Tip's to keep me from looking like a dweeb... (THZ)

[Sounder]

Class is helpful to keep from having the usual new gear issues.

Make sure the scooter is trimmed out.

Get the tow cord the right length.

Make sure you're trimmed out correctly. I can guarantee you, that if you're dropping your knees, you're not going to have a fun dive.

Practice some snorkle scootering on the surface to get yourself used to be towed plus it does a pretty good job of showing you the right ride orientation.

Finally, dive with it a lot. As with any skill, if you don't do it often, you're going to suck at it.

Know it all.

[Fishstiq]

Do laugh hysterically when others give you the finger while clinging to rocks in current at DIW as you scooter by.

i'm still giving you that finger, joe.

I was hoping you would catch that! That was one of the funniest things I've ever seen diving!

[spatman]

Do laugh hysterically when others give you the finger while clinging to rocks in current at DIW as you scooter by.

i'm still giving you that finger, joe.

I was hoping you would catch that! That was one of the funniest things I've ever seen diving!

Lol, that dive was a minor Charlie Foxtrot for me and my buddy. But I was laughing just as hard as you when you guys cruised by.

[Geek]

Ok, first report with exactly 20 min trigger time.............

Went down to the Ruston water front, was going to dive lobster shop because it's a closer hike with the gear but of course it happened to be super high tide... and rough surface... with a nice chocolate color to the water... so ended up at the old town dock, easier entry with the surface chop the way it was.
Bit of an expierience putting on fins, mask etc with a Scooter slung on one side in the water but I got through that.... eventualy. Finned out a bit and dropped down, Vis was 0.0ft down to 25' or so.. then it opened up to a nice 5' maybe, and I let the fun begin. Spent the first 5-10 min getting the tow cord the right length, I think.

Things I learned today....

1. Going to take some getting used to telling my right hand it doesn't need to grip the handle like my life depends on it... wasn't holding it to haul me along, got the tow cord about right after some starts and stops, right hand just didn't believe it I guess.
2. Don't cruise along the bottom in 5' of vis.... you'll end up ploughing the nose into the mud.... at least thats what I heard anyway
3. My trim has always been pretty good and after about 10 min cruising around getting used to the feel of it I popped the clutch and got it up to speed 8..... Note to self, Cuda on 8 in 5' of vis feels an awful lot like taking a street bike on the freeway at 120 faster than is smart, but man is it fun.
4. It's REAL easy to have suck bouyancy when you stop... that was fun.
5. It's REAL easy to lose track of where you are, even with the compass, I knew where shore was but no clue where I was along it, in my defence, there is NOTHING out off old town dock to take a reference from, not in 5' of vis but still, moving further than I'm used to is going to take some practice..

I have a few questions, Calvin has it weighted pretty well, seems ever so slightly neg, what is the thoughts on this? If I have to clip it off during deco do people let it hang? or do you want it a little pos to float back behind you like a deco bottle on the right side?
Another thing I noticed, it seems to pull/rotate to the left, is this a weighting issue? I mean can I move the position of the weight inside to counter act this? and if so, which way do I move it?

All in all, I had a blast, didn't have much trouble with my trim after I got the cord length figured out-ish, might need some fine tuneing, seems like I could tell when my trim was off when it would nose up or down, that would be my trim right?... so many questions, I would have dove longer but the vis was just to crappy.

Any help on the above issues would be welcome, or if you want to make fun of me, thats all good too




CUDA FTW!!!

[Dashrynn]

Because I wondered the same questions you asked...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYahDuFr8l8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYahDuFr8l8

http://www.dive-xtras.com/pages/support ... .asp#/13/0

and about 9/10th ways down...this page

http://www.gue.com/?q=en/Equipment/Config/index.html

[LCF]

Just a hint for gearing up -- I walk the scooter into the water just far enough so it can float without banging the shroud, clip it to my crotch d-ring, and let it float (with the trigger safely disabled) while I get fins and mask sorted. It moves far enough away from me to make things easy. MUCH better than having it slung.

