tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58208375956043036792024-03-13T23:01:27.115+02:00Coatesman SpeargunsCoatesman Spearguns & Specialist Spearfishing GearCoatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-74401306708408388412016-04-14T06:06:00.000+02:002018-05-02T10:23:12.462+02:00Coatesman Compound Roller Speargun Pool Tests<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vvx6mttMyak/Vw8UHeuT1tI/AAAAAAAAFEg/7lgki6ZFLZYgqrElMZI-O_8p9vBmhMZ_ACLcB/s1600/MAMBA-Speargun-Compound-Roller-Carbon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vvx6mttMyak/Vw8UHeuT1tI/AAAAAAAAFEg/7lgki6ZFLZYgqrElMZI-O_8p9vBmhMZ_ACLcB/s640/MAMBA-Speargun-Compound-Roller-Carbon.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pool Testing the new Compound Roller Gun</td></tr>
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Here is a sneak peak at the new MAMBA Compound Roller Speargun. We tested a bunch of guns but this one way my favorite, it just plain blew me away with its performance.<br />
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Specs:<br />
1000 Custom painted (blue Water version) MAMBA Barrel<br />
Rob Allen Vecta 2 grip with loading butt.<br />
MAMBA Compound Roller Head<br />
Harken pulley rollers<br />
Powered by 3 sets of 16mm rubbers plus a 14mm kicker<br />
7.5mm single flopper shaft<br />
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The gun shot through a 150mm hard foam target at 5m from the tip of the gun (6.4m from handle) and pulled a meter or so of line off the reel. This makes this gun not only unbelievable, but the future for compact Blue water spearguns.<br />
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I am off to Mozambique now to try them out on some real targets.<br />
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CoatesmanCoatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-55309420282529412382016-04-14T05:49:00.000+02:002016-04-14T05:49:34.710+02:00MAMBA Xfin Prototypes - The Deep Vader Carbon Spearfishing Fins<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-II5ZYuAh1dw/Vw8Rg8p4OPI/AAAAAAAAFEU/be1doSUww7Y2oUaTf-Nbt1Gx0G774tVeQCLcB/s1600/Carbon-Spearfishing-Fins-Xfin-Vaders.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-II5ZYuAh1dw/Vw8Rg8p4OPI/AAAAAAAAFEU/be1doSUww7Y2oUaTf-Nbt1Gx0G774tVeQCLcB/s640/Carbon-Spearfishing-Fins-Xfin-Vaders.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Latest Prototypes from MAMBA XFin - The Deep Vader Carbon Spearfishing Fin</td></tr>
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Steve and I have been hard at work this last month or so working on some new carbon spearfishing fin designs and processes. We have totally redesigned the XFin and using some of the coolest tech around have a unique carbon blade that combines efficiency, strength and power into one crazy fin.<br />
You might be asking what the V tail on the fin is all about. Well that is a secret :-) you will just have to try a pair and see.<br />
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CoatesmanCoatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-7043484037321216402016-03-08T18:50:00.000+02:002016-03-08T18:50:56.671+02:00Ascension Tuna Spearfishing Record <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Ultimate Tuna - Originally published in the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Words by Paul Shannon</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JnhgejzyHMc/Vt76s3iDxAI/AAAAAAAAE_s/9VlonrPQMk8/s1600/ascension-spearing-paul-83kg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Tuna Paul Shannon ASI Spearfishing" border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JnhgejzyHMc/Vt76s3iDxAI/AAAAAAAAE_s/9VlonrPQMk8/s640/ascension-spearing-paul-83kg.jpg" title="Yellowfin Tuna Spearfishing on Ascension" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paul Shannon - Ascension Island Yellowfin Tuna</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A couple of years ago my 3 mates and I decided to set ourselves a goal: Save enough money every year for a spearfishing trip, diving in a new location every year if possible. Unfortunately, year one failed to provide an opportunity and as a result the pot got bigger and the boundaries of our trip were extended.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The team comprised of Kitt Steen, the owner of the Yum Thai restaurants in Durban North and Umhlanga, who was our chef. Dion Kuter, a water purification specialist and our trip organizer. Andy Deckwash, our boating engineer. And I was the “wheeler-dealer” from Sparesboyz. All of us are ex-underwater hockey players who have been diving together for over 25 years. Whilst we are not competitive divers, we do always enter into a competition between ourselves for the biggest fish. This time the prize was to be a really good single malt whiskey. A fair deal, we thought.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We planned on doing a trip to either of the Lazarus Banks in Northern Mozambique or possibly West Africa. Then Dion came up with an out-of-the-box exploration; hunting big Tuna of Ascension Island. Game on!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a lot of planning which was mostly carried out by Dion. The plan was to fly to UK and from there catch a military aircraft to “Ascension Island”, a remote location just south of the Equator with its nearest neighbour being West Africa, which is approximately about 1600km away. How secluded is Ascension Island? It has been quoted as the most desolate place on earth, so that should help you paint a picture. It now has approximately 880 inhabitants (all on a 2 year contract) and it covers an area of approximately 88 square kilometres. Part of the planning involved obtaining MI 5 clearance, which was a worrying factor as one of our members, Kitt Steen, an ex-Rhodesian who has had a questionable past. Thankfully, our fears were allayed when we were all cleared for departure from Brize Norton military base.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kvC_KO4l1do/Vt7-jUEeGaI/AAAAAAAAE_4/zFvyXqgAUs4/s1600/MAMBA-Speargun-testing-Steve-Ellis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kvC_KO4l1do/Vt7-jUEeGaI/AAAAAAAAE_4/zFvyXqgAUs4/s640/MAMBA-Speargun-testing-Steve-Ellis.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve Ellis testing the first MAMBA Roller Gun</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next came deciding what equipment we required to land these monsters, where we would source the gear and how we’d arrange to have it all ready for the trip. A tall order, unless of course your name is Kitt or Deckwash and you have Dion and Paul to assist. Once again Dion did extensive research and came up trumps by getting together with Steve Ellis who had been to Ascension Island a few times, and had a fish of 126kg to his name. Steve is a passionate spearo and is known for his MAMBA Spearguns and his superb quality boats which he makes at Fibretech.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I paid a few visits to Rob Allen at the Dive Factory and placed orders for 1.5m carbon graphite guns with drop away 7.5m spears and heavy grade Dyneema. We were off to a “gunfight” and certainly couldn’t arrive to the occasion with knives. <i>Sorry Kitt</i>. <br />A couple of 35L floats and 30m long bungees made up the balance of the arsenal. Dion also ordered a few sardines to feed the fish, 500kg’s all in all, which Steve arranged to have shipped to the island. Then it was fitness time and Dion and I spent days training at the Kings Park Pool. We also met Steve for a pool session to practice with different equipment such as Mamba guns and roller guns; the latter of which Dion started an affair with which lasted the entire trip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The airport was a laugh with 4 of us having to “gypo” the scales to fall within the allowable weight for an Emirates flight. Then it was the long haul to London via Dubai. From Heathrow we headed straight for Oxford all jammed into a fortunately spacious Mercedes bus. There was some touring done and a brief art museum visit, followed by the short trip to the Brize Norton military base. We arrived at Ascension after an overnight flight where we were met by Colin, a local who has a concession on the island as well as a number of boats for us to use.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wT3edwdGATQ/Vt7_K6fIh8I/AAAAAAAAFAA/teYn93rH6T0/s1600/pier-viewascension-island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="The Pier at ASI" border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wT3edwdGATQ/Vt7_K6fIh8I/AAAAAAAAFAA/teYn93rH6T0/s640/pier-viewascension-island.jpg" title="Pier at Georgetown on Ascension Isl" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first look at paradise </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were greeted by absolute paradise and crystal blue seas, the perfect waters for ballies to dive. Every morning we were up at 7 o’clock in the morning, we’d have breakfast and be on the boat by 9 o’clock and in the water soon after a short 1-2km trip. Then the chumming would begin and we prepared for our minds to be blown. Crystal water and massive fish came to greet us, and at that moment I decided that Ascension truly is a spearo’s paradise. I landed the first fish on the boat, a target practice 25kg baby, but a start in any case. At this early stage we had no idea about what was to come. Absolute madness ensued and an adrenalin buzz, which was second to none, kicked in as we started seeing some really BIG fish. We all took turns and saw that there was a decent number of fish being chased and missed or shot and lost. We were told by those in the know that you need to drop to a 10-15 metre level and wait, whilst aiming at the chum. A fish will appear in your sights and then you must make sure you have a good shot before pulling the trigger. That’s sure easy to say if you’ve dived here before, I thought. Not so easy if it is day one and your adrenaline levels are off the chart. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started to settle and get to the business end of spearing. I got into a big fish and sunk in a great solid shot. I don’t believe in being subtle and letting a fish run until it tires and then hauling it in. I say put in a good shot: hold the pressure, and enjoy the ride and the fight. These fish swim straight down, taking all of your line and popping the float under a couple of times. Often, I would put in a fair amount of effort to retrieve the line only to have the same line taken again by the fish. After about 25 minutes of line-in, line-out we got colour, and Steve went to “settle the fish”. I then pulled the line in and managed to grab this beauty of a Yellowfin, before Steve demonstrated what to do with the long blade knife. The fight on top was a fun, learning experience, to say the least, primarily because the fish was big, strong and difficult to hold. Steve had warned of getting wrapped in the line, as this can be fatal. We carried special cut-away knives for that exact eventuality, but fortunately we experienced no problems. The fish I landed was a big one. It was my biggest game fish by a long shot, and it later weighed in at 83kgs. There was a moment of congratulations and high fives all round; then it was back to the business. I was now content with my catch, and we took it in turns so that each of us could bag a big fish. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9Xf6unvIUDE/Vt7_qAareHI/AAAAAAAAFAM/gFz1p3EALt8/s1600/DK-83k-ascension-tuna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9Xf6unvIUDE/Vt7_qAareHI/AAAAAAAAFAM/gFz1p3EALt8/s640/DK-83k-ascension-tuna.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deon with his 83kg Yellowfin Tuna</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following day Dion managed to land a beauty of a fish that also weighed in at 83kg after a long fight which went on for over an hour. On the same day, Deckwash shot a fish of 53kg. These two were also personal bests. The days went on and we did some fun shallow diving, looking for crayfish and grouper for the pot. This was a success and Kitt, always the top chef with his full complement of satisfied customers, was to prepare an awesome dinner for us. We also shot a couple of Wahoo, Sailfish and Kitt got a nice big Black Jack, possibly not one of the most difficult fish to shoot. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mVtITACedMI/Vt8A7rrSJ3I/AAAAAAAAFA4/l7N0cpImKq8/s1600/DK-ascension-sailfish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Atlantic Sailfish" border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mVtITACedMI/Vt8A7rrSJ3I/AAAAAAAAFA4/l7N0cpImKq8/s640/DK-ascension-sailfish.jpg" title="Spearfishing Sailfish Ascension Island" width="428" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deon and an Ascension Island Sailfish</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ascension Island is an absolutely beautiful place to be and we spent evenings fishing from the beach and catching Black Travelley “shot for shot” until our arms were tired. This was the signal to head for a meal and a drink to wind down after an exhilarating day. I hasten to add that the island also boasts a really cool pub called, The Saints Bar, which needless to say was frequented by all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another day dawned and after a morning dive with no big tuna shot, we headed for the shallows to dive in 20-30m water to look for some Wahoo. We were about 100m offshore, and seeing Wahoo, but their presence did not materialise into a catch for the two interested divers, Dion and I. However, our tenacity was rewarded when a monster tuna way over 100kgs came along. Dion was at the ready, and “thunk” his spear set well in the fish from the top, just behind the head. Moans and groans from our top men, Kitt and Deckwash, who wanted to drink rather than perform top man duties. Dion fought the fish for 2 long hours and then…nothing. This is one of the worst feelings for any spearo. All of that training for fitness and practice in the pool came to nil.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4x844ysnO6g/Vt7_9UQ-ZnI/AAAAAAAAFAY/rKzm4gK3K9M/s1600/ascension-isl-kitt-wahoo-spearing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4x844ysnO6g/Vt7_9UQ-ZnI/AAAAAAAAFAY/rKzm4gK3K9M/s640/ascension-isl-kitt-wahoo-spearing.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kitt and another Wahoo</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deckwash, however, was up to shoot next when in swam what looks like a 100kg fish! He breathed up and dived down on it, took air, fired…and missesd. He cursed, swore and wondered why he missed such a golden opportunity before shedding a tear. I was up next. I dived down, waited and in came that big fish; no shot. I surfaced, breathed up again and diving down to 10m, I waited. Along came the fish again and I got ready, the adrenaline was pumping as I anticipated my shot; again no shot. Breathe up again and down we go. Here it comes, adrenaline still at maximum level, and I lined up with the MAMBA. A perfect shot on this monster fish which was at least 100kg. BANG! I got a great shot in just behind mid body and spot on the midline. A solid shot. As previously mentioned, I like to fight my fish and fight I did. Turning the fish rapidly, I was able to start pulling it up after 20-25 minutes. Dion did me a favour with the second shot and up came this monster, well over 100kg; possibly 120kg! Eventually we got it on board and it was a beauty. I was dropped back at the pier so the others could continue the day diving. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cFSUvFa2KhE/Vt8AUJTGznI/AAAAAAAAFAs/m7fkT1JHP1U/s1600/Ascension-record-yellowfin-tuna-325lb.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cFSUvFa2KhE/Vt8AUJTGznI/AAAAAAAAFAs/m7fkT1JHP1U/s640/Ascension-record-yellowfin-tuna-325lb.JPG" width="480" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paul & Steve and the record Yellowfin </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It took four of us to drag this fish up steps to the cleaning section on the pier. We lifted it onto the gantry to get the weight. Oh wow! Up, up and up some more! The fishermen on the pier were all trying to guess the weight, but I don’t think anybody would have called this one. My Yellowfin weighed in at a true weight of 325lbs (147kg). A new island record! Later, Chris West informed me that this was possibly the biggest non bill-fish ever shot by a South African, and really close to the biggest Yellowfin Tuna ever shot. Needless to say, I was STOKED! The fish was donated to the Saints Bar for a braai to be held for a fishing competition the following day. Unfortunately, spearfishing entries were not allowed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any trip to Ascension would not be complete without a visit to Bird Island. As usual, we headed out in the morning for our boat ride to the other side of the island where were welcomed by this massive rock island jutting out just off the mainland. It is truly spectacular and provides awesome diving. Whilst we never managed to shoot any big Tuna, Dion was lucky enough to see a nice big (really big) Big Eye Tuna swimming on the surface in the 12m depth channel, but unfortunately he missed it. We swam amongst huge shoals of Big Eye Kingfish some in excess of 8kg’s and we also spotted some really big Sea Pike cruising around the island. As is commonplace on Ascension we were constantly surrounded by hundreds of Triggerfish. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KTU9e6mjsg4/Vt8AO_ccEUI/AAAAAAAAFAk/BbCpjkBG_4Q/s1600/crayfish-ascension-island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KTU9e6mjsg4/Vt8AO_ccEUI/AAAAAAAAFAk/BbCpjkBG_4Q/s400/crayfish-ascension-island.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Crayfish anyone?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had now spent 12 glorious days hunting for Tuna and crayfish and diving in the shallows just for the love and passion we have for the sea. We spent the last day exploring this beautiful island, from the greenest forest to the most desolate volcanoes. There is so much to do on Ascension and we will definitely be back to explore this unique island even further. The beaches are magnificent and you can see newly hatched turtles walking to the sea on the moonlit beaches. It’s absolutely breath-taking. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2zPC8ZIbNMg/Vt8BDKl5zHI/AAAAAAAAFBA/VVTyMo1HuP0/s1600/Da-boys-Ascension.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2zPC8ZIbNMg/Vt8BDKl5zHI/AAAAAAAAFBA/VVTyMo1HuP0/s640/Da-boys-Ascension.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Da Boys up on Green Mountain</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you to Colin Chester from Ascension Island Fishing Charters (AIFC) for your incredible hospitality, for welcoming us to your home, for the knowledge imparted you to us, the use of your bicycles for transport and your kitchen to prepare all the delightful meals we ate. To Steve Ellis, thank you for the preparation you put in for the trip and for the loan of your classic roller and other Mamba guns. Also for the many tips you gave us on how to shoot these big fish. Finally to my friends Dion, Kitt and Andrew for making Ascension Island such a memorable trip. Oh! And for the 18 year old Talisker Reserve Whiskey which is now finished!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cheers</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paul Shannon</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Take an Ascension Trip of a Lifetime go to:</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://coatesmans.com/coatesmans-spearfishing-safaris/spearfishing-ascension-island.html" target="_blank">Ascension Island Spearfishing Trips</a></span></span></div>
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Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-21779365111857420352016-02-27T12:10:00.000+02:002016-02-27T14:46:44.742+02:00Spearfishing Ascension Island - Ascending Expectations<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Original article written for the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine. - Words & Pictures by Chris Coates</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tgud4cS8eX4/VtFH8CIWHiI/AAAAAAAAE70/b2CurmCIiaI/s1600/MJK-Ascension-Spearfishing-trip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ascension Spearing Information" border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tgud4cS8eX4/VtFH8CIWHiI/AAAAAAAAE70/b2CurmCIiaI/s640/MJK-Ascension-Spearfishing-trip.jpg" title="Spearfishing Ascension Island" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MJK Spearfishing Ascension Island</td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spearfishing Ascension Island.</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> If there’s one thing I have learned from all the spearfishing trips I’ve been on, it’s to prepare for the best, but to lower your expectations. This way, you’re physically and mentally ready, with all the gear to get the job done well… while not expecting to shoot a world record in the first hour. High expectations are a killer on trips, especially when things don’t go according to plan. There’s nothing worse than missing out on enjoying and amazing holiday by getting bummed out because the trip was not exactly what you had hoped for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where am I going with this you might ask? Well, it was just past 7:30am and MJK and I had just landed on the tarmac at Ascension Island, and were waiting for Colin Chester to pick us up. Up until now we’d had months, weeks and now hours of talking about what we hoped to achieve on the trip. Knowing full well not to have unrealistic expectations, MJK turned to me and said, “So what’s the goal then?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trying my hardest not play it too safe, but at the same time have some sort of definite objective, I offered up, “a 100kg Tuna by the third day would be good.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I honestly thought this would be a stretch but after a moment of contemplation we agreed that a 100kg fish by the third day would be a good, and possibly achievable, goal. If not by the third day, surely by the end of the trip we’d have a fish of that size. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Colin arrived and we ran through the pleasantries while piling our gear onto the van. We jumped in, and Colin piped up, “You boys ready?” In retrospect I don’t think we quite understood what he meant. Not “are you ready to go?” but rather, “are you ready to dive?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Totally oblivious to his plan, we trundled down the road to the Obsidian Hotel in George Town. We’d barely checked in, when Colin turned to us with a big cheesy smile and said, “So, I’ll pick you up in about an hour then. Is that enough time to get your gear together?”</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YlaBbor5z_o/VtFqjD1zIhI/AAAAAAAAE8Y/saTvjQ2VhFU/s1600/Obsidian-Hotel-Ascension-Island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Obsidian Hotel chalet accommodation Ascension Island" border="0" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YlaBbor5z_o/VtFqjD1zIhI/AAAAAAAAE8Y/saTvjQ2VhFU/s640/Obsidian-Hotel-Ascension-Island.jpg" title="Obsidian Hotel accommodation Ascension Island" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Obsidian Hotel the only hotel on the island.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rather dumbstruck, I looked at MJK for approval before replying, “Uhh… sure, I think so…”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Colin smiled, gave us a thumbs up and chirped, “You boys better be ready, there are some good fish out there.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We quickly headed off to our rooms to unpack the gear and set everything up. We hadn’t thought we’d be diving right away, let alone on the day we arrived. So out came the guns, cameras, suits and spears… all of which needed to be reassembled after the long trip to the island.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Surprisingly, it only took us about 30 minutes to get all our gear together and out of the my hotel room door. This was our first opportunity to really take in what would be our home for the next two weeks. The room opened out onto black volcanic gravel. Across the pathway was an old boat that had been repurposed as a flowerbed,but with no flowers. There were some plants but they looked seriously thirsty. The place was fairly sparse with only the occasional tree here and there. In the distance behind the hotel rose a red volcanic mound, with not a single sign of life other than the old WW2 canon buttresses about halfway up. We had been told that arriving at Ascension was like landing on Mars, but you really have to see it to believe it.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AO3pB2h4c7I/VtFogjJLzHI/AAAAAAAAE8E/-EA5OVM7kXQ/s1600/ascension-island-george-town.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Obsidian self catering accommodation Ascension Island" border="0" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AO3pB2h4c7I/VtFogjJLzHI/AAAAAAAAE8E/-EA5OVM7kXQ/s640/ascension-island-george-town.jpg" title="Obsidian Chalet accommodation Ascension Island" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My chalet in George Town with flowerless flower bed.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Before the hour was up an old Toyota bakkie rattled to a halt in front of us. Colin’s son Blaine jumped out telling us that the boat was ready and waiting. We loaded our gear and headed off between the buildings towards the sea. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Arriving at the pier, the first thing you notice is how clean the water is. It is the most awesome blue you have ever seen and there are just loads of fish everywhere. Blaine walked up to the railing, said, “Check this,” and threw a piece of old fish carcass into the water. The water erupted in a feeding frenzy with Black Triggerfish all trying to get a piece of the action. It was not unlike what you would imagine a scene in a low budget Piranha movie to look like. