Sorry guys OOT but I need to share this............
Hi Peter,
Alor ....hhhmm..scarry place, a good friend of mine at Karl's Dream ( Alor Straight too ) needed to rev his 140HP outboard to 3,000 RPM just to maintain position during one of those super current there and this is a small RIB of no more than 4.7 meters which can do 25 knots with 6 divers at WOT in flat water. Damn, I would not want to be caught at such current speed. In 2009 I nearly died at 3.5 knots horizontal current which I never knew has pocket of down current........but I do have a bail out device for down current powered by 2 x 68 grams C02 cartridge and 50 meters reel with 1000 lbs kevlar to allow me not to die of embolism. Full BCD inflation 20 liter class and full kicking on powerful fins can't do shiet...its at a bluewater 200 meters ahead of a sea mount, not a wall, so I can't do Spiderman escape and got to use my bail out device. 1st and last REAL use...wheewww.
Contact Carter Lift Bag. Its a US company.
http://www.carterbag...sonalfloat.html
A 50 lbs lift will do, its totally enclosed model...choose CBPF-50. It can be installed with a C02 activator, which can take 68 grams one-time-use C02 cardtridge. Remember in the older days when one buy Scubapro BCD the Classic, it has in its pocket a CO2 inflator ?
Per 2 cc of CO2 at 1 ATM = 1 liter air space. So you get 34 liters of air equal lift at surface and 6.8 liters at 40 meters depth.
The key is the 50 meters line with a reel, so that you can send the float all the way to the surface if not shallower and at 10 meters or 2 ATM, you get 17 liters lift equivalent. It has over pressure valve, so no worry. Its material is tougher than 400 denier BCD fabric, super tough. My 50 lbs one ( no C02 inflator ) is now almost 8 years old already and its my second marker sausage, not bail out one....but I can use it as bail out when needed...however pumping such a big sausage with octopus is a pain in a strong current, let alone down current. Get 600 lbs dyneema/spectra, it will fit in a small finger reel. Kevlar rot in the sun UV, Dyneema/spectra does not. This super sausage can save your life. Mine is custom made and shape, but its a 22 liters lift equivalent only with some "unique" feature.
2 x 68gram CO2 stashed well will not be detected by airport x-ray and its airline safe no worry.
Life jackets on planes are +-32gram CO2, same cartridge type too...LOL.
http://www.lelandltd...pressure4.1.htm
There are two kinds of thread for 68 grams. 1/2-20 UNF and 5/8-18UNF. Carter can tell u which one to use for the kind of activator he will provide.
You can Fed-Ex CO2 from USA to Singapore, its possible with hazmat surcharge of US$50 or so.
Or call a marine supply store which may carry 60 grams CO2...just make sure the thread type match ur CO2 activator.
Clean the cartridge well and lubricate a bit for longer life from corossion.
One word of caution. Do not ever get entangled with the reel line when u launch this floating missile.
At shallow water, say 10 meters or 2 ATM, 17 liters lift is not something your fin can EVER fight for more than 20-30 seconds before you see stars and then tunnel vision from over extertion and still being pulled to the surface...LOL.
Practice makes perfect, I always practice using this bail out device, combined with long ahhhhhhh and very short rapid breath, depending on how much line I reel out before I launch myself to the surface. In strong current, if you release 20 meters of line from the reel, you will not stop at 20 meters depth but at approx 10 meters due to sideway movement of the sausage in strong current and the line will not be straight up pure 20 meters. Make a knot at 30 meters on the reel line and place a simple marker with a yellow color string or whatever very visual . So when you see the marker, grab hard the line and fly to the surface and you will stop approx at 15-20 meters.
The finger reel itself, place a tiny bit of lead for sure negative buoyancy because when the sausage rise to the surface, the reel will spin so fast its hot even with gloves on if you try to slow it down and it may follow the sausage for a while. You would want the reel to be at your depth with a mere soft guide-touch from your hands making a circle to the Dyneema like how fishing rod guide holes manages the line. Never never clip a reel to your BCD while deploying this missile.
One won't die from embolism shooting up fast from 40 meters to 15 meters if you open up your airway. Deco obligation ...that is another story but sucked down to the abbyss will be worse choice I guess. Hardly a need for deep stop deeper than 21 meters..... if you are only doing 40-50 meters and has say 15 minutes deco stop obligation. As long as you are within 12 meters depth, the algo can re-calculated by the dive comp even if you do violate deep stop to save ur life. I personally don't care about deep stop if 50meters as max depth, but my 10 meters to 3 meters I do super super slow.
The worse & strongest current in Indonesia is not Alor.
Its Capalulu Straight. There is a tide station there and its 9-10 knots at peak, no joke.
1° 52.962'S by 125° 19.945'E its between Ambon and Halmahera.
Anything 30 miles north of Ambon Bay, its crazy current zone already exposed to Indonesian Throughflow
Dive safe Peter....