Abalone diver dead - Van Damme State Park, California

[divad]

Agreeded.

 

[Laurie S.]

The conditions at Van Damme can change pretty quickly, too. I've been diving for abalone there for six years now and am still a rank beginner. But I got my limit last year!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Vandamme cove is considered a pretty benign dive site due to the protection of the outer barrier reef.
The further out you go towards the keyhole rock the bigger it can get, but unless you venture outside of the protected bay, Little River (Vandamme) is a place that is always the last place that gets blown out. For this reason it is considered a training ground and it's also picked over. Surprisingly however, you can still find a limit of legal abalone if you are tenatious and can freedive to 20'. There are many deep holes and grottos out towards the further reaches of Vandamme bay that harbor abs in the 8.5" to 9" range.
A kayak helps since it is one very long surface swim out to the keyhole.

 

[Laurie S.]

We used diveboards last year and I loved them.

 

[Bob DBF]

A kayak helps since it is one very long surface swim out to the keyhole.

36 years of diving that spot and now you tell me!

The diver that introduced me to Ab diving said "If you can't blow up your surf mat on the beach and swim out there, may be you should look into a different hobby".


Bob

 

[Ken Kurtis]

The diver that introduced me to Ab diving said "If you can't blow up your surf mat on the beach and swim out there, may be you should look into a different hobby"

Nailed it Bob. Scuba diving is a very easy sport requiring minimal physical strength or endurance . . . until it isn't. The the skills/strength/stamina you lack can kill you. As we've gone over the years to faster/easier/quicker, I think we've lost sight of that.

- Ken

 

[sandiego_frank]

100% in agreement with you Ken. Diving is a risky sport. With the focus on making it easy too may rec divers have lost sight of that. Physical fitness is only part of being truly prepared for diving, but it is something easily dismissed by too many rec divers. There is a great article in the latest DAN magazine on physical fitness in diving. To quote the DAN article: "At the most basic level, divers need to be able to easily meet the normal demands of diving with a fitness reserve sufficient to meet the additional demands of emergency situations."
Here's the link to the article:
Alert Diver | Physical Fitness for Diving

Frank

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Nailed it Bob. Scuba diving is a very easy sport requiring minimal physical strength or endurance . . . until it isn't. The the skills/strength/stamina you lack can kill you. As we've gone over the years to faster/easier/quicker, I think we've lost sight of that.

- Ken

Scuba diving can be an easy sport but freediving sometimes isn't so easy, or it can be easier, depending on knowledge.
The knowledge comes in the form of proper gear, weighting, and common sense. With scuba, you have an U/W source of air, you have a BC, but you also have the added bulk of the gear which can become cumbersome and cause stress to a diver that needs to get out of a dangerous situation i.e. getting too close to crashing waves on rocks for instance.
With freediving the diver is much less encumbered but lacks breathable air underwater and the use of any surface floatation. This where knowledge about weighting comes in. I've seen far too many ab divers who are only part time freedivers (usually only during ab season) try to use scuba related gear and some pretty funky weight belt systems with usually way too much weight, probably a hangover from bad scuba training. I've seen way too many ab divers as just described desperately hang onto their float tubes to stay on the surface and as soon as they let go they sink. This can cause an enormous amount of stress. Second, when they get in trouble they seem to always forget to dump their weights. I've seen some pretty questionable weightbelts made out of car seat belts with seat belt buckles (no lie!) and I even saw a guy once on shore gearing up that made a weightbelt out of some webbing but used two D-rings as a buckle and did the double back method, nothing quick release about it. I asked him about it and he said he was tired of losing his weights so he came up with that solution.
I've seen countless ab divers trying to make use out of split fins, which are terrible for freediving. One of my buddies almost couldn't get off the bottom in 30 feet of water once. I was on the surface watching him, the water was clear that day and as he was trying to come up I could see his eyes as he was looking up at me that something wasn't right. He made it up but was done for the day. He cursed those damned split fins. The next time we went out he had brand new long fins.

There's just a lot more to freediving for abalone than regular scuba divers just deciding to go once or twice a year with no proper knowledge about the sport of freediving, and trying to use improper equipment.
It would really serve people well to first get medical clearance with their doctor for that level of activity if there is any question about their health.
Second, maybe take a freediving class or at least read one of the many great books on the subject.
Third, get into really good shape. Freediving the North Coast is not for the weak or feable.
Fourth, get the right gear. Most scuba accessory gear doesn't it cut it for freediving and the conditions on the North Coast. This isn't the Bahamas.
Next, I know a lot of people come here and like to camp out and ab dive. However, along with camping many times comes drinking, and hangovers and ab diving don't get along (ask me how I know!). Take the next morning seriously and keep your alcohol consumption down to a reasonable level for your own safety.
And finally, learn the conditions and the sites. Don't go in without knowing what you're getting into.
With all this combined the high death toll could be drastically minimized.

All of us North Coast abalone freedivers have a vested interest in trying to increase safety. If it continues the way it is going, I fear some sort of legislation suppressing our rights to ab dive. Some have already called for making ab diving illegal.

 

[Shasta_man]

On one of my first dives after getting certified at Monterey, with some new guys I happened to meet at the dive shop who ended up having 100 tanks instead of 80s like me, I was buddied up with the other newbie in the group who also had an 80, (though it didn't matter). We were supposed to do the swim out, drop down, essentially go out half way, turn around and come back, surfacing near shore. Due to my instabuddy, it ended up being go out half way, he runs out of air and we surface WAY out there. On the surface swim back through all the 75 foot long kelp on the surface, etc, you quickly learn: if you stop kicking, you stop moving. It's quite the aerobic workout to keep moving toward shore. Besides feeling like a bug on the surface. Saw some cool stuff though because a seal and otter came to give me a show but that swim put many a treadmill to shame.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Due to my instabuddy, it ended up being go out half way, he runs out of air and we surface WAY out there.

Playing Devil's Advocate here, sounds to me more like one diver wasn't paying attention to his air while the other diver wasn't paying attention to his buddy's air. I'm just sayin' . . .

- Ken