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G7HuRNXLvdo/VtFrioVNiSI/AAAAAAAAE8g/JOTNmW4Rczw/s1600/George-Town-Pier-Ascension-Island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="george town ascension" border="0" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G7HuRNXLvdo/VtFrioVNiSI/AAAAAAAAE8g/JOTNmW4Rczw/s640/George-Town-Pier-Ascension-Island.jpg" title="pier on ascension island" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Town pier on Ascension</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We left the Triggers to their business, and carried our gear down the stairs to a small landing on the side of the pier. There was a whole armada of boats moored out front, ranging from little dinghies and battered old fishing boats to a classy Marlin complete with outriggers and shiny stainless steel finishes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Which one is our boat?”, I piped up, as there was no boat even near the landing. Blaine, pulling his shirt off, pointed to a light grey and white inflatable rib in the distance, “We will use this one today, but then from tomorrow we have a different boat for you.” </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EyNYxDNuN2o/VtFsGXNPsfI/AAAAAAAAE8o/shjo4p099EA/s1600/Ascension-Island-mooring-at-Monkey-Rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mooring boats on Ascension Island" border="0" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EyNYxDNuN2o/VtFsGXNPsfI/AAAAAAAAE8o/shjo4p099EA/s640/Ascension-Island-mooring-at-Monkey-Rock.jpg" title="Ascension Island Mooring" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mooring at Monkey Rock</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Blaine dived in and swam the 100 metres out to the boat and brought it along the quayside. To cut a long story short, Blaine stopped the boat about 1.5km from the pier and said, “This should be good.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I peered around at the sounder to check out the structure. All I could see was a sounder reading of 68m. I looked across at the plotter and the nearest marked point must have been 200m away. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My first thought was, “Does this lighty even know what’s cutting?” Not wanting to sound like a know it all or like a complete idiot, I asked, “So this is a good spot?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Blaine, now up to his elbows in fish blood from stuffing sardines in the burley net, answered, “This whole area is good.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I must admit that at this point my confidence level was pretty low. I figured we would try this drift, get our gear wet and wash out all the cobwebs, and if we did not see a fish it would not be a big deal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As we were about to jump in I could not help myself and had to ask Blaine how the drift was going to work. With a smirk he shrugged his shoulders half pointing out to sea saying that it should go out to sea, but that we would only know after the first drift. Not at all confidence boosting… I mean, we did not just travel all this way to do random drifts in the middle of nowhere.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">MJK beat me getting into the water and by the time I reached him he had almost finished loading up his gun. It was fairly overcast and although the water looked really clean it did not have that ‘blue’ look I had seen in the pictures. I dropped the flasher and started to mush up a few sardines to get the burley trail going.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To the side I could see MJK dropping down to stretch his lungs. I dropped down to join him, check my weighting and flush out the haze from the past few days of travelling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We both hit the surface, MJK checking out his gun while I headed back to the flasher and burley bag. I reached for some sards and broke them up in a cloud around me. When the cloud cleared, there was a Wahoo swimming below the flasher. I am not sure if it was because it was so surreal or if I was half asleep after not catching a wink during the flight out (despite having dropped a few sleeping tabs), but I just watched the fish swim past with out even moving a muscle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I came to, I turned to MJK, who was obviously feeling a whole lot sharper than I was. His arm was pointing in the direction that the fish had gone and he was nodding his head, making sure that I had seen it. He dropped down and hung mid water for a while. I thought, “What are the chances this fish comes back in again?” Sure enough the stupid fish turned around and swam right in front of MJK. Thwack! Aand the spear went in right behind the head. The Wahoo sped off, but gave up after only a few metres.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It wasn’t a big fish, but it’s always good to get the first fish on the boat and test that all the gear is working well. So the drift could not have been too bad if we saw and shot a Wahoo not long after jumping in. Blaine took us back to the area where we’d started, and I took some land marks so I could start getting an idea of what the drift was doing and where we were diving.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Back in the water I filmed MJK loading up and we started the burley process all over again. By now the cobwebs were gone and after the Wahoo my confidence levels were a lot better. We alternated diving down to the bottom of the flasher, which was at about 15 metres. Just some nice and easy diving to get the body working. Next thing, I saw MJK pointing into the blue and he started to head for the surface. As he came closer and he opened his arms out with a big gesture. His eyes were like saucers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It does not matter what language you speak or where you are from, this means only one thing: BIG FISH! A massive Yellowfin Tuna had swam past out in the distance. Now, normally if the fish does not come in on the flasher your chance is lost and you have to wait for the next fish. We were happy we had at least seen a good fish and with the goal of getting one by day three, this was a good sign.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then, I spotted a white line moving way down below. I couldn’t make out if it was a fish or even what part of the fish it was, but it was snaking along and had to be something. We both turned and looked at each other… something was there! I continued throwing out burley, this time with a couple whole sards, in the hope that whatever ‘it’ was would come back. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then there it was right below the flasher, a bulbous torpedo with a gunmetal blue-grey back, and massive long yellow sickles with long white tips. I remember the Cape Town boys explaining to me that when a Yellowfin gets real big its sickles get super long and start going white at the tips. The massive fish glided through, slowly picking out the chunks from bottom of the burley trail. Piece by piece the trail grew shorter and shorter and the fish was almost at the bottom of the flasher.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">MJK and I were locked in the dilemma of what to do… when to dive and shoot the fish? I had seen how the Yellowfin in the Cape get very comfortable and come right up to the surface, so we decided to hold our nerve and wait for the fish to come in close. MJK turned to me as the fish took a whole sard right at the flasher level and gave me a thumbs up, the GO signal. I started my final breathe up and I was about to dive when the thumbs up was followed by a full flat hand. Ok what now?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What’s the problem? MJK pointed at another Tuna that had joined in feeding on the burley trail. Now there were two massive Tuna swimming around, but which was bigger? Each massive fish took turns to glide through and take some burley. And every time, the fish in front of us looked incredible, and had to be the one. Then the next fish would come in making it impossible to decide. For a good few minutes there was lots of pointing, gesturing and waving of hands, canceling the decision. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The problem was that the two fish never came past side-by-side, so it was hard to pick which was bigger. Eventually MJK made the call to dive and I followed him down the burley line as he picked out a chunk that was most likely to be taken by the Tuna that was in range. I could see the two Tuna in the distance. One broke away and came right in for the burley. MJK set up his strike like a chameleon stalking a wary insect, his gun calmly and slowly extending as the Tuna came in range. Then thwack! The spear shot out and the Tuna fell like a WW2 bomber being shot out the sky.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qZ4xp64BhV4/VtFtyyUj2OI/AAAAAAAAE80/bu3oL4gqOME/s1600/MJK-first-ascension-yellowfin-tuna-speared.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Spearfishing Ascension Island Yellowfin Tuna" border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qZ4xp64BhV4/VtFtyyUj2OI/AAAAAAAAE80/bu3oL4gqOME/s640/MJK-first-ascension-yellowfin-tuna-speared.jpg" title="Spearing Ascension Island Giant Tuna" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MJK and his first Ascension Island Giant Tuna</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now the game was on! The new 9mm blue water bungee from Rob Allen, which we were testing for the first time, went taught as the first 35l Remora float went tail up on the surface. This is the position the float would stay for the next hour as MJK battled the beast bit by bit back to the surface. Eventually, we reached the soft bungee, but with the bungee stretched all the way out plus the double wrap from the gun, the massive fish was still 25 metres away. Worried that the soft bungee might shear if we shortened it and tied it off in the clip, MJK decided that he would dive down with MAMBA roller gun and put in the final coupe de grace.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I follow him down, but I realised as I passed about halfway that I was bushed. Chasing after MJK being pulled around the ocean by a big fat Tuna had taken its toll. I decide to tap off and capture the action from above. MJK powered down and finished the job. I could see he was labouring as he swam past me on his way to the surface. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now you would think that once a fish was dead, that it would be easy to bring to the surface, right? Well, as we were about to find out, Yellowfin are just solid dead weight! Eventually we got the fish up and tied the dynema shooting line off on the float so we could get some pics and landing shots. MJK went down and tried to swim the incredibly big fish up and his calf muscle cramped up. He aborted the dive and hit the surface, in obvious pain but laughing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We eventually took all the photos and decided to call it a day. Back on the boat there was a bit of back and forth estimating the Tuna’s weight, so we were all keen to see what the scales said. We were greeted back at the pier by Colin, who took one look at the fish and called it over 100kg. Now, knowing that our goal was to get a 100kg fish by the third day, he looked at his watch and said with a big smile, “And it only took you 4 hours… not 3 days! What do you think about that boys?” Truth be told, we did not know what to think. It was crazy. Beyond what we had ever hoped or imagined. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now Steve Ellis, who was also there guiding some guys from South Africa, saw us coming in and came strolling along the pier to see what we had got. This was Steve’s third trip to the island and he had been instrumental in helping me put the trip together with Colin, so you can imagine his joy to see us with a great fish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was all hands on deck man-handling the giant fish up the 20 metres of steps to the top of the pier and to the fish cleaning station. We hoisted the fish up and the scale read out 118kg, which was followed by much cheering and back slapping.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> This was the first of 14 dive days and the first of many 100kg plus Yellowfin. If you can imagine that standing next to a Tuna of over 100kg is a surreal feeling, then I have no idea how to explain the days that followed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ascension is probably one of the most remote places in the world, and fairly challenging to get to. By that I mean it’s not just down the road. You need to fly via the UK and hop on the RAF plane that flies weekly to the island. You also need security clearance, as it is essentially a military base. It does seem like a mission but it’s not like ‘Africa’ and first word logic makes the organising fairly painless.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P5pK7cpTIIo/VtFyUVJlY2I/AAAAAAAAE-M/px0N_cKxZk0/s1600/Steve-Ellis-Chris-Coates-Mjk-Dennis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P5pK7cpTIIo/VtFyUVJlY2I/AAAAAAAAE-M/px0N_cKxZk0/s640/Steve-Ellis-Chris-Coates-Mjk-Dennis.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve Ellis, Myself, Dennis Vreet & MJK up on Green Mountain</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But now that the cat’s out the bag as to what a Tuna hot spot ‘The Rock’ is, it was no surprise that besides ourselves and Steve’s South African group, more guys would be there. Cameron Kirkconnell and Perrin James arrived in the second week with two groups of guys, including Eric Allard and Nigel Spencer from Tanzania, and Hamad Al Fouzan and his friends from Kuwait. It was like a mini ‘who’s who’ of spearfishing, and although there was no formal competition, everyone was trying to beat the 147kg beast shot by Paul Shannon, who was part of Steve’s crew.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eBw2OBxmqto/VtFvS3-nI-I/AAAAAAAAE9A/u0XxlRsmVUQ/s1600/Paul-Ascension-record-tuna-325lb.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ascension Island Yellowfin Spearfishing Record " border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eBw2OBxmqto/VtFvS3-nI-I/AAAAAAAAE9A/u0XxlRsmVUQ/s640/Paul-Ascension-record-tuna-325lb.JPG" title="Paul Shannon's 147kg Ascension Island Yellowfin Record with Steve Ellis" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Shannon's 147kg Ascension Island Yellowfin Record with Steve Ellis</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With the bar now raised, 100kg fish weren’t going to cut it anymore and the decision was to take only bigger fish. The problem was how to tell the difference between a 110kg and a 140kg fish? With so many divers, MJK and I decided stick with the small cat called ‘Swamp Dog’ and Blaine as our guide. This turned out to be a really good move as Blaine had us on the fish every single day without fail.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AjvETHgGl_k/VtFv-I-vvcI/AAAAAAAAE9M/7TdZxY8dhYk/s1600/94kg-Bigeye-tuna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Big Eye Tuna Record MJK 94kg Ascension Island " border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AjvETHgGl_k/VtFv-I-vvcI/AAAAAAAAE9M/7TdZxY8dhYk/s640/94kg-Bigeye-tuna.jpg" title="MJK 94kg Ascension Island Big Eye Tuna Record" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MJK 94kg Big Eye Tuna</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There were so many fish, and so many opportunities, but we just could not break that elusive 140kg mark. We did get a massive 94,3kg Big Eye Tuna, which at the time doubled the world record… only to get broken again a week or so later by Paulo Afonso in the Azores with a massive 110kg fish. We had also decided to only take one fish a day and by halfway through the trip MJK stopped shooting altogether. We just spent the last few days watching 100kg fish swim past. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbmq7YEXNlE/VtFxBwMYBJI/AAAAAAAAE9c/5I2xcI_fn0o/s1600/Giant-Yellowfin-Ascension-Spearing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="ascension yellowfin tuna spearfishing trips and charters" border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbmq7YEXNlE/VtFxBwMYBJI/AAAAAAAAE9c/5I2xcI_fn0o/s640/Giant-Yellowfin-Ascension-Spearing.jpg" title="spearfishing ascension yellowfin trips and charters" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MJK and another 100+ Yellowfin</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This meant for the first time that we were able to put away the guns and video cameras and just take photos, something I very seldom get a chance to do. We had some great encounters with Whale Sharks and even a massive Black Marlin that came in to have a look at a Tuna we had speared. We did not see as many Wahoo as we had hoped, but did not spend much time on the spot where Wahoo are normally seen. We were focused on the Tuna.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k5wK9p7zIPc/VtFxp1FWuFI/AAAAAAAAE9g/wuA-9wWtEiM/s1600/mjk-whale-shark-swim-ascension.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt=" Ascension Island Whale Shark swims and tours" border="0" height="424" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k5wK9p7zIPc/VtFxp1FWuFI/AAAAAAAAE9g/wuA-9wWtEiM/s640/mjk-whale-shark-swim-ascension.jpg" title="Whale Shark swims Ascension Island" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whale Shark having fun with MJK.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7gjkyTIfwDU/VtFyXLdRskI/AAAAAAAAE98/lLR2G6N3TKw/s1600/Yellowfin-tuna-ascension-island-spearfishing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="ascension island best free swimming tuna photography " border="0" height="424" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7gjkyTIfwDU/VtFyXLdRskI/AAAAAAAAE98/lLR2G6N3TKw/s640/Yellowfin-tuna-ascension-island-spearfishing.jpg" title="best free swimming tuna photography ascension" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No gun just having fun swimming with Giant Yellowfin Tuna</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Eventually, the days counted down and our time in the water was almost up. We had a couple of good size Tuna coming in and out of the burley trail but nothing in the 140kg range. This was possibly going to be our last opportunity and MJK handed over the MAMBA roller gun I had put together for him and said, “Best you take one before it’s too late.” </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LD6XD0ZdwTY/VtFyYixvOvI/AAAAAAAAE-M/qRhKQ3B99_Q/s1600/coatesman-selfie-ascension-island-spearing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Coatesmans Spearfishing Charters" border="0" height="424" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LD6XD0ZdwTY/VtFyYixvOvI/AAAAAAAAE-M/qRhKQ3B99_Q/s640/coatesman-selfie-ascension-island-spearing.jpg" title="Chris Coates" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me taking a selfie while pretending to shoot a tuna.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So I handed him the camera and switched into hunting mode. You have to understand that by now I had practiced this shot in my head a hundred times during the last two weeks, so when the fish came in I knew exactly where I wanted to be and exactly how I wanted to place the shot.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fGGa4yDMC3M/VtFyUd90BdI/AAAAAAAAE-M/s4MMS6gU2f8/s1600/Spearfishing-Giant-Yellowfin-Ascension-Coatemans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Spearfishing Yellowfin Tuna Chris Coates " border="0" height="424" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fGGa4yDMC3M/VtFyUd90BdI/AAAAAAAAE-M/s4MMS6gU2f8/s640/Spearfishing-Giant-Yellowfin-Ascension-Coatemans.jpg" title="Chris Coates Spearfishing Yellowfin Tuna" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My PB Yellowfin last day last dive at Ascension</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The MAMBA roller gun did not fail and switched off the 98kg tuna. The spear went right through the fish and the double barb got stuck in the thick cheek plate on the other side. Put it this way: that fish was going nowhere. What an epic way to end possibly the most insane two weeks of spearfishing I have ever experienced. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M4FRbxJal2c/VtFyXM0xMCI/AAAAAAAAE-M/N_4J8Wsv3Ak/s1600/ascension-island-tuna-feeding-station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M4FRbxJal2c/VtFyXM0xMCI/AAAAAAAAE-M/N_4J8Wsv3Ak/s640/ascension-island-tuna-feeding-station.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More Giant Free Swimming Tuna</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our time on the island had come to an end. It seemed so short and somehow all the days blurred into one another. We sat in the hotel on the last night swapping fish stories with all the guys and it was difficult to discern on which day we shot which fish. I guess this is a sign of a truly crazy awesome trip, and a sign that maybe Ascension is that one place where you can have great expectations that don’t let you down.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xM4CsXpzkIE/VtFyaVt2bEI/AAAAAAAAE-M/CgYZdWmQ90I/s1600/free-Swimming-Ascension-island-tuna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="ascension island spearfishing dreams" border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xM4CsXpzkIE/VtFyaVt2bEI/AAAAAAAAE-M/CgYZdWmQ90I/s640/free-Swimming-Ascension-island-tuna.jpg" title="spearfishermans dream ascension island" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Every Spear Fisherman's dream is to have 100kg+ Tuna like this swimming around them.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Book your own Trip of a Lifetime go to:</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://coatesmans.com/coatesmans-spearfishing-safaris/spearfishing-ascension-island.html" target="_blank">Ascension Island Spearfishing Trips</a></span></span></div>
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<br />Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0Ascension Island, Saint Helena-7.9467165999999994 -14.355915800000048-8.072527599999999 -14.517277300000048 -7.8209056 -14.194554300000048tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-6355711350563639072016-02-20T13:40:00.000+02:002016-02-27T14:12:28.729+02:00Ascension & the Birth of The MAMBA Speargun<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">WORDS BY STEVE ELLIS founder of MAMBA Spearguns</span><a href="http://coatesmans.com/coatesmans-spearfishing-safaris/spearfishing-ascension-island.html" style="font-size: small;" target="_blank">Ascension Island Spearfishing Trips </a><br />
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I was almost speechless, seeing that crystal sparkling blue water and white sand shining below. I looked straight down from the pier head and saw hundreds of Black Triggerfish with the odd Black Jack swimming through them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPlXMOd-ZOE/VshCje-R65I/AAAAAAAAE3Y/fyUZMCMwr0I/s1600/spearfishing-ascension-island-mamba-spearguns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPlXMOd-ZOE/VshCje-R65I/AAAAAAAAE3Y/fyUZMCMwr0I/s400/spearfishing-ascension-island-mamba-spearguns.jpg" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">USM Article on Spearfishing Ascension</td></tr>
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Our group had just arrived, made up of guys from KZN in South Africa. Tony Doult (An ex navy diver), Miles Stead and Piet Du Toit (who both farm in Middleburg). Karl Maingard (local entrepreneur) and myself. I have known Colin Chester, (owner of the spearfishing charter in Ascension) a small island in the middle of the Atlantic, for some years. The stories and pictures of crystal clean water and massive Yellowfin Tuna eventually got us to commit to a trip last year. With almost 5 months ahead of us, we started planning. Tony was on the ball with organising the frozen sardines for chumming and the loads of gear that went ahead on the RMS St Helena and he applied for the permit visas that the RAF require. Karl got the medical supplies, and some Race food mini-bars, a type of nougat made by Wedgewood for mountain bikers, spearos etc, which were excellent on the boat. Miles and Piet handled all the air tickets. I arranged all the spears and new Mamba guns.<br />
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Visitors that get permit visas for Ascension Island, or “The Rock” as the locals call it, are screened by MI5 to make sure there are no dodgy characters. It’s a military refuelling base for the RAF halfway to the Falklands, and a US space shuttle emergency landing strip and refuel ops base for the US military, so it’s an extra long runway. The French Arianne space program has facilities to track their satellites and NASA tested their Moon rover years ago on the old lava flows and very rough terrain.<br />
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Getting to the Rock is an adventure in its own. You can only get there via Brize Norten RAF base in Oxford UK on a military charter plane (Airbus 320). If you’re flying from South Africa and landing at Heathrow early in the morning, arrange a taxi to Oxford. The RAF plane only leaves at 11 o’clock that night, and you have to be there 4hrs in advance. Being a military flight there is a dress code. You won’t be allowed on the plane in board shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. So arrive looking presentable.<br />
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There are two flights a week to the Rock and Falklands and the Marines are back and forth. About 10/15 seats are available for civilians. The flight is about nine hours long and you get to Ascension at about 06:30am. The first thing Colin did was to take us to the pier head to show us the visibility and this is where it all began.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MNKFG9q_oLU/VshNs9utYYI/AAAAAAAAE4Y/OThk_wsrykQ/s1600/Diving-Ascension-Island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ascension island diving" border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MNKFG9q_oLU/VshNs9utYYI/AAAAAAAAE4Y/OThk_wsrykQ/s640/Diving-Ascension-Island.jpg" title="Dive Ascension Island" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not many places in the world have water like this.</td></tr>
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Our group was staying with Colin and we got all the gear unpacked and settled in at his house. Colin suggested a shore dive to start. Karl and myself had very little sleep on the plane, so we thought a shore dive would be a great cure for jet lag. We drove to a point that had no surf, you just leopard crawled out, over these flat smooth rocks. Visibility was 50 metres, and there are Rock Cod all over the place, called a Rock Hind. The water temperature was about 26/27 degrees Celsius, so a rash vest and board shorts were fine to shore dive in. On the boat, you need a 3mm suit, as you get wind chill and the wind is strong on most days.<br />
We were told that the Black Triggerfish are like Piranhas. At the pier head where all the fish cleaning takes place, the carcasses are thrown into the water and it just erupts into a feeding frenzy as they strip them clean. When you’re spearing, you have a shoal of Black Triggers, like a cloud around your float, eating the fish on your stringer. They even beach themselves in the shore break when you’re getting out.<br />
