Foul Weather Gear

Essential Gear for Storm Chasers

I found a nice resource for foul weather gear. Foul weather gear as well as other essential items used by storm chasers. I'd like to post it for readers to visit and check out the cool brief reviews on every product and get ideas for the stormiest weather conditions you might run into.

1. FLY AND DRY "When storms break up, they blow out cold, rain-cooled air—it gets pretty chilly," says Lisius. Be prepared with Outdoor Research's hooded Zealot jacket, a storm shell that uses waterproof-breathable Gore-Tex PacLite to keep you dry. 2. THE WEBMASTER Lisius uses a Nokia cell phone like the 6230 for quick Web access. "I can connect to the Internet at the same speed as a land line," he says. Using Nokia's wireless connection to his laptop PC, Lisius surfs for up-to-the-minute weather reports. 3. SLOP MONSTERS Salomon's XA Raid 3D high-top adventure-racing shoes won't bog down in the mud. The 14.3-ounce kicks offer firm ankle support and beefy plastic-and-rubber protection over the heels and toes. Mesh uppers allow wet feet to dry quickly.

Do you want to see all of the categories and reviews? There are links to the manufacturers for all of the reviewed gear, making it easy for you to find more information about stormy weather gear and locate local vendors or order products that you find desirable. Check it out!

Various Watersports

Power Towed Water Sports

Skurfing is a popular water sport where the rider is towed behind a boat on a surfboard with a ski rope. Kind of like waterskiing with one BIG ski. This sport is gaining popularity in many places in the world. Skurfing isn't a professional sport and there aren't any official competitions, it's "freestyle all the way baby," with personalized style and form. That is what's so cool about it. It's all about personalized moves and about "style".

The sport of Tubing or "biscuiting," is using a large circular rubber tube like you can pick up cheaply if you know where to look. Heavy equipment, on and off road, and tractor trailer tire tubes are ideal for tubing. It's considered a novice or child's watersport because it's very simple to ride a tube and there are no special skills involved or required. The goal is to hang on for as long as one can w/o falling off due to the boat's movements, or the wake coming from the tow boat. An experienced biscuiter can jump the boat's wake and go for a short and furious flight. A trick for newbies would be a barrel-roll, where the rider falls off the tube and rolls upside down and back upright again, all in the same motion.

Back in the 1960's we used to tow aluminum saucer sleds behind our boats and got a heck of a good ride by rigging one to a ski tow-rope and dropping the throttle until we had dragged each other up and down the harbor in front of our house. It was our little thing, but every year, even today you'll spot a saucer sled or tow out on the lake towing the kids along at a leisurely pace. I recall it as being quite an adrenaline rush, but not as excellent as starting out one water ski and riding until exhausted without ever losing our balance. What a blast! Be sure that you keep your valuables tightly sealed in a waterproof pager pouch, which accommodates cash, license/passport, credit cards and keys. Pick one up before you start this boating season, you'll find that they're very cheap insurance!

Underwater Digital Stills or Video?

If You Could Choose Only One....

Underwater video, in many ways, is easier and more expressive than underwater digital stills photography. Video cameras function in lower light than film cameras and you can expect some decent video on your very first dive. You can check out your video as soon as you leave the water to make sure that you got what you were after. Digital stills will record that perfect image if you get lucky but video is better suited to record marine life. Videos also appeals more to the average person who would probably like watching your video footage more than flipping through photographs.

Which Camcorder to Use?

If you have a camcorder it's very tempting to find a housing for it. This isn't always the best idea since there are some very good match-ups of camcorder and housing, as well as some bad ones. There are so many camcorder models already and the manufacturers are introducing new models every few months. That can make it hard for housing manufacturers to keep up with all of the latest models. It can be very difficult to find a housing for Panasonic, JVC and Canon but the inventor of flexible high grade housings - Ewa-Marine, does an excellent job and can generally fit almost any model to a well-made housing that still performs like one costing over $1K or more.

The Canon XM1 Digital Camcorder that my fishing and snorkeling buddy purchased was used in the Ewa-Marine VXM waterproof camcorder case. It functioned, as promised and did an excellent job of shooting high quality video inside the housing, above and below the water. This was an inexpensive solution for getting his video camera in the water and still left enough cash to actually pay for a lot of extras that would have been impossible to purchase with one of the larger hard cases. It is also very durable and well made for a flexible housing. The video he has shot is excellent in every way and compares favorably when stacked up next to the large "high end" housings. Everyone has been going wild for digital stills cameras over the past 2 years but the video footage he gets with his camcorder/housing combination is much more enjoyable to watch than looking at the digital stills shots taken with his compact digital camera setup - and shot by an amateur too. If you're a casual snorkeler/diver and only shoot underwater video on vacations or a limited basis, then an Ewa-Marine video housing might be worth looking into!

Anyone Care To Swim?

Survival Times Expanded

I usually post about useful tips for a day at the beach, on the boat or out riding the surf. One of my favorites is posting on underwater photography or which underwater camcorder housing to select for best results. The past two days went a little bit differently. I was doing some research on survival at sea and ran into this "nugget" of info with links to much more informational articles on surviving an immersion at sea and what to expect. Pretty grim stuff!

