Freedive-a-palooza III

[Jon]

Well, time is drawing near for our third annual FREEDIVE-A-PALOOZA in Lake Wazee!

Over the past couple of years we've had dozens of local freedivers decend upon Black River Falls for some of the best diving this part of the country has to offer. Divers have come from a 5 state area and more seem to pop up every year. There's good reason for it since Lake Wazee is the deepest
(100+meter) and clearest lake in the whole state- the Great Lakes don't count in this one.

There's camping right next to the lake and plenty of beach for the non-diving spouses, and children, to enjoy. Surface temps climb into the low 80's and stay that way down to at least 30'. Below that it might get a little chilly, but the vis improves so much that you'll hardly even notice it.

Dates for this year's event are July 15th and 16th, although Fred and I might make it up a day early to scope things out.

Jon

 

[Jon]

As you can see from some of the pictures posted above, there are plenty of trees in the lake. That's because Lake wazee is actually a flooded iron mine that has a series of "forests" lining her sides. there are trees that almost touch the surface, and then there's another ring at 60', 120', 180', ect. If you want to steer clear of the trees you just move out a little ways and there's nothing to run into, however swimming through the trees allows you to get up close to the fish life that's in there.

We've also set up underwater target ranges in the past to compare different spearguns. This allows you to test, side by side, a varitey of differnt guns to see which one might work best for you. Besides guns, there usually a couple of scooters, kayaks, cameras, and more fins around than I can even count. We have a few monofins to try out as well.

There's plenty of shallow diving to be had, but for those who wish to go deep we do have a counter-balance system to make it safer. Fish cribs line many of the shallows and make a good place to warm-up between deep dives, or look for fish during a night dive.

Jon

 

[khel]

Count me in

 

[cdavis]

Looks fabulous Jon, especially diving in the trees. Wish I was closer.

Connor

 

[dallasdiver]

I just checked the web and got this info, is it fairly accurate about the water temps at depth?

Water temperatures run from approximately 70 degrees surface temperatures to 40 degrees below the thermocline. The thermocline depth varies during summer, but averages about 30 feet. Divers who venture to greater depths will encounter a second thermocline at approximately 60 feet where the temperature drops to a chilly 34 degrees

 

[srmccall]

Cant wait for another chance to dive with you all again, it was so much fun last year! We will be camping this year as well... See you all soon!


Seth

 

[Jon]

temperature drops to a chilly 34 degrees

That's freakin' immpossible!:rcard

Maximum density of freshwater is 39.6 degres (4C). Below that it starts to expand and float to the surface- as ICE! The only way I have ever seen water like that is by diving in a river, in winter, when the water is moving so fast that the ice can't form.

Bottom temps are in the low 40's, but the vis is very good. There is a bit of a hazy layer where the two temps mix, but it's nice and warm above and super clear below. we had vis in the 40' range above the thermocline and I have had 60'+ vis at 200'+ ,without a light, many times in this lake.

BTW: I was out on Lake Michigan again this past weekend and the temps were running close to 60 degrees above the thermocline and we had huge schools of alweives swimming around the wreck- with hungry salmon swimming through them looking for a quick lunch. I felt like I was in the ocean somewhere.


Seth, hope to see you and John up there again this year- we missed you for Freeze-A-Palooza this winter.

Jon

 

[dallasdiver]

I thought that sounded too cold. This is the site where info was posted : http://co.jackson.wi.us/html/forestry/scuba.htm

Any problems getting a camp site? Phone numbers for campground? I might be able to make this one.

 

[Jon]

There are group sites right at the lake. Your welcome to pitch a tent with us on any of ours, and I have a bunch of scuba buddies who are going to have another group site up there the whole weekend as well.

There are also at least three other campgrounds in the vacinity as well as a few hotels within a couple miles of the lake if that's more your speed.

The lake also has an awesome swimming beack for kids- it's actually a lagoon off of the main lake that's only 3' deep and has a huge beach.

Here's some shots of the beach and another of Gene diving to 30' in his swimsuit- because the water really is that warm above the thermocline.


Jon

 

[Jon]

It's still a couple of weeks away, but from the email messages I've been getting it looks like it might be quite the crowd this year.

Dallasdiver is flying, and driving, up to meet us and there are a whole new group of divers I haven't met yet who are planning on making it up for some diving, and camping, as well. Add in all of the "old timers" and it should be a great weekend with lots of dive support.

