Chilean earthquake may have shortened earth day by microsecond: NASA
Mar/100
The quake that rocked the South American nation may have also knocked the Earth off its axis.
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake near Chile may have also made our planet’s days shorter, according to NASA scientist Richard Gross.
A minor change in the Earth’s axis isn’t expected to alter much in terms of weather. The planet’s tilt influences the seasons, allowing for winter, spring, summer and fall, and it would take a far greater change in the Earth’s axis to affect them.
The Chile quake may have moved the Earth’s axis by about 3 inches, Gross said.
The quake also shortened the day by 1.26 microseconds, the scientist determined, using a complex model he and others developed.
The Earth’s rotation was likely affected by the shift in the planet’s mass, which could cause it to spin faster.
Scientists believe other quakes, such as the 2004 9.1-magnitude earthquake in Sumatra, have also decreased the Earth’s day. That quake is believed to have shortened it by 6.8 microseconds, and altered the axis by nearly 7 inches.
The White Room Episodes
Feb/100
Website that makes videos on various “boardstories.” Look for the Surf-fur in use in the snow.
How I became a Waterman
Feb/100
I have to admit that I have done quite a bit of research on the subject of good fishing / lobstering locations and the overwhelming recurring theme is time. It takes time to find, takes time to learn, and it takes persistence to constantly try new locations to see what you will find. Not only try new locations, but try the same locations in different conditions to see what may develop.
My buddy Chris and I have been diving fairly regularly together since the dive class we took. It has been mostly a series of learning dives and getting more comfortable with our equipment. For instance, I bought a new game bag to hold lobster and fish because the old one had a metal handle and clasp and opening/closing the bag was quite a chore. Additionally, the new bag was mostly nylon with little mesh to get snagged on bottom structure. The first dive out with the new bag I must not have secured it properly because I noticed it missing after 15 minutes! It was nowhere to be found and a little frustrating to lose something before you even have a chance to use it.
Using a polespear has been an amazing introduction to spearfishing for me. I have had to learn what fish are legal and in season, how to spot the specific fish, and how to approach the fish. I remember the first fish I speared in Del Mar. I was so happy to get anywhere near something larger than bait fish and I shot at some perch. It wasn’t easy but after about 5 misses, I finally nailed it. I remember not being exactly sure what it was at the time or how it would taste. I learned pretty quickly that perch are not the best eating fish out there. In fact, the only way that they seem to be edible is deep fried!
I continued on like that for about a month before I was able to spear anything of any consequence. In fact once lobster season started I found myself always leaning on lobster fishing. It is very tough to drop your spear and lobster search and that is partially why I researched a dive float. The dive float serves a few purposes:
1. A marker so your dive buddy knows exactly where you are at all times.
2. A marker so that boats can see you in the area.
3. A float to attach a game bag on and a spear to when not in use.
I have about 30 feet of nylon line attached to my weight belt. At the end of this line are 2 lobster floats attached together. Attached to the float is a clip that holds both the game bag and spear. The float is always buoyant enough and follows me around as I swim.
This lobster season has been decent so far. It is more difficult than last season to find keepers which makes everyone you do find that much more rewarding. Right now, it is December 9th and I have caught about 10 thus far. My best was just last week when I found the following lobster poking out of a hole in about 20 feet of water. He was trying to intimidate a girabaldi that was swimming outside his little cave. ’something I have noticed about lobster behavior: the bigger lobsters don’t like to share holes with anything including other lobsters AND the bigger ones try to intimidate anything that comes near their hole.
I have progressed with the polespear. In fact, it feels like the only sporting thing to use to fish reef fish. Using a speargun just seems like it would be far to easy because of the range (15′ or more). With a polespear one needs to get within 5′ of a fish in order to spear it. Very difficult!
On a nice day in Cardiff with my buddy Chas, we were surprised with some great visibility… probably 30 feet or so. This was great because we noticed some great structure that we would otherwise swim right over. In between 10 and 25 feet of water, we came across a wide variety of fish. A group of sheephead in particular caught my attention. I noticed 2 or 3 big sheephead swimming around a rock out crop no more than 10′ in diameter in about 25′ of water. These fish would not let me within 10′ of them, just far enough so my polespear couldn’t reach them. I spent about 20 minutes breathing at the surface and diving down trying to get close enough for a shot. Finally, I figured out the swimming patterns just enough and I hid around the corner of the rock outcropping. Finally, as one of the fish came around the corner- just before he saw me- I let the spear go and landed a perfect shot. The spear penetrated the fish and I quickly secured him and took him to the surface. It turned out to be about an 8 lb fish.