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The next day, Colin had errands to run, so Craig (one of the guys who helps with the Marlin charters) was our skipper for the day. He suggested we head West of the island, to the Golfball were they have good results on Wahoo and big Tuna in about 50 metres. As we got in, Craig immediately started getting a chum trail going. Visibility here was easily 50/60 metres. About 10 minutes in, a Wahoo swam up the chum line and I dived in straight away, lined up, fired, hit it mid body at about a 5 metre range and had it on the boat in about 15 minutes. I was stoked!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ykZouuMuKCE/VshGslcFqTI/AAAAAAAAE34/RrZVdmDx4uM/s1600/Wahoo-ascension-mamba-spearguns-roller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ykZouuMuKCE/VshGslcFqTI/AAAAAAAAE34/RrZVdmDx4uM/s640/Wahoo-ascension-mamba-spearguns-roller.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ascension Wahoo shot with Mamba's</td></tr>
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It was the first shot at a fish with the new Mamba gun and it had struck its first victim. Later that day, my second shot was another Wahoo of about 25kg. Karl, not to be outdone, also ended up with two good size Wahoo’s of 25 kgs each. Four shots and four Wahoo gave us lots of confidence with the new Mamba guns and the range they have. On weighing my 1st Wahoo it was 27.2 kg and later Craig turned it into a delicious curry.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zXg6h4Zs21o/VshGPvUPi3I/AAAAAAAAE3s/uwQgA35rTyc/s1600/Custom-Black-Mamba-Spearguns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mamba Spearguns" border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zXg6h4Zs21o/VshGPvUPi3I/AAAAAAAAE3s/uwQgA35rTyc/s640/Custom-Black-Mamba-Spearguns.jpg" title="Black Mamba Custom Spearguns" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Custom Mamba Spearguns Ondeck </td></tr>
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We knew on a trip like this that standard guns would not cut it in that super clean visibility. I decided to make up some long, stronger carbon barrels, of 1 to 5 metres, winged on the sides, tapering from narrow in the front to wider at the rear of the barrel. You need the extra volume and weight in the water to help stop the recoil and muzzle lift of long guns. To get range and penetration you need a minimum of two rubbers. With the 2x14mm rubbers and no shooting line, the gun shot the spear to a distance of 18 metres in the pool tests. <a href="http://coatesmans.com/" target="_blank">Chris Coates</a> of USM filmed slow motion footage, so we could analyse the recoil etc. Chris and Karl helped me out in the pool testing, with lots of target shooting to determine the accuracy, we could hit an area the size of a small cereal box at almost 7 metres. I managed to finish the last 5th gun two weeks before we left, so now each of us had a Mamba barrel with Rob Allen components. I called it the Mamba, because with the carbon fibre weave finish, it looked like a <i>Black Mamba</i> skin and it certainly struck like one, and being African built it was an apt name for the tasks ahead. .... <i>and so the Mamba Speargun was born.</i><br />
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On Friday, we tried to repeat the previous day’s catch. Visibility was about 40/50 metres, with a hazy and overcast sky. We spotted the odd big Yellowfin Tuna a couple times, sometimes two together, but never going in the same direction. We were never down or in the right position and did not get close to any Wahoos that day. There were Black Kingfish around us, but in that environment it was big fish or nothing. <br />
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Saturday was Ascension Day on the Rock, which was also a public holiday and the official raising of the Island’s newly designed flag in the Georgetown Square. A whole day was planned with a festive atmosphere and all the locals were in full force. We spent a couple hours there, and with still no wind the flat oily ocean was calling. Colin and Craig were needed to help out with the day’s festivities. So Karl and myself took the Power Cat and went to Groupers. It takes 5 minutes to get there and it’s about 25 metres deep, with big boulders and ledges with caves, spread out over the brilliant white sand. Insane visibility again, maybe better than 50/60 metres. A shoal of about 100 big Horse Eye Kingfish circle you for about 10 minutes before they move off. Giant 25kg Barracudas stare at you with their large mechanical eyes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zYQvG1AK3ZU/VshH3AuNOiI/AAAAAAAAE4I/Z6K8_wdjZ5o/s1600/ascension-under-water-steve-ellis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zYQvG1AK3ZU/VshH3AuNOiI/AAAAAAAAE4I/Z6K8_wdjZ5o/s640/ascension-under-water-steve-ellis.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Crystal Clear Water of Ascesion Island</td></tr>
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I manned the boat first, hanging onto the side taking pictures of the fish. A giant Yellowfin Tuna slowly swam up to me on the surface. I could have placed a shot anywhere, but I had no gun in my hand, only the camera. As he turned and swam away, I managed to get a picture of him. Karl had also seen the same fish, but was too far away for a shot. We now knew those big fish were lurking in the shallows. The reef had loads of Black Triggerfish, which are the staple diet of Tuna and Wahoo. We saw some Wahoo over the sand after the reef, keeping their distance. When we were back at Colin’s place going through the pictures, he told us that was a big Yellowfin Tuna that easily weighed over 100kg, with the long pectoral fin going back almost to its tail. But, the top pectoral fin was unusually short…<br />
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On Sunday morning Colin and myself were up early to meet Tony, Piet and Miles at the hotel Obsidian. A Hemmingway’s style place, with loads of fish pictures on the walls and a very laid back vibe. They were staying in the outside hotel rooms. The average temperature was about 32/34 degrees Celsius in the day, so air conditioned rooms at night were a pleasure. Once they were settled in, we took them to the pier head to see the incredible visibility, then to Colin’s house to check their gear that the RMS St Helena had delivered a few weeks previously. Colin suggested a shore dive, so the five of us drove to Panam point where the Americans had a roofed camp. It’s situated on a rocky point where you can normally jump in, but there was quite a surge with the swell that was pushing through and we swam off the beach to the West. Once in, it was warm, crystal clear and full of the local Rock Cod. Just being in that water was such a pleasure. Tony had a Gopro mounted on his gun and shot some awesome footage. Everyone shot Rock Cod and we saw small Amberjack, but no big stuff. Just Black Jacks and no crayfish. The guys couldn’t believe how the Black Triggers beach themselves, following you out. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SEgOKus9vTY/VtGSUxoqatI/AAAAAAAAE_A/1WxsQjrXoAI/s1600/George%2BTown%2BAscension%2BIsland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="accommodation george town ascension island" border="0" height="284" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SEgOKus9vTY/VtGSUxoqatI/AAAAAAAAE_A/1WxsQjrXoAI/s640/George%2BTown%2BAscension%2BIsland.jpg" title="george town ascension island" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Town Ascension Island</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On Monday, the guys were at Colin’s house early after a good sleep. We got busy setting up our Mamba guns with the 2x14mm rubbers and the double wrap dyneema for the extra range needed. There were three guys with Craig on the Power Cat and Colin, Karl and myself on the semi rigid. Both boats could go in different directions to find the fish, and it helped many times being able to cover more ground. Tony, Piet and Miles came back raving about the visibility, having shot Wahoos and Piet put a spear into a huge Tuna that took off like an express train, snapping the 200kg Dyneema shooting line!<br />
<br />
Colin told us when we were assembling the Mamba guns what the best local set-up was:<br />
A) 30- metre RA Wahoo bungy<br />
B) 35- litre RA Remora inflatable float.<br />
C) No breakaway, shooting line connected to the gun.<br />
D) Fixed barb on the spear, no drop heads, basic, basic.<br />
<br />
They have lost plenty of rigs here. <br />
<br />
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Piet was using a 10mm shock cord that was connected to a boogie board on a cleat pulling system a third back of the board. Great if you’re using a big wooden gun, with a 2,5mm shooting line, an 8mm spear, and a drop head with 3mm stainless cable. The board puts tremendous pressure on your gear tiring the fish out. That definitely works in Cape Town. It would work in Ascension too. You need practice shooting with that type of big gun set up. With us being there for less than two weeks, we did not have the time to spare. The Mamba guns are just a longer version of what we use.<br />
<br />
Twenty minutes after Piet lost his spear to the huge Tuna, it was back in the chum line again like nothing was wrong. It still had Piet’s spear in it, mid-body sticking out either side. Miles managed to get another spear into the same fish, and it roared off again, past Tony who saw two spears in it, unfortunately Miles’ spear got torn off too. Whilst he was frantically reloading, it was still hanging around, slowly circling below his fins. Finally reloaded, he started diving down as it was spiralling into the deep. Eventually out of range and sight, was a giant. The same size we saw on the first couple of days, around 120/130kg. <br />
Tuesday, was our boats turn in the same area. Colin was chumming up a storm and we could see small Tuna coming up the chum line. I was down when a good fish swam up to me, eating the chum and when the time was right I fired, getting a good mid body shot. I could see the spear easily on the other side when he took off at speed, bending it backwards like a loaded bow. What a strong fish! I had that fish in my hands 3 times and he just took off again to the bottom. The fourth time I had it in my hands properly, I managed to slip one hand into its gills and it went crazy. The tail gave me a smack on my arm that I felt for days. I was stoked the Mamba had struck again. It was a great feeling of achievement for me with a gun that I had built, tested and was using. It was my biggest fish landed, a 60kg Yellowfin Tuna. This is what we had come to spear and I had landed the first Wahoo and now, the first Tuna with the Mamba gun. I was ecstatic!<br />
<br />
Karl and Colin each landed a Wahoo. Colin used my Mamba gun and was impressed, as he had taken a very long shot and already wanted us to leave the Mamba guns behind with him. The other guys with Craig all got Wahoos, so it was a great day in the ocean.<br />
<br />
On Wednesday, we started off at the Golfball area where we didn’t have much luck and then we heard that Miles had landed a 50/60 kg Tuna and was seeing more. Colin made the decision to head to their area, where we got onto the line the other guys were on. I saw some Tuna deep down, but we couldn’t get them close onto the chum line. After trying that area for several hours we went inshore and speared some Rock Cod and Moray Eels, which was harder than it seemed. For every two Morays you shoot, you only land one as they wind themselves off the spear. They were needed for a local Charity braai and regarded as a delicacy. <br />
<br />
On Thursday, Colin was planning to take us on Harmattan, his Marlin boat to Boatswain Island that was about 45 minutes around the front of the main island. In the lee of that island there is a calm area, where they see lots of big Tuna that feed on the Black Triggerfish. The morning arrived and so did the wind, blowing stronger than ever and getting there was really bumpy even in a 38ft Rampage sport fisher. It took over an hour and a half, but the scenery was spectacular. It was like something out of Jurassic Park where you almost expect a dinosaur to make an appearance. There were black lava flow ledges, big cliffs going straight down into the sea and no sand beaches, just flat areas full of boulders.<br />
<br />
At the island’s leeside, Colin skillfully maneuvered Harmattan onto a mooring buoy. What a fantastic place this was, calm with super clean visibility and all the usual suspects in full force. Black Jacks, Horse Eye Kingfish, masses of Black and deep-sea Silver Triggers, a good feeding area for the Tuna. It wasn’t long until Tony saw the Black Triggers suddenly bolt for the bottom and a big Tuna glided into view. He managed to get a spear into the fish and it took off towing the boogie board and stretching his shock cord. Colin, up in Harmattans Tuna tower, saw the board get pulled under a couple times, but the spear did not hold so another big fish was lost. 2-0 to the big Tuna.<br />
<br />
Colin decided to head back home, stopping on some of his marks. The next place was also pretty deep at 50 metres. We saw shoals of Rainbow Runners that weighed around 5kg. Even with them hanging off the spear to try and attract some bigger fish, there were still no takers. Determined, we tried another spot. But still, no Wahoo or Tuna…<br />
<br />
That same night, we were all invited to dinner at the Governors residence on Green Mountain. About ten of us went on a small bus, driving high into the mountains, about 5 km out of Georgetown. The road goes back and fourth like the Alps, with the bus stalling many times because of the tight turns. Once we arrived, the views from the front lawns of the Residence were spectacular. It was still just about light and the whole of Georgetown was in our view, with the sunrise in the distance. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XnUFO5cHfdQ/VshOOvMCLRI/AAAAAAAAE4g/XD0CPqRL3L8/s1600/Ascension-Island-Trips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="How to get to Ascension" border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XnUFO5cHfdQ/VshOOvMCLRI/AAAAAAAAE4g/XD0CPqRL3L8/s640/Ascension-Island-Trips.jpg" title="Travel to Ascension Island" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the views at Ascesion are just surreal.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Friday morning arrived with a late start and a couple of thick heads after the evening we had. Diving close by was the call for today. We only had two days left of our trip, so we decided to start at Groupers and then drift out to the deeper marks in the offshore wind and get a good chum line going. Both boats drifted together and we were so close, almost in a line. I was next to Tony on his right side, having just drifted off the reef onto a sandy, pebble shale area, when this giant Tuna swam up to us on the surface. Tony was closer than me and took a early shot, unfortunately his spear pulled up 1 metre short. He thought he was in range, but it was a huge Tuna further away. The super clean visibility really messes up your distance perception.<br />
<br />
As we all drifted out, the two boats got further apart and the offshore wind was pushing the semi rigid faster. We still had loads of Sardines, so the chumming was turned up a notch. Eventually we started seeing some small Tuna eating the chum, maybe 5kg -10kg in size. Karl managed to land another Wahoo that appeared at the same time. I speared one of the slightly larger Tuna that came into my range very fast and I fired as he went past, getting the spear in mid body and facing back, I horsed him in not giving him much line and had him on the boat in about 10 minutes. He was about 25 kg and I still had a straight spear. Back home I would have nursed him carefully, but here with the giants, that’s a small one. Colin gave Craig (who was on the Power Cat) a call and they had some Wahoo on board. Tony had two and Piet had a 50/60kg Tuna after a hard fight.<br />
<br />
We went night fishing on Harmattan one late afternoon, to fish for Tuna. Colin had a buoy 4 km offshore anchored in about 90/95 metres deep, which he calls Tuna.com. We tied up on it and started chumming straight away and put out some drift baits on short rods with Shimano Stella’s. Tony and Craig were fishing on the bottom and were catching Bulls Eyes, a type of redfish about 2kg in weight with very large eyes. The night was quiet with no Tuna around. Only their 3rd miss since they had been fishing Tuna.com. A week earlier, Karl and myself had been out there with Colin and some UK clients where it had been action almost immediately, they landed 3 fish of 45/65 kg on light tackle. <br />
<br />
On Saturday, Craig went off to get ice and Sardines for another day, while we got all the gear ready. It was a relatively quiet day. We were still seeing Tuna, but far down and out of range. They were not coming up to the chum line much. Karl and Colin managed to get a Wahoo each and I missed one. Tony got a 50/60kg Tuna on the Power Cat with Piet and Miles, a Wahoo and some Kingys between them. We went into the inside of Groupers were there are some big old chassis and wheels on the white sand, where I managed to spear a 12 kg Amberjack.<br />
<br />
On Sunday, we had a dive on the end of the Fuel transfer buoy with lots of small Amberjacks of about 4/5 kg there. I was diving with my reel gun and was trying for Dorados that frequent the buoy. Pulling myself down the mooring chain to a flat reef on the bottom, I spotted some debris, which looked like bits of a plate, bottles, etc. One piece was Blue Willow pattern china and an old ceramic jar in perfect condition. I left behind an old Coca Cola bottle with raised writing that Colin later mentioned was quite rare. Back in the days of the sailing ships, lots of vessels moored here getting water and supplies and probably chucked all their rubbish overboard, so there is lots of stuff on the bottom. After doing some research on the Internet about the ceramic jar, I discovered it’s over 100 yrs old and worth approx 100 US dollars for one in good condition. A local Saints scuba diver has found complete Blue Willow pattern china teapots. It looked about 12/15 metres deep, but on the Aeris free dive watch I was using, it was 19.2 metres, and spending loads of time on the bottom, we were all diving pretty deep and with long bottom times towards the end of the trip. A good free dive watch is essential when diving out in the deep on the chum line, you want to hover at about 10 metres near the chum while waiting for the Tuna to appear.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gF1M0cAN-6Y/VshOlLSsXHI/AAAAAAAAE4s/sWJgTb4kuVA/s1600/MAMBA-spearguns-ascension-yellowfin-tuna2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gF1M0cAN-6Y/VshOlLSsXHI/AAAAAAAAE4s/sWJgTb4kuVA/s400/MAMBA-spearguns-ascension-yellowfin-tuna2.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another Yellowfin Landed</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Monday was our last day on the island and we went for a really short morning dive, as we had lots of packing to do. We headed straight to the deep marks of Groupers and kitted up. Karl was first in, I was in soon afterwards and started loading up when a lone Wahoo appeared out of the gloom heading for the flashers. Karl dived and let off a long shot, spooking the fish, but it kept on going. Colin was swimming around the boat and getting the Sardines spread out, while some small Tuna were eating the chum way down. We wouldn’t have to wait long with all those Sardines. The smaller Tuna were near the surface with a larger Tuna deep down. Karl decided to dive on him (he had not shot and landed a Tuna yet, so being the last day this was his final chance.) He went past the chum to about 20 metres and then fired. It was a big fish and Karl had taken a long shot in deep water. It pulled the 30 metre bungy to max immediately. I clipped my 30 metre bungy onto Karl’s 30 metre bungy to give the fish more stretch. It took all the bungys stretching them to about 3mm in diameter. We got Karl’s weight belt off and onto the boat. He was lying over the RA remora 35-litre float with it underneath him and getting towed. I could not keep up and Colin dropped me twice. Eventually I was also holding onto the line that Karl was retrieving and getting towed behind him. Slowly he got the line in and lost it all again. This was a big fish!<br />
<br />
After almost two hours, we could see the fish deep down and another 15 minutes later, it was close enough for me to dive on it and fire another shot. Karl’s spear’s barb was right on the skin and he had shot it near the tail. I put a killing holding shot into the fish and it was finished. You could not hold that fish up, the dead weight of it pulled you down. What an epic fight!<br />
<br />
Miles had also shot and landed a Tuna of 50/60 kg, and had a close call getting tangled in the line, but luckily the other guys freed him. Tony had seen a small Dorado deep down, chased and speared it and it turned out to be 15kg. The other boat was now right next to us and we got some pictures. We had landed a giant Yellowfin Tuna. At the weigh-in, Karl’s Tuna topped the scales at 125kg that’s the 3rd largest Tuna landed on Ascension.<br />
Now rewind 8 days to last Saturday, when that Tuna of approx 100kg plus swam up to me with that short top pec fin, this fish had the same short top pec fin, less than 1km from where I took that picture and it was probably the same fish. What a strange coincidence! <br />
<br />
I would like to thank Colin and Craig for all their hospitality, and getting us on the fish. And to Miles, Piet, Tony and Karl for the opportunity to be on the trip, thank you very much.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T_7BPqxQvgg/VshPIT_uwnI/AAAAAAAAE44/8SiPldYytUA/s1600/carl-ascension-yellowfin-mamba-speargun-125kg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T_7BPqxQvgg/VshPIT_uwnI/AAAAAAAAE44/8SiPldYytUA/s640/carl-ascension-yellowfin-mamba-speargun-125kg.jpg" title="yellofin tuna with MAMBA speargun" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karl with the fish of the trip and his MAMBA Speargun</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
To sum it up, it was a hardcore spearing trip. You will need to plan yours well in advance. Make sure you have good long-range guns, Rob Allen equipment, all the usual gear with spare spears, thin wetsuits, rash suits, etc. You need to organise frozen sardines from South Africa and Race food energy bars. Logistically, it’s very far away with all the long connecting flights, so you will need lots of time. <br />
<br />
We were so lucky to get Tuna. But the more we practice, the luckier we get.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lAKrBZ1mOks/VshPutQNyaI/AAAAAAAAE5M/sMAW3-X6bcw/s1600/spearfishing-ascension-island-mamba-yellowfin-spearguns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lAKrBZ1mOks/VshPutQNyaI/AAAAAAAAE5M/sMAW3-X6bcw/s640/spearfishing-ascension-island-mamba-yellowfin-spearguns.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant Yellowfin is what we all dream about.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://coatesmans.com/coatesmans-spearfishing-safaris/spearfishing-ascension-island.html" target="_blank">Ascension Island Spearfishing Trips </a>- CLICK HERE</span></div>
Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-9651526465905719002016-02-18T19:54:00.002+02:002021-02-04T05:59:29.564+02:00Unrolling the Roller - Roller Gun Test and Setup Comparison<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Original article written for the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine. - Words by Chris Coates</span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E0iz6TtDHBs/VsX7Ow8nowI/AAAAAAAAE00/2uX11shj8Os/s1600/UNROLLING-THE-ROLLER-speargun-article.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="rollergun speargun comparison and review article" border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E0iz6TtDHBs/VsX7Ow8nowI/AAAAAAAAE00/2uX11shj8Os/s640/UNROLLING-THE-ROLLER-speargun-article.jpg" title="Best rollergun testing review" width="454" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Coates's indepth Roller Gun Article published in the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br /><h4 style="text-align: center;">Watch the <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuhswj4358_x7hZ14Kw6U-NFYRhnJ4qto" target="_blank">Unrolling the Rollergun Video Series</a> - Watch Now</h4>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">About
18 months ago I was introduced to the crazy and ‘complicated’ concept of the
roller gun. Fueled by numerous online videos and chatter over the web, my
curiosity got the better of me and with the help from MJK in Qatar, we dived
head first into this latest fad. We made up a whole bunch of guns and after a
bit of a learning curve, we did a whole batch of tests. (see USM vol 14)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
early testing proved that the roller guns had potential for greater speed and
power than conventional spear guns in a shorter gun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Setting the guns up was not nearly as simple
as what we were accustomed to. The more we used the guns and tried different
setups, from different muzzles to complete built roller guns from different
manufactures, the more we understood and became comfortable with the whole
concept.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Back
home, I started to sell the Power Roller Head kits as the interest in the
roller concept grew. The kits were great in that they came with a full set of
step-by-step instructions and all the bits and pieces you needed to convert
your conventional railgun into a roller gun. The problem was that I landed up
having super long discussions with each of the guys about how to set the guns
up. Just like I had with Emanuel, the manufacturer of the Power Roller Head
kits in the very beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gkZGdQw3coc/VsX-EOi4DCI/AAAAAAAAE1U/-pnICaAVKZ0/s1600/roller-speargun-setup-mulloway.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="early roller gun setup" border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gkZGdQw3coc/VsX-EOi4DCI/AAAAAAAAE1U/-pnICaAVKZ0/s640/roller-speargun-setup-mulloway.jpg" title="Roller speargun success" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early roller gun success, notice the long pretensioned rubbers.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Despite
the step-by-step instructions (which most guys glossed over at best) and all
the phone calls, there were many who did not get the guns set up quite right,
and so they did not perform as expected. I also noticed that for the most part,
the online videos that you would see of guys using roller guns, the guns were
