Diving Venice Boneyard with a diveyak?

[thedaddy]

I cross posted this to the Venice Beach dive thread, but realized it was slightly OT so posted a main thread here. Excuse the redundancy please, but any feedback would really be appreciated.

I think I will be heading out to Venice this weekend also, but with a twist:
I have been doing some kayaking and was thinking about challenging myself to go out a bit farther, for me anyway, to say 1000-1500 yards. I thought about heading out from Golden Beach to the Boneyard (or almost there) but wanted to get a sanity check from anyone that has done it (or could but doesn't for some reason) and why. Note: This will be my first time diving from a kayak in salt water, so I plan to make the first dive a short one, and closer to the beach to get a feel for it. Then moving out on the second and possibly third dives.

Is there any good reason for not going that far in a 'yak?

I'm not looking to be flamed or for safety guarantees or anything, but I would really appreciate solid input based on practical experience (or at least decent second-hand info from a reliable source). I'm old enough to make my own decisions and take full responsibility, but I would like to make them with as much practical info as possible.

The main risks I see are from boat traffic - but hopefully a float that big with a large dive flag will get noticed (though probably still ignored, I know).

Thanks in advance to all!

 

[2TH DIVR]

Divers are routinely out as far as Florida West charters, a mile +.
Just be sure to have a 24"X24" flag. They have ticketed kayaks using the smaller flag.

 

[dkramer]

I routinely dive from a kayak off of Boca Grande. A few tips that I can pass on to you are: 1) make sure you have everything secured, in some way, to your boat. That way, if you should accidently roll over, your dive will not end because your mask, fins & weights are on the bottom. 2) use a tow reel & tow your boat with you as you dive. This way you will not have to worry about fighting currents in order to return to your boat & I feel that it is much safer in an area with high boat traffic because you will always surface under your boat. As you mentioned, dive flags alone can sometimes be difficult to spot but a kayak floating on the water is more visable. 3) as Tooth mentioned, be sure to use the 24" x 24" flag, 4) be very careful if you use a weight belt as opposed to integrated weights. I normally put my gear together on shore & stow it in the rear well on my Kayak. I have a tether which connects my BC to the boat. When I arrive at the reef, I place my BC in the water, don my mask & fins & then get into my BC in the water. I have integrated weights so there is no problem but if you use a weight belt, you need to be careful & be prepared to dump your weights if needed. Better to call the dive & buy a new belt.

All of my Kayak dives have been within 200 yards of shore but, I have thought about going farther out. I have not as of yet for 2 reasons. 1) It is not something I want to try solo 2) Concerns about weather. You can't outrun a storm in a kayak. This time of year, when the weather is more predictable, would be the time to try it.

I hope I have been of some help, good luck & let us know how things worked out.

 

[thedaddy]

Wow - Thanks for all the input!

Isn't the regulation flag 20" X 24" - not arguing - that is just what I thought it was. That is the size flag I use on my regular boat and I was planning on using that one for the kayak. I don't want to get ticketed either way if I've got the regs wrong.

 

[dkramer]

oops! You're right, it is 20" x 24" Sorry about that.

 

[thedaddy]

Thanks everybody - I was probably going to go anyway, but I wanted a warm & fuzzy. I found a good link also, if anyone is interested, in another thread on kayaking in the solo diver area:
http://www.kayakdiver.com/

It is a pretty decent intro treatment, and has some good checklists/drills. I am big into prep checklists for boating, camping, diving, etc and I like it when someone else has done a lot of the work already.

Thanks again - see you all out there!

 

[thedaddy]

sorry - hit the back button and double posted

 

[bdrannik]

dkramer has even been known to kayak out to the Boca Reef with a diver dragging behind in the water... Thanks for the tow last summer out to Red Rock.. (To others reading, yes, I was kicking..)

 

[dkramer]

Hey Brent,

Long time, no see! How ya been? How's that new boat of yours coming along? I was hoping to head out to Red Rocks this weekend but, alas, it doesn't look like the viz is going to cooperate. Free tow for you anytime.

 

[bdrannik]

Yeah dkramer, been a while - we'll have to hit Red Rock again sometime coming up. To keep things somewhat on topic: thedaddy, I try to dive Venice beach most weekends from shore and often see yaks out that far so don't think it would be a problem. But, given the distance, you should probably tow me out behind you so that if you get exhausted I can finish kicking us out to the boneyard..