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Diving Safety, Accidents and Incidents Post here to discuss accidents, incidents, ideas, gear, or anything else to improve spearfishing safety. Memorials and condolences threads should be placed in that separate forum.

View Poll Results: Have you ever speared another diver/spearo?
Yes. More than once 4 2.27%
Yes, and it can happen to anyone. 3 1.70%
No 65 36.93%
No, It is easily avoided. 104 59.09%
Voters: 176. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 09-26-2010, 07:44 PM   #16
kmoose
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerald C. Perry View Post
Spearing another spearo is stupid and easily prevented. With or without a safety, it is possible to live your entire life spearfishing and not spear a fellow fisherman. I know hundreds of spearos and I have never heard of a single incident when they have speared a human. Beginner fishermen have been known to point thier gun at other people but after a scolding, they stop or they are no longer invited.

I always treat the gun as if it could fire randomly at anytime. I do not see any other way to safely deal with a loaded gun. Relying on a safety is risky. In other words, treating the gun as if it is somehow it is impossible to shoot as long as the safety is on.
How about we have a poll to see if Gerald Perry is being a self righteous D*ck pounding on some guys for an incident he has no personal or direct knowledge of?

Dude, give it a rest already!! If your speargun senselessly went off for no reason as much as your mouth, everyone near you would have sucking chest wounds.

How is pounding on these young men helping anyone??? Do you think your narcissistic rants will assist them in understanding the mistakes made better than the event itself.

F-ing Monday morning quarterbacks....... you gotta love it.
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Old 09-26-2010, 08:22 PM   #17
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

Quote:
Originally Posted by kmoose View Post
How about we have a poll to see if Gerald Perry is being a self righteous D*ck pounding on some guys for an incident he has no personal or direct knowledge of?

Dude, give it a rest already!! If your speargun senselessly went off for no reason as much as your mouth, everyone near you would have sucking chest wounds.

How is pounding on these young men helping anyone??? Do you think your narcissistic rants will assist them in understanding the mistakes made better than the event itself.

F-ing Monday morning quarterbacks....... you gotta love it.
x2

When I was a teen ager, I used to get friends in my 66 Mustang and take them for rides through the backwoods at ungodly speeds. On one trip, one of them even cried. I thought that shit was funny. I once shot arrows into the sky until one came down and nailed my cousin's shoe to our wooden rowboat. I thought that shit was funny too...I still do. Sorry Carl. Give the kid a break. He's obviously been through alot in this ordeal. I don't think bashing him online does any more good than it does harm, regardless of how true your statements may be. Heaven forbid you have a spearfishing mishap because I doubt anyone will have the compassion, after this thread, to ever let you live it down. Karma sucks. I used to make fun of bald people. Get over this issue dude and get back to slaying fish.
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Old 09-27-2010, 05:52 AM   #18
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

Quote:
Originally Posted by kmoose View Post
How about we have a poll to see if Gerald Perry is being a self righteous D*ck pounding on some guys for an incident he has no personal or direct knowledge of?

Dude, give it a rest already!! If your speargun senselessly went off for no reason as much as your mouth, everyone near you would have sucking chest wounds.

How is pounding on these young men helping anyone??? Do you think your narcissistic rants will assist them in understanding the mistakes made better than the event itself.

F-ing Monday morning quarterbacks....... you gotta love it.
I have not pounded on them at all. They have suffered enough already and they have probably learned from their mistake. If you are angry, don't direct it at me. All I am saying is; Do not point the speargun at another diver.

Cool off
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Last edited by Gerald C. Perry; 09-27-2010 at 06:10 AM.
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Old 09-27-2010, 08:32 AM   #19
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

I'm plenty cooled off; and yes, a thread like this is directed at the people involved in this incident. Call it what you want.

The fact is, you don't know the facts other than something bad happened and someone was saved. Did it ever cross your mind that people can also swim into the muzzle path? Countless accidents occur from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most of them can be examined after the fact and to find fault. That’s great in a court of law but not a very effective learning tool.
This section of Spearboard is for discussing safety not assigning blame or fault. The fact that we are all aware that things like this happen, makes us all safer for knowing it occurred. If it never happened to you and you have been spearfishing for 50 years that's great, I pray you go another 50 in the same fashion.

