metal one lying around somewhere in the garage.  It bites much better on the belt.  I wouldn't recommend a belt with the prong ... too much to worry about if you need to loose the belt in an emergency.

-Allen

The prong is kind of spring loaded to fly open once it pops out of the hole.  A good tug on the belt away from your body will clear it and the belt slides through the buckle just like any other belt.  I wondered about that myself until I saw how it works.

Other guys did good this weekend:
http://www.spearboard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17079

Hey guys, regarding weight I have switched from a neutral weight (floating @ eye level) to a little lighter (2-4#).  The thought being that I can kick a little more on the way down, grab kelp or whatever, after I have my ab(s) it's straight up baby!  I come out of the water like a breeching whale   I tend to stay down longer with this approach.

thought I'd share...

good luck out there, be safe.

ken

Hah!  I do just the opposite.  I guess that's why I added "adjust for personal preferences".  I don't like like the buoyancy pulling me away from an ab while I'm trying to pry it.  Beside, I don't (can't!) dive deep enough that a few extra kicks on the way up makes a difference over rocketing up.  

-Alle

I am definitely sick of friction belts myself, but that belt is a little too secure for me.  Bigeye has a great comprimise, I'll try and find a pic.  Rubber is great though as it stays tight as things compress.

I use neoprene rubber belt with quick release buckle, but I'm thinking about a marseillaise( rob allen). I like the idea of being able to pull the tag end (so it's ready to fall of if you pass out and your hand goes limp) on a dive where you've pushed your bottom time to the max. With my quick release buckle, I'm not sure I could do that with just one hand, which would make carrying the ab a little difficult. Anyways, if you scroll down from the photo you'll see it got good reviews.   Lee
Here's the link:
http://www.scubastore.com/shop.asp?id_familia=1&id_subfamilia=2
p.s. this is a store in Spain. Their prices are incredible but shipping is a little expensive so you got to buy a decent amount of equiptment to save. Still, I baught gloves and a Cressi mask and manage to save about twenty bucks v.s. buying local. And they got the stuff to me in four days. I'll shut-up now.  -Lee