Hi there,
I'm looking to improve my current homemade freediving line. At the moment I'm using a car inner tube as a float, the attachment is just by short pieces of rope tied around the tube in four places (12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock) which are joined in the middle of the tube with a carabiner and the line is attached to that. For weight I try and grab a suitable rock lying about on the shore. I've scoured the forums and picked up some good tips already...
- for the bottom weight use some kind of plastic barrel that can be filled with sand/rocks etc. I'm gonna sort something like this. Save me always trying to find the perfect rock!
- use a pulley and cleat set-up to make hauling in and paying out easier.
Now I'm looking at the problem of drifting about the place when I want to stay put. I'm normally diving from the shore, but not close enough to tie the float off to any nearby rocks. I've seen talk of anchors here but I'm not sure how this could work. A separate anchor line that would reach the bottom, and therefore hold the float in place, would mean a lot of extra line (and hassle), and would probably be a drama to retrieve as I'm normally diving in water where I can't reach the bottom. Maybe some kind of a sea anchor/drogue is possible? Although from my (limited) understanding of these, I think it would increase the rate of drift with current or tide.(?)
So what do the wise people do? Do you just drift about with the currents? Finning about on the surface to keep position soon gets you knackered, as I've quickly found out.
Suggestions on this or any other improvements to a home made setup would be highly welcome!
Deano.
I'm looking to improve my current homemade freediving line. At the moment I'm using a car inner tube as a float, the attachment is just by short pieces of rope tied around the tube in four places (12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock) which are joined in the middle of the tube with a carabiner and the line is attached to that. For weight I try and grab a suitable rock lying about on the shore. I've scoured the forums and picked up some good tips already...
- for the bottom weight use some kind of plastic barrel that can be filled with sand/rocks etc. I'm gonna sort something like this. Save me always trying to find the perfect rock!
- use a pulley and cleat set-up to make hauling in and paying out easier.
Now I'm looking at the problem of drifting about the place when I want to stay put. I'm normally diving from the shore, but not close enough to tie the float off to any nearby rocks. I've seen talk of anchors here but I'm not sure how this could work. A separate anchor line that would reach the bottom, and therefore hold the float in place, would mean a lot of extra line (and hassle), and would probably be a drama to retrieve as I'm normally diving in water where I can't reach the bottom. Maybe some kind of a sea anchor/drogue is possible? Although from my (limited) understanding of these, I think it would increase the rate of drift with current or tide.(?)
So what do the wise people do? Do you just drift about with the currents? Finning about on the surface to keep position soon gets you knackered, as I've quickly found out.
Suggestions on this or any other improvements to a home made setup would be highly welcome!
Deano.