Who wants to try kayak diving?

[BioNerd]

yeah, that's a good idea. I really didn't think about the weight capacity because im pushing that limit with all the gear anyways. Ill have to put it in the pool to see how it rides and how hard it is to capsize. when i fish, i have a 5 gallon live bait well in the back and im sure the bc and tank will fit in the back. ill let you know how it works out. thanks
kiet

 

[shoupart]

Yeah, that'd be a good thing to try out, and see how hard it is to flip back over once you capsize it. It's probably not going to capsize on the ocean (unless you've taken in water), but it's more likely to happen in the surf zone.

My Tarpon 120 has a rating of 350lbs, and it handles and everything just fine and has maybe 50lbs left of room. I once added another tank on there (probably coming within 20lbs of the limit) and it still did fine.

If it has passed the pool test, would you like to come try it out and dive with us on Sunday morning? We should be somewhere in Palos Verdes, likely White Point.

 

[BioNerd]

sounds good. I might be diving at laguna on sunday but we'll see. Before i go out i better get some strong clips and ropes at boatersworld first. thanks
kiet

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I've been following this thread and I can give you guys the North Coast version of kayak diving for whatever it's worth.

Most of us up here use Ocean Kayak scrambler XT's or a few still have scupper pro's.
I use one of my freedom plate backpacks w/ single tank and I strap it in back in the tank well tank down.
I have a small anchor that I made out of 3/4 inch re-bar that looks similar to a triple hook with about 5 feet of 3/8" galvanized chain on it and 100 feet of pooly pro line wound up on a winder spool. The anchor gets cliped off on the top front of the boat somewhere. next, fins are clipped off and strapped down also on the deck.

One thing we NEVER do is open or use our hatches out at sea. We've seen to many boats take on water and sink with all that weight on them. Everything is either on us or clipped off and strapped to the top. The conditions are quite different up here than in Socal so these precautions are not at all rediculous when you dive the North.
I go out fully dressed in my wet suit or drysuit, whichever one I decide to use, complete with gloves and hood on. If it's warm and we bake on the way out that's life.
My weight belt sits on the deck right in front of me. When I'm fully loaded there is not much freeboard to spare let me tell you!

When we reach the dive site the first thing I do is slide forward laying down and pull my weight belt around my waist and sinch it. Then, straddling the kayak I scooch forward and drop the anchor. While I'm up there I put on my fins. It's key to remember to keep a fairly low center of gravity and lay on it when attemting to perform these tasks.
With weigh belt and fins on I ready the get in the water. I slide in off one side carefully not to flip it over. I unclip the scuba unit and inflate the wing a little and pull it in the water OFF THE BACK by the tank valve. Then put it on and go diving

Upon return getting back on in order: Take off scuba unit with wing inflated and shove it up and out of the water in one swift movement back up in it's spot. Undu weight belt and place it in it's spot right in front of where you sit. While you're still in the water go back and clip off scuba unit. With practice and confidence this can be done after getting back on the boat. Your mask will clip off on one of the straps for the bc.
Next get onto the kayak by placing both hands as far in the middle as you can reach and duplicating the motion you would make if you where getting out of a pool in the deep end onto the cement. After you are laying on the kayak with the kayak under your middle area you want to swivel you body around while staying low so you are laying on it then flip your body over to right yourself. You should wind up sitting in your seat. Proficiency is critical so this manuever should be practiced in a protected cove before open ocean voyages are attempted
After you are back up on the boat scooch forward again, pull the anchor and you have completed a successful kayak dive. If you have speared game or have a camera this requires consideration as to the order in which you off load and load these items. You'll need to figure out the best system.

But let me say again, we NEVER open or use our hatches while out in the ocean. Freediving is a little different. There is not near the weight on the boat and the risk of a flood are less.

I once watched a guy scuba diving off his kayak run into a problem when he encountered rough seas and his weight belt which was down in the hold in the hatch decided to slide all the way back by where the bc was. this caused the back off the kayak to go underwater and his hatch was old and didn't seal well which was also underwater. His boat began to take on water through the bad hatch and there was nothing he could do but watch as it went up on end and the only reason it didn't completely sink was because there was enough air in the nose of it to hold it up. All you saw bobbing around was about 3 feet off the nose sticking straight up. Luckily he had a buddy and they got back to shore but he lost his kayak and all his gear. The weather had picked up and between the swell, wind and current it was hopeless.

I have a few interesting stories but I save them for later.

 

[shoupart]

Hi ZKY!
Thanks for that additional information- I agree that you should NEVER have hatches open! And I've heard a lot of people say that a middle hatch (especially if it's below the water line) is a bad idea and design flaw, for obvious reasons. In one of my early kayak dives, I made the mistake of leaving a hatch open, and swells came up during the dive. Thankfully the boat did not take on water, but it did flip and lose some gear. So I learned a hard way (though not the hardest way) to make sure everything was sealed up.

Sounds like we have a pretty similar method for handling our gear and putting it on and taking it off.

Is it uncomfortable paddling with your exposure suit all the way on? I know I would hate to be paddling with my wetsuit all the way up, but it seems like it's not an issue for you. Then again, it's probably a good deal colder up there!

How do you like the Scrambler XT? They seem like good boats to me.

No matter what conditions you face, I'm glad you can reinforce the idea that everything is clipped down and secured, yet available for easy access.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I like the XT. If I was to buy a new one I'd probably get a Wilderness with the tank well. They have a flip up built in seat back and also comes with hatches. With Ocean Kayak you have to buy the rubber hatches separately along with the clip on back rest.
Yes I do use my hatches but more to store the paddle and stuff in it when carrying or car topping it.