not set up properly. They would have very little pre-tension on the rubber, and
sometimes none at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
lead to me rather building up the guns for the guys so that at least their first
gun would be setup correctly and they would have better chance at understanding
the whole concept. I hoped that in doing this, I would also reduce the learning
curve and the guys would start to see the full benefits of the concept right
away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
landed up making up a number of different setups as each guy had different
needs. The feedback I got made me realise that there were many ways to rig the
guns and sometimes what I initially thought was the right setup did not work as
well as expected. Some setups totally surprised me and way out performed my
expectations. This lead me on a quest to try fathom out, or at least try
quantify to some degree, the difference between the setups and guns with
something more than just presumptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
three main variables that you have are the rubber being used, the length and
pre-tension of those rubbers, and the difference in rollers ie, bearings,
bushes etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
first step was to better understand the rubber being used. Rubber is a fairly
complicated subject and actually deserves a whole article on its own. The
reality is that not all rubber is created equal. Much of what is marketed as “the
best” is only worth using as spear stop ends. The things to look for when
choosing rubber are as follows: It should be pure natural dipped latex with a
thin UV stable layer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chemically cured
and extruded rubber does not have the same elastic properties of naturally cured
pure latex. The UV coating should also not be thick as this hinders elasticity.
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Another
factor is age, rubber does not age well as it is a natural product and hardens
with time. This is also where the rubber with thick UV layers can be
misleading. The rubbers look fine but inside they are old, hard and for the
lack of a better word, have lost their ‘zing’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
bench tested the load capacities of various rubbers and thicknesses. The idea was
to establish the kilograms a rubber was pulling at specific percentages of
being stretched. I had been given stats by one of the manufacturers, but wanted
to do my own tests to verify what they were claiming. My findings were not that
far off, but I realised that because of aging and so many different types of
rubber, that I needed to stick to just one type for the tests. After all I was
testing the gun setups and not different rubber performance. I choose to use
Rob Allen latex rubber, mainly because of accessibility and the fact that I was
able to find out how old from date of manufacture the rubber was. This way I
was not testing old against new, which would skew the results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Next
was to create a theoretical model using the information I had gathered from the
rubber tests and, using the potential energy equation, work out the kilogram
force centimeters potential energy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Kilogram
force x distance] This can also be converted to Newton’s (Nm). This gets fairly
complicated, but simply, I was able to work out in a rudimentary way what potential
energy each of the different rubber lengths and pre-tensions of rubbers were
capable of producing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
basically had to calculate every possible variation for roller guns ranging from
800 – 1300 for rubber thicknesses of 14mm-18mm. There were so many variations on
each of the guns that I needed to have a separate spreadsheet page for each
length of gun and rubber thickness. A month and 18 spreadsheet pages later, I
moved onto conventional guns as a comparison. This is where things became very
clear to me. Firstly, all the conventional guns calculations for all the models
fitted onto a single spreadsheet page, smaller than one of the roller gun
calculations! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jvw_2KiPFi4/VsX9Q5Zx45I/AAAAAAAAE1M/yiATp3NRGL4/s1600/chris-coates-coatesman-speargun-testing.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chris Coates testing a pile of rollerguns" border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jvw_2KiPFi4/VsX9Q5Zx45I/AAAAAAAAE1M/yiATp3NRGL4/s640/chris-coates-coatesman-speargun-testing.jpg" title="Coatesman testing rollerguns" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Coates putting a pile of roller guns through their paces</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
is why roller guns are confusing. There are just too many different ways to
‘skin the cat’ so to speak. And which way is best?? The ‘potential energy
model’ I had built, although not perfectly accurate, gave me a fairly accurate
idea of what each different setup could produce.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
next step was to distill the information into something practical that we could
test. I split the different setups into two groups - guns you can load by hand,
and guns you need to use a load assist with. The first group is simply the guns
that an average person can load by pulling on the extended bridle hoop. These
guns had a maximum of 20kg (less than 15kg is comfortable) tension on the
bridle at the muzzle. The second group is where you use a load assist to load
the gun becomes almost limitless. I say ‘almost’ as the gun is still limited by
what (kg) you can physically load at the notch. (Some other factors also apply which
we will discuss later on)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aQYfAPtWp2A/VsX8a0wnC2I/AAAAAAAAE08/sErRiQYdvO8/s1600/Rob-Allen-Speargun-Rollergun.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="roller speargun" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aQYfAPtWp2A/VsX8a0wnC2I/AAAAAAAAE08/sErRiQYdvO8/s400/Rob-Allen-Speargun-Rollergun.jpg" title="roller gun speargun" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hand loadable Roller with loading Loop</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Hand Loadable Roller Guns</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">With
the hand loadable guns, there are a few ways to set the guns up. Logically, the
idea is to have the least amount of tension at the muzzle (so you can pull the
bridle off the muzzle) and still have the rubber stretched to its optimum,
which is between 350% and 400%.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Basically the concept works as follows: the shorter the rubber the least
amount of load / pre-tension is needed to have the rubber at 400% when loaded
at the notch. So, less pre-tension means lighter load on the bridle at the
muzzle, and therefore it will be easier to load. The longer the rubber, the
more pre-tension you need to stretch the rubber to 400% when loaded on the
notch, and hence more load on the bridle at the muzzle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
means that with a shorter rubber with a short pre-tension, you can easily pull
the bridle off the muzzle but it very quickly becomes harder to pull and pretty
hard at the notch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The magic ratio that
I came up with was to have the rubber 38% of the barrel length with 140%
pretension. This would give you the least amount of load at the roller and
maximum at the notch. IE. On 100cm gun you have a 38cm 16mm rubber with +40%
(15cm) pre-tension you will have a gun with only 9kg load on the roller muzzle
and a whopping 60kg (400%) at the notch. [Potential energy kg/cm = 3908]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">As
you can see, the 60kg is fairly hard to load and not everyone will be able to
load a gun like this. (Approximately the same as loading a conventional 130cm gun
with a very short 20mm rubber)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DvpHnNoYGQA/VsX_DMQ84MI/AAAAAAAAE1k/J8ZyNJSDgCg/s1600/custom-coatesman-rollergun-setup.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="rollergun setup" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DvpHnNoYGQA/VsX_DMQ84MI/AAAAAAAAE1k/J8ZyNJSDgCg/s400/custom-coatesman-rollergun-setup.jpg" title="The right rollergun setup" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roller rubbers tensioned all the way to the luggs.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">On
the other extreme, you can make the rubbers longer and stretch them all the way
to the lugs on the handle. But, in order for you to be able to load the gun by
hand, the rubbers need to be long enough to reduce the load to below 20kg (Note:
In practice 20kg was the limit I was able to pull the bridle off the muzzle by
hand but 15kg is more practical) This means that the load at the notch will be
lower. IE. On 100cm gun if you have a 70cm 16mm rubber pretension all the way
to the handle, you will have a gun with 18,6kg load on the roller muzzle and
only (285%) 42,6kg load at the notch. [Potential energy kg/cm = 3987] <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Theoretically,
this should perform similar to the previous setup, but it would be a lot harder
to pull the bridle off the muzzle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Then
there is the middle ground, somewhere between the two extremes. This is where
you find a happy medium between rubber length and the pre-tension so that the
gun is comfortable to load. IE. On 100cm gun you have a 55cm 16mm rubber with +40%
(22cm) pre-tension, you will have a gun with 15,6kg load on the roller muzzle
and (321%) 46kg load at the notch. [Potential energy kg/cm = 3853]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
setup is similar to the setup recommended by Manny Sub, the manufactures of the
Power Roller Head, and has already been proven to be very effective.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Now
all three setups all produce similar kg/cm potential energy and theoretically
should all perform equally as well. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each
setup had its pro’s and con’s, from loading to performance. This was the first
aspect I wanted to test in the pool. I chose to use a 110cm gun to test, as it
would fit in with other tests I wanted to do and it is also one of the most
popular length guns being used. The lengths of rubber were calculated by what
should be loadable by hand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HZEurG8tFZ8/VsYEosixIPI/AAAAAAAAE2k/0W1Nl_5jsHY/s1600/foam-speargun-testing-target.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="spearguns pool test" border="0" height="384" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HZEurG8tFZ8/VsYEosixIPI/AAAAAAAAE2k/0W1Nl_5jsHY/s640/foam-speargun-testing-target.jpg" title="pool testing spearguns" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Thick EVA foam used for roller gun experiment.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
tests were done in a pool using a 26cm thick solid EVA block at a distance of 4m
from the end of the spear. (Approx.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>6m
diver) Each setup was tested 2-4 times, taking an average of the 2 most
consistent results of how deep the spear penetrated the foam block. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 498px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 18.8pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td nowrap="" style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 18.8pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="70"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Rubber<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 18.8pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="70"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Result<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 18.8pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 357.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="357"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 17.85pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 17.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="70"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Std<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 17.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="70"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">34cm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 17.85pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 357.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="357"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">16mm
@ 60cm + 18cm pretension (12,5kg -43,5kg = 3765 kg/cm)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 17.85pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 17.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="70"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Full<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 17.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="70"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">28cm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 17.85pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 357.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="357"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">16mm
@ 80cm full pretension (15,3kg -37,9kg = 3772 kg/cm)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 17.85pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 17.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="70"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Short<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 17.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.3pt;" valign="bottom" width="70"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">34,5cm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 17.85pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 357.2pt;" valign="bottom" width="357"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">16mm
@ 42cm + 6cm pretension (6,9kg -55,7kg = 3820 kg/cm)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
shorter rubbers performed better than the longer fully stretched rubber; possibly
due to two factors. The first is that the 80cm rubber is not working at its
optimum 300-400%. Secondly is the fact that it does not have as high notch load
as the others. This is all even though a similar amount of total potential energy
is being used. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Theoretically,
in perfect situations, if you drive a spear with the same amount of kg/cm,
regardless of where the energy is released, they should all have the same
velocity. This test showed that there are other dynamics at play, and so the
results were vastly different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
gun that felt the best however was the 80cm full tensioned gun. The 42cm short
setup had noticeable recoil, not as much as a conventional gun but more than
what I am used to. It was also the hardest to load, even though the bridle came
off the muzzle the easiest. The 60cm std. setup in this scenario worked best,
with good performance and no recoil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">14mm Vs 16mm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Next
was to test a 14mm and 16mm fully stretched rubber scenarios that should be loadable
by hand. Working on the 20kg muzzle load limit, the rubbers were calculated to
a similar kg/cm potential energy. This would be a good comparison to the
previous test and also compare the 14mm and 16mm in a similar power setup.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 489px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 23pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="height: 23pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 164pt;" valign="bottom" width="164"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">14mm
Vs 16mm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 23pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 23pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 23pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 23pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 23pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 19pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Rubber<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 19pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.9pt;" valign="bottom" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Result<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 19pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 19pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 19pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 19pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 19pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 65pt;" valign="bottom" width="65"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 18pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">14mm
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 18pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.9pt;" valign="bottom" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">32,0<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td colspan="5" nowrap="" style="height: 18pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 325pt;" valign="bottom" width="325"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">14mm
@ 55cm full pretension (20.9kg -45,8kg = 4818</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> kg/cm</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 18pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="88"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">16mm
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 18pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 75.9pt;" valign="bottom" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">40,5<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td colspan="5" nowrap="" style="height: 18pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 325pt;" valign="bottom" width="325"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">16mm
@ 70cm full pretension (18,9kg -43,8kg = 4482 </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">kg/cm</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
16mm full tensioned rubber performed very well, by reducing the length of the
rubber by 10cm it had a massive improvement in performance. Unfortunately the
gun was almost impossible to load by hand, and after the first shot I used the
load assist to load the gun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
14mm worked very well if you consider that it was not that difficult to load by
hand. Although it did not compare to the 16mm in penetration, it did fairly
well against the previous 16mm tests. If you consider that 14mm rubbers are
easier to load than the other 16mm rubber setups tested, then the 14mm rubbers
to me was the most practical. The gun also just felt really good and was very
accurate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Load Assisted 18mm Setup<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
next step was to test an 18mm rubber powered to 366% on a full pretension. Theoretically
you could get better performance by going to 400% stretch or adding an
additional rubber. This was the length rubbers that I had been using and found
to be well balanced. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
also wanted to compare the difference between the 7mm and 7,5mm spears. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oEWhVXrE2RM/VsX_xER0PjI/AAAAAAAAE1s/cHz9eI-q_Ms/s1600/rollergun-speargun-test-information.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Rob Allen spearguns converted to rollerguns" border="0" height="410" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oEWhVXrE2RM/VsX_xER0PjI/AAAAAAAAE1s/cHz9eI-q_Ms/s640/rollergun-speargun-test-information.jpg" title="Custom Rob Allen rollergun spearguns" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the roller guns made up for the test. In total 10 guns were made up for the experiment.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 275px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 23.4pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="height: 23.4pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 274.8pt;" valign="bottom" width="275"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">18mm
Rubber Load Assist - 7,5mm Vs 7mm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.3pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="height: 18.3pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 274.8pt;" valign="bottom" width="275"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">18mm
@ 60cm Full T (32kg -68,4kg = <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>7281</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> kg/cm</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19.3pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 19.3pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 144.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="145"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Spear<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 19.3pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 130.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="130"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Result<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.3pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 18.3pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 144.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="145"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">7,5mm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 18.3pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 130.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="130"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">53,0<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.3pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 18.3pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 144.7pt;" valign="bottom" width="145"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">7mm<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 18.3pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 130.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="130"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">45,0<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Although
this is a very tight rubber, it is not that difficult to load using a load
assist. When you pull the trigger, you definitely know that you are shooting a
much more powerful gun. The 7,5mm spear performed well as expected and went
through the 53cm block of foam. The spear had dropped a few cm but from
previous tests, I had expected this. Bear in mind that at 4m from spear point
(6m from diver), there are not many situations where you will take a shot at a
fish over this distance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
7mm spear on the other hand was a bit disappointing as far as penetration goes
and only went through 45cm, only 5cm more than the 16mm rubbers. It was however
accurate and fast, so it is an effective setup.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Just
as a comparison I took shots with a 1300 Rob Allen with 2 x 14mm rubbers at
70cm and a 1,8m 7mm shaft. The 1300 conventional gun performed as expected and
penetrated the target 45cm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
was not a surprise as we had done this side by side comparison before (see USM
Vol 14). What was interesting, was the fact that the gun had noticeable recoil
in comparison to the roller guns. The recoil was probably more noticeable
because I have not used a conventional spear gun in while and was no longer used
to the way the gun fired.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qO7PhcAAMm8/VsYAmZB_5GI/AAAAAAAAE10/9I6-8dtYBPg/s1600/Rob-Allen-Rollergun-Speargun.jpg" style="font-size: 12.8px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="ceramic vs acetyl bearings" border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qO7PhcAAMm8/VsYAmZB_5GI/AAAAAAAAE10/9I6-8dtYBPg/s640/Rob-Allen-Rollergun-Speargun.jpg" title="ceramic bearings vs acetyl nylon with encapsulated glass ballbearings" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1100 Roller Gun with std plastic bearings doing the job.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Ceramic Vs Standard Bearings<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">The last thing I wanted to test was the difference between the standard bearings made of acetyl nylon with encapsulated glass balls and full ceramic bearings. There have been a few guys that have already tested and proven that the standard bearings outperform rollers with bushes, so logic suggested that by improving the bearings you would improve performance.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">The reason why the bearings effect performance is that there is a certain amount of inefficiency and slowing of the rubber contracting as it changes direction around the roller. Improve this and you should improve performance. While researching this on the web there, I found so many different theories on this point alone (some even saying that it would make no difference at all) that a test was needed to get a conclusive answer.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">The test was done using the exact same rubbers and spears on an identical gun, just with ceramic bearings. The test was done as before at 4m spear tip, and the rubbers were alternated between guns so that there was no advantage or disadvantage by being used first or last.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 509px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 15.7pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td colspan="3" nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border: none; height: 15.7pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 216.75pt;" width="217"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Bearing:
Standard<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vs Ceramic at 4m<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.7pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 292.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="292"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.7pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.7pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 59.6pt;" width="60"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Rubber<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.7pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 90.65pt;" width="91"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Std.
