Posted by Eric Sedletzky on July 29, 2001 at 21:57:28:
Abalone season is coming up soon for the second half so in case anybody was interested (or could give a rip), here is my formula for successful ab diving (doing it right- for me of course):
Suit: I recently bought a Picasso 2 piece open cell Yamamoto neoprene camo wet suit and it is by far the warmest most comfortable suit I have ever owned. You have to lube them up to get into them using a mixture of hair conditioner and water, but it is well worth it. Being open cell, the neoprene sits directly against your body and becomes part of your skin. I have dove in 48 degree water for 4 hours straight and was just as warm as when I got in, exept for my hands. The cost was $350.00 and it has a built in hood.
Fins: I use picasso long blade fins, full foot with 5 mil booties and the rubber fin keepers. This combo provides unparalelled power and manuverability. My feet have also never been warmer. The only drawback is that it takes extra time to put all this stuff on at the beach.
Mask and snorkel: I use a black skirted extremely low vol mask and a plain straight tube snorkel (nothing to fail). Takes a bit to get used to a straight tube but once you do you will never go back.
Weight belt: rubber belt with home casted weights. Riffe brand knife goes onto belt. (Knife on leg is a kelp catcher and an uneccessary risk of entanglement. Also ,if entagled, having a knife on your leg is a long way to reach when your in a situation.
Other stuff: Along with the standard legal gear needed to take abs (7 in guage, ab bar) I made myself a 9" guage that I take on every dive. Since I have begun guaging every ab before I pull it to make sure it is over 9 I have gotten nothing but 9's! Wow! how simple. I thing I shall make a 10" guage and apply this same philosophy, or maybe an 11"?
Well, my guess is that if you get too trophy greedy you will not get to many abs, so maybe the 9" is good enough for now.
Spots: I find that if you practice enough and are able to relax and not trip out over things you could easily be able to dive in the 20-40
foot range and that is where the ocean floor is paved with abs. I have seen seen so many abs fighting over a rock on the gravel bottom to attach themselves onto that they are stuck to one another!
Avoid:
Split fins for freediving, they have no positive power on return from depth and as far as I'm concerned are dangerous for freediving. Long blade fins still rule. Other fins such as standard paddle fins work ok, but I'm giving you my version of freediving DIR.
Lanyards or floating tubes attached to ab irons, they are an entaglment hazard, an uneccessary expense, and more useless junk the diver needs to deal with. Learn to spot and swiftly remove the ab on the same dive. If a second attempt is needed, use what's around you, I grab the closest stalk of kelp and ride it to the top. Not letting go, when I get another good breath I simply follow the same stalk back down to reference my spot.
Incompetent dive buddies that become a liability in the water and have little or no desire to progress much beyond a glorified rock picker.
I find that the listed equipment and philosophies that I have picked up from others and a few things that I have figured out for myself have helped me greatly. Try them and tell me what you think.