Surf Entry With Scooter - How you do it?

[Ben_ca]

What's your exact method for doing a DPV surf entry when there is some good surf up? When do you don fins, clip off scooter? Swim past surf or scooter out? How about exit method as well?

Oh and when there is "good surf up" we (MoCal scooter crew) don't dive there... we have plenty of coastline that let's us hide from the waves.....

 

[Mo2vation]

Paging Mo2vation...

I can only do this if its real SoCal surf (not Seattle "surf" or those ankle slappers in Rick's pic...) and if I have the deathstar in my other hand...

:blinking:


Things to remember:

Make good decisions now. Look at the tide charts and look at the sets. Remember, any fool can get in - its getting out after 80 minutes when you're cold, weak and tired when problems can occur. If it looks bad now, will it likely be worse in an hour?

Be scared. If you're not puckering every time you take a step into the zone, or every time you're about to come at it from the back on the way back in, you're going to get rolled. Being scared keeps you sharp, and it beats the heck out of sand-water-sky sand-water-sky.

You're alone in the zone. You're buddy also has a scooter and is trying to get through. This is the only time on a dive when you're truly on your own. If you crash and burn, you need to be able to self-arrest. A buddy bailout in the surf is a myth.

Get ready before you get wet. Mask on - always. Reg in - always. Any danglies stowed - always. Mask cleaned. Gas on. Never go in wearing fins. This is a point of contention in SoCal - some divers do the Donald Duck into the zone. Please. Speed is the most important thing, and you can't run in fins. Never turn your back on the surf. If its not attached, prepare to lose it. Turn on your focus lights on the camera so you can find it if you drop it or if it gets ripped off of you. If the surf is over my chest I put my mask inside of my hood. I always have a spare mask for shore dives.

No parking on the dance floor. This is the biggest mistake people from out of town make when they come to SoCal. They're not thinking speed. Speed is everything in the surf. You need to watch the sets, charge the lull and run like hell to get out. Same thing coming in. Time it, charge it, run out. This means having a fin stowage solution. We made the CK-FK002 (below.) I can't carry the deathstar, the scooter AND my fins. If you're diving a drysuit you can unplug your DS hose, thread the fins on it and then re-attach the hose for entries and exits.



Once through, give it a moment. You will be breathing hard. We train for this and we live here, and we're breathing hard. Give it a moment before you drop.



Scooter protocol our team uses for surf entries:

1. Prepare - mask rinsed and on. Regs in. All danglies stowed. Fins attached to fin clip.
   
2. Clip the scoot to you. Make sure the props are pitched.
   
3. Walk to the water's edge. Time the sets, watch the lull and tip toe out. I prefer to have my wing deflated. I want to be on the bottom as long as possible.
   
4. Grab the shroud with the left hand, the trigger with the right and full speed ahead through the zone (high surf.) For low surf I'll just walk through the zone, shoulder into the incoming or ducking under the waist high waves.
   
5. When out of the zone, signal buddy that I'm OK, and then re-group on the surface.
   
6. I'll stop outside of the waves, inflate the wing, unclip the fins and put them on.

Scooter protocol our team uses for surf exits:

1. Pull up just outside the zone and watch / count the sets to determine the lull. Pick an exit point. Left of the rock, just to the right of the hottie on the beach towel... whatever. Tell your buddy, have consensus on the exit point and then one of you goes first.
   
2. Clip off the fins. Stow the danglies. Tuck the light. If I need to run out I'll clip off the long hose (the around the neck clip off so its not a trip hazard) and breathe off the bungee back up.
   
3. Grab the shroud with the left hand, trigger with the right hand and gun it in.
   
4. When I reach water that I can stand in (2' or so... not chest deep stuff) I stand and bolt out. I have a strap on the front of my scooter just for this purpose.
   
5. Get onto shore, turn to look for buddy. If no problems, give thanks. If problems with buddy, drop scoot and camera on sand, and wade into zone to assist if required (do not remove gear.)

There is a lot of experience that goes with this. Feeling the draw on the way back in so you're not running against it, or trying to stand up as a biggie is coming in to knock you back down.

There is nothing indignant in crawling out of the surf. Any surf exit you can walk away from is a successful exit - whether standing or crawling.

---
Ken

 

[SparticleBrane]

Thanks for yet another insightful post, Ken. I figured if anyone knew how to do this it would be you and 'Dette.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Excellent post, Ken! Oh man, do I hear the years of experience speaking in your voice.

"Practice is a short cut to skills. There is no short cut to experience."

May I add just 2 small additions I've found useful:

• Drain holes in my fin pockets.
  Water is heavy. Carrying quarts of water out of the surf doesn't do me any good. So I drilled drain holes in the foot pockets of my Rocket fins. MUCH better. The CK-FK002 fin clip RULES!!
• Kelp.
  If I'm counting on the scooter to move me as fast as possible through the surf zone, I have to watch out for kelp. Loose floating kelp is the worst. A stuck prop can stall me, finless :shocked2:, right in the crush zone. Not good.
  So, I look at the water carefully as we prepare. If there's loose kelp, I plan ways to avoid it, or at least be aware I may lose scooter propulsion.
  Ken describes driving the X-scooter (A one-handed, tow-cord-to-body scooter) with BOTH hands on exit and entry: Right hand on the trigger handle, left hand hooked on the leading edge of the prop shroud. You can see this in Ben's photos.
  With mask on and reg in, scootering with the scooter directly in front of me, I can watch the water in front and avoid visible kelp... or pause the propellor to avoid wrapping it....or be ready to pick out the spaghetti immediately and get moving again.

As Ken so skillfully said, speed through the surf is essential.

~~~~
Claudette

 

[Ben_ca]

............

...........................

So are you gonna tell us where you're at? or at least post a report?
San Diego?

 

[Rick Inman]

So are you gonna tell us where you're at? or at least post a report?
San Diego?

Yup, good guess. Scripps Canyon. Nothing much to say, except that my buddy's SS scooter died 3 mins in to the 10 min scooter to the canyon wall. So the X had to tow us both there and back, and we had to swim the canyon rather than scooter it. Planned dive to the pinnacles 180' for 30 mins, 18/45, 50% & O2 (buddy on rebreather :shocked2 . Not much marine life. Nice structure, though. The X belongs to my regular local buddy, who was down here a few weeks ago and left it for me to use. I'm here visiting my parents for the holidays, but managed to get 6 dives in.

 

[tep]

Ha! Not a chance!

We set up a table on the beach and took our time with my doubles, my buddy's rebreather, the scooters and 2 stage bottles each. We clipped on the stages (letting them rest on the table), clipped the scooters to our crotch rings, clipped our fins to a ring and walked into the mild surf. As soon as we were knee deep, we scootered past the break zone and put on our fins.

Isn't that the entry at the Marine Room, La Jolla? If not, there's a place in Spokane that is its Evil Twin!

(Never mind, That's what I get for not reading to the end of the thread before posting, duh)

 

[SparticleBrane]

• Drain holes in my fin pockets.
  Water is heavy. Carrying quarts of water out of the surf doesn't do me any good. So I drilled drain holes in the foot pockets of my Rocket fins.

I actually have the opposite feelings on this -- I prefer to bring as much water back to the car with me as possible so I can rinse off sandy items like booties before they go in the rubbermade tub. Living in an apartment with no hose makes rinsing of sand quite difficult, and I hate to rinse it down the drain because that's sure to back it up. There's actually a place at our apartment complex to wash your car but I think they've turned the hose off during the winter.


But hey, if it works for you, great. I've heard you guys have some very long surface walks, thankfully ours aren't generally too long. If ours were longer I'm sure I would be with you on this one.