Bearing <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 15.7pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.5pt;" width="67"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Ceramic<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.7pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 292.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="292"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.5pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 18.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 59.6pt;" width="60"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">14mm
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 18.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 90.65pt;" width="91"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">32<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 18.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.5pt;" width="67"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">35,5<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 18.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 292.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="292"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">14mm
@ 55cm full pretension (20.9kg -45,8kg = 4818 </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">kg/cm</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 18.5pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 18.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 59.6pt;" width="60"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>18mm <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 18.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 90.65pt;" width="91"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">45<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 18.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 66.5pt;" width="67"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">47<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 18.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 292.15pt;" valign="bottom" width="292"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">18mm
@ 60cm full pretension (32kg -68,4kg =<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>7281</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> kg/cm</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
comparative tests were conclusive that the ceramic bearings did improve
performance. Albeit only a marginal improvement, there is enough of an
improvement to make it a worthwhile upgrade if you have the money. Take for
instance that the 14mm with the ceramic rollers outperformed the 16mm std.
setups with the standard bearings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
This does however raise the question of how well are other rollers with
inferior bearings or just plain bushes performing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Can You Over Power A Roller Gun?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Overpowering
a roller gun has always been something in the back of my head. But because of
the low recoil and the fact that even with high powered guns, the shaft leaves
the muzzle before the muzzle lifts, I did not consider overpowering a problem.
This however came into question when I moved the target to 5m from the spear
tip when comparing the bearings. (NB 5m from spear tip is approx. 7m from
divers mask, this is an extreme distance and not a practical hunting distance.
Most divers will never take a shot at this distance, especially with a 1100)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<!--[if !supportMisalignedColumns]--><!--[endif]--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 4.65pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-table-layout-alt: fixed; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 542px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 20.3pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td colspan="5" nowrap="" style="height: 20.3pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 265.5pt;" valign="bottom" width="266"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Bearing:
Standard<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vs Ceramic at 5m<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="height: 20.3pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 276.35pt;" valign="bottom" width="276"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.65pt; mso-row-margin-right: 1.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td nowrap="" style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.65pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100pt;" valign="bottom" width="100"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Rubber<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.65pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="78"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Std.
Bearing<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15.65pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2cm;" valign="bottom" width="57"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Ceramic<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="height: 15.65pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 29.75pt;" valign="bottom" width="30"></td>
<td colspan="2" nowrap="" style="height: 15.65pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 276.1pt;" valign="bottom" width="276"></td>
<td style="border: none; mso-cell-special: placeholder; padding: 0cm;" width="1"><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.85pt; mso-row-margin-right: 1.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 14.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100pt;" valign="bottom" width="100"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">14mm
55cm full<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 14.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="78"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">22<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 14.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2cm;" valign="bottom" width="57"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">24<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td colspan="3" nowrap="" style="height: 14.85pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 305.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="306"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">14mm
@ 55cm full pretension (20.9kg -45,8kg = 4818</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> kg/cm</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; mso-cell-special: placeholder; padding: 0cm;" width="1"><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.85pt; mso-row-margin-right: 1.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 14.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100pt;" valign="bottom" width="100"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">16mm
63cm full<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 14.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="78"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">25<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 14.85pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2cm;" valign="bottom" width="57"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">24<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td colspan="3" nowrap="" style="height: 14.85pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 305.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="306"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">16mm
@ 60cm full pretension (25,2kg -52kg = 5634</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> kg/cm</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; mso-cell-special: placeholder; padding: 0cm;" width="1"><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19.5pt; mso-row-margin-right: 1.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 19.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 100pt;" valign="bottom" width="100"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">18mm
62cm full<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 19.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 77.95pt;" valign="bottom" width="78"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">25<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 19.5pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-right-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2cm;" valign="bottom" width="57"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">23<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td colspan="3" nowrap="" style="height: 19.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 305.85pt;" valign="bottom" width="306"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">18mm
@ 60cm full pretension (32kg -68,4kg =<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>7281</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> kg/cm</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border: none; mso-cell-special: placeholder; padding: 0cm;" width="1"><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr height="0">
<td style="border: none;" width="100"></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="78"></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="57"></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="30"></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="1"></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="275"></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="1"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
first tested the 14mm rubbers against the 18mm rubbers and when the results
came out so close together, I added in the 16mm rubber bands. Shockingly, the
ceramic bearings that had been better at 4m had now performed worse than the
std. bearings. The 14mm however had improved with the ceramic bearings, and had
even beaten the 18mm rubbers. The results got worse with the more power that
was going into the spear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
took this conundrum to Jeremy Williams from the Dive Factory who is a qualified
engineer and in my opinion, is one the best minds in the industry. He said it
is probably increased friction caused by the shaft vibrating or wobbling with
increased velocity. The ceramic bearings being more efficient, drive the shaft
a greater velocity and overpower the shaft. This is something that also occurs
with bow hunters when they don’t match the arrow shaft with strength of their
bow. There are also other factors like increased drag resistance the faster the
shaft travels. Basically, a shaft leaving the gun at twice the velocity of another
shaft will not travel twice as far, as the faster shaft will have an increased
amount of drag which becomes exponential the faster you go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
way to overcome this, is by increasing the stiffness of the shaft. This can be
achieved by either shortening the shaft or going thicker. On roller guns, the
shafts are already shorter than conventional guns and one could surmise that
the roller gun in this instance should be better. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">A
7.5mm shaft is the other option, but then there is greater drag and weight
which will need to be taken into consideration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Before
I can come to a conclusion on these theories, they will need to be tested. The
things I need to test are the difference between shaft lengths and thicknesses
with guns that are at full or maximum load. I think for now it is safe to make
the assumption that if you are going to go for a high powered roller gun, that
you should keep the shaft shorter and go up to 7.5mm thickness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">It
is also good to bear in mind that you need to keep this example in context of
the size of the gun (1100) and what it is already achieving. As in previous
test, the 1100 roller out performed all the conventional 1300 guns at 5m from
the spear tip (see USM Vol 14). What is interesting, is how well the 14mm gun performed,
especially with the ceramic bearings. This has really given me even greater
confidence in this setup.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HMz-qO5JY44/VsYBXwpV6qI/AAAAAAAAE2E/INuu5qNfF3Y/s1600/rob-allen-jeremy-williams-rollergun-prototype.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="protype rollergun" border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HMz-qO5JY44/VsYBXwpV6qI/AAAAAAAAE2E/INuu5qNfF3Y/s640/rob-allen-jeremy-williams-rollergun-prototype.jpg" title="Rob Allen prototype speargun" width="409" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Rob Allen Prototype Roller Gun with Ceramic Bearing</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">It
is still difficult to come to a decisive conclusion on what the ultimate setup
for roller gun is. Each person reading this will have come away with a different
perspective according to what their spearfishing environment is like, and what
their needs are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With some scenarios, certain
setups are more apparent, like if you want as much power as you can get, then
18mm rubber full pretension to over 360% is going to give you what you need. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
If that’s not enough, then just like with any other spear gun, there is a time
when you have to go longer to get more. I think in many cases, a slightly
longer well balanced gun is better than trying to get too much out of a short
speargun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">With
other set ups it is going to be up to personal preference, and what each person
can practically load. It is finding the balance between ease of loading and how
much power you need. I think that many guys, myself included, underestimate the
roller guns at first and go for more power than they really need. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Since
doing this exercise and rubber test I have come to certain conclusions based on
what I have found out. They might not be what some guys would recommend, but
based on my needs, this is what I have personally changed my guns to. I hope
this will give you an idea on how and why I use certain guns setups. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">As
in the test I have separated my guns into hand loadable guns, which are ideal
for shore diving and competition scenarios where you want to be quick and
efficient. I then have rubbers setups that need a load-assist. These are great
when targeting specific species where extreme power is needed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">My Hand Loadable Set Ups<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Gun:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 900 Carbon Rob Allen<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rubbers:</b> 14mm @ 45cm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Pretension:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> Maximum<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Spear:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 1.3m 6.6mm shaft – double wrap 1.8mm Dyneema<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">My
900 is probably one of my favorite guns, I am constantly surprised at how well
this little gun performs. It is fairly easy to load by hand and is just crazy
good to shoot. I use this gun mainly for reef species and is basically my
replacement for my std. 1100 with a single 16mm rubber and 7mm shaft. That said,
this gun would probably out shoot most single rubber 1200 guns. I use a 6.6mm
shaft as it is quick and accurate to the end of a double wrap. It still has
loads of punch and it even went right through a 35kg Daga Salmon (Mulloway) when
used for a second shot. The shot was not close and went in mid way and out the
gill plate on the other side!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Gun:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 1100 Carbon Rob Allen<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rubbers:</b> 14mm @ 55cm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Pretension:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> Maximum<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Spear:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 1.5m 7mm shaft – double wrap 1.8mm Dyneema<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
is my other favourite gun. The 14mm rubbers make this gun loadable by hand even
with the rubbers loading at 400%. Like with the 900, the 14mm rubbers are so smooth
and it is just such a joy pulling the trigger. This is my all round gun and I
use it for reefies in clean water, and if a good size gamefish comes past, I
know I have more than enough power and range to get the job done. This gun has
pretty much replaced my standard 1200 with single 18mm rubber and 7mm shaft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
have chosen to go with the 14mm rubbers over the 16mm rubbers that are also
hand loadable, even thought the 16mm have better performance. The 14mm rubbers
are marginally easier to load, especially off the muzzle. I also like the fact
that there are no strings to wrap around the lugs to pretension the rubbers. It’s
very quick and convenient to just pull the rubbers down and onto the lugs when
I go dive. Plus the 14mm rubbers on the carbon barrel just feel really amazing,
and there is no recoil at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pdaIjRTUo4o/VsYCQkvndEI/AAAAAAAAE2Q/MHO1NsHU9QI/s1600/Chris-Dagga-35kg-A.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="roller gun spearfishing" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pdaIjRTUo4o/VsYCQkvndEI/AAAAAAAAE2Q/MHO1NsHU9QI/s400/Chris-Dagga-35kg-A.jpg" title="spearfishing roller gun" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">35kg Daga taken with a 1100 / 16mm rubbers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">My Set Ups Using a Load Assist<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Gun:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 1100 Aluminum Rob Allen<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rubbers:</b> 18mm @ 60cm / 16mm @ 60cm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Pretension:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> Maximum<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Spear:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 1.5m 7. 5 mm shaft <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>/ 7mm shaft – double wrap 2mm Dyneema<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
was my first roller gun and I have kept it for my more powerful setups. If I am
hunting Daga and need of maximum power, then I switch to the 18mm rubber and
7,5mm shaft. If I am hunting gamefish and need speed, accuracy and distance, I
put the 16mm rubbers on and change to the 7mm spear shaft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
is where the roller gun becomes very versatile as I can swap out rubbers and
spears in a minute or two and have a totally different gun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Gun:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 1200 Aluminum Rob Allen<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rubbers:</b> 18mm @ 65cm / 16mm @ 60cm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Pretension:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> Maximum<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Spear:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 1.6m 7 mm shaft – double wrap 2mm Dyneema<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
made this gun up as a blue water gun, specifically for fish like Wahoo and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Couta. I tried 18mm rubbers but only had a
7mm shaft and missed twice on long shots on Kakaap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shots were long, difficult, and I probably
would not have attempted the shots had I been using a standard 1300, so it is
difficult to read too much into the 2 fluffed shots. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
I changed to the 16mm (took the 60cm rubber off the 1100) and the gun shot
really well with the 7mm shaft, and I shot a number of good sized Couta and
Tropical Amberjack. I was enjoying this setup, so I just stuck with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
16mm rubber and 7mm shaft setup is nicely balanced. I think the high powered 18mm
starts to overpower the 7mm shaft and it might be starting to wobble or
vibrate. This is only an assumption at this point and I need to try the 18mm
rubbers with a 7.5mm shaft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 168.0pt;">
<br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R1U-Oe_elfk/VsYEQn9lvgI/AAAAAAAAE2c/MHlG2-Lr8q0/s1600/mjk-marlin-mamba-rollergun.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="marlin roller gun" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R1U-Oe_elfk/VsYEQn9lvgI/AAAAAAAAE2c/MHlG2-Lr8q0/s400/mjk-marlin-mamba-rollergun.jpg" title="Spearfishing Marlin Roller Gun" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MJK Marlin using 1300 MAMBA Roller gun</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Gun:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 1300 Aluminum / Carbon Rob Allen &
Carbon Mamba Barrel<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rubbers:</b> 18mm @ 75cm - 70cm <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Pretension:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> Maximum<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Spear:</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> 1.7m 7.5 mm shaft – double barb - double
wrap 2mm Dyneema<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
have made a number of these canons to take on trips, and am still to come home
with one. This is mostly from guys who have large multi rubber guns who see what
the rollers can do and then won’t give them back. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
I have made variations with Aluminum, Carbon and Mamba barrels. My favourite
without a doubt is the Custom Mamba. I think the extra volume and weight give
the gun the right amount of inertia with the high powered 18mm rubbers. The E.X.