It can be pretty hard to admit or talk about safety issues that happen to most all of us mortals. The last thing we need to do is discourage open and honest communication by posting such crap like this pole.
Reminding people to be safe and to think about safety is something I take very seriously. If you want to be condescending and point fingers there are other sections of this forum to play on. This is a serious section concerning diver and diving safety, not teenagers on myspace.
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Old 09-27-2010, 08:57 AM   #20
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

I never poked another diver, but short guns in large short period breakers are a Bad Idea. When I had the curl break on me I ended up with an uncocked speargun attached to my right hand by about 1 1/2" of tip inside my palm and parallel with my thumb. That was the first time I put stitches into myself. University insurance required a referral by the on campus health center and the local ER wouldn't see students unless they had one. The university nurse was a joke and insisted I wait for the MD to arrive on Monday. Stitches need to go in within 6 hours of the wound if you don't want to "freshen" the edges. This incident was on Friday evening. On Monday the MD freaked and loaded me with antibiotics, but left the 3 stitches I did in place.

This taught me to not dive with short guns through surf. A sling shaft is long enough to not be able to reach YOUR flesh if you are wave tumbled. Transit breakers solo, then meet up outside if taking a buddy along.
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Last edited by FredT; 09-27-2010 at 09:47 AM.
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Old 09-27-2010, 08:59 AM   #21
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

regardless of the intent of the OP, the lesson is valid, accidents cannot happen if all divers treat the speargun as though it will go off at any moment...there is NO safety but a responsible diver holding the gun.

the "rules" are simple and should be obeyed, no loaded guns out of the water and never point a loaded gun at another person. Anyone, seasoned guys who load on the boat to get a good drop or a rook who doesn't know better, they are both just tempting fate and it is a matter of time before there is an accident
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Old 09-27-2010, 09:04 AM   #22
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerald C. Perry View Post
I had my trigger fail for no apparent reason but it was pointed at the bottom. I point it there so if it happens, it will not hit anyone.
While that is a common error, the bigger error would be to dive with that gun again! If the trigger (or trigger design) can't be trusted NOT to release the gun is unsafe and should not be used. JBLs fail by NOT firing when you want them to. Some others tell you when they fail by releasing the shaft at a random moment. One costs you a fish, the other is just flat dangerous.
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Old 09-27-2010, 09:05 AM   #23
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

Maybe.
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Old 09-27-2010, 09:56 AM   #24
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

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Originally Posted by LunkerBuster View Post
regardless of the intent of the OP, the lesson is valid, accidents cannot happen if all divers treat the speargun as though it will go off at any moment...there is NO safety but a responsible diver holding the gun.

the "rules" are simple and should be obeyed, no loaded guns out of the water and never point a loaded gun at another person. Anyone, seasoned guys who load on the boat to get a good drop or a rook who doesn't know better, they are both just tempting fate and it is a matter of time before there is an accident

Why is out of the water any different than in the water? Water doesn’t change the stored energy in a band or the mechanical operations of the sear. Clarify how one is more dangerous than the other. Have most of the impalements occurred out of the water? Is mechanical failure the leading cause of incidences? If we are going to engage in this debate lets base it on facts and not speculation. If loading guns on a boat leaves you more susceptible to injury, prove it with fact. Otherwise it is just an opinion and should be stated as such.

There is an inherent danger in any sport where projectiles are used to harvest game. Understanding equipment limitations is key as well as basic hunting safety like “don’t point your gun at people”. Accidents like this one are few and far between and equipment failure for the most part is no more mentionable than the possibility that my right front tire will blow out causing me to careen into an overpass on the way home from work. Once again we are missing the entire point of the event as it was described. Weird crap happens to smart folks as well as dumbasses every day. We can choose to micro analyze the root causes of an extremely rare occurrence, or celebrate and promote the handling a life threatening situation to a positive outcome.
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Old 09-27-2010, 11:19 AM   #25
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

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Originally Posted by kmoose View Post
Why is out of the water any different than in the water? Water doesn’t change the stored energy in a band or the mechanical operations of the sear. Clarify how one is more dangerous than the other.
It's not the initial firing that makes it dangerous. When the speargun is discharged, the spear hits the end of the shooting line and bounces back towards the diver. There are numerous Youtube videos about this that I cannot access at work to link here.

I know one person whose Riffe mech failed while loading and had the spear pierce the skin above his eye and into his cheek. The wounds ended up being relatively minor, but you can imagine other circumstances.