Now that winter is here with the colder weather, I need to consider a new wetsuit. The best one I have for diving now is a 4/3 surfing suit and it just doesn’t cut it for water below the low 60’s. I am dying to try out the Matuse 4/5/3 or the Patagonia wool lined. Both are environmentally “friendlier”, But which is the better performance suit?
New Testimonials for Surf-fur
Feb/100
Cynthia,
Wanted to touch bases with you regarding the surf-fur you sent me for evaluation. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to use it diving yet, but we have certainly given it a good check-out in the snow. I think you should consider marketing it as an Apres-ski (or in our case Snowshoe) coat as well. As you can see by the attached pictures, my wife was delightfully warm as me and our friend hopped around trying to stay warm. As I noted in my initial email to you, that’s pretty unusual for Pearl, so quite the testimonial for the coat in a purpose it wasn’t really intended for. Pearl also definitely prefers the zipper over snaps (although we have actually never tried one with snaps). She says that snaps would not only have more opportunity for coming undone inadvertently, but would also provide less wind-proofing. She was definitely impressed with not only the wind-proofing of the coat, but also its waterproofing (you only need to take a look at the picture of her rolling around in the snow in it ….more than ample testimonial from a true cold blooded person.
Anyway, hope you had a good trip to the Arctic; hopefully we’ll be able to book a dive trip soon to give you some more feedback. Attached are several pictures that you are free to use as you see fit.
Thanks
Bill (and Pearl)
Happy customer
Ps It also works well as a hot tub robe
Snow Angel
Pps It would be good to get the weight down a little for packing/travel purposes (those darn baggage fees/limits), if that can be accomplished without impacting performance adversely.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in Prince William Sound….
Feb/100
Check out this article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8465607.stm
Customer Feedback on the Surf-fur
Jan/100
Here is a real e-mail from a customer. He is an ice diver…….now that looks cold!
These were his comments before trying the Surf-fur……
Hello Cynthia,
Just wanted to send you a quick note that I have received the Surf-Fur you sent me. My initial thoughts are very positive about it. One feature that really stands out for me is the hood. I like that it is so large. Cold water diving tends to give me headaches. During surface intervals, I try to keep my head as warm as possible to prevent this. Being able to comfortably use this hood is going to be a big benefit. Many jackets have a small hood that makes it uncomfortable to use, the Surf-Fur is not like that…
Thanks,
Mike
And after trying the Surf-fur…..
Cynthia,
We are getting close to Ice Diving time here in the Great Lakes. Yesterday, I did some quarry diving in Ohio. The air temperature was about 28 degrees F and the water temp was 42 degrees F. I was excited to take the Surf-Fur along and try it out as we were planning a couple dives. After the first dive, I was definitely chilled! I immediately put on the surf fur after getting out of the water. Its size and fit made it very easy to get on on even with frozen hands! I was very happy with how quick I was able to warm up and enjoy the surface interval even in the 28 degree weather. I expect this will be mandatory dive gear for my ice diving. Attached is a picture of the Surf-Fur during the surface interval. What a great product!
Hope you have a very Merry Christmas,
Mike
Another happy customer!
Oil in The United States
Jan/100
It looks like this is true, but I am open to any comments. This was sent to us by the Surf boob camera guy.
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How I Became a Waterman Part II
Oct/090
Lobster season came and went, probably in perfect time. Lobsterring had worn me out – too much of a good thing isn’t always that good.
April 2009 set in and the summer was approaching. I met my buddy Brian in Ocean Beach for a morning surf session filled with perfect 3 ft mushy san diego waves. At least the breakfast across from the Pier was good! On the way home we drove past the spear shack in OB (619-226-2406). Cindy urged me to stop and take a look. I am glad we did. For whatever reason I hadn’t considered building on the lobster diving and working on spear fishing / free diving but after talking to Mark, a super cool guy, I committed to taking his free diving class. I also talked to my buddy Chris who agreed to try the class out as well.
