Getting ready for a cold Christmas

[Venice Motor Bikes]

Hey Fellas... Here's a few videos of how we spent Christmas day at the beach...

It was almost 80* in Santa Monica... This is a local spot where everyone hangs out with their classic cars to watch the sunset.

We like to chill with our Volkswagens...


http://instagr.am/p/Cmpwy6GJh9O/


You can also scroll down & check out some of the toys I build... Venice Motor Bikes (@venicemotorbikes) • Instagram photos and videos

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

By the time I got my bike fixed up to do trail riding it was just a few days before heavy rain starts again for Nor Cal Coast. I packed it away for a longer stretch of clear weather. Yesterday did look at the ocean, but too stirred up and breakers coming in. I opted to go without air tank and just snorkeled in the river. It was very clear and cold. My drysuit was warm, but after a while the wetsuit gloves I use with the dry suit, had my hands getting to near painful. I may see about getting dry gloves that go in place of the wrist seals. It is sort of a ring that is on each sleeve has a zip lock type seal. If I have to have the dry gloves removed from the suit before I put on the suit, then using one hand with a drysuit glove on has to put the other glove on. The dexterity probably has to be fairly good to do this. I'll check how these things work and decide. My face initially was freezing cold, but I quickly realized that the wetsuit hood below my googles just needed to un-wrinkle the neoprene and all was well. Noting that some kayakers had mentioned of a deer up river a little bit, that met its fate, I did come across it. It was picked clean. Probably that was done before the river had risen to cover the deer with a few feet of water. Aquatic plant life and large trees that have been purposely deposited in the river to help with creating place for fish and other to do well was interesting to see. Before I was back on shore, I saw a harbor seal staring at me. It looked around some and after a minute was back below the surface. I know a lot of harbor seal are at the mouth of the river, but never had seen one where I was. I expect this rain now will fill the river up quite a bit. Only thing is if the sand at the Pacific break through as it does on occasion lowering the river level. That makes clarity and current such I would not go in.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

I'm going to be washing and drying my suit and once done going to do a practice of how to get all suited up differently with neck seal and hood first and arms second. The gloves say on permanently except when they get worn out or water inside trapped needing to dry after surfacing and cleaning the suit. If all can be done without dislocating an elbow or such during some contortion to achieve this method, I will see on investing in dry gloves. Some dry glove have a dam. I see that it is like a baffle. If the gloves leak forward of the dam, you have a dam type seal that maybe prevent water entry up the sleeves. Why should I give a d@mn? I think back to when during earlier days when a compression fitting disconnected and a inch diameter corrugated manual inflator tube separated from the inlet to my drysuit. I was warm enough and contnued diving. The thing I was concerned about was the deformed washer would not get lost. Deformed I mean is what it is supposed to be to make the compression fitting. I came up the swim step on the boat with calves twice there normal size. I found there was a clamp fitting just on the other side of this elbow fitting to the inlet to the suit. I swapped the placement of the two types of fittings and the angular forces were contained by the clamp fitting. I really don't know what advantage there is to a compression fitting. Anyone got ideas on that?

 

[wrench]

Anyone got ideas on that?

Dive in warmer water. LOL
Yeah, that must be a challenge diving in cold water like that.
Do you catch or just look?
Meh, I got a few thousand dives in Hawaii I was there over 25 years
Started out sight seeing and shell collecting But that soon turned into spear fishing
I love diving and I sure was spoiled not having to wear a wet suit if I didn't want to. But I did most of the dives because I needed a little warmth at depth and protection from the coral.
When i first started diving I would wear a poor mans wet suit Levis and a sweatshirt that gives good protection from the sharp coral.

Today I don't dive anymore because of a Medical condition.
So I catch my fish on top of the water from a kayak
Catching the local favorites off San Onofre SOCAL

I got a million fish pics, but here's one of a Calico sea bass, my target fish and fav to catch

 

[Mossy]

Dennis Eckersley had plans to return to his native California after the season to spend more time with his grandchildren...

 

[Greg58]

To show how crazy Georgia weather is I’m outside today cutting firewood in short sleeves, we’re looking at 70’s the next few day’s.

 

[curtisfox]

LOL Kind of the same here was in the minus 20's with minus mid 30's wind chill, now looking at early 30's for a week or so............Curt

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

A storm that was at its strongest recently, had probably lots of tree size logs bashing up against the railing. Railing on the stair case to what was a sand beach is what is now Gumbyed a bit. A picture of the railing close up where it had this spring, I had posted a picture of like a year or so ago. They welded a coil spring to a piece of the steel tubing that is embedded in the cement stair case that was sheared from prior storms. It did not hold the bad welds I saw. They just did not have enough heat. How to get some welding stuff sufficient down the steep trail? Anyway, now I see after the spring failed, they just stuck a piece of wood dowel inside both tubes to attach them together again. You can guess the giant log smashed the tubes of the railing a bunch of times at different directions. Now to get the sand back. The cove looks as though the low tide is closer up to the cliff edge now. This even at a low tide. At a low tide I assume essentially has water showing where you would not expect it, because the sand has been washed out to deeper depths. This does not mean they redo the tide charts I know, just can you even use the cove. I should try walking down the stairs already wearing fins

 

[Mossy]

There is no way to weld spring steel... Even if they made spring steel filler rod the heat would weaken it and it would break... That's coming from someone who worked with springs at a spring shop... Of it has to move I would suggest a pipe in side a pipe with a slot cut so a bolt can travel up and down with a spring inside the pipe.. something like a motorcycle fork

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

With the way that a storm surge will carry a log and hit the railing at many different angles, I suspect it is going to be a difficult mechanism that could handle this. The spring steel part mentioned is interesting. I suppose a clamp would be the way, but still probably just repair as original.

