Guernsey 2006

[podge]

Bloody good work Dave. A few mates and myself had a look around Portland on Christmas Eve, stayed in for around 2 hours with bugger all but cold feet to show for it. Viz was still pants from the surface and you had to smack your head on the bottom before you knew you were there.

 

[Old Man Dave]

It's a 75cm that I use just for night dives. It's got 16mm standard rubbers that I just load to the first notch for simplicity at night. Just use a single line wrap. Most of the time for flatties it's just used as a hand spear but you need to fire short range shots for bass, red mullet etc.

Dave

 

[glowworm]

Nice catch Dave.That sole is massive..Weather here has turned really nasty so hopes of any diving action have gone...Oh well back top playing with the christmas toy's..rofl rofl rofl

 

[beardy241]

Glad you got out in the end Dave. Nice catch. My week got crowded out and now the wind is blowing up so the next few days looks unlikely - again!

[m]

 

[James T]

Hey Dave what kind of light set up do you use? Is it just the single torch held in your hand? Is is a very powerful torch?

I went out the other night with Scottie around Portland. The torch I was using has a really narrow beam which creates a light patch of about a meter in diameter. I have this attached to my mask strap (mini Q40) I am really new to night spearfishing and not sure if I should go for a more powerful light set-up or just practice with what I have.

The other scary thing was that because the light beam was quite narrow I found I as half way into caves between large boulders without realising it - a bit worrying when you try to resurface!! So I then started to spend more time on descent to try and remove the chances of this happening. It worked, but meant I spent less time really searching for food...

Any tips very welcome.

 

[beardy241]

Hi James,

If I may contribute here... I have a Q40 and use it on my mask strap too. Until you get a bigger lamp, this will seem reasonable, then suddenly you'll have your eyes opened!! Apart from being woefully dim for anything but close up stuff, you will find that your vision is impaired by the light scatter coming back off particles in the water - even when the vis is good.

I have an Underwater Kinetics' D4. I got the rechargeable variety because you'll spend a fortune on batteries otherwise. It's a robust bit of kit with two bulbs - low and high power, which is great for battery saving. If I run on full beam all the time I get about an hour of burn, otherwise, with use of low beam and no beam on the surface, I can dive for 2 - 3 hours (on an good day).

The big deal with a big lamp is obviously brightness - seeing a lot further is great, but also because it's hand held, you don't get so much back-scatter. (Even then, the light from your buddy's torch will often allow you to see more than your own beam for this reason.)

The new LED torches are excellent - smaller, can be brighter, will burn for longer and have a whiter light that penetrates the water better and give better colour rendition. Downside: cost.

hth
Night dives ROCK!!

kr

Marcel

 

[James T]

Thanks for the pointers - Its time to invest

 

[James T]

BTW you are absolutely right about the backscatter - The vis seemed good to me and my buddy but as we were both wearing the same torches in the same way we couldn't see much at all.

 

[Old Man Dave]

I'll post a bit about torches soon as but Marcel has given the idea. Rather excited about my new Chrissy present http://forums.deeperblue.net/625134-post11.html

Dave

 

[beardy241]

Probably my best diving investment.
[m]

 

[James T]

I'll post a bit about torches soon as but Marcel has given the idea. Rather excited about my new Chrissy present http://forums.deeperblue.net/625134-post11.html

Dave

Dave - I looked back through your old posts - how are you finding the C8 now? would you recommend this one? Looks like it has a higher lumens rating than the D4 which Marcel is using (I looked at the UK site) Not sure there is alot to choose between them but am interested before I buy.

 

[Old Man Dave]

Hi James

Yes I think if you look back I've written a fair bit on torches. I started with a technisub luminex 6 which used 6 C cells and puts out 6 watts. Cost about £18. Then I bought 6 C cell rechargables for it. It was the fact that I already had these 6 rechargable C cells that persuaded me to buy a UK C 8. I bought the UK in standard non recharge model but with an extra high output bulb the same as the rechargable model has. I then bought another 2 rechargable C cells making 8 in total and that way I got a cheap high power rechargable UK C 8.

The luminex was fine for starters and I had some great dives and caught some good fish, including a 3+lb sole I spotted from the surface in 15 foot of water. Mind you the vis was excellent that day but just shows the light will penetrate that far.

The C8 is a good torch. It has a 13 watt and a 20 watt bulb and you can change from one to t'other in use. 8 C cells gives at least 1.5 hours on 13 watt but only an hour on 20 watt. The 20 watt is very bright but I usually only use the 13 watt 'cause of the time factor. Andy R has got a UK D8 with a 20 and 30 watt bulb. Seen that and its awsome but tempermental and not sure on burn time.

Choosing between a D4 and a C8? There's not much in it. The bulbs and burn time are similar but the C8 is longer and slimmer where as the D8 is shorter and fatter. Both are tried and tested designs and not bad value if you shop around. I might be tempted with the big D8 but think I would stick to using the 20 watt bulb and maybe even replace the 30 with another 20 watt for reliability and improved burn time.

For most people if you can afford it go for a reliable torch offering about 13+ watts and at least 8 C cells or 4/6 D cells. That's gonna set you back £100.

You could do what I did and buy the non recharge torch for £60 and get several dives with the standard batteries it comes with before investing in some rechargables.

Hope that helps. PM me if you got more questions. Oh! and well done for giving it a go. Not exactly the best time of year to learn but keep at it 'cause it's worth it.

Dave

Just reading back on your post I've added this bit. My technique now is to hold the torch in my left hand and the gun in my right (I'm right handed). I usually hold the gun across my chest when I'm down searching the bottom as I find otherwise it gets in the way of the light beam and casts distracting shadows. I hold the torch out a bit from my body and swing it slowly back and forth maybe 30 degrees each side of dead ahead. I follow the light by moving my head/neck side to side. I swim about 5 foot off the bottom.

All this is of course when working deeper water. That is where you can't see the bottom from the surface. I have made some good catches just by swimming on the surface in 10 foot shining the torch down onto the bottom. If the vis is good enough then this is the way to go at least for the start of the dive. Caught some very good fish especially bass in the shallows at night, but even sole etc will come in close. Seen size sole in 18 inches on occasions. Don't go to your usual snaggy spearing spots just try your local sandy bay, the one that's a desert in the daytime. The fish go there after dark.

Good luck

Dave

 

[portinfer]

Happy Christmas one and all ! Hope you all had good ones - looks like Santa dropped a few presents down Dave's chimney - might have to wait until I actually have a chimney

Anyway - good catch Dave - I popped in on boxing day and caught a small lobster (returned) - saw a MASSIVE conger - I thought the head was a boulder but then I noticed the eyes... saw a squid and a few plaice and bass - very nice to be back in the briny.

As for torches - I went the LED route and got one for about £140 or £150... i forget - all much of a muchness but I went for the LED one as the body is metal and it is quite small : FAMi Power LED 40 in Underwater Lights,Non-rechargeable torches from Simply Scuba

The light is white so I am hoping to be able to use it with an UW camera - ie it is correctly balanced light and you shouldn't need to mess around in photoshop so much... and I like the colour blue

Ed (I am still alive but have been busy)

 

[Magpie]

Good catch Dave! Fair play to you for getting out there and getting the rewards.

Just incase you boys haven't noticed there has been a 2007 thread started: http://forums.deeperblue.net/trip-reports/69083-guernsey-2007-a.html