Tips for UW Pumpkin Carving

[dakardiver]

Hi There,

Our dive club in Dakar, Senegal has decided to do an uw pumpkin carving contest this weekend. Since none of us have actually carved a pumpkin underwater, or held this event before, any tips? I'm interested in advice for both logistics and divers.

Cheers,
Bruce

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

We do this every year. What a blast.
Each diver brings their own large pumpkin. Our guys hollow and scrape them outside.
We put a weight in each pumpkin so it stays negative.
Each diver descends with their pumpkin and cutting tool( they bring their own)
we keep 2 dm's in there to keep watch and help out if needed.
We have a kids group, then teens, then adults.
As they bring them up, we take them, put a glowstick inside and set them around the edge of the water
We cook hamburgers and hotdogs, everyone brings a side dish. A great night.
We have a context for each group- scariest, funniest, and most imaginative.
Little dive prizes for each winner.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Pumpkins float and they do it very well; if you are ever shipwrecked on a stormy night and there are pumpkins available skip the lifeboat and grab a pumpkin because the lifeboat is going to sink first

OK, down to business:
Small to medium pumpkins are easiest to wrangle underwater but you need to make sure you cut a large enough hole in the top to get some lead in and the pumpkin must be big enough inside to hold the lead piece(s) you've chosen to use. There is a happy medium there that you'll just have to find. The pumpkins that are so big you could get your head in them need a LOT of lead to sink, you don't want to deal with that.

Since it's your first time I recommend cleaning the pumpkin out on the surface to make things easier. Do a buoyancy check with the pumpkin, take it to the water and put lead in it until it starts to sink. You don't want so much lead in it that carrying the pumpkin to the carving area resembles dragging an anchor but you don't want to fight it to get down either.

I don't know what your water temperatures are like but if you are carving in gloves you need tools that have fairly large handles. When carrying the tools underwater to the carving area you can use a mesh bag or just stab them into the inside of the pumpkin.

If you are using the pattern kits instead of just free-carving things get a little more involved but it's a lot of fun. You have to trace the pattern with a permanent marker then put an "x" in the parts that come out to avoid mistakes.

Here are some of my pictures from past carvings to give you an idea of what one looks like.
2006 (the pumpkin the guy in the red sweatshirt has is the size you want to avoid)
2007 (this can really get the attention of the fish)
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Merrimorte]

Pumpkins float and they do it very well; if you are ever shipwrecked on a stormy night and there are pumpkins available skip the lifeboat and grab a pumpkin because the lifeboat is going to sink first

OK, down to business:
Small to medium pumpkins are easiest to wrangle underwater but you need to make sure you cut a large enough hole in the top to get some lead in and the pumpkin must be big enough inside to hold the lead piece(s) you've chosen to use. There is a happy medium there that you'll just have to find. The pumpkins that are so big you could get your head in them need a LOT of lead to sink, you don't want to deal with that.

Since it's your first time I recommend cleaning the pumpkin out on the surface to make things easier. Do a buoyancy check with the pumpkin, take it to the water and put lead in it until it starts to sink. You don't want so much lead in it that carrying the pumpkin to the carving area resembles dragging an anchor but you don't want to fight it to get down either.

I don't know what your water temperatures are like but if you are carving in gloves you need tools that have fairly large handles. When carrying the tools underwater to the carving area you can use a mesh bag or just stab them into the inside of the pumpkin.

If you are using the pattern kits instead of just free-carving things get a little more involved but it's a lot of fun. You have to trace the pattern with a permanent marker then put an "x" in the parts that come out to avoid mistakes.

Here are some of my pictures from past carvings to give you an idea of what one looks like.
2006 (the pumpkin the guy in the red sweatshirt has is the size you want to avoid)
2007 (this can really get the attention of the fish)
Ber :lilbunny:

Thanks Ber! I am going to make my first attempt of this on the 26th!

 

[siikik]

I remember the challenge was to get the pumpkin to the bottom... only our rules stated that your pumpkin had to be intact until you were under water... none of this nonsense about cutting it open and putting weights in it before you got in the water.