I have no opinion or knowledge of the intent of the OP, but I thought I'd answer this anyway.

I hope that spearing another diver is a rare occurrence and I've never even seen one incident.
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Old 09-27-2010, 11:39 AM   #26
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Talking Re: Have you speared another spearo?

Quote:
Originally Posted by kmoose View Post
Why is out of the water any different than in the water? Water doesn’t change the stored energy in a band or the mechanical operations of the sear. Clarify how one is more dangerous than the other. Have most of the impalements occurred out of the water? Is mechanical failure the leading cause of incidences? If we are going to engage in this debate lets base it on facts and not speculation. If loading guns on a boat leaves you more susceptible to injury, prove it with fact. Otherwise it is just an opinion and should be stated as such.

There is an inherent danger in any sport where projectiles are used to harvest game. Understanding equipment limitations is key as well as basic hunting safety like “don’t point your gun at people”. Accidents like this one are few and far between and equipment failure for the most part is no more mentionable than the possibility that my right front tire will blow out causing me to careen into an overpass on the way home from work. Once again we are missing the entire point of the event as it was described. Weird crap happens to smart folks as well as dumbasses every day. We can choose to micro analyze the root causes of an extremely rare occurrence, or celebrate and promote the handling a life threatening situation to a positive outcome.
Loading guns before rolling off the boat definitely increases the spearfisherman's efficiency. We do this when we know each other well and know what to expect out of each diver. I'll bet Kenny does this a lot, especially when he is diving with his regulars. I see nothing wrong with this style and we have never had an accident in 40 years. Just goes to show us old farts know how to do it.
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Old 09-27-2010, 11:42 AM   #27
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

I usually spear other spearos on purpose. It's really fun.
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Old 09-27-2010, 11:46 AM   #28
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

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Originally Posted by JimCuda View Post
It's not the initial firing that makes it dangerous. When the speargun is discharged, the spear hits the end of the shooting line and bounces back towards the diver. There are numerous Youtube videos about this that I cannot access at work to link here.

I know one person whose Riffe mech failed while loading and had the spear pierce the skin above his eye and into his cheek. The wounds ended up being relatively minor, but you can imagine other circumstances.

I have no opinion or knowledge of the intent of the OP, but I thought I'd answer this anyway.

I hope that spearing another diver is a rare occurrence and I've never even seen one incident.
Awesome Post! I totally get that. Boat loading a line gun definitely poses a substantial risk. 99.9% of the time I freeshaft so it was never a consideration. I can't remember the last time I lineshafted but I'm willing to bet I loaded it on the boat. When I get home tonight I'm going to dig out my line shafts and put zip ties on them mid shaft. In the rare event I pull one out the zip tie will remind me of this post. Thanks for the perspective.
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Old 09-27-2010, 12:25 PM   #29
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

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I usually spear other spearos on purpose. It's really fun.
it's fun when testing new guns!

this thread should be deleted...what a waste of time.
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Old 09-27-2010, 12:57 PM   #30
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Re: Have you speared another spearo?

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Originally Posted by kmoose View Post
Why is out of the water any different than in the water? Water doesn’t change the stored energy in a band or the mechanical operations of the sear. Clarify how one is more dangerous than the other. Have most of the impalements occurred out of the water? Is mechanical failure the leading cause of incidences? If we are going to engage in this debate lets base it on facts and not speculation. If loading guns on a boat leaves you more susceptible to injury, prove it with fact. Otherwise it is just an opinion and should be stated as such.

There is an inherent danger in any sport where projectiles are used to harvest game. Understanding equipment limitations is key as well as basic hunting safety like “don’t point your gun at people”. Accidents like this one are few and far between and equipment failure for the most part is no more mentionable than the possibility that my right front tire will blow out causing me to careen into an overpass on the way home from work. Once again we are missing the entire point of the event as it was described. Weird crap happens to smart folks as well as dumbasses every day. We can choose to micro analyze the root causes of an extremely rare occurrence, or celebrate and promote the handling a life threatening situation to a positive outcome.

Jim already answered but I wanted to further explain that the physics are considerably different when you arent surrounded by water...the recoil of a gun shot in the air is about 50% more than underwater.

see, "this asshat" guy in video
YouTube - Guy Owns Himself With Giant Speargun Recoil

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