The prediction of survival time (ST) of individuals stranded at sea is particularly difficult since reliable controlled data are unavailable. An individual's rate of body cooling is governed by the difference between heat loss and heat production. It has been suggested that the rate of deep body cooling can be extrapolated to estimate ST. The observed linearity of this cooling rate against water temperature is consistent with the predictions of an independently-developed mathematical model of ST. This model has been extended to simulate conditions of partial immersion and wet clothing, and subsequently calibrated against observed human cooling rates. The resultant modification allows a much broader range of ST predictions involving calm and rough seas, and non-immersion wet conditions. Predictions are presented for lean vs. fat individuals, a "worst" case scenario where shivering is absent, and partial immersion. While these predictions must be considered speculative and subject to change as better information becomes available, the model can be useful as a decision aid. It would be prudent, however, to consider the predictions in a relative vs. absolute sense; i.e., for comparative purposes.

You can refresh your memories on how fragile you are compared to the sea and what you can or can't do to improve your chances of survival if someday (never, we hope) you find yourself bobbing up and down in the ocean. I recommend this site and it's links for more information - be sure to click the related articles link!

Boating Disaster Waiting to Happen?

Keep Your Decks Clear - Stow Your Gear

I haven't mentioned that for 8 years, I held a USCG passenger boat for hire, good in all inland waterways of the USA. I have lived at waterfront most of my life and my earliest memories were of my many lone fishing expeditions in a little 14' rowboat complete with a 5hp engine. After many years of fishing and catching numerous lunker bass, pike, walleye etc. I was finally informed that I could now take the boat to fish whenever I wanted - ALONE - on fishing trips which lasted from dawn until lunch and about 2 pm until dark. I was in heaven I thought, doing what I loved most, whenever I wanted, and w/o parental supervision. I earned that 1st "License to Operate" a fishing boat from my Dad at about 10 or 11 yrs old. I caught more and bigger fish back then and fed the family as regularly as they could bear to eat fish and more fish and ....

I moved on with my life but have never lost the taste to get my line wet. I still carry a small two piece Browning ultra light (cut down a few inches and retied to my tastes) with a high end Shakespeare reel and 4 lb test line, a telescopic landing net and a mini tackle box stuffed full of my most killer artificials in a broad spectrum to suit panfish up to 115 lb Northern Pike and anything in between. You name it and I've managed to fit it in that little box! If I see an old farmhouse with a nice size pond, I'll likely pull in and ask the owner if I can have permission to fish there occasionally. Most are very nice and offer a wide open invite. I have many of these "honey holes" in my back pocket as well as many other "known" spots that I'll check out when the fish are on the move in that area.

I guess I've digressed a bit. I wanted to post about the very dangerous and costly situations that can occur while out on a boat fishing or just cruising around and how a little simple housekeeping can stop about 75% of injuries that I've seen in my many yrs of fishing and taking parties of fishermen out on paid fishing trips as a Captain/Guide. The deck on any size boat is not very large as compared to walking around the house (for most of us anyway) and the deck is not only small but it's always rocking and moving. Coolers tend to slide around while under power or while drifting in a stiff breeze and chop. These have to be heavy enough not to move or fixed to a bulkhead so that they don't become snares when fishermen start to rummage about - baiting hooks, getting drinks and sandwiches. Tie those down with bungee cord as mentioned but keep the deck clear, you'll save some painful falls.

I have watched glasses, sunglasses, cell phones, marine radios, cameras, and more all broken by a small set of waves rocking the boat a good wallop, or slowly working their way, ever so slowly, down to the corners of the dashboard and in the hub-bub of landing fish and others milling around to find another spot to cast from, or help land the fish - you guessed it - smash and someone's glasses are pancaked, camera is broken or more. I've also watched these same items and many more - dropped in the lake "ker-sploosh", while the owner agonizes as his new handheld GPS sinks 50' to the bottom. Or, the guy who's neck strap on his binoculars wasn't affixed properly - "SPLASHH", as the lake takes her daily share of loot from the unwary and green. Then there's the guys who each bring 2 - 3 rod/reel outfits per man (we carry extras - only one is optimal) and spread them all over the boat, being sure that there are two "legal limit" poles in the water per fisherman at all times. Since rods/reels should be stowed in side rails provided for them or even stowed below, someone ends up walking or losing his balance while rocking back and forth and puts his foot through his buddy's new custom made rod and crushing it into campfire kindling, not to mention the "mighty casts" that result in the fisherman throwing his new rig 20' through the air, into the water and watching it bob for a split second or two and then disappear.

Safety items (not only - but especially safety items) should be kept in order at all times and checked every week or so. First aid kits, signaling devices, radio beacon, matches, lighter, mini marine radio, flare gun or kit and more, should definitely be stored in a 100% waterproof all purpose pouch. Your life may depend on the contents. I always keep a couple of different size waterproof bags below and keep these essentials in "brand new" condition. You can accidentally break a rod or drop a pair of nice glasses in the drink and still have a pretty good day, but find yourself in a serious situation and you'll want any first aid or survival gear kept intact and dry. Remember good housekeeping on your boat or boating trip, will make it a lot safer and more enjoyable for everyone!