I got backaches when I first started scootering, and discovered that things go much better if you put more air in your feet than you are used to for swimming.

Scootering makes you become very aware of how your suit feels and how your gear feels, and also keeping a close conscious look at depth -- with practice, you'll get to where, when you stop, you ARE neutral. It just takes a little practice.

Scooters DO allow you to cover a lot of ground -- which is a good thing, and a bad thing. It's a very bad thing if you are a long way from your exit when the thing dies. Batteries should be run on the rule of thirds, so that your buddy has enough power to tow you home. Especially if you are using the scooter against current, you don't want to lose that power!

I was taught to weight the scooter slightly positive, which makes sense; if you lose the thing, you'd just as soon it shows up on the surface at some point. It's really important to have it balanced fore and aft, because if it isn't, that really wears that right arm out.

[lavachickie]

As with any skill, if you don't do it often, you're going to suck at it.

Thanks for the new sig quote.

[Raydar]

Glad you survived!

If you haven't already, here's the link to the owner's manual: http://www.dive-xtras.com/pages/support ... lsmall.pdf

Bit of an expierience putting on fins, mask etc with a Scooter slung on one side in the water but I got through that....

As Lynne suggested, clip off the scooter to your crotch and let it float while you fin up and arrange your gear.

1. Going to take some getting used to telling my right hand it doesn't need to grip the handle like my life depends on it... wasn't holding it to haul me along, got the tow cord about right after some starts and stops, right hand just didn't believe it I guess.

The usual tendency is that the left hand wants to help. I've seen people scootering while holding onto the shroud.

2. Don't cruise along the bottom in 5' of vis.... you'll end up ploughing the nose into the mud.... at least thats what I heard anyway

What I heard is that the 2nd barrel roll at top speed will bury the scooter in the mud.

3. My trim has always been pretty good and after about 10 min cruising around getting used to the feel of it I popped the clutch and got it up to speed 8..... Note to self, Cuda on 8 in 5' of vis feels an awful lot like taking a street bike on the freeway at 120 faster than is smart, but man is it fun.

Heheh. One of our demo Cuda 850s had a big dent in the nose where someone rammed one of the Elliot Bay mooring anchors at 200+ feet.

4. It's REAL easy to have suck bouyancy when you stop... that was fun.
5. It's REAL easy to lose track of where you are, even with the compass, I knew where shore was but no clue where I was along it, in my defence, there is NOTHING out off old town dock to take a reference from, not in 5' of vis but still, moving further than I'm used to is going to take some practice..

Helpful tip of the day: Anything that happens underwater while swimming, happens much faster when scootering.

The buoyancy thing takes time and is really easy to fail to compensate for. Particularly if you're distracted. I once found myself dropping down in front of a 6-gill that we'd be following for a while.

I have a few questions, Calvin has it weighted pretty well, seems ever so slightly neg, what is the thoughts on this? If I have to clip it off during deco do people let it hang? or do you want it a little pos to float back behind you like a deco bottle on the right side?

I tell people to trim the scooter so it floats level and just a hair positive.

Another thing I noticed, it seems to pull/rotate to the left, is this a weighting issue? I mean can I move the position of the weight inside to counter act this? and if so, which way do I move it?

It's called 'torque'.

Yes, you can do little things to minimize the torque. Better shown than told. Never going to completely eliminate it though.

All in all, I had a blast, didn't have much trouble with my trim after I got the cord length figured out-ish, might need some fine tuneing, seems like I could tell when my trim was off when it would nose up or down, that would be my trim right?... so many questions, I would have dove longer but the vis was just to crappy.

Fun is the most important thing.

Nose up and down is generally more indicative of either tow cord adjustment or usually the scooter as an expensive BC.

If you wander up to the shop, we can talk about stuff in a bit more detail.

[Geek]

2 dive on the scooter today was much better than the first, Met up with Mat, Dave and Roger at Les Davis..... interesting how nobody can surface swim when you have a scooter, I was towing 3 diver's at once... me and 2 of them wearing doubles

The Boy scouts that were there must have gotten a good show.

