So there were some electronic modifications we had to make - and then it was testing time, last Wednesday evening. So Ben brought two modified cudas down to the t-dock, and I got to go free diving. WHHHOOOO-HOOOO!
Ok, so first I wore a dry suit and a weight belt, because I don't have the equipment for freediving. The freedivers have these really expensive fins, and use wet suits, and lube up their bodies so that the wet suits will slip easily over them. The ones I talked to at cove 2 'bout 3 weeks ago had bottomed out at 75 - 95'. They aren't the extreme ones - see the record books. Anyway, I degress. So I wore a slate, just for the bungees, to secure the cord for the remote controller. The cord hangs down to your feet.
We got in the water, and then we had to figure out how to get onto this thing. After flopping around for a while, - see the scooter was a few pounds buoyant, and I'm trying to get onto it - well - eventually I got the hang of it - You weren't watching were you? I'm so embarrassed
So now I actually have a use for a snorkel! I'm face down in the water, with a rocket hiked up between my legs! My legs are in between some brackets, and the "upper" brackets are placed just above the backs of my knees. My knees are bent (I'm so DIR), and it looks like I'm ready to frog kick, so the fins are streamlined.
I'm too light, so I had to dismount, disconnect the cord from the scooter, go back to my Scubaru, get heavier, you know most the routine... Plug in the cord, get in 4-5' of water, push the scooter motor to the bottom, mount this thing (weird place to put a scooter), fall on my face, cough in my snorkel, relax, relax, relax... Turn on the motor... I'ts cavitation time... figure out how to push the scooter back into the water so that the blades are in... Wow! I'm moving! Take a deep breath... Turn the scooter up a speed... Bend at the torso, and I am down! Shooting along the bottom, 3' off the bottom at MACH!!! Turn up a speed again WOWWW. There was a crab, That was cool! I am flying along! I've been down, what 5 seconds? M u s t B r e a t h e . . . Bend back, shoot to the surface. Awesome! OK, have to catch my breath.
So a couple more sessions like that, and I am ready to go deeper. So I go out to the end of the T-dock, get my breathing calmed down, take a deep breath, adn dive for the bottom. Definitely need to start the scooter first and go up a couple of speeds. I'm holding my nose, because I am not sure what to expect as far as clearing. I equalize at the surface and hold pressure against my ears on the way down, and that seems to work well. I bet I am down a total of 20 - 30 seconds. I know I can hold my breath for at least a minute, but it is so strange to feel compression on my lungs and suit, and mask, and I am not prepared for the experience.
Still, I think I probably went down to 45' or so on one dive. I went looking for the geodome, and actually found the buoy line, but then I got to thinking about what if I actually found the geodome, ran into it (or got tangled in it), with my head, blanked out...
yikes - Not going there again. This calls for a helmet, at least. Oh, so now it is Friday, and I am "saddle sore".
I got to experience something truly unique. Freediving scooters was really fast, super fun, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I rode a rocket and lived to tell the story!
The scooters got shipped out and are heading to Cayman:
http://www.performancefreediving.com/co ... ng2009.htm
S'Mike
Maybe it will become part of my abs and thigh-master routine!! LOL!