The springs weren't very deep so the challenge was to NOT touch the pumpkin until you were on the bottom... once there do with it as you please. Most people wrapped a weight belt around the things rather than carrying extra... it was a hoot. That was the only real rule... the first time size wasn't a consideration... so I brought one of the mini-pumpkins... I was envied by all.



Ken

 

[Ber Rabbit]

We do a night dive with our jack-o-lanterns. A couple small holes poked through the lower back of the pumpkin allows you to run a zip tie through it and secure your glow stick. You can fasten the tops back on the pumpkins with wooden skewers. Press the pointed end of the skewer through the lid and into the flesh of the pumpkin side. We usually use 3 skewers per pumpkin and cut them off even with the lid after inserting them. Keep in mind you need to have the lead IN the pumpkin before attaching the lid

If you thought carrying that pumpkin to the carving area was hard without the lid on wait until you try carrying a round pumpkin while managing a light. You have to hug the pumpkin with the carved part away from you or you could damage it; you also have to make sure you don't knock the face out of it with your light. Having shore assistants to hand in pumpkins and help people get squared away is really helpful.

We generally don't go far with our pumpkins on the night dive; set them in a group or a line somewhere near the entry point and make sure to turn off your lights and check out how the pumpkins glow underwater. Remember to pick them up on your way out!

You can see some decorations in the pictures in my gallery. We put decorations on the platforms where we carve. String is not very cooperative underwater so you need an entire dive to set up especially your first time trying to tie off decorations. Some string is positively buoyand, if your string is floating use that to your advantage. Instead of trying to cram it down between slats in a platform to tie off a decoration, get under the platform and guide the string up through the slats. Tie your decorations close to the anchor point to minimize the entanglement hazard and use string that will break easily and be easy to see. I recommend waiting until you've got a couple carvings under your belt before attempting the decorating.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Randy43068]

We do a night dive with our jack-o-lanterns. A couple small holes poked through the lower back of the pumpkin allows you to run a zip tie through it and secure your glow stick. You can fasten the tops back on the pumpkins with wooden skewers. Press the pointed end of the skewer through the lid and into the flesh of the pumpkin side. We usually use 3 skewers per pumpkin and cut them off even with the lid after inserting them. Keep in mind you need to have the lead IN the pumpkin before attaching the lid

If you thought carrying that pumpkin to the carving area was hard without the lid on wait until you try carrying a round pumpkin while managing a light. You have to hug the pumpkin with the carved part away from you or you could damage it; you also have to make sure you don't knock the face out of it with your light. Having shore assistants to hand in pumpkins and help people get squared away is really helpful.

We generally don't go far with our pumpkins on the night dive; set them in a group or a line somewhere near the entry point and make sure to turn off your lights and check out how the pumpkins glow underwater. Remember to pick them up on your way out!

You can see some decorations in the pictures in my gallery. We put decorations on the platforms where we carve. String is not very cooperative underwater so you need an entire dive to set up especially your first time trying to tie off decorations. Some string is positively buoyand, if your string is floating use that to your advantage. Instead of trying to cram it down between slats in a platform to tie off a decoration, get under the platform and guide the string up through the slats. Tie your decorations close to the anchor point to minimize the entanglement hazard and use string that will break easily and be easy to see. I recommend waiting until you've got a couple carvings under your belt before attempting the decorating.
Ber :lilbunny:

Screw that! I'm putting cave line and a snap on mine!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Screw that! I'm putting cave line and a snap on mine!

Then you need 1 reel per decoration to keep the lines from getting tangled on the swim :shocked2: Come on Randy, it wasn't THAT bad...you learned a lot that dive
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[Sideband]

Everyone here missed the boat. The best part of UPC is watching the new guy try to get the thing under water. You have to descend with a whole, uncut pumpkin. All cuts are made under water.

 

[Randy43068]

Then you need 1 reel per decoration to keep the lines from getting tangled on the swim :shocked2: Come on Randy, it wasn't THAT bad...you learned a lot that dive
Ber :lilbunny:

are you going to put decorations out again? If so, I'll help.

I'll be there for the entire weekend. I might need your help. This will be the first time diving since I broke my ankle. I'll be a little rusty, no doubt.