Belmar NJ - Shark River Inlet or Boat Ramp 2/28

[lowviz]

Don't break anything down, I'll bring single 72's and 100's to play with.

I'll call Danny tomorrow, I'm going to book no matter what. Let's go for 22-23.

Will be a lot of fun if it grows into an informal "get it all together" meet.

Here is me FINALLY in trim from the last time (see end of the clip):

 

[ffdiver]

Thanks for the plug!

Steel 72s work out really nicely. They are heavier than al80s in the water but get floaty so you need to treat them like al 80s.

100s are fantastic sidemount tanks.

What changes did you make to your gear Dennis?

 

[lowviz]

Changes: lowered the door handles. Wait, wait! YOU did that. Dropped the bottom bands another half inch.

Swapped a couple of hose positions on my MK17's. After that, found out that since the MK17's don't swivel, an OOG diver can pull hard enough to pinch the long hose and go OOG a second time. Put a hose protector on the long hose to prevent that issue. We need to do some "real world" testing wrt gas donation.

Added a six pound weight over my shoulders. Muscular legs, huge lung capacity. Remember the leg weights you put on my tanks?

I would love for Carl to experience SM from someone who can trip him out from the start. Same with backmount. Would be a fun comparison for him.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

I am game - sounds like we could do the weekend of the 22nd...

 

[lowviz]

I'm in for sure. I just emailed Danny.

It looks like we have three similar participants and that will make the course awesome. Danny trains to the diver's individual needs and we all do the same stuff.

Still room for a couple more of the NE regulars, we could have a party! This is an opportunity.

Open invite...

 

[ffdiver]

OK as of now, including yous three, I have a total of 4 divers for the course. I'll need some email addresses to get everyone sorted out and whatnot.

 

[lowviz]

In order to avoid any confusion, let's confirm the dates.

Your site says:

We are starting early this year and are blocking out two full weekends at Dutch Springs to get everything started.
April 16th and 17th and 22nd and 23rd.

The 22nd is a Friday. I presume that this is a typo...

 

[ffdiver]

Damnit, I knew I made a mistake somewhere. Yes its the 23/24th.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

So I am picking up my Air 3 today - I called Divers Two and they said when they serviced the reg it still was not manually inflating - turns out they had to open the entire reg portion and a closing mechanism was installed (or serviced) upside down and the inflator would never have worked properly - the travel distance on the slide was too far when upside down to close the exhaust valve. So either the factory installed it incorrectly or someone servicing it did something...

I bought the BCD used so I am not completely blindsided by this but thought - hmmnnn... I have inflated the BCD but always had to mickey mouse it to work (hold the exhaust valve with the palm of my other hand when I blow so I needed two hands to inflate orally) and just thought I may replace this thing with an Air 2 - much simpler unit in my opinion. But at the end of the inlet when I was getting wedged in the rocks - that was not a viable solution - I needed both hands to navigate and unwedge myself from the rocks.

So I am back to cooking with gas. The weather has been so poor this week - not sure I am doing a dive this weekend - going back to Miami and trying to squeeze in a BHB dive on Monday night.

 

[ffdiver]

Gotta be honest. I have never been impressed with the AIR II/III idea. I understand the appeal but I've had far less problems with an octopus and any student I've ever had has eventually took the AIR II off of their rigs.

Grab yourself a standard inflator a Scubapro octo or even a HOG Classic and call it a day. IMHO