[icarus pacific]

Jon,

As has been said over and over again here, strapping onto a sled is somthing that takes more brains than balls. One of the reason's it's not done widely, here in the US anyway is the amount of personnel and support gear it takes. Consider where you have toi hang the downline from- I don't trust the tree branch over that 100m creek, so there you need a boat, and i'm not talking your run of the mill Sears Gamefisher. Then the support guys are going to want, if they're smart, at least a surface air/comm setup and then a chamber, if they're genuine. Then the line, preferably cable, the weight, preferably a fridge filled with concrete, and then you get top the sled, which is akin to a red wagon/pallet with a dead man brake. Ever wonder why they call 'em dead man?

And then on the way up, you've got your bag and the bag for the sled. Then the winch.. on and on. If you've got a couple other loonies there that have game, fine, you can split it and amortize the costs... figure $1200-1400 per ride, if you really scrimp.

No thanks.

My rides were in the Med, and then off a homemade job in Santa Barbara. I gotta tell ya, the thrill goes away once you're hooked in and everybody steps back. The realization that for the next 30 seconds or so, all you're going to want to do is eqaulize, makes me want to pass on the experiences again. Once I got down I was so jacked up about hauling my ass to the Sun, I completely forgot to look for singing dolphins, sunlit angels and all the other stuff they'll tell you happens...

Unless the guys at Perf Freediving or Tanya want to carry the insurance and liability and gear, I'd be very, very wary of trying this on my own.

sven