Compasses and Freediving

[g1138]

Hello there
So I was wondering, how many of you freedive/spearfish with a compass.
I'm mostly looking at dives from the beach or shorelines of monterey. If anyone has been there, you know there's a chance for fog to roll in at times.
Also would you recommend a wrist compass or some other form, if at all?
Thanks in advance

 

[Akimbo]

I freedive a lot off a kayak on the North Coast and have a compass on it. I also carry a handheld VHF radio with panic button that will send a distress signal with GPS coordinates. A wrist compass is a lot of drag to wear all the time. Just could keep one on your float or board. The fog does not come in so fast that you will loose track if it, even if you venture fair distances offshore.

 

[g1138]

Sounds good.
Now I have to be a little pessimistic.
Lets say I go out without a float. I have a school course in corsica coming up. Depending on my buddy situation I may be freediving or snorkeling just as much as I'll be scuba diving.

I guess given a situation where you would swim from shore, would a compass be a good "safety line" to have, or would it probably be overkill to worry about getting lost from shore.

 

[Akimbo]

I would encourage having a compass in Scuba. It is probably more drag than you want freediving. By all means, wear one if you feel more comfortable. However, it is awfully nice to have a float, board, or kayak if you are spearfishing from shore. Dragging a stinger full of fish and a speargun through the water can be a lot of work. You can make a board pretty cheap and there is an especially nice roto-molded model just coming on the market for Northern California spearos. I think it will be around $200.

 

[g1138]

mmhmm
Thanks for your help. I think I'll try freediving without a compass for a while.

 

[cmburch]

I use a small UWATEC compass on my Geo wrist band.

Costco has $25 Boogie boards that can easily be customized with a catchbag, floatline, etc. to carry food, water, stringer, gun, camera. They are also good for going over kelp. Though I wish they had about 1/2 again more floatation.

 

[g1138]

A boogie board u say? Sweet I already have a few of those in my garage. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[cmburch]

Boogie Board Customizing

Bogie Board - Spearboard Spearfishing Community

 

[sross]

Hi g1138,

A compass doesn't have to be one of those big things that create drag on your wrist. Casio makes a line of watches they call the Sea Pathfinder series, and many of the models have a built-in digital compass. They are very streamlined, and since you have to have a watch if you're going to freedive safely, why not get one with a compass built in.

Look 'em up on the Casio website or eBay. If you want the "everything" model that does depth, time, compass, atomic clock radio signal detection, etc. you could spring for the SPW-1000 model, look here:

CASIO SEA PATHFINDER SPW-1000-2V MEN 2 YEARS WARRANTY on eBay.ca (item 380241803881 end time 11-Jul-10 07:14:17 EDT)

 

[g1138]

Thanks for the heads up sross.
I never thought of having a depth gauge with me. Do you think that one would really be necessary though?