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Freedive-a-palooza III

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Thanks!

It's not too often that I get a picture of myself. Your's turned out so well I decided it was time to upgrade from my slef-portraits.

Here's a few more shots.

Jon
 
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I can attest to the fun factor this last weekend. That was my first attempt at Freediving and I'm hooked!!! I've tracking down gear as fast as possible in hopes of finding folks with whom to practice

Thanks to everyone who was so quick to offer advice. Thanks to Jon for outfitting me for the day. Thanks to Ric for putting enough great food in my stomach that I didn't need to wear weight. And a big thank you to Jitka for telling me about Freedive-a-palooza '06.

No thanks to any of you for getting me into a sport for which I don't have gear or dive buddies I've had exactly no luck convincing scuba diving friends that this is the goods!
T
 
Tol,

I'm always up for a dive and could really use a buddy to train with, on a consistant baisis, to try and reach some deeper depths. From what I saw you do in just one day I bet you have a little bit of depth in you as well.

Forget about buying all of that Tec gear and you'll be set up for freediving in no time. Now, if you can convince Jitka to cross over from the "dark side" and freedive full-time we would have a decent trainging group.

I would think that Red Granite is a mid point for the both of us- there are other lakes but they are shallow. I think that we could also try and meet out on Lake Genvea, so Nick and Rob could join in, on a regualr baisis. The lakes by me drop down only to about 80' an dare clear in winter, but so thick with weeds right now that it's black as night below 20'. Devil's lake is shallow, only 45', but at least you can work on some surface enrty techniques and resuce skills. I mention it because it's close and has some of the best vis around. Of course there's always Lake Michigan.:inlove Vis was over 70' last time I was out but the wrecks that are normally visited limit depths to around 95'- unless there's the rare charter out to the Milwaukee where you can hit 117'.
Wazee is a bit of a drive, but there's no deeper, or clearer inland lake in the state.

I've been trying to get a, reliable, buddy to train with around here and it's been tougher than you might imagine.:head If I could get out to train for some depth once, or even twice, a month that would be awesome!

BTW: If I can count on you to drag my old a$$ up to the surface I think I might have some extra gear you could use while your out there.

Jon
 
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Let me know if you are looking for dive buddies. I'm only an hour from Wazee but have no problem driving over to Lake Michigan or somewhere between. Just let me know as soon as you can I will try to free up the weekend.

I will be back at Wazee on 8/12 and 8/13 if anyone wants to come.


Here a couple more pics. Jon with is mono, Fred playing with Scooter, Nick hunting, Rolland at the 70' buoy, and Tol hanging out.
 

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I was thinking about setting up some days to go to Red Granite Quarry to dive. It's not as deep, or as clear, as Wazee, but it is more centrally located for everyone to get to it on a more regular basis. Last I heard vis was only 10'
feet there, but for line diving that doesn't matter that much. When we bottom it out we can switch things up to Wazee.

Unless, Nick can get ahold of a boat for us to train on out in Lake Geneva? She is cleaner than the Quarry and offers the chance to spear some fish as well. Just need the boat to get out past the drop offs to hit some depth- and protect us from the traffic. :head

Lake Michigan is the clearest, but also the most hit-or-miss when it comes to weather. She can be incredible on a flat calm day or a real b*tch on a bad day- which is why she has close to 1,000 shipwrecks in her.

Jon
 
I can bring down my 20' sailboat for Lake Geneva and/or inflatable. We can just use them as a dive platform.
 

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Thanks for the pic of my crummy trim

If you'd like company on Lake Geneva, name your day and a spotter you shall have!
T
 
I would love to dive Lake Geneva with you guys, drop me a line when you plan to go!


Seth
 
I was trying to track down a boat in Lake Geneva to get us out to deeper water, with some surface cover, and only found one charter boat operating- 15 years ago there were at LEAST 3.


Anyway, I mentioned to the store manager that we wanted to rent it to freedive off of and she said "no way, we don't have anything to do with freedivers".:head I then mentioned to her that her group has come out on our boat in LAke Michigan and I have freedove with them on the wrecks and her opinion started to change. I am not sure about a final cost yet, but they get $55 a head for a two tank dive. What that translates to freediving I am not sure? If we could get a flat boat rate and get 6-10 of us on there once a month i think that would be ideal- seems to be central location and all.

Another option is to go out on Lake Michgian as a group on a boat that I might know of. Actually, Jitka would be our captain and we could pick and choose our depth- or wreck for that matter. Prices would be significantly less, but the weather is more unpredictable- waves are blowing over the break wall as I write this. I would want everyone on board to be able to do at least a 20 meter dive to do this option.

The main thing is to try and get together once, or twice, a month. If we start hitting deeper depths I have some ideas on how I want to upgrade my counter balance system for more rapid retrievals from greater depths.

Email me if you want to be on a list for something like this- so I know how many divers were talking about. zeamanhome@hotmail.com

BTW: We will also need a snappier name than Salt Free- sorry Sam. :chatup

Jon
 
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Jon, finding a boat on Lake Geneva is not a problem at all

There's at least 3 "boat rental" places that I know of around the lake where you can get a boat without ANY questions asked.

Plus, I'm sure, I can get a boat much cheaper at the campus where I work - privided I talk to waterfront guys several days before the event.

Oh, and I'm all for setting a schedule and trying to train on a more regular basis

p.s. I wouldn't mind going to Lake Michigan either, as for Lake Wazee - well, only from time to time - it's a bit too far for me :/
 
Nick,

How big a boat can we rent and what are the rates? Lake Geneva would really be the best mid-point for all of us to meet. Maybe we could rent a big pontoon boat and load it up with at least 6-8 divers, and all of our stuff. Splitting costs that way would be much cheaper and allow us to meet more often. We can put the coutner-balance on it and I bet I can dig up a cuple of tech divers if we want to add them itnto the mix- but I see no reason to just yet.

I agree on the distance to Wazee. Once a month, or even twice during the summer, would be great.

Jon

Jon
 
Dear Jon, and Fred, thanks for the great time and the use of the equipment i really like the Lake Geniva idea also thanks for takeing all the great pictures CigarLung Rob
 
Mods might want to move above post to CA dive-buddy area.

On the subject of Lake Geneva, Jon why dont we get our kayaks together and make a triangle, rope it off on the perimeter and dive off your float in the middle? If we get out there at sunrise, maybe boaters wont be too much trouble.
 
This one could probably be UNSTICK(ed). Considering the last post was 5 years ago and we are on like Freedive-A-Palooza VIII or something like that. lol
 
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