climbing after the rain

[Burner]

It might be raining on friday, how is pinnacles after the rain?  Probably was just going to go to disco wall and monolith for a day.

[The Big]

Discovery and Monolith will be fine.  If you climb any routes on the backside  of the Monolith and notice that they are damp you might want to hold off for a day or two.  I will be climbing on the West Side working on a new  route if you are interested in new routing.  I will most likely be damp and uncomfortable.  There might be a few other there looking to actually climb something.



On November 11th a few of us will be climbing routes on the Balconies if you are interested.

[Burner]

Normally I would jump at the chance, but I'm much too tired and lazy this week from work to climb more then 1 day, and I promised a couple of people from LA I would show them around.

I might hit you up for next weekend though, but work might send me out of town too

Thanks for the offer.

[The Big]

Cool.  Turns out I think we will be climbin Sunday and Diving Saturday am.  Would be cool I you can show next weekend, if not some other time.  The season is coming so I will be down there a bit more.  I want to get on Perigren and Conduit.

[Burner]

where are you diving at?

For some reason I thought there was a big storm coming in but it looks like it might be decent.  Reports of good vis too.

[The Big]

Undecided at the moment.  It will either be up around Salt Point (Abs) or down around Monterey.  If you are interested we would go down your way.  I am fairly open although I will not dive Breakwater.  I might have me speargun with me, I do not know if that bothers you.

[Burner]

nah I've got to care of some things tomorrow.

Surprised you hate breakwater though, almost all of my best dives have been there.  Although I wouldn't go there on a Saturday morning.  Best time is get in the water a little after midnight and try to cruise the sand area right off the wall for a couple of hours at 40-50 feet, lots of octopus, squid and sometimes giant dendronitis iris.

No big fish to spear and its probably illegal though.

[F4?]

Hey Burner,



Cruzing the sand after midnight sounds cool. Mr Mud and I did a couple night dives there. The sand did hold some weird creatures. Scary to think we did a couple 1:20 dives at night. Man was I cold!



It is illegal to spearfish at the breakwater. Wose is the fact that he blasts away at the poor fish. They never knew what hit them. Bully!



Mr Mud,

We should wait for some good conditions and do another night dive. Maybe Butterfly house? We'd have to be quiet.



Damn you Mr Mud now I'm thinking of diving again.

[The Big]

Burner the exception to make the rule.  Iwill dive Breakwater if it is a night dive.  Another cool place that is close by is McAbee.  Nice rock structure and sand in close then sand out a bit futher then back to rock and kelp.  I do not take the speargun diving Breakwater.



Factor, how about the time we were diving Metridiums and the fish boats started throwing M80's at the seals.  That was a high WTF moment.



Breakwater is funny, busy on the weekend from sunrise to sundown.  Then desolate.



If your out then I think it will be Salt Point.  Factor let's hit Salt Point early.  Get some abs then do a tank dive.  HIt the Pins on Sunday.  Mudworm wants a climbing partner for the day.

[Brad Young]

Would yo guys please start a GD diving thread, and leave this one for climbing. Thank you.

[Burner]

I'll let you guys know next time I'm going to night dive at breakwater.  Usually try to shoot for 2 hours dive time (or no deco limit if you are on air), its fucking freezing though.

I also want to try a night dive sometime at monastery north.  Have you guys ever dove the wharf or whatever where I think you need harbormaster permission?  That looks like a great dive.

[F4?]

Noth Monastary at night...now you're talking.



Yah it's cold, but I'm diving dry now so it's not that bad as it used to be.



For me it's lugging my camera. And making sure Mr Mud doesn't shoot me.



Haven't dove the warf. It'd be cool, most likely murky, but cool.



PM me when you are heading into PG sunnyvale. I'm there Tues and Thurs. We can talk more about diving.





Ya, I remember when the seal boms went off. I just about freaked out thinking something had blown.



Mr Mud, I'm committed to the Pass. It's the last time before it closes.

[The Big]

Brad.....DIE



Let us know.  I have dove Monestery North a few  times and like it.  I have been told that some of the shallow diving there up around the wash rocks is really cool.   I have not done a night dive there.  I took Mudworm there so she could do a deep dive from shore.  Went to about 130 she did fine.  I have not done the wharf that you are talking about.  It is best done when the viz is good and it seems when the viz is good I end up going someplace else.  Someday.

[F4?]

While N Monastary (SP?) gets you deep quick. I prefer the Butterfly house for it's entry and terrain. I've had bad luck at N Mon with that sand getting into everthing. Plus with the camera, it's just not going to happen.



Then again Bluefish wall kicks ass all the way around.

[Burner]

You need to time the entry better on N. monastery, and have spring straps (which is by far the best money I spent on any of the diving equiptment)

Wait until a wave breaks, 4 steps and you are waist deep, 2 seconds later you have your fins on and kicking out, if you do it right you never even get hit by a wave.

And the exit should be easy unless you are wearing doubles, and then it sucks.



So back to pinnacles stuff so brad is happy:

It was a beautiful day on Sunday.  I lead tailspin again.  I think Paolo lied to me when he claimed the bolt at the crux was pulling out, it looked fine to me.  I think it will be a decent climb if it can get some traffic, because all the feet holds break off.  I think the climb could be anywhere from 11c-12c depending on what ends up breaking off.

[The Big]

Wow, burner nice send.  You have got me thinking I should get on it fairly soon.  



I have never really had a problem going out at Monastery.  I make sure there is no air in my BC then walk out.  After a wave comes in I dive in put one fin on,  kick like mad while staying on the bottom untill I hit about 15 - 20'.  I put my second fin on as I float to the surface for the kick out.  Spring straps would help my exit.

[F4?]

I wonder how Tailspin will clean up? It would be fun to pitch off and have nothing but air...until you hit the wall. It just took Kelly and company forever to finish it. I guess better late than never. Kinda like the new guide book.  



With N Monastary, it's not the getting in/out, but rather the freak problems the sand has caused me. The first was getting a grain of sand so far in the regulaor it had to be taken apart. Not bad since I was getting out. Worse was getting a grain stuck in my top dump valve. It caused my BC to not hold air. Of course I didn't figure it out until I was at 90ft.



Then there's my tendency to get narced (carrying that heavy camera doesn't help my drag), but that's a different story.



Those experiences aside my first dive there to 114 was amazingly clear.

[Burner]

I didn't quite send it, but I actually could do all the moves this time which was better then before.  One fall in the middle of the crux when the foot hold blew.  Overall it felt really easy which means my leading at sunnyvale has paid off for me.



Try to not roll in the sand and you won't have a problem with it.  I usually gear up at the car and walk all the way in.  Then sand doesn't get everywhere

Also imo there is no real reason to go deeper then 100 feet unless you really want to see giant christmas tree worms or spanish shawls.  Its pretty dead there.

[The Big]

I once saw  a very large Lingcod at around 135 or at least I thought I did.

[Burner]

biggest ling I've ever seen was at about 20 feet at monastery north, maybe the same one.

On good vis days (ie you can see the surface from 120) if you look out from the wall sometimes you can see rays and stuff cruising around.

I usually only go to 110 though so I can dive 32%