13 cuft pony for duck dives. Is it possible?

[Sam Maghsoodloo]

awap, that's actually a really valid question, and i'm surprised you're the first to bring it up. There's actually no advantage to this system over scuba, other than making the logistics easier for going to the beach and diving for lobster here in san diego.

Basically, the weight of the scuba system is such a PAIN in san diego because of the difficult beach entry, cliffs along the shore, horrible parking situations, and strong surge. Also, i don't (don't need to) dive deeper than 30 feet for the lobster, so scuba is almost overkill, and also a particular pain at these dive spots. There's a spot here called Bird Rock, that is almost impossible to enter without being in serious danger of rocks. Taking that much weight with you on these entries is really a pain.
Also, i live like, 2 blocks from the water here at Pacific Beach, and we have to take a car because of all the gear (I'm looking into a radio flyer that we can pull our gear to the beach, but that's for later). I wanted to get into freediving, so i can just walk to the beach every day wearing my wetsuit, and holding my fins and mask, and that's where this idea came in.

 

[redacted]

You might take a look at at 40 cu ft tank. Only weighs about 17 lb. Could even consider going without a BCD and mounting it on a plastic hard pack (a 50 might fit better). Weight yourself to be neutral at 30 ft and the wetsuit will give you some flotation on the surface. Then you just have to swim it down once you get dinner in sight.

 

[Sam Maghsoodloo]

You might take a look at at 40 cu ft tank. Only weighs about 17 lb. Could even consider going without a BCD and mounting it on a plastic hard pack (a 50 might fit better). Weight yourself to be neutral at 30 ft and the wetsuit will give you some flotation on the surface. Then you just have to swim it down once you get dinner in sight.

Yeah, this is exactly what i'm doing. I'm wearing a wight belt, with no bcd. You suggest a 40 strapped to a hard pack, i'm using a 13 slung under my arm; mere technicalities See? It's not such a crazy idea. I can sling bigger sizes after i perfect the technique. I plan on trying the backpack setup at the pool too.

 

[magicwanz]

You might take a look at at 40 cu ft tank. Only weighs about 17 lb.... Then you just have to swim it down once you get dinner in sight.

Exactly!!! I freedive off the beach in florida and brasil for lobster and do this all the time. However, I do this in real shallow water, my MAX depths I'll sink a pony in are 10-15ft, wouldn't do it any deeper- to dangerous as explained in KOMPRESSOR's post.

I carry a 40 cube rigged with a reg, SPG, and 5 lb tank wieght. The 5 lbs is plenty to keep the bottle on the bottom and still light enough to float up or pull up. You can also strap a line from the bottle to your surface (tuna) board, this allows you to sink the bottle and/or retrieve it from the surface once you find that bug or bugs. Tote the bottle on a surface or tuna board, theres too much drag to be pulling on this thing all day through the water (especially when its rough out).

I did this (similar method) for 2 years surveying a reef (running transect lines) in little South Africa where scuba equipment in a remote location was just now feasible, and it was to shallow to run hydrographic acoustics. HOWEVER, once again the MAX depth was 15 ft on high tide (MHHW). I certainly wouldn't try this any deeper, as KOMPRESSOR's post states better to train to be a good freediver at your depths (30 ft).

Happy Hunting

 

[magicwanz]

One of the things i do that will help is that when i snorkel, i take my snorkel out when i duck dive, so i'm not used to having a snorkel in my mouth underwater, only a regulator. Also, i wouldn't free dive, and THEN put the reg in my mouth underwater, that would be crazy.

I missed this earlier, I don't know how i missed it.
I would also suggest to learn to use a snorkel and use it well. I don't know how you can hunt from the surface without a snorkel How do you see around the water column or underneath you while your hunting? Removing the freedivers snorkel is like removing a divers regulator :no.

 

[Sam Maghsoodloo]

i only take the snorkel out right before i go down. I use it normally at the surface, take a breath, and spit it out of my mouth as i am starting downwards. That's only so that i can get a breath easier when i get back to the surface.

 

[Sam Maghsoodloo]

The 5 lbs is plenty to keep the bottle on the bottom and still light enough to float up or pull up. You can also strap a line from the bottle to your surface (tuna) board, this allows you to sink the bottle and/or retrieve it from the surface once you find that bug or bugs. Tote the bottle on a surface or tuna board, theres too much drag to be pulling on this thing all day through the water (especially when its rough out).

woah, that's awsome. You mean you sink it to the bottom before you even descend? that's so much cooler, haha. I don't think i have the balls for that in this surge, but i like it! I'm not familiar with a tuna board, is that something you pull out with you to put your equipment on?

 

[magicwanz]

Yea, its a float (like a boogie-board) that you can drag through the water and attach equipment to.

check out this link from spearboard:
Tuna FLoat System - Page 7 - Spearboard Spearfishing Community

 

[Sam Maghsoodloo]

UPDATE: Here is the rig

I've successfully used this rig twice, in the way that i described earlier. Both dives were in different spots in the La Jolla Ecological Reserve. They went pretty well, although i was under-weighted a bit. For the first dive, i wore 9 lbs, and for the second one i wore 12 lbs. I think next, i'm going to try it with 15 or 16 lbs.
I tested the rig at the surface, and counted 247 full breaths. Bottom time was about 10 minutes, although i think i can make it last much longer if I'm not constantly kicking to stay down. I think with some practice, i can stretch it to 15 or 20 minutes.

 

[shoupart]

Hello, I just came across your thread and saw you put it into practice.

I was going to comment on the original plan to be under-weighted, and have to hold onto rocks or whatever when you descend. I was thinking it'd probably be better to have a little more weight on you, but it looks like you figured that part out!

So how did it work out? Did you find this method to be useful in achieving your goals of scouting more efficiently?