Rob Allen Carbon barrel is great because it is so light that it makes the gun
feel a lot smaller in the water. This helps with minor recoil that this canon
is going to have. I found the gun is a bit buoyant at the muzzle and could
cause you to shoot a little high, adding a little lead in the muzzle sorted
this problem out easily. NB - this buoyancy is something you need to consider
with carbon roller guns<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
often get asked if this is the ‘ultimate’ blue water gun. It is difficult to
say, as you can find more powerful guns out there. But, you have to consider
the size of the gun and ease of diving with it. When you take that into consideration,
I can’t think of a better setup. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
down side, if there is one, is that this gun is not easy to load at full power,
even when using a load assist (which is essential). Some guys drop it down a
notch so that it’s not so intense. Craig Heslop recently took one to Latham
Island for doggies and in his pre-trip pool tests, he was accurate at a
whopping 9m with the gun. And that was not at full power…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Final Comments<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">You
probably noticed that all the guns I currently have setup, are all full pretension
rubbers that don’t use the standard line that is wrapped around the lugs to
pretension the rubbers. I just find them a lot less of a hassle and I can
change out the rubber quicker if need be. It’s also easier to just pull the
rubbers off the lugs when the gun is not in use, as apposed to unwinding the
strings and loosening the rubbers that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Also,
when using a load assist, it just makes sense to maximise your power, and the
only way you will get more power out of a standard pretension rubber, is to go
over 400% stretch which is not advisable as this will just reduce the life of
the rubber dramatically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">With
the hand loadable guns, you could go with the 16mm standard setup and this
works well, as proven in the tests. The advantage is that you are only stretching
the rubbers to 300%, so they should last longer than using the 14mm rubbers
stretched to 400%. Again, the ease and simplicity of no strings makes the 14mm
a winner and it just looks better, if that has any value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">As
far as the bearings go, ceramic bearings are definitely worth investing in. The
guns I have been using them in have been brilliant and the hard ceramic bearings
show no signs of deterioration from sand or general wear and tear. I think they
will have a longer life span than the standard bearings, but only with time
will we know for sure if this is the case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
hope that this article has helped shed some light on many of the questions
surrounding roller gun setups, and which setup will suit your needs best. There
are still some things that need to be ironed out, like the potential ‘over
powering’ issue and what spears are best suited to solving that problem. But in
the meantime, there are setups that are proven to work incredibly well and I
think this problem only really effects guns where guys might be wanting to get
too much out of the gun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
think that the biggest thing you need to take away from this article, is of how
well some of the setups perform and how versatile one gun can be. I am
definitely going to be doing more experimenting and I am sure I will find some
more gem setups for my arsenal.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Cheers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Chris Coates</span></div>
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Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-6499977037377297032016-02-18T15:30:00.002+02:002021-02-04T06:05:25.860+02:00The Ultimate Rollergun Test<span style="font-size: x-small;">Original Article published in The Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine. Words by Chris Coates</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eABOoJNIzao/VsW9ts8zUOI/AAAAAAAAEzM/b4SAa2kqNQk/s1600/mamba-rollergun-mjk.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eABOoJNIzao/VsW9ts8zUOI/AAAAAAAAEzM/b4SAa2kqNQk/s640/mamba-rollergun-mjk.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MJK doing some roller speargun testing in Qatar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><h4 style="text-align: center;">Watch the <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuhswj4358_x7hZ14Kw6U-NFYRhnJ4qto" target="_blank">Unrolling the Rollergun Video Series</a> - Watch Now</h4><div><br /></div><div>
If you spend any time on videos on the net or reading spearfishing forums, you would have probably come across the rollergun concept. The whole roller idea is not new, it just seems to have made a re-emergence over the last few years, specifically in Europe.<br />
<br />
For the most part, the rollers have been seen on wooden guns made by enthusiastic craftsmen and speargun designers, although some of the spearfishing manufacturers in Europe have also made rollerguns. They have somehow not made it into the mainstream or even become remotely popular. Well at least by comparison to<br />
the incredible claims and results, the system seems to get by the ardent converts.<br />
<br />
Half the problem for us outside of Europe is that we have little use for small 700mm guns and the wooden speargun that has made the system successful. So we have had little exposure or experience with the rollergun. This is however all starting to change, as we see more and more commercially made conversion kits developed for conventional spearguns. For the most part they are still ‘European style’ and are more suitable for small guns with 14-16mm rubbers. But in Australia, a chap is making conversion kits that fit our style of guns perfectly.<br />
<br />
Now, rollerguns are supposed to be more efficient than conventional guns with a 110cm gun outperforming a standard 130cm gun, (well supposedly). After doing much research, it became fairly apparent that the guys seemed to favour the smaller rollerguns and the bigger guns did not work. The frustrating thing was that I could not find a conclusive test where a number of guns were tested, let alone what kind of setups were used. They would often just state that they compared the 110cm roller to a 130cm double rubber gun. But in my experience, very few guys have their guns set perfectly and just saying double rubbers on a 130cm means absolutely nothing.<br />
<br />
So off I set on a quest to find out for myself if the roller system did in fact, work and would it work in the environments we hunt in, and specifically large pelagics. Can you imagine being able to reduce your gun size and increase your power and range? Mohammed Al Kuwari from Qatarsub got me in touch with Emanuel from Roller Power Head in Australia, who was kind enough to send me a sample kit to test. The kit came the night before a yacht trip up the KZN coast and I went straight to the workshop to fit it. I thought it would be quick, but a good few hours later, I had got my head around the instructions and it was done.<br />
<br />
I got a few good fish on the trip with the 110cm gun I converted. It performed very well considering that I did not even have the gun set up correctly. When I got back I landed up on skype with Emanuel for hours, working through everything, from the actual concept and functionality, to the way they need to be set up. A couple of days later it just so happened that I was booked to go and visit Mohammed in Qatar who had also been experimenting with the roller heads.<br />
<br />
Qatar was to be an incredible adventure and you can read more about it in the article “Rolling in Qatar”. The great thing, is that Mohammed had ordered a number of roller kits to test, and we got stuck in converting a whole bunch of guns to test. The one really great thing about Qatar and the Arabian Gulf in Spring time is that the spearfishing is excellent. I had a chance to go on a couple dives and the number and quality of fish you shoot is on epic levels. The reason I mention this, is that I realized that this was the perfect place to test the gear. Here you shoot more big fish in one day than what you could hope to in a whole year at home. This gave me months of water time in a day, and the learning curve was dramatically reduced.<br />
<br />
Those first days in the water were extremely successful, even though I had<br />
not fully understood how to set up the gun correctly. So after some more consultations with Emanuel, Mohammed and I set out to test the guns before heading back out to sea again. In order to make the test work, we needed to give all the guns a ‘level playing field’ making all the spears (Rob Allen single barbed spears) shooting line; the same. All the rubbers on the guns were changed and new rubbers were fitted. For a target we made up a 60cm x 60cm x 6.5cm thick eva foam target.<br />
<br />
Now there are probably hundreds of different speargun configurations we could test. The main question we wanted answered was if the rollergun could replace our standard setups we use for everyday gamefish hunting. All the documented tests show the rollergun being extremely good in short lengths, but nothing on bigger guns.<br />
<br />
I wanted to test the roller against my 2 favorite guns; this would give me a good idea of what the rollergun was capable of. These two are the 130cm with a single 20mm rubber cut to 74cm using a 7mm spear. This is the exact setup I used when I stoned the 500lb marlin. This gun however, was very difficult to load and with my dislocated shoulder I had to use a load assist. My other favourite is the 130cm with 2 x 14mm rubbers cut to 70cm with a 7mm spear. This is currently my go to gun and is amazingly accurate and quick, and with the easy loading it makes it a fantastic gun for most pelagic hunting. I was also quite keen to see how these 2 guns faired against each other. Some might ask why we did not test a 130cm with 2 x 16mm, well in the past I have found this gun not to be as accurate and nice to shoot compared to the 2 others and in my opinion 2 short 14mm rubbers is better than 2 longer 16mm rubbers.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XXqY0VvfjSQ/VsW_19rM-gI/AAAAAAAAEzw/1Yh3xV67vLs/s1600/bluewater-speargun-ROLLERGUN-TEST-2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="408" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XXqY0VvfjSQ/VsW_19rM-gI/AAAAAAAAEzw/1Yh3xV67vLs/s640/bluewater-speargun-ROLLERGUN-TEST-2.jpg" title="MJK testing spearguns" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MJK & Coatesman Testing the Rollerguns</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the rollergun side, we made up the following guns all with 18mm (the proposed maximum by the manufacturer)<br />
130 cm using a 7mm shaft<br />
120 cm using a 7mm shaft<br />
120 cm using a 7,5mm shaft<br />
110 cm using a 7mm shaft<br />
100 cm using a 7,5mm shaft<br />
We also threw in some American artillery, a bluewater gun with 4 x 16mm bands and an 8.5mm shaft.<br />
<br />
Mohammed invited 2 of his good friends, Brian and Richard Parkinson from Trinidad and Tobago. Brian would help in the water and Richard would take notes as he was unable to get in the water and was still recovering from a serious shark attack a few month ago, while freediving in the Seychelles. It was a perfect team.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RJqJmcVSul4/VsW-s9pAx8I/AAAAAAAAEzY/PvrKvsKJnB0/s1600/rollergun%2Bspeargun%2Btesting%2Btarget.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="424" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RJqJmcVSul4/VsW-s9pAx8I/AAAAAAAAEzY/PvrKvsKJnB0/s640/rollergun%2Bspeargun%2Btesting%2Btarget.jpg" title="speargun testing" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">EVA foam target for testing the Rollerguns</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The test was done in a pool at 28deg C with perfect vis. The first set of tests was done with the target 4m from the end of the spear tip. This was set as a practical distance at which most guys shoot their fish with a single wrap of line. We gave the job of shooting to Mohammed who has become famous with his accurate kill shots on film. Brian and I would take care of the measuring and documenting each shot.<br />
<br />
We started with the 2 std 130cm setups. This would give us a good yardstick to start the test with. The 130cm with a single 20mm (note genuine 20mm rubber, not std. 19mm most manufacturers pass off as 20mm) this was insane to load. I don’t know how I used to do it all the time. This gun was very accurate and shot through the target with 144cm of spear passing through the other side of the target.<br />
<br />
The 130cm with 2 x 14mm rubbers was even more accurate than the single 20mm and the spear went through the target at a horizontal angle where the single 20mm had a slight downward projection, suggesting that it did not shoot in as straight a line as the 2 x 14mm. The 2 x 14mm was just behind the single 20mm on penetration, with 140cm of the spear through the target.<br />
<br />
Next was the first of the rollerguns: the 130cm. You need to pre-tension the rubbers in order for the gun to be effective, so we did a number of shots at different pre-tension settings to work out what worked best. As per Emanuel’s suggestion, we used a scale to determine the amount to tension the rubbers. The results we show here are the best of the shots where the pre-tension was optimized.<br />
<br />
The 130cm roller shot incredibly. It was more accurate and straight than the standard guns and the spear passed right through the target onto the shooting line. We were told by Emanuel that the 130cm would not perform as well as the shorter guns, as the bigger the gun the more difficult they would be to load, and that we would not be able to load enough to make the gun reach its full potential. But a couple of days before loading a roller in the sea, I realized that a load assist would make it easy and I made up a couple of load assists that enabled us to load far more pre-tension than we thought was possible.<br />
<br />
Next was the 120cm one with a 7mm spear, which went 141cm through and was accurate and one with a 7.5mm shaft, which went 144cm through the target and was also accurate. My pick was the 120cm with the 7mm shaft. It basically performed as good, if not better than the 130cm. (Note: when we did the 4m test we had not maxed out the rubbers on the 120cm yet, and you could probably get better performance with more pre-tension. The pre-tension was set to 24kg at the muzzle)<br />
<br />
Now the test started to get interesting as we went to the shorter rollerguns. The 110cm with a 7mm spear and 24kg pre-tension at the muzzle, shot 120cm through the target and was accurate with very little drop in the spear. The 100cm rollergun with a 7,5mm spear at 23kg pre-tension went 93cm through the target. The shot was accurate but it did drop a little. (Note: neither of these guns performed well when the rubbers were not pre-tensioned properly.)<br />
<br />
Lastly, we got out the 4 x 16mm rubber blue water gun to see how it faired against the ‘small’ guns. We were fairly disappointed, to say the least. The gun shot very low, but the spear did go through the target 167cm. Almost as good as the 130cm roller. The angle of the shaft’s projection was also downward and the spear hit about 25cm below the centre of the target. We felt it pointless to test the gun further on the 6m test. (Note: later slow motion video analysis of the blue water gun revealed extreme recoil and muzzle flip, which lifted the back of the spear making the spear slow and drop).<br />
<br />
Next the target was moved to 6m from the end of the spear tip marker. Again we started with the standard gun setups. The 130cm single 20mm setup disappointed me by dropping below the target. The 130cm with 2 x 14mm did better and went 20cm through the target. The shot was very low, about 15cm below the centre.<br />
<br />
Next was the 130cm roller. We only got good results when we really maxed out the pre-tension. (‘maxed out’ is when we pulled the rubber underneath toward the handle so that it was at approx. 170% - 180% stretch, making it approx. 370% - 380% when the gun was loaded. Any more pre-tension than this was possible, but the pre-tension measurement at the muzzle was not going up radically and we did not want to stress the rubber past 400%) But it did really well shooting 80cm through the target, and was very accurate. The 120cm with 7mm spear although eventually going 45cm through the target, shot to one side. This type of inaccuracy is typically a recoil issue where the wrist gives way causing the spear to veer off to one side. The 120cm was the only carbon guns we tested and the lack of inertia could be the cause. It was interesting to note that even under these conditions, there was still no muzzle flip so the gun shot level.<br />
<br />
Then we tested the 110cm roller and when we maxed out the pre-tension the gun shot 20cm through the target and was even more accurate than the 130cm with only a 5cm drop! Best of all, it felt really good to shoot, and for me that is one of the most important things about a gun.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rgsUSTNe63Y/VsXBLCDqU_I/AAAAAAAAEz8/K_IGnDV4ZoQ/s1600/coatesmans%2Brollergun%2Btest.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="446" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rgsUSTNe63Y/VsXBLCDqU_I/AAAAAAAAEz8/K_IGnDV4ZoQ/s640/coatesmans%2Brollergun%2Btest.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rollergun Spearfishing Test Results</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
After the pool test, the four of us discussed in length what we felt that the test had revealed. Basically the consensus was that the rollergun had impressed us and that it definitely works. I think a safe bet would be to use it as a step-up replacement to your standard 130cm, as you don’t want to be just matching the performance, you want more and the 120cm will do that for you. I suggest using a metal barrel or adding ballast if you are intending on powering this gun up. I used the same 120cm on 2 dive days shooting many big Couta in the high 20kg bracket. At first I had very little pre-tension and some shots did not go clean through and just poked through the other side. When I tensioned up the gun a little - nowhere near to where we tested the gun - the spears were all going through and the gun was very accurate.<br />
I think the 110cm is a fantastic gun, and will be a great all rounder. Especially if you need a shorter gun, for either bad vis or maneuverability. The 110cm will give you the assurance that if you do come across something bigger than normal you will still have the juice and distance to get the fish. I experienced this when I went to shoot Snapper. I took the 110cm and landed up shooting my biggest fish of the trip, a 27kg Couta. This is something I doubt I would have been able to do with a standard 110cm.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DPMNYWNXn4k/VsXEXI6LGKI/AAAAAAAAE0I/utqIuK21L0M/s1600/Rollergun-Chris_Coates_Couta_27kg-small.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DPMNYWNXn4k/VsXEXI6LGKI/AAAAAAAAE0I/utqIuK21L0M/s640/Rollergun-Chris_Coates_Couta_27kg-small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Coates - 27kg Couta with 1100 Rollergun</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I did not give enough time to the 100cm roller and it would be great to experiment with lighter setups for reef fish. If the same applies with the bigger guns, I think that there will be some very dynamic guns in the shorter range and with the ability to easily put more load on the guns, I think they will be seriously potent.<br />
<br />
But here is the clincher: the roller muzzle gun is not a basic idiot proof gun. It is fairly technical and requires a fair bit of understanding to get the most out of it. You will also need to have the technical ability to follow the kit instructions and set the gun up. After setting up around 10 guns I eventually got the roller head conversion done in under 2 hours from start to finish.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rHSRsew47lc/VsXFEJhNL_I/AAAAAAAAE0g/X2BtqB87yhc/s1600/MJK-28kg-couta-rollergun-testing.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rHSRsew47lc/VsXFEJhNL_I/AAAAAAAAE0g/X2BtqB87yhc/s640/MJK-28kg-couta-rollergun-testing.jpg" width="344" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MJK 28kg Couta - Rollergun Testing Success</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The kits are also not cheap, some of the European roller heads without rubbers etc will set you back almost 200 Euro! The Aussie Roller Power Head is a fraction cheaper, but does come as a complete kit and does have comprehensive instructions. (Note: if you decide to go the Roller Power Head route, then follow the instructions to the letter, otherwise you will land up with many school fees, like we did) At the end of the day the roller is a far more technical speargun and for this reason there is more to go wrong, or not having set it up right. But the proof is in the pudding, and the rewards and performance are there.<br />
If you are one to try something new, then you should think about getting a kit and put it on one of your guns. The Roller Power Head Kit is available in two colours black or red, and comes with the following in the DIY kit:<br />
<br />
Barrel adapter to suit your speargun. (Six different adapters are available to suit a variety of aluminum, composite, carbon fibre spearguns)<br />
2 different types of dyneema lines for making the wishbone inserts & tension line, as well as the wishbone & Bridle and for tying the rubbers.<br />
Amber black rubbers of your choice (14mm; 16mm or 18mm)<br />
<br />
All the fittings are 316 stainless steel<br />
Comprehensive DIY instructions. (make sure you read them) Installation is straightforward and is a great project.<br />
<br />
So where to from here? Well, there are still loads more questions and combinations to test. What if you put a 19 or 20mm rubber on a 130cm? Will it work or will it flunk? For now I think it is safe to say that the 110cm – 120cm are exceptionally practical guns. The 130cm is great but you will need to get around loading the gun.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, on the last fish of my trip, Mohammed shot a 28kg Couta with a 130cm at almost maxed pre-tension, and at just past full single wrap distance (just over 5m from tip) at a very acute angle and the spear still made it through the other side. … Impressive!<br />
<br />
<br /></div>Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-85005211343352468932012-02-14T06:43:00.000+02:002012-02-14T06:43:02.796+02:00C-Ski 444 Spearfishing Boat Review<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d3a7XMgxP6M/TznlD1UJ_1I/AAAAAAAADIc/H-jhGgKmMi8/s1600/C-Ski444-BOAT-REVIEW-BACK-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d3a7XMgxP6M/TznlD1UJ_1I/AAAAAAAADIc/H-jhGgKmMi8/s320/C-Ski444-BOAT-REVIEW-BACK-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We have received a number of requests for boat reviews to appear in the mag. Especially since the requirements that make a boat a good spearfishing boat are very different to those of normal skiboat fishing. So with this in mind we now have a new Boat Review section, specifically taking into account the needs of spearfishermen.<br />
<br />
First off is the C-Ski 444. If you live in Natal and do any amount of spearfishing off a boat, you would have at some stage been on or at least seen a C-Ski in the water. The C-Ski has been very popular with spearfishermen for more than 10 years, and has been specifically designed with the spearfisherman in mind.<br />
<br />
The basic requirements for a surf launching spearo is to have an easily manageable boat on the beach that will get you through the surf to where you want to be quickly, efficiently and without breaking your back. This normally means that you will be looking at a smaller boat than most skiboaters, who tend to want bigger, drier boats with place for their fishing tackle and space to fish off.<br />
<br />
I called Steve Ellis from Fibretech to let him know that we wanted to do a review on his C-Ski 444 and was hoping he had a boat on hand that we could use for the test. Luckily he had 3 boats all with different motor configurations, waiting to be delivered to their new owners the following week.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ai61dMO2YD8/TznlOsvi0BI/AAAAAAAADIk/1eOgrSp8HrQ/s1600/C-Ski444_2511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ai61dMO2YD8/TznlOsvi0BI/AAAAAAAADIk/1eOgrSp8HrQ/s320/C-Ski444_2511.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I am very familiar with the C-ski 440 and 444 but have only been on boats with single 40hp and a 50hp 4 stroke. Now we were going to test boats with 2 x 30hp Yamaha motors, 1 x 60hp Suzuki four stroke and 2 x 20hp Honda four stroke motors respectively. A very interesting set of scenarios, as many spearos have been looking for a small boat which can take 2 outboards, but the previous 440 model was too narrow and did not have the buoyancy to handle dual motors.<br />
Read More Over Here - <a href="http://ultimatespearfishing.com/spearfishing-articles-stories/boat-reviews/c-ski-444-boat-review.html" target="_blank">C-Ski Boat Review</a><br />Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-47639263098262344652010-02-16T06:10:00.001+02:002010-02-16T06:11:46.181+02:00Johri Speargun Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/S3oYXuBuTEI/AAAAAAAACUY/w0NQ4QDSCDg/s1600-h/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/S3oYXuBuTEI/AAAAAAAACUY/w0NQ4QDSCDg/s400/015.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Leonard Van Wyk 65kg Yellow Fin Tuna - <br />
Shot with a 1.3 Johari Carbon Speargun</span></b></div><br />
<br />
