In the water

[Angus]

My birthday present to myself was a day diving in Cultus Lake. The weather was beautiful and the surface temperature of the water was between 72 and 76 f., but at -40 feet it was in the low 40s so I was suited up with my 7mm picasso, including gloves, as I planned to stay in for several hours. Visibility was about 20-30feet and there was minimal motorboat traffic as it is still early in the season. I found a nice ledge along the shore of a small cove that was about 300 yards long and was covered with ancient trees from a blowdown (Big winds that drop out of thunder clouds and cause trees to fall in a "wagonwheel" pattern) laying in an elongated fan over the edge of the drop and cascading down the sides. This was nice as it gave me lots of visually interesting things to go look at. I was diving alone and had not been out in several weeks so I limited my dives to -50feet and 120seconds - mostly. I managed to stay out for over three hours in complete comfort and would have stayed out longer except my wife and daughter were ready to go home. Over the course of the afternoon I went from that beginning struggle do go deep to the joy of sliding down the compression gradient and then kicking back up to neutral bouyancy (set for -35 feet) and gliding with only a hint of fin movement or gentle pull off a tree or rock with my arm. Towards the end I was getting so comfortable that I had slipped into an unconscious up and down cycle in which I was not thinking of breathing up or when to dive or when to surface. I would dive and cruise and sometime in the dive I would break the surface and cruise and dive ....until I had little awareness of the surface. After a time, my internal clock caused me to lift my head and I released that I was out at the point of the cove and my wife and daughter were paddling up in the canoe. The potential for slapstick humor goes right up when I attempt to get out of my gear after hours in the water. Standing felt very odd and balancing on one leg took major concentration. I ate my sandwich, the first food in over 20 hours and wondered if I had the energy left to paddle the canoe the two miles back to the car. Hopefully, Octo is coming up next weekend. I'll let you know. Warmly, Angus

 

[Cliff Etzel]

Attention Oregon Freedivers

Ok Guys - let's hook up via email and see if we can plan a time to get together - What about diving Clear Lake up on the McKenzie Pass - Cold as you know what but 200 foot viz - 7mm suits are the norm - Wish I could afford a Picasso 9mm Comercial for this trip...

What do ya say?

 

[Angus]

Sounds good

Hello Cliff, As I was writing about going out yesterday I remembered that you are over in Eugene and that I wanted to get together with you before I move to Utah in August. So it was a pleasure to get your reply. Clear Lake or Waldo. What works for you? Angus

 

[Erik]

Good story

That was nice to read. I really like reading people's stories about freediving and spearfishing. It helps get my mind back in the water, if not my body, and it's interesting to hear what other people focus on in their experiences.
I wont be able to come to the States to join you guys this summer, but I do have a trip planned to Vancouver Island to do some spearfishing, deep freediving, and maybe attend a freediving course with Freediver 48.
I am grateful to Stephan and Cliff; without this site I would never have had the opportunity to converse with and make friends with the great people on this forum. Up here in inland Canada there are no freedivers around, except my wife, who is interested enough to join me in the lakes when she doesn't have 2 or 3 tanks and a drysuit on, which is her real love.
Angus, get that brother of yours to tell us some more stories, and Cliff, how about some more of your experiences freediving as the summer goes?
And you people in the 3mm suits from all the warm places, tell us what you did last weekend, we are all interested.
Cheers, Erik Young