Proper equipment

[Dark&Cold.Diver]

Me and my two divingfriends are diving almost everyday by now , and we are all making progress and we are all loving it!
But i have some questions about what equipment we need in additon to what we have ?
First of all we are diving in northern of sweden wich means that its usually is dark and cold in the water (Not this summer we have 22 deegres at the surface).
At this moment we all use wetsuits (Warm ones!!) with 7mm thickness, wich means that we can dive as long as its no ice.
And we all have diving computers like mares apnesis and suunto d3 and of course fins, masks and weight belts.
I ordered a diving boy today i dont wanna be rammed by some boat when were out diving , and now i wonder if theres possible to get some equipment that i can attach to the boy .
I would like to have a rope that you can attach both to the boy and the bottom (for the safety).
It would feel much safer to have a rope when we dive.
Maybe we should get some underwater lamps ( the visibilty is at its best 6-7 meters).
Me and my friends are all diving more then 20 meters or more at regular basis.
I know many of you on this forum think we are a bunch of weirdos , but we dont have much of a choice its so much more fun to dive in the ocean then just lying on a pool bottom until the next time we can afford a trip to more friendly diving enviroment.
The feeling is the same anyway i have had some of my best dives in dark and cold water.
Enough of babbling it would be great to get some tips , because we are not that experienced when it comes to the equipment .
One more thing SAFETY COMES FIRST , we dont push ourselves , we dont compete with eachoter or we never go out on open water dives on ourselves.... we just practise something we all love.


Jeppe.

 

[Erik]

I know many of you on this forum think we are a bunch of weirdos ,
Jeppe. [/B]

No we don't! You're perfectly normal as far as we are considered.
Sounds like you're doing all the right things to me. I'm not sure what kind of tips you need?
Maybe get into thinner suits if you can....you're performances and comfort will improve. We dive in very similar conditions here in Canada, whether in the sea or the lakes. I use a 5mm suit, and a lot of my friends dive in 3mm suits in the same conditions.
Dive lights strapped to the dive line, pointing up at the descending divers is a nice reassuring touch when you start to get into the deep and dark.
And a lot of us here love the cold dark water too!
Cheers,
Erik Y.

 

[SpearSlinger1]

The weirdos are the people that don't dive.

You didn't mention what I consider to be one of the most important safety items and also one of the most underrated. A good quality, sharp dive knife. Better to have two, with at least one of those positioned where you can reach it with either hand. It's been a while but I have had to use mine to cut myself free from a rather thorough entanglement in monofilament fishing line.

 

[Dark&Cold.Diver]

Thanks for the advices both to Erik and spearslinger !
Erik i just wanted to check if we had all the equipment that is needed .
I suspected that we had but i really wanted to check to make sure. And spearslinger1 i would go get myself a good knife too, it would be a pity to not have one if its needed .
I think i have to adjust to the feeling that the people on this forum are the likes that me and my friends are .
Where i live the most of my non-diving friends think that im weird, but i have to totally agree to erik and spearslinger1 ......my non-diving friends are the weird ones.


Jeppe.

 

[icarus pacific]

Wasshappenin' Jeppe?!

Take it from this Swedish expatriate... I read your post and am very glad you're having fun and want to do it right.

Being a guy that likes thick rubber, at least in my suits :hmm I would take a look at decreasing the thickness in the chest area of the pants/farmer john. This will make a load of difference and let you breathe up easier. You'll even take a kilo off the belt sometimes for this... always a thing.

A bouy with a down line is a great thing as well- it'll let you hang off it and rest up while letting the boats steer clear, but don't rely on the driver having a clear head... stay alert. Having a couple of small lights, like the Mini Q lites tied of at intervals is very reassuring for those dives that it gets murky. If I know that I'm on the third light and it's another 5m to go to the next, getting there is less an issue than if I have to wonder about it...

Other than making sure you and your people are having fun, the rest is just time in the water, always a good thing.

 

[Dark&Cold.Diver]

Thanks for your suggestions !
I have felt that im getting a bit immobile in my thick suit , its really a warm suit for sure.
Later on i will get a thinner one too, but honestly im glad that i have a thick suit at some places around the bottom its really freezing, the temprature is about the same the whole year at some depths.
At last i just wanna say thanks to all the nice people on this forum that gives answers and input to me and others .
I think its great to talk to experienced people who treats new ones like me really nice .

Thanks Jeppe.

 

[Static]

I also have a question on free diving equipment. Me and my friends have been diving for about a week now and all we have is fins and goggles because it's warm enough right now. Ill get a dive knife as soon as possible but i just have to wonder is their any thing unsafe about the lack of equipment we have now?

 

[SpearSlinger1]

Yeah, well, maybe, sort of. This is the way I think about it. Safety, like anything else for which a certain amount of equipment is useful, is really all about the mind set of the participants. If the mind set is there, all the time, the risks can be mitigated to the point where the equipment is rarely, if ever, used. On the other hand if you need it and don't have it with you.............take my above post as an example:

It's been a while but I have had to use mine to cut myself free from a rather thorough entanglement in monofilament fishing line.

If I hadn't that knife on me I just might have been royally screwed.

The flip side to the whole safety thing is I believe it can be overdone. Case in point: spearfishing would be rather pointless if attempted from inside a shark cage.