Weather up here right now is pretty hot and breezy which should make the top 30', or so, even toastier than normal.

I mentioned in my emails to drive up to Black River Falls and turn by the orange moose- so here's a picture of it so you know what it looks like!

I also posted a few other shots from freedives gone by in Wazee.

I hope to see as many of you as possible up there!

Jon

 

[Fondueset]

Looks fantastic! Sadly I've used up all my vacation time- plus other logistical problems. I'll pencil it in for next you though - looks like a blast!

 

[orfreediver]

I'm with Fondueset, maybe next year. This looks like to much fun.

 

[Jon]

Just a couple days away and I've had quite the response this year so I thought that I'd better post a couple of maps for those who asked.

The lake is halfway inbetween Madison and the Twin Cities. We also get quite a crowd from the Chicago area up here every weekend- yes, the lake IS that good to make people drive that far!

Hope to see you there!

Jon

 

[sunwaterboy]

Hi Jon and Fred and everyone,
I'm planning to come down there Friday aft. The weather sounds just about right to get wet and stay wet all day.
See you then!
Gene

 

[fjohnson]

I'm on the road sometime today too... just don't know if I'll make it as far as wazee today or tomorrow. alright!
fred

 

[Jon]

Speaking of weather, the weatherman just stated that we haven't hit 100 degrees around here since 1995 and that all of that was going to change this weekend!

Heat index will be above 100 and I can't think of a better place to be than in a lake!

See you there,

Jon

 

[icarus pacific]

Best wishes to all the lucky participants!

It seems that the more I want to go to one of these shindigs, the less time becomes available. :head

 

[Jon]

WOW, what a weekend!

They say that the people make the party and this weekend was certainly a party!:friday

We, easily, had over twice as many freedivers as last year with the travel award going to DallasDiver who flew all the way in from Texas to join us.:king Now, if we just could have gotten all the rest of those Madison divers, who would have had the shortest drive, to show up it really would have been something!

We even had some new converts to the sport- thanks mainly to Fred's quick eye and smooth style. He took one look at those RedBull models and before you know it he had them talked out of their clothes and into their bikinis!:inlove Within about 15 minutes one of them was freediving down past 20' and if the thermocline hadn't been there I know she could have gone deeper. They were actually very nice ladies who were naturals in the water- take note Chicago area underwater hockey players as one of them is moving your way come fall.

Besides all the great people we also had outstanding weather. This weekend happened to be the hottest weekend in almost 11 years- so what better place to spend it than in a clear lake with lots of freediving buddies? Every night we ended up taking a nice moonlight swim in the lake to cool off before swapping stories around the campfire and enjoying a couple of cool ones.:friday Speaking of stories, I'm glad to hear that Don was able to get his $1,000 Wong speargun back.

One BIG upgrade to this years event was in the way of food. It started out on Friday night with Rik's homemade jambalaya and led up to the main event- championship pulled-pork. It seems that members Seth and John have hobbies outside of freediving and shooting fish, as their main hobby involves entering BBQ contests around the Midwest. Two weeks prior they had taken third place, out of over 80 teams, in the pulled-pork competition at the Illinois State Fair. We all took note when they started setting up their smoker on Saturday night with mention of needing at least 14 hours to cook the pork shoulders they brought with them. It was simply amazing and if they show up again next year I would expect our numbers to double from their cooking alone
there were lots of fins, scooters, masks, wetsuits, snorkels, spearguns and cameras to try and everyone had a great, and informative, time trying out different types of gear. It seems that the winning maks of the weekend was the Sphera and the ice fins were truly somthing to behold when it comes to spearfishing- I've never used a softer, smoother, fin before. It's just too bad we couldn't get any of those new Mustang's to try out.

There are many other stories, and pictures, to be shared but it will take a couple of days to get them all up. I want to thank everyone who came out and now will get started on picking a date for next year

Jon

 

[Fondueset]

What a wonderful event! I will definitely try to make it next year. Food seems to be a major characteristic of freediving events, I'm noticing.

Glad to here you tried out the ice fins and liked them. I agree they are incredibly smooth. Really great control.

 

[jimdoe2you]

Wow Chris, it looks like we'll visit Jon next year instead of that Cabo San Lucas trip, .....or better yet, do both!!!

Jon, did Ken bring up his FLAP 80's with him? I heard he got one heck of a sweet deal on them :t .

Awesome, awesome, awesome!!!