I got used to going out fully dresses. Up here the water can be from 42 to 53 degrees so a spill into the ocean without your exposure protection on can be a hell of a shock and in some cases down right dangerous.
I was kayak diving for a while in my back zip drysuit so I went out always fully zipped up. The only thing I put on out in the ocean was my drysuit hood. I stopped using the drysuit because I would sweat like hell in it while paddling then get cold during the dive. Nom I use a 7mm 2 piece farmer john with a hooded vest. The vest goes on first so naturally that means going out fully dressed. I just pull my hood down around my neck when I'm paddling. Do we get hot? Hell yeah! but we deal with it. If I get too hot I get in the water for a second and let some ice cold water in then go on.

Let me tell you the story about the kayak dive and the 1/2 inch wetsuit.

A while back I ordered a 1/2 inch rubatex commercial wetsuit because there is a chance I may become a commercial urchin diver in the future and because this was the last of the last of this type of material on earth. I really wanted a 3/8" but the material was popular and was long gone, so I decided to just go with this 1/2" stuff even though it's overkill.

I put about 5 dives on this suit and it was slowly starting to break in but was still like wearing a tractor tire. One weekend my buddy wanted to go do a kayak dive so we went up to a spot on the North Coast called Gerstle Cove. I decided to bring the 1/2" suit to see if I could pull off a kayak dive in it. Bending in the thing to try and sit up straight in the kayak was torture and when we finally got out to the divesite I couldn't wait to get into the water to cool off. I dropped the anchor and when it grabbed we found out that we were in a spot that had a ripping current. It was almost pulling the nose of the kayak underwater! I was actually already in the water with my fins on when we fully realized this. My buddy had clipped his boat off on the back of mine and something happened where his boat went at a right angle to mine and pulled my kayak over on top of me. I was trying to get my weight belt on in the water when the kayak came over and smashed me in the head. I dropped the belt which was around 45 pounds to offset the thickness of that suit and I just watched it disapear into the depths. My scuba unit and everything else was still strapped in. I managed to right the boat and was unable to pull up the anchor because it had gotten badly wedged so I unclipped the whole thing from the front of the boat and let it go. We got back on our boats and went back in. I was so hot from the stress of the whole incident and plus not being able to complete the dive and get some depth to cool off, so by the time we got back to shore I was almost ready to pass out. I stumbled onto shore across the rocks and started to see spots. I had my buddy help me pull the beaver tail of the suit up and over my head to get the top off. I stumbled back into the water and layed in 50 degree water with just the bottoms on for about 2-3 minutes to get my temp down just to avoid passing out. There were a few other divers on the beach and couldn't believe that I was TOO hot! Normally everone complains of being too cold.
Of course they didn't know the real story,

Note to self:

1) Never let buddy clip off to your kayak, let him bring his own anchor.
2) Never use 1/2" wetsuit again for kayak diving, use 7mil and just deal with the cold.
3) Never forget to put on weight belt WHILE in the boat laying on your back in the seat BEFORE getting in the water.
4) Make sure everything is clipped off and only unclip it when you are about to put it on or use it. Did I mention that I lost my Suunto Vyper too? Yes. That's why I'll never forget the last protocol.
5) Never ever leave your hatches open while out at sea. I did remember this one cardinal rule and still have a kayak to prove it.

Happy kayaking!

 

[shoupart]

I have a Wilderness (Tarpon 120) which I LOVE, but that damn built-in seat is a piece of crap. The first time I ever took it out, the thing rolled in the surf and that seat hinge snapped instantly. It's still held in place by the ropes, and it's okay to sit back against, but I will buy a real seat for it soon.
I also have the Cobra Fish N Dive, which is just awesome; it's a perfect workhorse.

What a story! Half inch wetsuit?! Damn!
Yeah, I always have a few notes to myself after each kayak dive, thoughts and improvements, here and there.
That sucks about your Vyper! I lost an Aqualung Airsource once. How dumb, huh? Yeah, I've definitely learned the hard way to just handle one piece of equipment at a time till it's secured or on me.... One fin at a time, one glove at a time, etc.


That's a good rule about clipping boats together. I try not to do this and have everybody anchor their own boat, but sometimes if it's calm, I'll toss out my bowline to my dive buddy's boat and have them clip it to their boat's nose. I anchor with my line off the front and play out a lot of line so the swells shouldn't cause dislodge. Then I make sure my boat is anchored into the current or swell, and have the buddy's boat behind me, next in line, like a train. Again, that's only if it's calm, I wouldn't dream of that arrangement in strong conditions.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Yeah, if it's like a lake and we're in a protected cove where I know the conditions aren't going to change then the rules get relaxed considerably. I'll have to remember about that wilderness seat back thing. I'm going to mold a fiberglass seat back insert for my scrambler. I constantly have a problem with the clip on one slipping down and I wind up laying back too far. It's real hard on my lower back.

If you ever want to do some of the coolest shoreline kayaking and diving you should make the trek up to Mendocino County and go out of Van Damme, now that's some good stuff.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

We do a Kayak Specialty here in the Midwest!!! Its a fun course and has sparked alot of interest so far!!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The only inland kayak diving I've done was at Lake Tahoe. The vis was about 80 feet, the thermoclines were vicious, and all there was to see was rocks and a lot of crawdads. I think it's fun though because I find all kinds of neat stuff like tons of fishing lures, a big beach towel that I still use, cell phones, sunglasses (some very expensive ones), bottles (some very old), and golf balls, lots of golf balls. I love to kayak all day out there and don't return to our rented condo sometimes till the end of the day.