Posted by msblucow on March 20, 2000 at 21:34:48:
On Saturday, Kelphead and myself went out to Santa Barbara Island on the Great Escape to try out the Halcyon system. For those of you
who don't know this story, a little background: Both of us are
recreational divers who dive primarily in Southern California. I've been diving only since last May and have about 50 dives under my belt. Both of us have been doing research for some time on the Halcyon system - trolling the internet, talking to dive shops, basically bugging the heck out of anyone who knew anything. What we found out was this: everyone had an opinion, and no two opinions were alike: The Halcyon was the greatest thing since sliced bread/ it was overkill for recreational diving/ a woman is too short-waisted for the backplate/ it doesn't matter how short-waisted you are or if you're a woman/ the
back-inflation won't feel any different than the jacket style BC to you/ it'll make you do a face-plant in the water and you'll drown.....
I think you get the idea.
Anyway, Michael Kane and Terry Lee May took pity on our poor souls and
offered to let us try a couple of rigs. So we took them up
on the offer and went out on the Great Escape last Saturday, when they
would both be on board as DMs. At last we would get the chance to put the Halcyon rigs on our backs and take them into the water. For good measure, Billy at Reef Seekers lent us a couple of Zeagle Rangers to try out as well. I looked forward to comparing them on back to back dives. So here's how it went....
Dive 1:
I get to the boat late the night before, so I'm not able to set up the
Halcyon rig until the next morning. It's a real challenge trying to fit
the Halcyon before the first dive. Not because it's so complicated, but
because the rig is brand new and the straps are so stiff. It takes a lot of manhandling from both Michael and Terry Lee to tighten everything up. I'm diving with the 36 lb. wing, a chromoly steel 65, and 18 lbs. on my weight belt. (the Halcyon backplate adds 6 pounds, so I'm diving with 24 lbs. total). Eventually, Kelphead and I make in into the water. So far so good. No one's making a face plant. I don't feel like there's a boa constrictor across my chest. So we give the signal and start to descend. Like rocks. Big. Fat. Heavy. Rocks. Arrggghhh!!!! We quickly find out two things; both of us are vastly overweighted and we've descended into a wicked surge with 10' visibility. We spend the rest of the dive crashing into each other, every boulder we come across and the occasional, startled sea lion. Eventually, we make it back on the boat, more or less intact. Climbing up the ladder, I give Michael Kane the evil eye.
Dive 2:
I drop 6 pounds from my weight belt. In fact I drop the weight belt all
together and opt for Halcyon's integrated weight pouches. I love them immediately. They feel completely comfortable sitting on my hips.
The buckles holding in the weight pouches don't bother me much. I
practice releasing them a few times. They're springy, responsive, and
not at all hard to use. (My only complaint is that they are black
plastic and would be very hard for someone else to see if they were trying to release my weights for me) Michael Kane does this dive with
us. We had hoped to descend down the anchor line so we could do a
buoyancy check, but the current is fairly strong and makes a swim over
to the anchor line prohibitive. So instead, we drop right down as soon
as we hit the water. Much better this time, much more control. The surge and visibility is just as bad, but at least this time we can enjoy the sea lions. The crotch strap is still way too loose, but the tank is firmly anchored on my back from the shoulder straps. Not bad.
Dive 3:
We go down by ourselves this time. Everything seems to be more or less
properly adjusted. No loose straps this time. The visibility and surge
are still there, so we agree on a short dive. By the end of the dive, I
feel I'm starting to 'get it'. I'm able to move around quite a bit without feeling awkward or unbalanced. The safety stop at 15' is
relatively easy (I think I could still drop a pound or two). We're
treated to a fine sea lion show and clearing visibility. It's a nice way to end the dive.
Conclusions:
We weren't able to get in a fourth dive because the dive conditions were so marginal. Unfortunately, this is when we had planned to switch over to the Zeagle Ranger. So we weren't able to compare the two setups. I would still like to do that. In fact, what I'm probably going to do is take both systems out again, either in a pool or out to Casino Point, so I can spend a whole day under more controlled circumstances fine-tuning and comparing.
I think the Halcyon would be perfectly fine for strictly recreational,
non-DIR use. I'm not a Halcyon convert yet, but I can definitely see the appeal. It is a very simple, elegant system. It's not constricting in the least. I found the backplate very comfortable (I dove it without
padding, though if I was wearing anything thinner than a 7mm suit, I
would want some). The straps, though very stiff, didn't chafe or dig
(again, if I had anything less than 7mm, I'd want a neoprene sleeve over the shoulder straps). Even with the integrated weight pouches, I didn't find the system extraordinarily heavy. It's a very easy system to assemble. Once it was adjusted, it was easy to get into and out of. On the negative side, it was very tough to adjust the straps (However, once adjusted, you should be set), and the back inflation took some getting used to (I didn't have a chance to try the keel weight - next time I will). I just need to take it out some more and decide if it's the system for me. I would encourage anyone who is thinking about Halcyon to take Michael Kane up on his offer to demo the system out in the open ocean. It's really the only way to get a feel for it.
Last, but not least, I have to thank Michael Kane and Terry Lee May for
their incredible generosity, patience and good humor. Although I pride
myself on being a fast learner, I'm still not the most experienced diver in the world. Still, Michael and Terry never treated me like a newbie or tried to brainwash me into the cult of DIR. Thanks to them, Saturday was a positive learning experience. Thanks guys!