<b>At a Glance:</b> The Johri Speargun is a rugged looking gun, you notice right away this was not something designed in the Med, this is a real South African type design. The gun has a fairly bulky handle covered in a blue latex material over the grip. The barrel fits into a full sleeve on the handle, with 2 stainless bolts to secure it, and has a deep plastic rail mounted on top.<br />
The barrel is noticeably different its not like the other carbon barrels on the market and has a matte finish to it. Maybe they have been looking at Europe as the trend is now tending to have everything in a matte finish.<br />
The muzzle is the standard tried and tested closed muzzle, able to take 2 rubbers.<br />
<br />
<b>First Impressions:</b> I was a little slow to warm up to the gun, but after actually having the grip in my hand I realised that it was actually very comfortable and it sat in my hand really well even tho I have small hands.<br />
The mechanism was very smooth and the line release does not work off the spear, but the sear. Which I will eliminate any jamming or problems with the line release not holding the line.<br />
I was curious to see how strong the barrel was so I put it against a table and put all my weight on it. To my surprise there was absolutely no flex! I had a small off cut and wanted to see how tough it was, so I smacked it with a lead weight. It took a real hard knock before it cracked. I think the barrel is amazing!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/S3oZcYBQqqI/AAAAAAAACUc/8ypqNX4q2_k/s1600-h/DSC01152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/S3oZcYBQqqI/AAAAAAAACUc/8ypqNX4q2_k/s400/DSC01152.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Pool testing the Johari Speargun</b></span></div><br />
<b>The Testa:</b> I guess the proof is in the pudding as they say, I jumped into a pool and took a couple shots at a target. The 1.3 that I was using was very accurate, hitting the middle at various distances. But it is one thing to shoot a target, another to hit a fish! So when the opportunity came up to go and dive the west coast for yellow tail I jumped at it.<br />
I landed up using a 1.2 reelgun, and landed up getting a Yellowtail and a Hottentot, both with good distance shots. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/S3oZy5uUeJI/AAAAAAAACUg/P1eWzOH7qsA/s1600-h/DSC01171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/S3oZy5uUeJI/AAAAAAAACUg/P1eWzOH7qsA/s400/DSC01171.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b> <span style="font-size: x-small;">My first Cape Yellow Tail in years with a 1.2 Johari Carbon Speargun and Reel</span></b></div><br />
<b>Overall Impressions:</b> My overall impression of the Johri speargun is good. Like I said took a while to get used to its rugged looks, but the more you have the grip in your hand the more it grows on you. I also cant fault the mechanics and the functionality of the gun, the mechanism is very smooth and the line release works perfectly. All the guns I used were accurate and there is definitely something about the angle of the gun in your hand that works.<br />
I think that the Johri will be a faithful speargun, one that will shoot straight and will go the distance for years to come. They are also priced right! A gun with a carbon barrel will only set you back about R1600.00 which is really good value for money. I think the best thing to do is try one for yourself.<br />
<br />
CoatesmanCoatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-65309651015445469882009-06-17T21:07:00.003+02:002009-06-17T21:23:57.839+02:00XFin Composite Spearfishing Blades and Foot Pocket Assembly<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here is a basic step by step way to fit your Xfins or other composite freediving fins in you foot pockets.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Some of the components my vary but the basic principals should be the same.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Step 1</span></span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk0GZaCn6I/AAAAAAAABsA/vuNvTOEYyCU/s1600-h/Step+1+trim+foot+pocket+ends.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk0GZaCn6I/AAAAAAAABsA/vuNvTOEYyCU/s320/Step+1+trim+foot+pocket+ends.JPG" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Trim foot pocket ends</span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">First you will need to trim the ends of the foot pockets sides. There is a small nib which normally fits into the plastic blades. I trim this at a 45 deg angle so it does not catch on line etc. Remember only trim a few mm ... </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Step 2</span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk1E4VvaVI/AAAAAAAABsQ/adUAyHSJXdI/s1600-h/step+2+insert+and+bolt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk1E4VvaVI/AAAAAAAABsQ/adUAyHSJXdI/s320/step+2+insert+and+bolt.JPG" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Insert Xfin into foot pocket</span></span></b></div><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Next insert the Xfin blade or similar into the foot pocket, pushing the blade as deep as you can. Very important rememeber that the bolt must not sit in the bend of the fin!! This should be about 10mm past the bend, or you will create a weak spot. If the bolt hole is on the bend you might need to trim the end of the blade that goes into the pocket so that it can go deeper in. It some times helps using an existing blade as a template so you know how much to trim. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Once you are confident the blade is sitting in the pocket and is not skew, mark the hole and drill to the correct size for the bolt to fit through.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">NB dont tighten the nut and bolt too much, just enough for the lock nut to take on the bolt and secure the blade.</span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Step 3</span></span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk3BocG60I/AAAAAAAABsY/33SF6tRxeTM/s1600-h/step+3+silicon+or+glue.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk3BocG60I/AAAAAAAABsY/33SF6tRxeTM/s320/step+3+silicon+or+glue.JPG" /></span></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Step 3 glue or silicon the grooves</span></span></b></span></div><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This next step is not always necessary, but will avoid some frustration down the line. Some foot pockets have larger grooves than others and don't grip the blades all that well, and pop out when bent.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I suggest gluing or siliconing the blades in place.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I personally use silicon (I try find the hardest grade) as you can always remove the blade and get the silicon off at a later stage. With glue that might not be an option. Other glues that work well are Sekaflex and in extreme cases Locktight.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Using a nozzel fill the grove with silicon, just enough to fill all the loose space....(with glue you use a lot less)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is a messy job and it will be handy to have a roll of Bog roll near. .... the best stuff for wiping silicon up.</span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Step 4</span></span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk6PkLKMWI/AAAAAAAABsg/SANWTrDDv9k/s1600-h/step+4+fit+sides.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk6PkLKMWI/AAAAAAAABsg/SANWTrDDv9k/s320/step+4+fit+sides.JPG" /></span></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk6WbKkeAI/AAAAAAAABso/HC1RGrSSTdo/s1600-h/step+5+fit+sides.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk6WbKkeAI/AAAAAAAABso/HC1RGrSSTdo/s320/step+5+fit+sides.JPG" /></span></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Getting the sides on can be tricky</span></span></b></span></div><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Pushing the sides on can be tricky ... oh and you will get the silicon on you hands!!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Bend the sides right back opening up the grove and push it onto the blade. The blade edge will slip into the grove and the silicon will fill the gaps</span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QvWeTBTmS_E&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QvWeTBTmS_E&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Here is a small video clip that might help.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Some of the silicon will ooze out, just wipe it up with bog roll or tissue paper.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Step 5</span></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk9PQABHvI/AAAAAAAABs4/BEq585Ylf8M/s1600-h/step+6+secure+sides.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Sjk9PQABHvI/AAAAAAAABs4/BEq585Ylf8M/s320/step+6+secure+sides.JPG" /></span></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now that you have the sides on make sure that the blade edge with the ridge on is properly in the groove. I use the handle of a hammer to tap the edges onto the blade. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I hope this helps you in getting you Xfin or similar composite freediving /spearfishing blades into your favorite foot pockets.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Cheers</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Coatesman</span></span>Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-34634903190742924252008-08-10T09:06:00.009+02:002008-08-10T15:19:19.662+02:00Rob Allen Bluewater Floatline Boingie<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/SJ6UC9_OI2I/AAAAAAAAAsQ/WYllGHjjD3U/s1600-h/Bluewater+Floatline+Boingie.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/SJ6UC9_OI2I/AAAAAAAAAsQ/WYllGHjjD3U/s400/Bluewater+Floatline+Boingie.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232782595771474786" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rob Allen Bluewater Floatline Boingie</span><br /></span></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">At a Glance:</span> It was last year while sorting out our kit for a Mozambique spearfishing trip when Rob Allen first showed me the new Bluewater Floatline Boingie. It was something the Dive Factory had been working on for some time, and had finally come up with the right tubing for the job.<br /><br />Rob showed me the tubings resistance to tearing when, or if it got a cut. And it was quiet amazing, normal tubing tears with only a little bit of pressure when it has a cut. But this tubing<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(a thermal plastic urethane,but Rob is not letting the cat out the back telling me exactly what the trade secret is.)</span><br />has remarkable 'notch toughness'. This is obviously very important as far as wear and tear on the tubing is going to be a factor.<br /><br />The tubing can streach to over double its length and is filled with soft braided dynema cord for strength. The Dynema cord limits the tubes streach to double its length and so takes all the pressure if stretched to the max with a big fish.<br /><br />Both ends ot the float line are finished off with barrel swivels and a neat plastic coated dynema loop, as the tube does not twist at all. This was kind of a concern as I thought it might be difficult to handle on the boat.<br />Jeremy and Rob showed me how the line does not tangle and is neatly wrapped up using the figure of eight method, and then is tied up with the Velcro strap on the one end.<br /><br />I found this a problem in the water, it was difficult to get the right side of the Velcro, if you get it wrong it pops off and was a pain to now have to wrap the whole thing again. The new system is a plastic buckle, like the one on the cray bag, with elasticized strap, much easier to clip closed and, when you have just got into the water, a one hand pinch releases the buckle which stays on the float end, much better.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">First Impressions:</span> Rob lent me one of the trial float lines and a couple of us headed up to Cape Vidal and a week or two later to Sordwana. Over the couple of dive trips I got to grips with the new bungie cord, it was in fact very easy to handle on the boat and did not tangle at all.<br /><br />Unfortunately we did not get any really big fish to test the floatlines stretch on. The cord is not as soft as traditional bungie cords, and it needs a fair amount of pressure to start stretching. The cord needs about 20kg to exert the full stretch, a little less than what is required to pull down a 35 lt float and a little more than what is needed to pull down a 20 lt float and or 2 x 11 lt foam filled. Rob said that it was designed this way in order to be able to control and handle large fish. The problem with very long bungie cords is that difficult to put pressure on the fish when you need to.<br /><br />I had rigged up my line with a 1m blue TPE (thermal plastic ethylene) bungie (3x stretch) going from my gun to the <a href="http://spearguns.blogspot.com/2007/06/rob-allen-ghost-leader-flasher.html">Ghost Leader Flasher</a>, and then to the Bluewater Floatline Boingie. This meant that the fish would have to run a fare distance before getting to the floatline.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Tester:</span> Earlier this year I was fortunate to go to Barra Point in Mozambique, we were diving some deep pinnacles 15km off shore,hoping to get some good Wahoo.<br />Because Wahoo have relatively soft flesh, I added another soft TPE bungie between the Ghost Leader Flasher and the float line. I figured that if I got a Wahoo the soft bungees would absorb enough of the pressure on the first fast run to help the spear not to pull out.<br />I used a 20m Floatline Boingie attached to two 11l roto moulded floats with a speed pouch between them, giving me 60m of line when all the bungees were fully stretched out before the first float. That plus the 40m in the speed pouch would give me plenty even if I got a chance on a small marlin ... hey you never know!<br /><br />We did not get any wahoo but I did get a nice Sailfish of 36kg, which tested the float line nicely. The sailly gave a very strong first run popping the speed pouch and releasing the 40m of stored line. The fish towed me around for about 15min and tired out fairly quickly pulling against Float line Boingie.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/SJ6Uxwk0RKI/AAAAAAAAAsY/QBJvdx_bPEE/s1600-h/Sailfish+headdown.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/SJ6Uxwk0RKI/AAAAAAAAAsY/QBJvdx_bPEE/s400/Sailfish+headdown.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232783399624918178" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">36kg Sailfish Speared off Barra Point Mozambique</span></span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impressions:</span> Although the sailly was not a 50kg Dog tooth or a marlin it gave me a fair idea of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Rob Allen Bluewater Floatline Boingie's</span> ability. When under pressure it stretched out doubling in length, and was very easy to handle and control. I would however probably go for the 30m boingie if I was targeting big tuna tho.<br /><br />CoatesmanCoatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-83911427158189896362007-11-26T05:44:00.000+02:002007-11-26T07:33:59.405+02:00Xfin Composite Spearfishing Fins<div align="left"><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/R0pDZ4j4waI/AAAAAAAAAlI/YqYYUqW-eqU/s1600-h/Image003.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136992436928168354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/R0pDZ4j4waI/AAAAAAAAAlI/YqYYUqW-eqU/s400/Image003.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"> The New Xfin Composite Spearfishing Blades </span><br /></strong><br /><div align="left"><strong>At a Glance:</strong> Well fins are fins ..right? And you could be forgiven for for going "Nice" fins. I suppose it is very difficult to judge fins just by looking at them. The workmanship looks very good and the finish is great. But does that make a fin work?</div><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><div align="left">Closer inspection reveals a slightly different rubber track running along the blade edge, the blade is also fairly wide and long. And immediately invokes all sorts of questions. Questions Steve Ellis from Fibretech is more than happy to start unravelling. He has been working on these fins for a couple years and testing a number of theories out there.</div><div align="left"></div><br /><br /><div align="left">The main thing is that we have a unique way of spearfishing on the east coast. We swim through surf, land up swimming for hours against currents all while trying to spearfish. Then there are the rocks in the shore break etc. So this started to mould ... "excuse the pun" the fins into what they are. </div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Steve being an accomplished Spearo wanted a fin you could easily swim on the surface for hours and at the same time give the drive needed for deep dives. A common fin to date has been the imported composites which are flat and don't have an angle up at the foot pocket. The fins work well going down or off the bottom, but that is where the love affair ends. They hack on the surface and you land up having to do huge bicycle kicks to move the fins.</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">The Xfin has a 20 degree angle and even in very heavy / stiff blades you notice how much easier that work on the surface.</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">One of my first questions was " wouldn't carbon be better than glass" but after chatting to Steve and understanding his theory on his blades it makes allot of sense. Glass (plus a secret polymer resin ... Steve is not telling) fins are extremely robust and are not brittle like the carbon fins .... a plus for coming in and out the surf. But the main thing is the way the blade converts the energy or another way conserves your energy. The idea is that the blade does the work not you. </div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/R0pM2Yj4wcI/AAAAAAAAAlY/34Mn1-cPZzw/s1600-h/Grabbed+Frame+3.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5137002822159090114" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/R0pM2Yj4wcI/AAAAAAAAAlY/34Mn1-cPZzw/s400/Grabbed+Frame+3.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong>Fist Impressions:</strong> I took a pair of Xfins on a recent trip, I chose a blade that was as stiff as the pair of imports that I currently own. Steve said I would need softer blades, but I was keen to compare apples with apples.<br /></div><div align="left">They were amazing, I dived 9 hours that day and even though the blades were very stiff I did not get the sore ankles and knees I was used to with my old fins. We dived mostly in water around the 18 -20m mark looking for large gamefish, and the Xfins were great in the deep.<br /></div><div align="left">The particular Xfins I was using were over 2 years old and you can see they had been well used, building my confidence in the promise of blades that would last.<br /></div><div align="left">After the trip I sent my foot pockets in to Steve and we chose a set of blades. I selected a blade that was softer than the pair I had tried. But I was still a little sceptical that the fins would preform and give me enough power of the bottom. </div><br /><br /><br /><strong>The Testa:</strong> I got my new Xfins yesterday arvo and decided to go and test them out. Interested to see how the lighter blades preformed. As I swam out I noticed that they were lighter, the wide blades did feel a little strange at first. I was kicking like I used to with the old flat blades and there was not same drive as before. I remembered how the pair I tried worked when using smaller movements, so I started to use smaller lighter movements and amazingly I did not slow down like I thought I would.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Overall Impressions:</strong> The concept really does work, I experimented with different strokes and it feels like I found the "sweet spot" where I was getting maximum speed out of least amount of effort. This I am sure will help with endurance on long dives allot, and help counter that fatigue that seems to make diving hard work when diving hard for a couple days in a row. So I had a great dive, and I think that with a couple more dives under the belt I will really grow into the Xfins.<br /><br /><br /><strong>In Parting:</strong> The <em>Xfins Concept</em> of a softer fin that through motion creates thrust works well. I think of the analogy of a Rock Cod and a Tuna fish. The Rock Cod has a larger soft tail while the Tuna a small hard tail. The Tuna is a faster fish but it vibrates its tail at a ridiculous pace to create that speed. I suppose if you think about it we are more like the old Rock Cod, and his movements are slower and more drawn out ...... and he still kicks down at a rate of knots. My point is that we would all like to be the tuna, but I think we are more like the Rock Cod. </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">Coatesman</div>Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-17133184697644363672007-07-16T13:36:00.001+02:002007-07-16T14:44:53.588+02:00Free Divers Weight Belt<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RptnCZyVROI/AAAAAAAAAdo/F_nEVkBbn-Q/s1600-h/free+divers+weight+belt.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RptnCZyVROI/AAAAAAAAAdo/F_nEVkBbn-Q/s400/free+divers+weight+belt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087773495024501986" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >The New Free Divers Weight Belt with the Glass filled Nylon Buckle<br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">At a Glance:</span> The Free Divers Weight Belt looks a little plain, and not as flashy as other weight belts on the market. I am reminded that Free Divers angle is to make practical equipment that works.<br /><blockquote>(Maybe this why it appeals to me, as I like everything plain and request my new guns in plain black and grey)</blockquote><br />The buckle is new and it is glass filled nylon, my first impressions are that it wont be strong enough. But closed inspection and a fair bit of pulling and twisting ... or trying to twist. Its strong, warranted not as strong as the standard stainless steel. But I don't think you will break it unless you take a hammer to it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">First Impressions:</span> I took the lead weights off my old weight belt which was one of Free Divers first belts which I found out at sea one day ...... (it work so I kept it)<br />I noticed that the new belt was slight less stretchy, again being the skeptic that I am I thought that this was not a good thing.<br />The lead weights went on fine and the thickness off the rubber belt is perfect, and its matt finish holds the weights nicely.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Testa:</span> After a number of dives over the last few weeks I have grown to like this weight belt, the 'lack' of stretch is a good thing. It is funny how you learn to live with things. My old belt used to sag allot when walking along the beach and I would have to make it rather tight to not flop around. The new Freedivers weight belt seems to just right.<br />The buckle seems to have held out and there are no signs of failing. The action of the buckle is good and releases quickly if the need arises.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impressions:</span> This not a flashy product ..... it is practical & functional. You can get weight belts that have a so called 'better' finish but lets be honest its not really a fashion show ..... well not for most of the guys I know.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">In Parting:</span> The weight belts are available in different sizes, one of the few belts that you dont have to cut or punch holes in. So if you are a skinny chap or a larger than life kinda guy you will probably find the right size belt for you.<br /><br />CoatesmanCoatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-23083771511779126492007-06-27T07:31:00.002+02:002011-08-02T18:28:33.236+02:00C-Ski 440 by Steve Ellis<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RoH2pIifFYI/AAAAAAAAAbs/vpSJv6TOMHA/s1600-h/P1010155.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080613041177826690" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RoH2pIifFYI/AAAAAAAAAbs/vpSJv6TOMHA/s400/P1010155.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><span style="font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;">"Spumbu" C-Ski 440 made by Steve Ellis at Fibre Tech</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">At a Glance:</span> The <a href="http://ultimatespearfishing.com/spearfishing-articles-stories/boat-reviews/c-ski-444-boat-review.html">C-Ski</a> 440 by Steve Ellis is an impressive boat, very 'clean and simple'. I think you would have to be a seasoned spearfishermen to appreciate its design. It comes without the flare and finished you find on show room floors.<br />
But having designed and built a boat, I understand it to be functional design. I will let you in ona little secret.... I copied much of what I saw Steve doing when I designed my boat.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">First Impressions:</span> Lets take a look at the C-Ski 440's layout. If you are looking at the C-Ski with a center console then this what you will get.<br />
Starting at the transom there is a small hatch, big enough for a yellow safety can and life jackets etc. It is quiet deep and any thing you dont want fish on can go in there.<br />
Next is the center console, the battery lives in here and there is some space for some extras. There is enough space on the center console for a gps / fish finder and compass. The steering and controls will be up to you to decide on ... and thats another whole discussion.<br />
The fish (main) hatch is nice and big, it was designed for spearfishing. Steve is an experienced spearo and designed the boat to suit the needs of spearfishermen. Thats why when you look at most smallish boats designed for fishing the hatches are frustratingly small.<br />