With the water not so rough I was able to tell that it's wighted perfectly, just next to positive and got used to frog kicking with it slung... that didn't last long since we had 10' of vis!!! Then spent the next hour buzzing everyone, didn't pull a joe and "help" them find bottle's under the mud but I thought about it

Going across the Less Davis reef with the Cuda was like a video game 10' of vis and PULL UP!! PULL UP!!! RIGHT!! lots of fun... thanks for all your sugestions, it helped get used to what I was feeling.

Ray, I'm going to stop by up there sometime this week and let you look it over and maybe pick up the new X-prop

From now on, $10 a tow

[LCF]

The usual tendency is that the left hand wants to help. I've seen people scootering while holding onto the shroud.

Gee, I'm quite sure NOBODY has ever done this . . .

[ljjames]

fixed pitch props can not be pitched down for the rinse bucket... there is a thread on dive matrix with a good description. i hear it can make rinsing even a Sierra into a water-rodeo

[seainggreen]

Helpful tip of the day: Anything that happens underwater while swimming, happens much faster when scootering.

The buoyancy thing takes time and is really easy to fail to compensate for. Particularly if you're distracted. I once found myself dropping down in front of a 6-gill that we'd be following for a while.

Seems like I remember the 6-gill drop happening the week after the dive where SOMEONE tried to peel their new-scooter-toting buddy off on the Monolith.

Ahem.

That 6 gill encounter is in my top 5 dive moments. It WAS truly awesome.

In regards to getting more comfortable with the scooter +1 on the weighting, tow cord, trim, and just going out and having some fun. C'mon down on Thursdays, we have quite a Cuda convention at C2 on a nearly weekly basis!

[Raydar]

Seems like I remember the 6-gill drop happening the week after the dive where SOMEONE tried to peel their new-scooter-toting buddy off on the Monolith.

You did say that you wanted to see the Monolith!!

That 6 gill encounter is in my top 5 dive moments. It WAS truly awesome.

Um, the one that I'm thinking about was a dive with my wife where I impressed her with my buoyancy skills in the face of imminent death (or slight maiming). (Because after that we ventured over near Olive's den and came across part of Blondie in sub-5' of viz. We called the dive after that.)

Unless I did the same stupid shit twice?

[pensacoladiver]

I own that scooters twin brother- C and I bought them at the same time. I'll tell you the ugly truth: I really don't enjoy scootering that much.

Josh, you would not happen to have a Cuda Fury would you? :luv: I recently got to ride a buddy's Magnus for a few dives and DAMN!!! what a difference from the Standard Sierra.

It took all I had to keep from getting a Magnus the next day. Of course, I am still a die hard Dive X fan, but was offered a price on a used Magnus of just over $5,000

I'll ask again in pure hopes... you wouldn't happen to be selling your used Cuda Fury would you? hehe I will give it a good home and put it to much use here in Florida!

Just found out the scooter was "used". Damn, if it sounds too good tobe true...

[ORDiver]

2 dive on the scooter today was much better than the first, Met up with Mat, Dave and Roger at Les Davis..... interesting how nobody can surface swim when you have a scooter, I was towing 3 diver's at once... me and 2 of them wearing doubles

The Boy scouts that were there must have gotten a good show.

We were just helping you figure out the towing capacity. I think you could get a fourth diver on there if you had to. I think the best show for the boy scouts was when you and Roger cruised by on the surface looking like The Ambiguously Gay Duo. That was awesome.

[seainggreen]

Seems like I remember the 6-gill drop happening the week after the dive where SOMEONE tried to peel their new-scooter-toting buddy off on the Monolith.

You did say that you wanted to see the Monolith!!

That 6 gill encounter is in my top 5 dive moments. It WAS truly awesome.

Um, the one that I'm thinking about was a dive with my wife where I impressed her with my buoyancy skills in the face of imminent death (or slight maiming). (Because after that we ventured over near Olive's den and came across part of Blondie in sub-5' of viz. We called the dive after that.)

Unless I did the same stupid shit twice?

