Freedive-aplooza

[Jon]

Air temps are in the 80's and surface water was in the mid 70's.

We had 74 degrees down to around 35' and then it mixed. THis year we had a strange thermocline in that lake. Usually thermoclines are very firm, only a couple of feet thick, but we had one about 20' thick. Once you broke through 70' the vis was great for around here, over 40', and the water temp was in the low 40's.

LAke Michigan that time of year is awsome! We had 68 degree water down to 110' and a good 35' of vis the whole way! I was freediving in just a swimsuit down to 90', on shipwrecks!! Right now Lake Michigan is 35-39 degrees, but the vis is easily 50'++.

When we were out yesterday the water temp was 55 degrees. Fall diving is really nice because the water is still, somewhat, warm from the summer.

If you stay above 40' you almost needed to wetsuit at all. Here's a shot of Rich diving in suit a 3mm jumpsuit. I was wearing my 3mm picasso full suit for dives below the thermocline and actually found myself getting too warm. By the end of the day we found oursleves above 40' and playing around in the fish cribs. I finally peeled down to just my 3mm pants to try and cool off a bit. It gets cold on the bottom, but the top layers are so warm that I never got cold because I could reheat during my breath-ups.

Fred has been doing a great job of getting a website together. Maybe he can post a link to it.

Jon

 

[donmoore]

July in Wisconsin

I think July and August is the only time of year I would want to go there. Once I spent 10 days there in January on a dairy farm. It was below zero for 8 days. But actually it was one of those once in lifetime experiences I will always cherish. Like when they taught me how to artificially inseminate a cow! Now theirs a special memory!

Not to imply Jon and Ted live on dairy farms.
don

 

[unirdna]

Re: July in Wisconsin

Originally posted by donmoore
Not to imply Jon and Ted live on dairy farms.

Imply away fella. Although I regret never learning to dive in my youth, I do [unabashedly] owe one of the greatest childhoods ever to my Grandparent's farm. All that "swingin in the hayloft - shooting the bbgun - riding the atv - exploring the fields - catching wild animals - throwing insects in spider webs - falling asleep in the grain bins" stuff y'all see in the movies... I DID IT.

Sorry to hear that your Wisconsin farm experience amounted to a hot date with betsy. Did ya at least leave her your number?

Come to Lake Wazee in July and get a heapin helpin of culture with your divin .

Ted

 

[icarus pacific]

That Bessy was a piece of work, eh?

let's not forget the no-limits cow tipping!:mute

 

[JMD]

Re: That Bessy was a piece of work, eh?

Originally posted by icarus pacific
let's not forget the no-limits cow tipping!:mute

No Limits - does that mean we can use farm equipment for assistance?

ahhh memories of the good old days of growing up in a farm town in Saskatchewan (Wisconsin with less cheese, more cold, and more wheat) good times, good times

 

[donmoore]

Ted, does that mean we get an evening field trip to your grandparents farm? I have seen a lot of entertainment over the years, but nothing has ever come close to the artificially insemination of Betsy. Our static contractions are nothing compared to what Betsy had.

Sounds like you had a wonderful childhood. I really enjoyed my trip there. The farm people showed outstanding hospitality, except we couldn’t really understand them when they talked among themselves. Years of isolation, living and working together gave them their own lingo.

A relative who married into the dairy family had invited us. He loved to play poker, which was quite a contradiction to his new family, but they put up with him. He dragged me around to all these little taverns within about an 80-mile radius. There would be a little tavern all by itself surrounded with nothing but fields and farms. In the evening several tractors would be in the parking lot. He explained that in Wisconsin the police wouldn’t give drunk driving tickets to people on tractors, which was why all the farmers drove their tractors there. That’s probably changed now, since it was 20 some years ago.

Oh what memories this brings back,
don

 

[samdive]

We had our own freedive-aplooza this weekend - otherwise known as the saltfree big weekender
check out the photos on
www.saltfreedivers.com


Sam

 

[Erik]

Cool pics Sam.
Jon I'm hoping that I will be able to come to FDapalooza
Cheers to Jon for getting this happening. Maybe we'll get an Alberta contingent down there.
Erik Y

 

[flyboy748]

Looks like it was a great time Sam! Thanks for the photos. While I may not get to the Saltfree Big Weekender soon, I hope to someday! And in the meantime, I'm planning for the Freedive-aplooza next July!

Aaron

 

[fjohnson]

Jon forgot to mention riding the Wisconsin sunfish as a fun thing to do too. Just have to watch out for branches.... and teeth.
(pic)
Fred

 

[Jon]

rofl rofl rofl


I really do have to learn photoshop one of these days.

Fred,
MAybe you ca post the link to the website you've set up for this.

Sam,
It looks like it was a lot of fun. How many newbies did you have and did you get any of the die-hard bubble lowers to give it a shot??

Jon

 

[samdive]

Hi Jon
we tend to discourage getting the bubble lovers to freedive - we need them on scuba! but some of them have been coming to the SETT tank at HMS Dolphin to give it a try and getting on far too well..

This summer I think we have had about 10 newbies and they are all now around the 20m mark, some deeper. A couple of guys that couldn't quite make 30m at the beginning of the season are now almost touching 50m. Some of the progress has been amazing. Can't wait to see how they all do at Cyprus next year. There is definitely something to be said for diving regularly in the same environment with the same buddies - even if it is cold, dark and green!

Sam

 

[fjohnson]

Here's a site with a bit of info on the free dive apalooza.
http://www.freediveapalooza.50megs.com/

Fred

 

[unirdna]

web site

Jon / Fred:

Very cool. I was wise to hitch my wagon to your star.

Ted

 

[icarus pacific]

rofl

Aww man! That shot's genius!
It'd be my luck to launch into one of those only to find out it's a protected specie. :mute

 

[Jon]

DIVE KAYAKS

I just remembered that we will have dive kayaks there to try out as well. We will have two singles, one tandem and a fiberglass surf-ski for demo.

There are many lakes that we can really only get onto with our dive kayaks. FOr others they make the perfect watercraft because you can tow them with you if you want.

Lake Wazze will be a really nice lake to try them out on since they don't allow motors on the lake.

Jon

 

[Jon]

Kirk finally got back to me, he is one busy guy, and running a clinic the week before Freedive-A-plaooza just won't work- a little matter of the AIDA world Championships coming up three weeks later.

He did mention that if I got 8 people together we could run one a different time. I hadn't thought about this earlier, but if there ws the interest I could get a shop, and a boat, to host it. Feel free to P.M. if this sounds like something you'd be interested in.

Jon

 

[^Milan^]

bit of a mission for me to get over there really... but maybe next year if u make it an annual event... btw hello everyone my names milan nice to meet ya's

 

[Jon]

It looks like an all weekend event- since people are coming in from all over.

Fred and I have been talking about coming up T-shirts for it. I was thinking tye-dyed and Fred was thinking something a little more subdued. Either way, this is the idea we have for it so far:

Jon

 

[flyboy748]

Hey Jon, looks great! Count me in for 1 or 2 medium shirts if you end up making them!

Still lots of interest here. Hard to say how many of us will make it but hopefully 3 or 4 from Toronto.

Aaron