The fuel hatch takes one 25l standard fuel can (the flat one you get with the motor). There is space for a small 10l or15l spare.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Testa:</span> I was recently up in Mozambique and Iain Ewing brought his C-Ski 440 with. We had fairly good conditions, but did have the odd trip in some serious weather. So I think I have a pretty good idea of how the boat preforms on the water and its practicality for Spearfishing.<br />
The ride for a small boat is excellent, look there was the odd chop that the boat did bounce a little and the occasional spray of bow water. But I have been on most small boats available and this is the one that stands out. </div><div align="left" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5080626127943177618" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RoICi4ifFZI/AAAAAAAAAb0/yeAMMR8f_Vc/s400/DSC01728.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
Three of you were on the boat and one must remember Iain is no small chap. This did mean that we had to be conscious of each others movements on the boat. Especially when getting on and off between dives. The C-Ski is only 1.75m wide and being a mono hull does roll a little. There are very few small boats that dont roll, and normally the ones that dont are flat hulls and are terrible on the water.<br />
<br />
The sides are low in the water (check the pic of Spumbu on some other trip in Mozam) This makes getting on and off very easy. Some water does wash over the back but this is seriously not an issue, as there is nowere for the water to sit and drains off quickly. Even in the surf, the boat holds very little water on the deck and does not get bogged down at all.<br />
<br />
The deck space and functionality of the C-Ski is very good. We each had 2 or 3 guns and all our kit. Everything stashed away nicely in the gunbags and in the main hatch when launching and coming in. The only thing is that we had to have a spare 25l fuel can on the deck. I think this the only place that needs attention. We were traveling long distances and had to change tanks every day. Perhaps there should be space for 2 x 25l standard spuggs in the fuel hatch?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impressions:</span><br />
You can understand why so many seasoned spearo's land up owning one of Steve's C-skis. It's just so functional, no frills gonna do the job boat. I would say it is probably the best boat in its class. (3man single motor boat) There are some great hulls out there, but Fibre tech seems to be the only one making this size boat at the moment that works.<br />
<br />
I did some sums the other day for a guy for whom I am organising a boat for through Steve and the total cost came to R75 000. But thats for everything from start to finish, with all the bells and whistles. It seems allot but if you look at what else is available and you find your self coming back and having another look.<br />
<br />
The costs worked out like this:<br />
Basic Boat - R19 500<br />
Extras -R 9825 (center console, controls, keel strip, covers ect)<br />
Trailer - R 10 800<br />
40 Yamaha - R29000<br />
<br />
If you want to go with 2 motors the boats and cost sky rocket into the R100000.00 range very quickly, so thats another ball game altogether.<br />
<br />
Would I own one? ........ For sure!<br />
<br />
Coatesman<br />
<br />
See the new <a href="http://ultimatespearfishing.com/spearfishing-articles-stories/boat-reviews/c-ski-444-boat-review/item/c-ski-444-boat-review.html">Fibretech C-Ski 444</a> Here </div></div></div>Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-8797319369918190552007-06-19T14:23:00.000+02:002007-06-20T08:10:41.378+02:00Freedivers Aqua Glide Chicle Wetsuit Top<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RnfLmzz-lBI/AAAAAAAAAbk/cyOPnRcTgxI/s1600-h/chris+and+evan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RnfLmzz-lBI/AAAAAAAAAbk/cyOPnRcTgxI/s400/chris+and+evan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077750972487210002" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">At a Glance:</span> During late winter last year while picking up stock from Freedivers Shane showed me his Aqua Glide Chicle wetsuit hooded jacket. I had seen guys using them and had always wondered what the attraction was.<br /><br />The neoprene that suit is made from is ultra soft and stretchy5.5mm Yamamoto Chicle neoprene, which has no nylon material on the outside. It is smooth and is designed to dry quickly in the wind making it ideal for boat diving.<br />I could see how the suit would be warm and comfortable. But warning bells went of on the durability of the suit. Shane however convinced me to try one ......<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">First Impressions:</span> Being a very fussy person I did not think the guys at Freedivers would get the wetsuit right first time. But to my surprise the hooded jacket was so snug and comfortable, molding to my body perfectly. I was again surprised at how maneuverable I was even more than a standard double nylon 3mm suit and this was 5.5mm of neoprene!<br />Shane ran through how to care for the suit and I was on my way.<br /><br />I cant really remember the first dive in the Aqua Glide top, but I do remember being so snug and commenting to my mate that it was like waring a warm jersey. It was so good, I cant remember diving in anything else until late November<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Testa:</span> Over a couple months of seriously hard diving, mostly shore entry chicle neoprene wetsuit top was starting to prove its self. On the comfort and warmth side there is nothing you can say against the suit, all the glued seams were holding and did not show any sign of failing.<br />I had started to collect some nicks on the back from carrying fish along the beach and my spear had made a small tear on my arm. All of these were cosmetic and the small tear fixed with some wetsuit glue.<br /><br />But one Saturday morning in late November I tore the suit. The sea had warmed up considerably and the day turned into a stinker. The Cuta had turned on and I pushed a long dive to the point of exhaustion. Getting back to the beach some 2km from the car and a hand full of cuta on the stringer, I decided to take the top off and not bake in the already overbearing heat.<br />Not thinking I tried to take the suit off as per usual and tore open the back. While sorting all my kit out on the beach the suit had dried stopping it from sliding on itself. Usually I wet myself down and fold the bottom up and full it with water, then there is no problem.<br /><br />The suit was fixed, and have had no problems since. I suppose that could be the up side of stichless suits is that a little bit of glue can fix anything. (I would take it to Shane to fix they will do a better job and have some glue that is amazing, way better than the <span style="font-style: italic;">off the shelf stuff</span>.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression:</span> The Aqua Glide suit for me is the next step up in wetsuits. Remember when you first started diving in an open cell suit, and you felt so comfortable and warm vowing never to go back to a double nylon suit? Well diving in this suit is much like that, not that I would never dive in my standard open cell suit again - because of practical reasons. Its just that I wish I could dive in it all the time.<br /><br />The Chicle neoprene suit has a specific purpose, and like any specialist piece of equipment if you use it in the wrong application you will land up abusing it and it will not last. Crayfishing is one of those areas, you cant go wedging yourself in a barnacle infested crack to pull some buggs and expect to come out unscathed!<br /><br />If you do allot of boat diving, or don't really catch crayfish this is maybe an option. I feel the cold real easy, I even get cold in summer! And this suit has been fantastic in terms of warmth.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pro's:<br /></span><ul><li>Super comfortable<br /></li><li>Probably the warmest suit you can get.</li><li>Excellent for boat diving, as the it drys quickly and does not chill in the wind while traveling. So you don't need to take a windbreaker anymore.</li><li>Made locally - previous chicle suits were all imported with little or no backup service.</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Con's:</span><br /><ul><li>Not a 'tough' suit (keep in mind its purpose)</li><li>You need to look after it</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tip's:<br /></span><ul><li>Use loads of lubrication when taking on and off. This (for some) is a mission but worth it. Conditioner works better than shampoo, and aqueous cream is also good. I sometimes use a mix half aqueous cream and conditioner.</li><li>Dry the suit inside out, and out of direct sunlight. My suit started to grow moldy from never drying properly ...... might have been because I was diving every day.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Interesting Facts:</span><br /><ul><li> Yamamoto Neoprene is used by Picasso, Elios and other leading wetsuit manufactures.</li><li>Yamamoto Neoprene is not manufactured from petrol, but from limestone, which contains up to 99.7% of calcium carbonate.</li><li>Giving The wet suit a more even density of the neoprene (better insulation, better buoyancy, material resistant to compression damage)</li><li>Higher elasticity similar to that of human skin, thus adding extra comfort.</li></ul>CoatesmanCoatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-80523971916381310762007-06-15T09:21:00.000+02:002007-06-15T18:12:10.600+02:00Rob Allen Ghost Leader Flasher<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RnI-yjz-k_I/AAAAAAAAAbU/BLNvzBP0uuo/s1600-h/ROB+ALLEN+ghost+leader+flasher.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RnI-yjz-k_I/AAAAAAAAAbU/BLNvzBP0uuo/s400/ROB+ALLEN+ghost+leader+flasher.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5076188768327603186" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">At a Glance:</span> The Rob Allen Ghost Leader Flasher or the Inline Flasher just looks like another gizmo to clutter the dive bag. That said I am a flasher freak, during summer I dive with more Bling than some ghetto pimp rapper busting some gangsta hip hop in some seriously iced up jewelry. So a couple months ago when I feasted my eyes on the ghost leader flasher which was still in the experimental stages I was immediately curious. After a little bit of persuading, Jeremy Williams of the Dive Factory parted with his one. And ...... well I have not looked back.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">First Impressions:</span> One my first dive I realised had something special, however this is not going to be for every spearfisherman. I quickly found that if you like your kit simple this will not be for you. The rotating metal propellers hook your line quiet easily, and getting the line off your gun after swimming through the surf can be a bit of a trick. (I have found some solutions ....will tell you about them later tho.)<br />That first dive I did not see any fish and the buoyancy on the ghost line was wrong, but I could see the potential. In my mind I could almost see the Cuta swimming in on me.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Tester:</span> My first real taste of the potency of this flasher came on a recent trip to Mozambique. The Ghost Leader Flasher had had some mods since I first used it. There were now 2 floats on the line and they were positioned about 5m from the flasher allowing the flasher to sit 5m below the surface when resting. Not very deep, but better than it being on the surface.<br /><blockquote>This how my rig was set up for that trip:<br />From the gun I had a 3m bungie (which I later replaced with a shorter one, to bring the flasher closer to me), then the Ghost Leader Flasher which was set up with 5m of ghost line then the 3 spinning flashes on stainless cable, and another 5m of ghost line with the 2 floats. I then had a 5m bungie going onto my buoyline.</blockquote><br />Again I realised that this added a curve ball to the equation, taking that extra time to wind up and unwind ever time I got on and off the boat.<br /><br />That said the fish I had come in on me was amazing, and even though the vis was not great and the fish not thick. 70% of the fish I shot were coming in on the flasher above my head. One of the guys on the trip even commented that he could hear me working the flasher from the surface as the propellers whirred in the water.<br /><br />It was also great to watch the response of the Kingfish, they would be disappearing into the gloom and one or two pulls on the flasher and they would do an about turn and come back.<br />I even had a cuta come back on me, I had dived down and saw a cuta swimming off in the distance too far away to even chase. Leveling out I worked the flasher only to see the Cuta turn around and commit 'Taliban' as it swam literally onto my spear.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression:</span> It is totally new dynamic diving with the Ghost Leader Flasher, I am used to shooting most my fish from above or on the same level. Now the fish come in and you land up shooting up at a 45 degree angle. For some reason I have found that the Cuta are quiet skittish (or just excited) when coming in and dont like to be chased from this angle.<br />That said if you take aim without hesitating, you can normally hit the fish with out having to swim towards the fish.<br /><br />I don't think this will totally replace the traditional flasher, but it does give that extra edge to your diving. I have gotten so used to diving with the inline flasher that it has become part of my standard setup. And now as winter has approached I would have usually not taken a flasher as the cuta thin out, now I always have one. This payed off a couple weeks ago when a 20kg Cuta came near the surface to take a look at the flasher working behind me as I swam up the current. The fish promptly swam right underneath me 'Taliban Fish'.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The pro's and con's:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Basic Pro's</span><br /><ul><li>You draw the fish to you while on the bottom.</li><li>don't have to keep swimming after your flasher float.</li><li>It is part of your gear, not something else you have to swim with.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Con's</span><br /><ul><li>It can be a hassle, hooking your buoy line.</li><li>Having to carry the extra fish up the beach :-)</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tip's</span><br /><ul><li>Wind up only the ghost line on your gun, tie the rest of your buoy line up. This will reduce the line getting snagged.</li><li>I have found that the flasher works best with a long bungie to help floats as the bungie cord is buoyant. This means that when you pull down the flasher returns towards the surface quicker, creating a better action. This said I am currently diving with no bungie (simple rig) and it works fine.</li><li>When on the bottom face with the current that way your flasher is slightly in front of you, and you are facing towards the fish swimming up current.</li><li>The Ghost Leader Flasher also works great with a reef hook and reel gun. Find your favorite drop-off or pinnacle, hook up on the current side and dive around the flasher working in the current.</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">In Parting:</span> Rob Allen's Ghost Leader Flasher is definitely something to try out.<br /><br />Coatesman<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:-1;"></span>Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-58870142100610670072007-06-11T14:40:00.000+02:002007-06-11T15:18:54.036+02:00Mares X-Vision<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Rm1DCTz-k0I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/8l-2BpQlGqE/s1600-h/xvision.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Rm1DCTz-k0I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/8l-2BpQlGqE/s400/xvision.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074786062073500482" border="0"></a><font style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" size="4"><font face="trebuchet ms">Mares X-Vision Spearfishing Mask<br /><br /></font></font><font size="4"><font face="trebuchet ms"></font></font><div style="text-align: left;"><font style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" size="3"><font style="">This has to be my favorite mask, the X-Vision by Mares has served me well over the last 3 or 4 years. I have tried many masks but always come back to tried and trusted mask.<br /><br />I used to dive with the Super Occio by Cressi but once I moved over to the large vision of the X-Vision I found it almost impossible to go back. And here is the strange thing, the X-Vision has a very low internal volume. In Fact is lower than most so called "low volume" masks. There are some that are lower, but they dont have nearly as big area of vision.<br /><br />The silicon that the skirt made from is especially soft, and this combined with fact that the strap is attached to the skirt and not the frame makes the X-Vision extremely comfortable. There are many rip offs / pirate versions of the X-Vision but they are inferior mostly because the materials are not the same quality.<br /><br />Although the X vision is more expensive than some other popular masks I am yet to have an unhappy customer. I can recommend this mask with confidence, it is just the most fantastic mask.<br /></font></font><font size="3"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Rm1Hljz-k1I/AAAAAAAAAaE/lyZYtjp45Hg/s1600-h/purevision.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Rm1Hljz-k1I/AAAAAAAAAaE/lyZYtjp45Hg/s320/purevision.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5074791065710400338" border="0"></a><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I did however try the "upgrade" of the X-Vision the</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Pure Vision from Mares. This was a disaster of note.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">read </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://coatesman.blogspot.com/2007/06/looking-for-dive-but-beware-beast-from.html">Coatesman's Report</a><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The mask has excellent vision, even better than the X-Vision. But there is a design flaw and the mask leaks. I know that this is not an isolated incident as my supplier tells me that the first batch almost all the masks came back.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">They had supposedly 'fixed' the problem but that does not seem to be the case. Very strange that Mares would release a faulty product on the market.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">So for now I would recommend the Mares X-Vision to almost any diver regardless of the level of experience.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Coatesman</span></font><br /></div></div>Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-22850141522008957972007-06-07T15:12:00.000+02:002021-02-04T06:03:28.937+02:00Rob Allen 1.4m Tuna Rail Gun<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RmgFbjz-kzI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/Z04scVUyimw/s1600-h/chris+43iggie.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5073310951260721970" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/RmgFbjz-kzI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/Z04scVUyimw/s400/chris+43iggie.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rob Allen 1.4m Tuna Rail Gun</span>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">At a Glance:</span> The Rob Allen 1.4m Tuna Rail Gun is a fine piece of workmanship, the attention to detail stands out. This real gives you the impression that you have a quality product in your hands. That aside the spear is slightly thicker 7.5mm than the Caranx or other standard guns. And the grip is slightly less bulky than the old handle ... or at least it feels that way. <div><br /></div><div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">First Impression:</span> The first time I shot the gun was in Mozambique, and on my first dive down on the trip new gun in hand a Cuta swims in onto me. Slightly nervous I take aim and spine the cuta. I swim to the surface on my first dive on the trip with a 15kg cuta ... of course I am going to smile. So my first impressions were good.
I did however tweak some things, I shortened the rubbers a touch being careful not to overpower the gun. And as always I put a double wrap shooting line. At first the line release did not really handle the double wrap, but Rob gave me an upgrade which is working perfectly now. <div><br /></div><div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Tester:</span> The big test came on morning on the same trip in Mozambique when in the distance I saw what I thought was a 20kg Giant Kingfish. At first I was not going to take a shot, but I eventually took aim when it came a little closer ... now I thought it could be 25kg. Truth was that it was quite far away and when I took the shot it seemed like the spear took forever to reach the fish. I was at first concerned that the spear did not penetrate all the way through, but after being dragged around the ocean I realised the shot was good. In fact the shot landed exactly where I was aiming, and the combination of the double latex bands and the thicker 7.5mm spear meant there was enough velocity to hit the fish hard. What also impressed me was that the spear was still dead straight after shooting the 43kg Kingfish. I have had smaller kingfish fold my spear in half before. <div><br /></div><div>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression:</span> So far I have not had a bad shot with the gun other than when I have relaxed too much and the recoil has made the shot hit high on the fish. This is something to watch out for with any double rubbered or high powered gun. But that said when concentrating and keeping focused the gun is extremely accurate, even near the end of the double wrap. I have shot some smaller cuta in crystal clean water from silly distances, once I even hit a very small cuta stone dead right at the end of range. The barb did not even get into the fish, it just went like an ironing board and sank nose first.
This gun is one of my favorite guns, unfortunately it is a tool for a specific purpose and I don't get to use it as much as I would like. I have been asked the question would I prefer a carbon rail as apposed to the aluminum rail. And after using both I have found that the heavier metal barrel has less recoil and if there is any flex in the barrel it does not seem to be affecting the guns accuracy. So if you are looking at getting a blue water gun the Rob Allen 1.4m Tuna Rail Gun is a well balanced Speargun, something worth investing in.
Coatesman</div></div></div>Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5820837595604303679.post-7669666274989071892007-06-06T15:59:00.000+02:002007-06-07T17:06:38.746+02:00FreeDivers Evolution Reel Gun<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Free Divers Evolution Reel Gun.</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Rma_Izz-kwI/AAAAAAAAAZc/Cyc0BjlizRg/s1600-h/chris20kg.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Rma_Izz-kwI/AAAAAAAAAZc/Cyc0BjlizRg/s400/chris20kg.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5072952188347519746" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">First Impressions:</span> This is not a flashy speargun, in fact this one is even void of all the colorful stickers. And only has some grey type down the barrel with a grey handle insert.<br /><br />The new Evolution rail is impressive- sleeker than the older sleeve, and the rail is even deeper. The new barrel also has internal reinforcing ribs to eliminate barrel flex. The 1.2m speargun comes standard with 18mm natural latex rubbers and a 7mm spear.<br /><br />The focus however is on the reel, it looks seriously robust! And with its simple design very little, if anything could go wrong. This reel had black nylon braid as apposed to the more expensive dynema.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Short Term Impressions:</span> My first dive with the gun was a good one, we went down the south coast and I landed 3 good cuta 14, 10 and 8kg<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Go check out the story <a href="http://coatesman.blogspot.com/2007/04/hiberedene-gets-clean.html">Hiberdene Gets clean</a></span><br /><br /><br />I have used the gun over the last month all my shore dives and have found great freedom in diving untethered with my buoy line clipped off and fastened to the reef with a reef hook.<br /><br />After numerous dives I would say that there is nothing I can say that is bad about the product. I did make some alterations .... nothing in my kit is standard!<br />I double wrapped the shooting line and put an longer bungie on to help ease sudden pressure on the spear and line. I shortened the rubbers slightly ... I like a little more power, but thats not to say the standard setup would not work.<br />The gun is very accurate, the only fish I missed were fish I took fliers at, but everything I had an opportunity to aim at got hit.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impressions:</span> The FreeDivers Evolution Reel Gun definitely has a place in my dive kit. And at the price I don't think there is better value for money. I was impressed with the reel, so far I have had not one hint of a tangle and the reel cover means you just wind the line in and you dont have to feed it onto the reel like the open ones. Some people wil say the speargun is best suited for reef fish hunting. I beg to differ ...... a 20kg cuta says it all.<br /><br />Coatesman<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_oPnVBO5s9-M/Rma_Izz-kwI/AAAAAAAAAZc/Cyc0BjlizRg/s1600-h/chris20kg.JPG"><br /></a>Coatesmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563420092007733314noreply@blogger.com1