I won't comment about being stupid 2x, *cough* but my second scoot dive (that would be the dive after the one where you attempted to scrape me off on the monolith) we surface scooted to the can buoy and then descended. We were goofing off on the descent and not paying all that much attention to what was around us and almost descended right on top of a 6 gill. We were shocked she/it was so shallow and we got an extended swim/scoot with the shark. I think we had a discussion about whether or not the 6 gill was a "she" or not b/c its belly was distended (ie: looked pregnant). Good times.

[Dashrynn]

I own that scooters twin brother- C and I bought them at the same time. I'll tell you the ugly truth: I really don't enjoy scootering that much.

Josh, you would not happen to have a Cuda Fury would you? :luv: I recently got to ride a buddy's Magnus for a few dives and DAMN!!! what a difference from the Standard Sierra.

It took all I had to keep from getting a Magnus the next day. Of course, I am still a die hard Dive X fan, but was offered a price on a new Magnus of just over $5,000

I'll ask again in pure hopes... you wouldn't happen to be selling your used Cuda Fury would you? hehe I will give it a good home and put it to much use here in Florida!

Oh gosh, I'll never be able to keep up.

[diverden]

Once after a long, deep dive I towed a couple buddies (we were all in doubles) with my Cuda Fury about 100 yards back to the entry point at The Junkyard. Since I had a lot remaining capacity, of course I got it into the highest speed for the taxi ride. This put a LOT of pressure on my harness and my shoulders and felt a little bit bent in the shoulder area that evening, so be careful out there! Go slow or hang out and do 5-10 minute deco stop at the surface before exerting yourself

[pensacoladiver]

I own that scooters twin brother- C and I bought them at the same time. I'll tell you the ugly truth: I really don't enjoy scootering that much.

Josh, you would not happen to have a Cuda Fury would you? :luv: I recently got to ride a buddy's Magnus for a few dives and DAMN!!! what a difference from the Standard Sierra.

It took all I had to keep from getting a Magnus the next day. Of course, I am still a die hard Dive X fan, but was offered a price on a used Magnus of just over $5,000

I'll ask again in pure hopes... you wouldn't happen to be selling your used Cuda Fury would you? hehe I will give it a good home and put it to much use here in Florida!

Oh gosh, I'll never be able to keep up.

You are absolutely correct there!

[pensacoladiver]

Once after a long, deep dive I towed a couple buddies (we were all in doubles) with my Cuda Fury about 100 yards back to the entry point at The Junkyard. Since I had a lot remaining capacity, of course I got it into the highest speed for the taxi ride. This put a LOT of pressure on my harness and my shoulders and felt a little bit bent in the shoulder area that evening, so be careful out there! Go slow or hang out and do 5-10 minute deco stop at the surface before exerting yourself

I have dove the Magnus on full speed while chasing a Grouper for a few minutes. I absolutely love the top speed those new scooters produce.

But for the most part, Dash and I have started to venture fairly far off shore, in low gear (as far as my Sierra allows me) here in Ft Lauderdale. We have run 40 minutes out and then I was towed back in the last 5-8 minutes of the dive.

We actually hit 70 feet of water and were almost a mile off shore. If I can get some more battery time, we can actually make the third reef from shore...or further, and that would just be an absolute blast.

[trevorrowe]

We actually hit 70 feet of water and were almost a mile off shore. If I can get some more battery time, we can actually make the third reef from shore...or further, and that would just be an absolute blast.

They have a long body for the Seirra that holds 2 batteries.

[pensacoladiver]

We actually hit 70 feet of water and were almost a mile off shore. If I can get some more battery time, we can actually make the third reef from shore...or further, and that would just be an absolute blast.

They have a long body for the Seirra that holds 2 batteries.

I have several posts on some other boards looking for a used long body tail. No luck yet. I also "thought" I would be happy with a long body, right up until I hopped on the damn LI powered monster scooters.

Now I have scooter envy all over again. I guess the silver lining in this cloud is that having the 50 W Salvo, I don't have to worry about lumen envy, as you know.