Hawaii Skin Diver The Breath of Freedivers

Got to play with a pair of JetBoots a few weekends ago.

Finally got around to putting up some of the clips on youtube.

http://youtu.be/kK0Ar1M3MMc

Had a blast! Watched Fins pick up a couple of nice Ukus at 100'+ before the local boys even landed anything. And yes, the local boys were using JetBoots too. There's a reason the Maui crew won the HSD island tournament last year. No, they didn't use the JetBoots last year for their tournament in case you were wondering about that. Fins also removed a large roi (6.2 lbs) from Kaena Point. Thanks Fins!




I ended up not hunting as I wasn't feeling particularly trigger-happy and just enjoyed playing with the "GoPro on a Stick (tm)" and the boots. Made a few drops with a gun but found my 100' line much too short and couldn't reach the bottom most of the time so I gave up on that.

Most, if not all the footage in the clip was taken on the second day off of Waikiki. No guns.

Future of free-diving/Spearfishing? Discuss.

Questions? Ask away.

-Paul

right on paul, we all know that finns is an amazing being just like you are, i admire your accomplishment and humility and his as well

That's a big mu on the left! A big "fro" on Mike too! Nice fish.

I guess it won't be called freediving anymore, rater assisted diving.

Cool story, bro! How much does a pair of those run for? Get HSD discount?

I can see a lot of applications for them as was mentioned in the video, but I think they open the door to some pretty risky situations for freedivers and spearfishing (diving deep, they fail due to user error... then what?). Still, the possibilities are interesting I can see how they'd be practical for all sorts of operations. Great invention, Fins!

hooo is that Kid from Kid & play in the center of this pic ? ....ohhhh no thats Mike

I was worried about the same thing, but saw that they are very easy/quick to remove - Three one-handed operation buckles and it falls away. I didn't dive much deeper than I normally dive, nor did I stay down for extended periods (in my book) of time. I've free-dived down, laid down and had the sub cruise by over me completely, and then swam up before. I've also wriggled my bare feet in the coarse sand/rocks there. So had the JetBoots malfunctioned, I know I could have easily unbuckled and then swam up. If I wasn't so negative buoyacy-wise, I probably could just swim up without unbuckling the boots. But yes, that's a valid concern for those who might decide to use them to exceed their limits.

-Paul

The battery died on Jay when we used the boots last summer.
Jay was deep when it happened and thought about releasing them.

He ended diving back up with them, they are pretty heavy.

Yes they weigh -7lbs in the water. Not a weight that is unusually heavy even if you don't wear any weights.

I'm one of the few guys that don't need, or want weights when diving unless staying very shallow. For strictly blue-water or diving in less than 30' of water, I will use 3.5 lbs of weights as that is just about enough to make me sink on my exhales on the surface.

With the boots, I found myself sinking on my exhales unless I inhaled quickly then I would float again, or I would need to either kick a little bit to keep my snorkel above the water for my inhales. Or even better, I would keep my JetBoots on low power. Then I could breathe up normally. If I can ever get my hands on a pair to use, I would add a piece of foam noodle or some such but that's not something that the majority of the divers out there need to concern themselves with.

Tony, did the power quit abruptly or did the power fade out gradually/quickly?

-Paul

That's way cool. The units are still under development or have they pretty much settled on the design? Dang, what a fun project.

JetBoots are done. Only thing that I might change is the harness a bit for the civilian market. Throw a bit of color into it.

I am out on the west coast of Australia diving with the military. Anyone here dove Rottnest Island? I am debating on spending the $85 to take the ferry out there tomorrow to take a spin on the JetBoots. Long shot but let me know.

The Fins boots are AWESOME! Fins himself is a top notch guy!

Yes like Tony said my jet pack battery died just as I hit about 100', luckily i still had plenny air left. I tried to swim up with it, but the propellers on the legs made it almost impossible to kick with any kind of power. I panicked and went to remove my pack and made the mistake of unclipping the waste part first which cause the battery pack to fall backward, twisting the leg strap a little which made it kinda hard to unclip, expecially the last one. Then i just swam up with it in my hand which still wasn't too easy but wasn't too hard either. The hardest part was the swim back to the boat towing my gun, floater, and jet pack against the current.. lol.. THAT just about killed me.

Paul, the power just quit abruptly.. no slow down.. just dead. Apparently iirc there's a light that notifies you early, but its kinda out of your sight on the box with the control knob. So i didn't notice it at all

That's a good point - unclip the two leg straps first, then the waist strap. I didn't think about that. However, if some sort of system could be implemented where the power will cut out for a split second every 10 seconds about 1 or 2 minutes before it runs out of power as a warning, or at least set up to slowly fade out over a period of a minute, then finding oneself deep down with no power wouldn't be an issue any longer. Something to consider before they see civilian duty perhaps. Thanks for sharing, Joonwanabme!

-Paul

Jay, towards the end of the dive the current turned full blast.
I had my eye on you for the swim back to the boat, it took you forever.