Our schedules didn’t match up for a few months but we finally joined Mark for the free diving/spear fishing excursion in early August. We were joined by 2 others on the boat. After meeting at Mark’s in Point Loma we drove to Mission Bay and launched by about 10 a.m. On an early August sunday. Mark provided everything including the spear guns. We just had to bring lunch. It was a great deal for $100!
So we anchored in 35 ft off of boomers beach in La Jolla. Mark says alright, let’s start by swimming to shore and back two times! What?! I think we all said “you’re kidding right?”, but Mark was already half in the water and raring to go. That was the toughest probably 2 mile swim I have ever done (the only one too)!
It set the tone for the day. Mark did not mess around, he highlighted the importance of safety, breathing, and technique. I learned more that afternoon then I did the previous year. I thought I would be the one with the short breathhold while the others were excelling but after using Mark’s techniques I blew myself away with comfortable breathholds of one and a half minutes to 35 ft followed by dives to 55 ft with ease! We finished the day by learning the ins and outs of spearing which was cool. Mark is a patient and experienced waterman and I would recommend his class to anyone short of an expert freediver.
So that did it. I was hooked. Not only with the challenges of free diving but also the excitement of spear fishing. In the following weeks I came across an excellent website: www.spearboard.com . This is a great forum for spear fishers (spearos) and the place where I have excellent my learning curve.
With the tips I learned at spearboard I went out and started to get my gear together. I started with a spetton excell mask ($52 ebay) and a spetton flexa snokel ($21 ebay). Now these were recommended on spearboard and I like them very much. Although I now know that Mark at the spear shack will match any internet pricing and has the best top of the line gear(I also bought from the spearshack a cressi lince mask and hammerhead snorkel, both of which are very much similar to the spetton products – although I slightly prefer the spetton versions)! I also bought freediving fins(cressi 2000, $50) used from ebay and those have worked great. I had to get the neoprene booties from the spearshack to wear with the fins. I already had weight belts from the year before (I use 4 lbs with my 3/2 and 8 lbs with my 4/3). …but the best purchase was the Ray Odor Pole Spear($55) I bought from Ray Odor’s site.
I wanted to start with a spear gun but the good advice I read was to learn with a pole spear because it is much easier to load between shots(just place the band in between thumb and finger and stretch the band!), it teaches one how to approach fish, and generally just helps one to become comfortable in the spear fishing arena. The pole spear has excellent follow through because of it’s weight but the deceleration is so fast that you need to be within 5′ of the fish to spear it! The spear came ready to use from Ray, although I did buy a separate tip($15 approx) to put on the spear.
So I am all geared up and ready to go at this point, but where to go and what to do? That’s when I turned to spearboard to introduce myself. It turns out that spearboard is not only a great place to talk and learn spear fishing, etc, but a great place to team up with like minded people and go diving.
My first few free dives with the spear I did by myself. I went out locally in Leucadia off of Beacon’s beach. I kicked out to the kelp and proceeded to take a look around with my new spear. I quickly realized I had two problems. Problem #1: what happens if I shoot the pole spear and lose sight of it, won’t I potentially lose it?
Problem #2: sharks! Swimming in open water by myself is spooky. Swimming with a spear is just a little comforting and making it out to the kelp is just a little comforting as well. …but it’s constantly in the back of my head! More on sharks later.
So problem #1 I solved really quick when I posted the question on spear board. The answer was “don’t let go of the spear”. What?!? Sure enough I tried it out next time. Naturally when you shoot the spear your hand grabs onto the rubber band. Therefore you never worry about losing it, just pay attention to grabbing the rubber band and all is good. It actually feels natural!
So at this point I feel a little comfortable with the spear and I feel increasingly comfortable in the water. My next step is to start spearing fish. …but where to go and what to do?
Breathing Techniques
Oct/090
I need to start out by saying- don’t ever try these techniques on your own without a dive buddy watching. Breathing techniques not only slow down your heart rate but also oxygenate the blood AND remove CO2 from the bloodstream. Why is this dangerous? Because CO2 is what tells the brain to take a breath. Less CO2 equals less brain signals which equals longer bottom time but also potential to stay down too long! …at least this is my understanding.
So now that we understand the fun aspects of breathing techniques let’s get down to the nuts and bolts 
. There were 4 techniques that we were taught by Mark. the advice was to try all 4 but also never perform hyperventillation as the last technique. Also these techniques can be done during the 4 minutes on the surface between dives.
