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spearing in subzero conditions

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sjurba

Well-Known Member
Feb 9, 2010
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The cold season has hit Norway bigtime now,its been sitting at minus 20 c for the last couple of weeks here and I starting to get a serious need to get in the waters, the water temp dosent bother me that much, its getting into and espesially out of the suit that worrys me, any of you arctic seals got some tips to avoid freezing my bits of?
 
3-finger mitts help me out quite a bit. Sometimes I'll wear a Henderson Ice Mask under my regular hood to protect my cheeks, but any decent Apnea wetsuit with a decent face seal should do the trick. I also like to bring along a jug of hot water. i pour it into my socks before I dive and flush my suit with it after i get out. This gets rid of any excess pee that might still be left in my suit and it also helps to warm me up before I strip off my suit while standing on a snowbank.

Before I dive/spearfish in the winter I also naked sure to have a good breakfast with some raw coconut oil mixed in. I either mix it into my oatmeal or spread it on toast. There are some threads on here about why it works and I'll let someone else explain it. I know many freediver frown on coffee, but I always drink a cup or two before I dive in the winter time.

One final note on the actual spearing thing. for the past few years I've switched over to a Hawaiian sling for almost all of my hunting. this winter I've just switched back to speargun because my hands get super cold trying to use the sling. Being able to just have the gun cocked and ready to go saves the warmth in my fingers. With the sling i always had to be pinching the shaft to shoot and that would get very cold in a short amount of time.

Jon
 
I know my suit is up for it,used it this spring in watertemp aprox 4 degrees,but then it was a nice 12 pluss and sunshine when I got up again.
Its the consept of wet naked skin and minus17 that bothers me abit,I guess I just have to be effin fast in changing...I usually bring some fruit and nut chockolate along as a small boost before getting in,works a treat,might be some palmoil in it.
 
The hot water flush and a nice changing poncho work wonders for changing clothes in the cold.

If I'm diving somewhere close- and not going out to lunch afterwords- I'll throw a couple of towels down on my car seat and drive home in my wetsuit. Once I'm home I take the suit off in my shower- which also happens to work great for washing the suit out after the dive. :friday

Jon
 
I would prefer to dive when it's warm, but our lakes get so choked with algae that you can't see even the end of your speargun in the summer time- unless you make the drive to one of the Great Lakes where the vis is almost always good.

In the winter the lakes clear up and vis goes from less than a meter to over 10 meters. There aren't always a ton of fish, but at least you can see and you never know what you might find.

I guess I would end up calling it a making "lemonade out of lemons" situation when it comes to diving in the middle of winter around here. The air might be -40F, but the water is always 32F.

Jon
 
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Its abit the same here,I live innland, aprox two hour drive to the sea,and with this cold weather my local lake have allmost totally frozenover.Were going to visit relatives by the coast for christmas,so Ill get my fix then.
Pool training is ok,but its abit like alcoholfree beer,its close but something vital is missing...
 
I don't dive in those kind of crazy conditions, but here in California in the winter, I use one of these:
Waterproof Parka | Surf-fur.com

It makes it easier to warm up before and after a dive.

In fact I posted a review about it on Spearboard here:
[ame="http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?p=1336224#post1336224"]Dive/Surf Parka: review of the Heatlab "Surf-Fur" - Spearboard Spearfishing Community[/ame]
 
i would love to go out right now, but there is a thin layer of ice now on all the lakes. if i wasnt scared of being stranded under the ice, i would go out after final exams. How come you dont have ice where you go?
 
You need to hunt and pick the open areas. I found one local lake to be 90% covered with ice, BUT if you look you can find that 10% of openwater to dive in.

If I'm worried about shifting ice flows I just keep myself tied to my float. I wouldn't dive this way on scuba, but with freediving I'm only underwater for a minute or two at a time in the winter.

Jon
 

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Ah I see. Unfortunately the only areas even now that aren't frozen too thick are in the centre of lakes, which is too hard to go to because the gear I have might break through or I might fall through. It's just too unpredictable in spots like that. Is it moving water you go to?
Posted via Mobile Device
 
well I'm going next week to the adriatic

should still be + outside, and the water should be > 10°C, probably even 13°C so no biggie

and with seawater in the mediterrenean you don't have the fear of it ever freezing
 
Jon said:
Sometimes I'll wear a Henderson Ice Mask
Click to expand...

I remember years back seeing you post a picture of yourself in the river or somewhere and you had a cold water mask of some sort. I have been looking all over for that thread 'cause I wanted to ask you about it. Is this what you are talking about?

I dive here in Saskatchewan into November at 54 degree latitude, just before the lakes lock up as well as a diving location that stays open all year round.

Definitely ditto on flooding the wetsuit with hot water. I haul 2 20 L jugs with me and I even wrap it in blankets (in the back of a pickup) to help preserve the heat on the drive up. I flush my wetsuit with it periodically and it allows me do comfortably do about 2.5-3 hours in 32-34F water. Splashing yourself with warm water before you get out of the wetsuit also helps with the chill factor too.

Can't speak about getting the pee out...I don't do that
 
I'm not sure where the best place to buy one is, but I found it on line here:
Henderson Ice Cap - Henderson Cold Water Hoods

It's called a Henderson Ice cap and it works pretty well. I found it to be the perfect match with my old Cressi world comp wetsuit. That wetsuit was 6mm thick, but only had a 3mm hood on it. The ice cap made a nice addition to that suit. I also used to wear one with my old Beuchat suit because the face seal on that suit didn't cover my head as well as with my Elios suits. with any Elios suit that I've owned in the past I've never used, or need, an icecap due to the cut of the hood.

BTW: There are two types of divers- those that pee in their suits and those that lie about it. roflroflrofl

Jon
 
The one thing I would add is I take a cooler full of hot water. I fill mine up just before leaving home and keep in the back of my truck. After the dive the first thing I do is plunge my hands into the warm water to thaw them out enough so I can start getting out of my gear. Once the hands work, I flush some of it down the suit. Helps a lot when it gets really cold.
 
I use a full cooler of hot water when I teach ice (scuba)diving courses. It's nice to be able to rinse your mask out in it before you jump in. It also works out great for dunking a free-flowing second stage in to stop it from flowing. I'll often throw some extra wetsuit mitts in there for the students to wear for their dive. Having some pre-warmed mitts makes the dive much more comfortable.

I was driving across town yesterday and went past my favorite winter dive site. It was open only a week ago and yesterday it was frozen over so solidly that I saw three guys playing ice hockey on top of it!!!:head

Jon
 
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