What to do with Kayak?

[projectile]

Hi:

What do you do with the kayak while you are spearfish or diving?
Do you anchor the kayak or do you tie a line to the kayak and yourself?
Does the kayak ever get swamped by large waves?

thanks:confused:

[RLdiver]

What to do with the kayak while diving kind of depends on the diving your doing. I currently live in Hawaii and I anchor my yak while diving the reef and just drag it around with me until I find fishy areas then drop anchor. If your only dive flag is on the yak don't get to far away...I almost got popped by the cops on Saturday for being too far away from my flag. When I go bluewater diving I use the kayak as my float and "tag up" to it....Don't let a monster fish drag it away from you.:eek:

I personally would never tie a rope to myself while freediving for fear of entanglement. Scuba.....maybe, depending on where you are diving(kelp?)

I try to avoid anchoring near large swells and I definetly wouldn't anchor where big waves are breaking. As long as your anchor line is much longer than the depth you shouldn't have a problem with flipping. Example: When anchored in 60ft of water I use a 100ft anchor line and a 6ft bungie. A long anchor line can be shortened if you move to a shallow area by a daisy chain. An anchor bridal is also good, the pivot point isn't the nose of the kayak its about 12" from the nose....helps prevent the kayak from going verticle and flipping as a big swell/wave passes.

I don't recomend a grapple for an anchor...They tend to get really stuck too often. I reccomend a 3-4lb cylinder style with a couple pegs sticking out.

[projectile]

RLdiver:

Thanks for the reply. I see I still have much to learn.

[keyone]

projectile,
You could help us help you if you gave us more info.

1 Where it is you dive, eg Keys, NJ, Cal
2. Freedive or scuba.
3.Drift, wreck or reef.
You get the picture. The more info you give us , the closer to your diving the answers shoiuld be.
I dive several different ways from my yak. When I freedive the reefs drifting I always hold onto a line from the yak, be it the anchor line or another line from the yak. I hold the line and never tie it to me. When I freedive a wreck I drop anchor and dive up and down the line and may more the anchor while in the water for better placement. If I freedive bluewater, again I hold a line tied from the yak, and often in bluewater I hang and anchor down from the yak to hold on to and to travel up and down on. Many times I will use the anchor to help speed my decent down to a predetermined [tied off] depth. If I scuba, I sometimes tie a second line [swing line] to the anchor line. Just remember to use poly or anyother type of line that floats up to lessen hang ups on coral or anything else on the bottom. I guess after proof reading this, I almost never let go of a line from the yak. Years ago I dove with an 82 year old Cuban freediver who could freedive spearfish at 85 feet for close to 3 min each drop. He did not use a line to the boat and dove alone almost always. Until one day the current and wind made it so he could not get back to his boat. He spent 23 hours in the water until his friends found him drifting towards Miami. From that day on he always held onto a line from the boat. Hope this helps. Please give us as much info about your diveing as you can. Sorry for the length. Gregg

[projectile]

[QUOTE=keyone;739666]projectile,
You could help us help you if you gave us more info.

OK, I will give more info. I hope you wont mind reading this format

1 Where it is you dive, eg Keys, NJ, Cal

I will Snorkel/dive in Florida, west palm beach to Martain county.


2. Freedive or scuba.
I know how to scuba and will do it off the beach when I get a buddy.
I will start out by snorkeling out to shallow reefs 20-30 ft. In Florida usually have current. I don't want to lose my yak and drift out to sea.
3.Drift, wreck or reef.
You get the picture. The more info you give us , the closer to your diving the answers shoiuld be.

Right now I am interested in shallow reefs but I would do a shallow wreck. I don't know much about drifting. Except that is how we scuba dive in West Palm Beach. The great thing about that is the boat comes and picks me up when I surface.
I dive several different ways from my yak. When I freedive the reefs drifting I always hold onto a line from the yak, be it the anchor line or another line from the yak. I hold the line and never tie it to me. When I freedive a wreck I drop anchor and dive up and down the line and may more the anchor while in the water for better placement. If I freedive bluewater, again I hold a line tied from the yak, and often in bluewater I hang and anchor down from the yak to hold on to and to travel up and down on. Many times I will use the anchor to help speed my decent down to a predetermined [tied off] depth. If I scuba, I sometimes tie a second line [swing line] to the anchor line. Just remember to use poly or anyother type of line that floats up to lessen hang ups on coral or anything else on the bottom. I guess after proof reading this, I almost never let go of a line from the yak. Years ago I dove with an 82 year old Cuban freediver who could freedive spearfish at 85 feet for close to 3 min each drop. He did not use a line to the boat and dove alone almost always. Until one day the current and wind made it so he could not get back to his boat. He spent 23 hours in the water until his friends found him drifting towards Miami. From that day on he always held onto a line from the boat. Hope this helps. Please give us as much info about your diveing as you can. Sorry for the length. Gregg[/Q

Don't worry about the length. I need to learn it all.

