Drysuit Progression
October 26, 2009
As cold water divers move from wetsuits to drysuits in the pursuit of warmth, happiness and dryness many experiences await!
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TecReational Path
October 26, 2009
As recreational divers move towards the technical path, they will have many decisions and experiences:
Related PostsStaying hydrated – Technical Dive Ninja SIGG
October 21, 2009
Okay, this is a total self promotional blog.
As scuba divers, we know that hydration is incredibly important before and during the dive day.
Lately, I’ve been bad to the environment by buying bulk packs of water from Costco. Going through 3-4 bottles a dive day is definitely not ecologically sound (or financially smart).
The alternative was to bring either a Nalgene or SIGG reusable water bottle. Dissatisfied with available designs, I made my own – “It’s Okay, I’m Ninja” with a technical diving ninja (doubles, canister light, and Jet Fins).
I made it available via CafePress, but it’s a little pricey. If there’s real interest, I can consider an alternative source for my It’s Okay, I’m Ninja – technical scuba diving SIGG.
Essentials October 2009
October 12, 2009
Pictures from the UTD Essentials scuba diving class in Monterey, CA this past weekend.
Related PostsSidemount helmet
October 8, 2009
Sidemount diving seems like the last refuge of individualized gear. Whereas back mount cave divers have more or less adopted the hogarthian configuration, side mount set-ups are quite varied.
Even the newly off the shelf units such as the Golem Gear Armadillo and Dive Rite Nomad are constantly being modified or “improved” by their owners.
The first thing that most sidemount divers tackle is making a helmet. The base helmet is either a kayak helmet, climbing helmet, construction helmet, or skateboard helmet.
I chose a kayak helmet since they are designed for in water usage and I thought that the foam liner would be more secure than the suspension liner of other helmet styles. And if I didn’t like the foam, I could rip it out.
With price being a major consideration and preexisting holes being another, I selected the Pro-Tec Ace helmet. At $40 and free shipping, it wasn’t going to break the bank.
For my head size, I chose a Medium helmet. After the modifications and with the use of a hood, a Small would have been a better purchase.
First step was to drill four holes on each side to mount the back-up lights (BUL). Since BULs mounted on the harness is not optimal (they are blocked and interfere with the side mount tanks), the helmet use have two BULs attached. Steve Bogaerts recommends mounting then so that there is no glare and the focus is 10 feet away.
After securing the BULs, the next step is creating a mount for the canister light head. This is accomplished by cutting the appropriate sized PVC tube or coupler and then drilling 4 more holes into the left side of the helmet. Placement is immediately above a BUL.
Once complete and tested on dry land, it was time to hit the water. Immediately, the helmet was too buoyant. The closed cell foam designed to protect against impact made me head light. To a surprising degree too. While this may be a nice feature for paddlers, it is obviously not good for divers.
To resolve this, I removed all the side and back foam. I kept the top foam to provide a place for my head to fit. Plus, this would insure that the height of the helmet was correct. Removing the top foam piece would have caused the helmet to ride too low.
With the foam removed, the helmet is neutral in fresh water with my UK SL4 BULs.
How to mark a stage or deco bottle
October 5, 2009
Brian of Frog Kick Diving in the Pacific Northwest has a good article on how to mark a stage and deco bottle. In addition to the how, he also explains the whys, which is equally important for the thinking diver.
For all countries, O2 bottles are to marked with “OXYGEN,” in English. This is to avoid any confusion when diving mixed nationality teams.
For those diving Metric, standard practice is to mark the depth with an “M.”
Related PostsScuba Diver Pictures – My Jet Fins and I never looked so good
September 15, 2009
This past Friday, we ran into Andrew Reilly. Andrew was in Northern California to photograph a wedding and was spending his morning hiking Pt. Lobos. As we were gearing up, Andrew took some amazing photos of us and our scuba gear.
Andrew’s photoblog with scuba diver pictures.
How to rig a stage or deco bottle
September 14, 2009
Andrew recently put together a video blog on how to rig a stage or deco bottle. This is useful viewing for anyone getting ready for technical diving and setting up their own stage or deco bottles.
Find more videos like this on Unified Team Diving
Here is a another very good reference for making your own stage bottle rigging. The bottom knot is a little more fancy, but both solutions are acceptable.
Related PostsAugust 26, 2009 – Dive at Gerstle Cove
August 27, 2009
Received an email from Ben that he had Wednesday off and wanted to do something different. He’s been trying to get a group of us to dive California’s north coast, but most of his requests have fallen on deaf ears.
Since I have always been interested in the rugged Sonoma coast, I thought that Wednesday would be a good day to try. After 3.5 hours of driving, we reached our destination – Gerstle Cove.
Cool and overcast, the cove scene looked very inviting. With no swell and only ankle slappers, negotiating the melon size smooth rocks wouldn’t be too difficult.
While viz was only 5′ throughout much of the dive, there was a good amount of life. Greenlings were everywhere as well as plenty of alabaster nudibranchs. Within the marine reserve zone, abalones were larger then our heads. Monster sea urchins clung onto scattered rocks and low rocky reefs.
Out at 65′, we ran across an abandoned anchor. Speaking to some veteran freedivers, they mentioned that it used to stand upright. Now, that must have been an impressive site.
Ben’s Gerstle Cove dive report.
How to clip the SPG to the hip D-ring
August 20, 2009
The Hogarthian/DIR/UTD equipment philosophy has the SPG attached to the left hip D-ring. This promotes streamlined gear configuration and doesn’t clutter up the chest (workspace area).
For new divers, this set-up requires work since the clipping and unclipping of the SPG has yet to become automatic. Instead of practicing, some divers choose to solve this by equipment – using fixed D-rings or larger than necessary bolt snaps. These changes are unnecessary as a little technique and some practice goes a long way.
- Hold the bolt snap with the middle and ring finger, adding the pinky to capture the hose for security
- Open the gate with the thumb
- Find the D-ring with the index finger, and guide the gate into position
A variation of the above technique is the put a finger into the ring of the bolt snap.
The bolt snap for the SPG is 3/4″.
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