Monastery questions

[Chuck Tribolet]

Going out in the middle of Monastery is a bad idea. No protection.

 

[andrewy]

I assume that you're suggesting going under the break with your regulator in your mouth?

That has caused at least one fatality that I know of.

Not exactly going under the break, you walk in normally, reg on, mask on. unce you cant touch the bottom, swim. If incoming wave is too big, duck into it.

on related note.. (dude i had to say it

Diving with regulator in your mouth in general caused few death over the years as well as driving with your eyes open

 

[g1138]

I would advise anyone new to Monastery to take andrewy's entry method with a grain of salt. Yes it works, and yes I've seen a lot of divers do it even on the non-calm days. But generally either the diver is experienced and knows how to work with the waves, or he is very lucky he entered at the right time. I've personally had to drag out one kid who followed this method and as a result nearly got himself killed. It only takes one wave to knock you down and tumble you endlessly. If you have any trouble recovering from a fall on scuba then you should probably play it very safe during Monastery entries.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/norcal/369572-near-miss-monastery-2-6-2011-a.html

 

[andrewy]

I would advise anyone new to Monastery to take andrewy's entry method with a grain of salt. Yes it works, and yes I've seen a lot of divers do it even on the non-calm days. But generally either the diver is experienced and knows how to work with the waves, or he is very lucky he entered at the right time. I've personally had to drag out one kid who followed this method and as a result nearly got himself killed. It only takes one wave to knock you down and tumble you endlessly. If you have any trouble recovering from a fall on scuba then you should probably play it very safe during Monastery entries.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/norcal/369572-near-miss-monastery-2-6-2011-a.html

Well that is my disclaimer as well (you got to know how to play with waves, when to jump and when to dunk).,
If some one has better way of getting in and out there id be all for it.
Also forgot to add that we NEVER enter or exit water together, only one by one. So in case someone goes down, chances are he gets help.
And very experienced guys do go down time from time including yours truly

 

[andrewy]

Also after reading your link i noticed that they were swimming and holding their fins. I suggested to paddle with fins. take one in your left and another in your right and you all set. However if surf is up, i would be fully geared too, both getting in or crawling out.
In my case i simply would not go into water if surf over 1ft at all.

 

[g1138]

Also after reading your link i noticed that they were swimming and holding their fins. I suggested to paddle with fins. take one in your left and another in your right and you all set. However if surf is up, i would be fully geared too, both getting in or crawling out.
In my case i simply would not go into water if surf over 1ft at all.

I guess I wrote that in the wrong way. They were swimming with their fins on like oven mitts, on their backs doing a backwards hand scull (hands in the foot pocket) along with no-fin kicks.
The kid was the only one who didn't make it past the surf zone, if I remember correctly.

 

[TracysaCADiver]

--snip--
Current can run pretty strong around the beach area, but typically the conditions underwater are nothing like the entry and exit.

To be clear what makes Monastery dangerous is the beach is very steep. What this means is the water movement will actually suck you back out quickly. You can be standing a couple feet from the edge of the break yet the waves are crashing over your head. The gravel is larger, not a fine sand, which lets your feet sink right in. So every step is only half a step since you sink down again. It can be very physically demanding to walk out of the water, even on a calmer day.

They don't call it mortuary beach for nothing. Many people have died there.

Sounds like there's a nasty Rip Tide there from what you are describing.

 

[andrewy]

I guess I wrote that in the wrong way. They were swimming with their fins on like oven mitts, on their backs doing a backwards hand scull (hands in the foot pocket) along with no-fin kicks.
The kid was the only one who didn't make it past the surf zone, if I remember correctly.

Oh i see. Wearing them as mitts is fine., Swimming above the surf is a problem. I walk into the surf zone, until i cant touch the bottom, then go under the surf.
If waves are strong i simply dunk into one. Key is to stay negative so waves will not drag you back. If you ever surfed or body surfed you would know what i mean.

Having fins on and being on a top of a surf would not help here anyway, ocean simply too strong.

 

[jwin]

The North end of Monastery beach has almost a one to one slope. As such, being 10 feet from damp sand you're still floating, which is cool, so timing is essential. A two ft swell hit full on and has to go up instead of slowly spreading in. Now combine that with split pea sized sand that you sink into 10 inches.
Crawling is faster than walking. Or as everyone knows a 4X4 is better than a 2 wheel drive. IMHO

Sent from an undisclosed location using Tapatalk.

 

[Thalassamania]

Also after reading your link i noticed that they were swimming and holding their fins. I suggested to paddle with fins. take one in your left and another in your right and you all set. However if surf is up, i would be fully geared too, both getting in or crawling out.
In my case i simply would not go into water if surf over 1ft at all.

Oh i see. Wearing them as mitts is fine., Swimming above the surf is a problem. I walk into the surf zone, until i cant touch the bottom, then go under the surf.
If waves are strong i simply dunk into one. Key is to stay negative so waves will not drag you back. If you ever surfed or body surfed you would know what i mean.

Having fins on and being on a top of a surf would not help here anyway, ocean simply too strong.

Entry and exits at Monastery are, for most divers, pretty hairy, but as a veteran of literally thousands of such entries and exits, made with little or no incident, even in the middle of the beach, I will share what I was taught and did for many years:

Entries: We usually used a surf mat. We'd enter alone, fins on, mask on, snorkel in, surf mat in hand. We'd wade out backwards to thigh deep water, wait for the right moment, turn, leap on top of our surf mat and kick like hell. Usually we could avoid the break entirely. If we timed it wrong we'd turn turtle and let it break over. If we had no surf mat it was similar, but we'd snorkel out, surface diving under the break.

Exits: We always wore fixie-palms so we did not loose our fins and we'd surf in, either on our mat or in snorkeling mode. When we hit the sand we'd crawl up out of the water as quickly as possible.

Caveat: If you are going to do these sorts of things you need to know how. You must either be an experienced body surfer and a strong diver or have been trained in the techniques. We typically spent an entire day, working at the center of the beach, teaching our students how to handle it with progressively more load (e.g., just wet-suit, then add weight belt, then add rig).