Technique #1: hyperventillating. This is a series of short inhales and exhales, less then a second a piece, which quickly remove CO2 from the blood. These also cause lightheadedness so be careful. If trying these at all which I advise against, always do these as the first technique and only for approx 30 seconds.
Technique #2: deep breaths
Breath in and out in a slow controlled manner. All the way in till absolutely full, then all the way out pushing every last bit of air out. These take about 3 seconds for every inhales and about 3 seconds for every exhale. No faster then this pace. These are my preferred method.
Technique #3: hook breath
Inhale till lungs full and hold for about 4 seconds. Flex chest muscles by crossing forearms in front of chest then exhale. Repeat for one minute.
Technique #4: deep slow breaths
Similar to technique #2, these should be the final breaths. Take deep, slow, yoga type breaths which act to really slow the heart down and relax you. There is no pushing or over filling like technique #2.
Finally when you are ready to dive, inhale your breath using your stomach (diaphragm) and inhale as much as possible (see diagram below). This will fill your lower lungs. Finally fill your upper lungs by expanding your chest and capture as much air in the lungs as comfortable. DO NOT PACK BREATHS. If you do not know what packing is then don’t worry, there is no need for it and it can be dangerous.
…And the last step to a long breath hold is to kick out your snorkel mouthpiece! This causes the mammalian reflex when your lips are pursed and under water. This technique should help with a longer breath hold.
So that’s it! With these techniques you should be able to really increase your bottom time. Remember, CO2 is your friend, so if diving alone do not perform breath holding techniques.
Diving Saftey
Oct/090
Diving with scuba has it’s dangers. Likewise, diving with just a breath hold has it’s dangers too. The one thing that is most important is never dive alone. …and when I say dive I am referring to free diving where a person uses some type of breathe up exercise (a method of breathing that relaxes the heart rate while removing CO2 from the bloodstream and adding oxygen to the bloodstream) to maximize the time under water (bottom time) and hold for an extended period of time. Performing in this manner should be done with a partner because shallow water blackout is a possibility.
Hospitals in La Jolla…on a calm day
Article about blackout
http://www.divewise.org/articles/pollock_bh_review.pdf
Both divers should be trained in CPR and should dive with a few strategies in mind.
If the dives are not too deep and there is constant up and down then each diver should periodically look over in the other diver’s direction and make sure they have visual confirmation that they are moving. If the dives are deeper and the breath holding techniques are more deliberate then a one up one down system needs to be used where one diver is always watching the other diver dive from the surface (or following them down after 15 – 30 seconds to check on their progress). The time between long breath holds or deep dives must be at least four minutes, preferably and advisably four minutes. If the limits are pushed then shallow water blackout (SWB) is possible. This is where a diver passes out under water. Time is of the essence and the diver needs to be given CPR to revive them asap!
Please watch the following educational video on blackouts, it’s great!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBnEIMTrgFk
Other things to consider for safety are:
- using the proper weight. The weight on the weight belt should be such that a diver is neutrally buoyant at fifteen feet. Theoretically the diver will not sink if they pass out on the way to the surface and would float to the surface if something was to occur.
- ensure weight belt can be easily undone and dropped in the event a quick ascent is necessary.
- research the dive location for hazards. For instance, one dive spot in particular where I look for lobster recently had a shark attach in less then 10′ of water. The shark was small and the damage minimal but one must be prepared to handle all situations. Also be prepared for surge and rocks.
- do not enter confined spaces under water. This is self explanatory, don’t get stuck because you may run out of air.
- be careful of man induced hazards: lobster traps and lines can catch on your equipment. Boats, kayaks, and surfboards can hurt! Consider diving with a dive float and/or flag to notify others that you are in the area.
- use a dive watch. This way you can monitor time below and your surface time. I really recommend the timex helix dive watch for starting out only because this can be found on ebay for $20. …and here is the manual:
http://dl.owneriq.net/b/b35a87eb-9ce7-41a8-80bf-1925543e0c18.pdf
- knife. Use this to scare sharks away, and if nothing else to look cool while strapped on your leg.
- of course to keep warm before and after(and change under) you’ll need a surf-fur:
www.surf-fur.com
Some other good reads about free diving can be found here:
www.Divewise.org