Wet suits and Weight Belts.....

[hcraig20]

I've spearfished for a while but nothing major and i want to start getting into a little deeper water and some bigger fish. As I see most people free diving and spearfishing I notice they wear either a wet suit or body suit. I was wondering if this was so they weren't as noticable to the fish or what?

I also wanted to know if there is a certain percent of ur body weight or something like that to find out how much wieght you should use for your wieght belt?

And one last thing is that most free divers I see use the masks with all black sides instead of clear ones. Is this so you don't stand out more or just preference?

 

[spaghetti]

spearos wear wetsuits mostly to defend themselves from cold. There are also mimetic/camouflage wetsuits, wich are useful to puzzle the fish especially in shallow water.
About weights, I think you can possibly search this forum and find some standards' table, but mainly it depends on three variants: how big you are, how thick your wetsuit is, how deep you go (fourth factor: salt water of freshwater).
I'm about 1 meter and 80 cm for 74 kilograms and, in summer, I normally wear a 3mm wetsuit with 3 or 5kg of lead at my belt (depends on how deep I plan to go). But this is just an example. What about you?

 

[panosb]

Hallo my friend welcome to the forum.

There are a lot of things to learn about wetsuits that cannot be analysed with only one post. I will to give some basic info. The reason we wear wetsuits is primarily to protect ourselves from the cold water and from various not very friendly underwater organisms that can cause irritations to our skin upon contact with it. In order to make ourselves less noticeable by our prey we can use wetsuits with camouflage colours on them. Some people say camouflage is good, others dont! There are numerous kinds of suits depending on their thickness, material type and colour. You can find huge amount of info in the forum for wetsuits.

I am not aware of a formula about the weight we can use. It depends somehow on body weight, fat tissue, muscle tissue percentages. For example I am 1.77m tall, i weigh 97 kg and although i have a lot of extra kilos my muscle mass(muscle is heavier than fat) is significant due to weight training. With my summer 3mm wetsuit i use 6kg in order to dive up to 10m, 4.5kg for dives up to 20m and 3-3.5kg for deeper dives. You have to experiment with weight. You can use easy to remove weights for youe belt so that you can make adjustments when you are underwater.

The reason spearos do not use tranparent silicon masks is because this material allows the light to come in from the side of the mask and this has an impact on visibility and concentration. Black silicon keeps the light out.


regards

Panos

 

[surfsflat]

Hey guys ive just started this crazy sport and wondered if your suits were like these specialy designed wetsuits cuz my full winter suit that i can use quite comfortably surfing in febuary dosent seem to be enough to keep me warm in open water of cornwall in july. I wondered if surfing suits difered greatly from diving suits or am i just been a complete wus

 

[DiverTodd]

Freediving wetsuits come in several thicknesses, just like other wetsuits. The main differences are that freediving wetsuits are usually free of zippers, to help minimize water transfer (usually requiring some kind of lubricant to get into them), and some of them are cut differently in the shoulder area, so there's less bunching up when the diver assumes the arms over the head ascent position. Most freediving wetsuits consist of two pieces; pants, and a top with an attached hood and a beavertail closure through the crotch. I'm anxiously awaiting delivery of my Performance Freediving team wetsuit, just in time for the Intermediate course I'm taking with them in Sept!

Todd

 

[Ted Budion]

The main reason for wet or lycra suits, obviously, is protection from cold, as explained. The fact is that freediving spearos on average spend more time actually in the water than a scuba diver, for example. In a regular spearfishing outing, a spearo may remain in the water from 4 to 8 hours, depending on water temperature. So long term combined comfort and insulation are paramount. Even in the tropics, sooner or later you start feeling tired and cold.

 

[Old Man Dave]

First up Craig you need to add your location to your personal details. This forum is truly world wide and if you live in Iceland you need different advice to if you live in Florida.

Us Brits dive in water temperatures of from about 8 to 18 degrees and we mainly use 5mm two piece neoprene suites. Weight belts go from about 10 lb to 20lb with so many variables it's not worth calculating. Just get a bunch of weights and go try. The aim is to be neutrally buoyant at your working depth.

Masks are personal preference but mine is not to use all clear silicon ones as I find they mist up more easily. However that's just me and probably isn't factual but just proves you should use what you are comfortable with.

Surf me boy freediving (spearfishing) suits are different to surfing suits. Mainly spearo suits are a practical (and cheap) tool designed to keep you warm in the water, where as surfing suits are often an expensive (and crap) fashion accessory. QED.

Dave

 

[Orangekiwi]

Mask wise a black silicone is preferred as you are less distracted from any side movement and it forces you to focus more what is in front of you, ie more in hunting mode. Wetsuits for freediving are basicallyto keep you warm and to protect you from stings and other nasties. Wetsuits nowadays for freediving come in this thing called smooth neoprene on the inside. These are the suits you have to lube up into and slip on carefully so not to tear them . They are like a second skin showing every nuance in your body wether you like it or not!

 

[neastspear]

Hey guys ive just started this crazy sport and wondered if your suits were like these specialy designed wetsuits cuz my full winter suit that i can use quite comfortably surfing in febuary dosent seem to be enough to keep me warm in open water of cornwall in july. I wondered if surfing suits difered greatly from diving suits or am i just been a complete wus

It's funny how that works.... You're not a wuss. First, surface water temps are much different than subsurface water temps. Second, when surfing/paddling you have more of your body (especially your head) out of the water. Third, you are generating more body heat when surfing because you are paddling, pumping down the line, or scrambling to get outside. Fourth, wetsuit design is different.

For example... Here in Northern New England in the summer I can get away with a 3/2 suit without boots or gloves. When I'm spearing, in order to be comfortable I need at least a 4/3 with boots and gloves. When surfing, the 4/3 only comes out in the Spring and Fall seasons. For winter surfing or early Spring/late Fall fishing I'll go to my 6/5/4.

My surfing suits have done me fine over the years. Why not buy a spearing specific suit? - Well actually, I find that the spear suits are the ones that are way overpriced!

 

[DiverTodd]

I'd agree there....a wetsuit that's perfect on the surface can quickly prove to be NOT enough at depth. For example, while my 3mm full suit is fine on the surface here in Ohio, at around 30', we're subjected to BRUTAL thermoclines, like ice water. So, although I was fine on the surface, at 44', I was a WEE bit chilly. At least I had my 5mm hood on!

Todd

 

[allsierra123]

Todd I used to live in ohio.It seems odd that there are divers there.The only Only ones I knew of were at a school in circleville that dove the twin quarries.Born and raised there but live on the west coast now.How is the diving back there anyway?

 

[DiverTodd]

How is the diving here in Ohio? COLD, DARK, and MURKY! I can't WAIT for my Intermediate course with Performance Freediving in Sept, in Miami...it'll be a NICE change! Even Mandy-Rae sympathized....she said she knows all about cold, dark water, as she trains in Vancouver! You know what they say about the vis here...it's 6'! 3' this way, and 3' that way!

Todd