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Buddy of mine told me Santa Barbra Harbor got roughed up good from the storms.
All is good at Ando's though where his Greenough 21 is having a make over.
Anderson Custom Boats

Tom

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Soon as I something all **** will break loose, but all things considered . We are in a drought in SE Wisconsin.
Up by Curt? Whole different cat. In-laws in Barnes Wi. ABOUT — PJ's Cabin Store (pjscabinstore.com)
They got snow.

 

[curtisfox]

Yep we got SNOW! We have about 16" on the level now, but after it settled some, with a little misty rain's on top. We have missed most that went south to Mpls., we seem to be just outside of the storm belt, that comes from the south and heads east. I am suppose to be working on bikes and not snow blower this time of year, got back logged because of early snow, even had to have my neighbor plow me out. Had about 5" then when just finishing blowing I blew the motor in my tractor/blower, now all fixed, now working on a walk behind blower, LOL.......Curt

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

The sand at the beach that disappeared, I forgot it does that usually in the winter for the local beach Just this time about a depth of 5 feet of sand across the beach is out as much as maybe a mile into the ocean I heard. It comes back each year. Sometimes it bunches up on one side of the beach and some goes out into the ocean, only to come back. This is more than I have seen before that went away. So I'll see? Another beach at Bodega Bay Doran Beach had sand flung up onto parking lot along with sea weed to maybe a foot depth and bathrooms damaged. River is still flowing at a fast rate, too much to bother diving in.

 

[Mossy]

A metal detector would be handy along the beach... I've found some stuff always after a storm...

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Since my last finding cold river diving or even snorkeling in the winter was needing some equipment changes, I got the dry gloves and tested them out on my drysuit. Now only the hood is wetsuit type. The water more recently was even colder. I found the hood has by the forehead an area that is thinner neoprene. It can over lap the facemask skirt easily. I is only 2mm while the rest of the hood is about 5mm thick neoprene. I intend to just get some neoprene to cement to the thin area so my forehead is not painful from this cold winter river excursions. Not in 52 years of my diving have I had this happen. I guess my next acquisition will be a buzz saw to do ice diving, not!

 

[Greg58]

I’d like to dive in warm weather, we snorkeled at Routan Honduras years ago and enjoyed it. The clear water made it look sallow, the reef was full of colorful fish.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

That picture of the fish that Wrench showed, I recognize as a kelp bass. Could never sneak up spear fishing on those. The exception was some seemingly expert spear fishermen. Was it legal, not sure. On scuba bubbles scare away fish. Short of having fully close circuit rebreathers for sport divers back 30 years ago, there was a guy that had extended the normal pole spear to about 25 feet long. Also quite amazing was how filleting a fish he left to my amazement nothing on the bones. Never to this day have I seen anyone accomplish as good a job.

On the sand beach having sand more than usual washed away, I hear it should mostly be replenished. in the summertime. Its ying and yang? Fixing of the staircase railing not yet done. County is offering free tree limb shredding with rules to some extent I just heard.

 

[Mossy]

I dove on props full of rope in Maine and scallops in 60' of water when I was young never did the scuba gear... I would hold on to a rock or anchor to get me down and tie off to keep me there then go back up or go hand over hand down the rope of a string of lobster traps to get to the bottom... Spend the weekend on an island living off seafood and deer if there were any on it... We did lobster bakes with seaweed and paper bags on a piece of steel with a fire under it... You can get a recreational lobster license for 10 traps and a clam one for 1/2 bushel... Muscles were free just get the ones that are always underwater in low tide... Nobody lives off the land and sea anymore it's just a tourist thing now and there's only one place I can think of that actually sells a Maine lobster... It's all Canadian or frozen from somewhere else... The menus say fresh caught shrimp for example... There 2 seasons for shrimp so either there poaching out of season all but 2 months of the year or it's frozen... There's a clam festival to celebrate the local clamers but they truck them in from out of state because they've developed the shoreline so much there's no access to the water... Imagine people traveling to get to some expensive place to enjoy there frozen food they can buy at there local Walmart... Not even cooked right anyway and throw away the good parts to knaw on the parts you don't eat and they couldn't be happier

 

[wrench]

California, while Kayak fishing sometimes Lobsters get on the hook
Diving in Hawaii those spiny lobsters are huge and your only allowed to catch lobster by hand