Thanks

[projectile]

RLdiver:

Do you use any chain between the anchor and the line?

[keyone]

projectile,
I work 7p to 7a and hunt in the mornings after work [if the seas are calm]. I put in at Hollywood and hunt out to 2 1/2 mile max. You are welcome anytime that I go. The problem is I don't know till 0700 what the seas are. I have several beach web cams I look at as soon as it gets light enough each morning. I have also spent much time and effort rigging my Hobie yak to freedive spearfish from and would enjoy helping you. Many others here have much more knowledge and like to help also. Just ask or lurk. Keyone

[projectile]

Keyone Thanks for the invitation. I will first have to buy a yak. That word Yak cracks me up. I keep thinking about a Lama every time I read yak for Kayak.
I will take you up on the offer as soon as I buy a yak. Yes, I will ask questions and keep looking at old post.

How is the current in your area of Hollywood?

Projectile

[keyone]

projectile,
My Hobie adventure has been swamped many times. But one of the things I did early on was to spray foam inside my Hobie in the many places unusable below decks. That way my Hobie will not sink. I know, I filled it with water at Oleta Park [salt water] with all my freedive equip. on board to make sure before I went out in the Atlantic. tThe foam also prevents the gear inside the yak from moving from one end of the yak to the other. Let me know if and when you want to foam and I'll try to help.
Next, do not wait till you get a yak before you shore dive. I think most of us did shore dives in the beginning. I know that shore diving was natural for me. See water=get gear=dive=see fish=shoot fish=get on Spearboard to talk about it. What else could be more natural? Just go to Publix and get a foam buggy board, rig up a dive flag on it and begin adding and changing the board to suit you and your style of diving. Many others here have much buggy board info and suggestions.
Next, the current does what it does. I cannot figure it out many times. There are many factors that affect the current. I just gear up and go with it as best as I can. Fighting against current is almost never good or enjoyable. Here at Hollywood the worst I have run into is rip tides. But so far in 2 years the worst rip dumped me 1 mile up coast and just made for a long walk back down the beach. This leads to one of the most important aspect of you beginning shore dives, and that is to never dive alone. keyone

[projectile]

Keyone:

I am thinking of going out on this Friday down by you.
I will send you a PM. I Looked in one Publix and only saw plywood buggy boards.
I will find one by Thursday.

Projectile

[RLdiver]

Projectile, sorry I took a while to reply...My anchor is attached to coated stainless cable (about 2.5ft) with a loop at the end so I can attach it to my anchorline. I'd post a picture but my dive gear is in a containership between Hawaii and Califronia. I'll post some pictures once I get my gear.

[projectile]

RLdiver: Some pics. would be nice. Do you ever see any great whites while diving in CA?

[RLdiver]

No whites...I have yet to dive in CA. Hopefully I will this week. I saw a ton of sharks in Hawaii...Tigers and other reef sharks....no open ocean sharks.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=34362639
sorry about the motion sickness!

[sailcrazy]

i often take my kayak around the icw in west palm and out to the sea bouy freediving. i have found the easiest way of spearfishing out of it is cliping a line the max depth of your dive 2 your gun and to the bow of the kayak and adjusting the line depending on how far you are willing to let the kayak drift from you. if you shoot a big fish just let go of the gun and ride the float line to the surface and you can fight the fish from the kayak. its a blast shooting big stuf from the kayak have fun but be safe and watch out for the kayak over your head:thumps:

[ezequiel]

hi, i launch my yak on north miami bach, usually im doing shallow dives up to 40ft, and i drop this small 3lb anchor with 100ft anchor rope , I know that usually a god anchor relation is 3 to 1, but I only go on good weather conditions, so usually is enought .
I waiting on the mail, a bungee floatline of 60ft, that I want to test on blue water, tied to the kayak, and to my gun .

[freediverkid21]

definitely watch out for overhead objects when kayak diving or diving from a boat. first time i wasnt paying attention i ran into my kayak and it scared the hell out of me! and once i was using my hawaiian sling and i put a shaft into a big black and i was hauling ass to the surface for another shaft to hit him with but i was watching the fish instead of looking up and i hit the bottom of the boat so hard with my head i saw stars! so definitely be careful.