Something to watch out for....

I made the mistake of paddling past the new jetty at Southport today.
Two invisible fishing lines then snaked across my chest.

I stopped and tried to paddle backwards but the current was better than my reversing skills when caught up in the fishing lines.

So I flipped the lines over my head thinking that that would be the end of it.
Not so, both lines caught on my rudder cover.
No amount of prodding with the paddle would dislodge them and I, not really wanting a couple of nasty hooks to deal with, slipped out of the boat and removed them by hand.

I was being attacked by 20 jet ski washes at that time and it took me a couple of goes to get back in.
As I got in I must have caught my HR strap on the side of the boat as I slide up.
I never noticed until a hundred meters further on when I noticed no HR reading.
I thought it must have moved out of place, but when I lifted my shirt to fix it, it was gone.

It must have become unclipped in my remounts.
I spun around in the hope that it was floating in the water nearby, and then walked along the beach to see if it washed up, but sadly the fishes now have my electronic wizardry.

I suppose that this is retribution for not wearing a PFD.

So just a heads up for Garmin 310XT owners, the clip can be accidentally undone and you may or may not notice it at the time.
I wish my Polar strap would work with it, as it could suffer no such mythical unclipping.

It still amazes me that fishermen never sing out as you approach invisible fishing lines, I suppose they think it is a big joke.

I was paddling once when a trolling line from a passing boat passed over my ski right in my lap. I frantically grabbed at the moving line in an attempt to throw it over my head and behind me. A large treble hook was rapidly heading my way. In the nick of time after several attempts,I succeeded in throwing it behind me. The alternate conclusion to this incident would have been ugly. Has anyone ever gotten hooked?

Another time I snagged a fisherman's line on my rudder while rounding a jetty. The guy was yelling for me to stop. But I kept going as I was in a race. Fortunately, the line snapped.

I have had several fishermen cast at me over the years, but haven't gotten hit yet.

I guess the moral is, stay away from fishermen.

I've had a rapidly approaching hook come gliding across the surface at me, but managed to unhook myself in time.
That was from an unattended line on a cruiser in a narrow canal.
It still amazes me how many will cast as you approach forcing you to take a tight turn out to avoid them.
Can they not wait 5 seconds for you to pass.
A guy did this to me heading out the narrow channel on the south side of Currumbin sea entrance, the channel is only 10m wide and there is nowhere to go.

been hooked/tangled several times and have also been hit on the head with a lead sinker by a fisherman casting off the rock wall at Hillary s boat harbour.

I now carry a small stainless steel pocket knife to cut their lines should I not be able to untangle myself.

fortunately only been hooked on the bungies on the rear deck, no way I could reach behind me to release hooks....simply paddled away trailing 3 baited hooks and about 3 meters of fishing line.

Good suggestion - Scissors probably cut lines quicker and bit easier to access than a pocket knife.

My introduction to fishing lines was around the neck, and scared the crap out of me. I always thought if it got caught around the rudder I'd keep going and the line would eventually snap. No hooks YET! touch wood.

Since then I've had fruit thrown from a bridge by kids, missed me but hit the back of the ski.
Almost had a kid land on the front of my ski while jumping of the Tallebudgera bridge.
Almost had a fishing net catch me after being thrown from the same bridge by a fisherman.

Now I just keep away from the shore where possible & take the shallow path under bridges.

As for the HR strap, same thing almost happened to me while remounting on the weekend. I believe some polar straps do work. I bought my dad a polar for xmas and I keep meaning to try his strap with my 310 since it looks like a much better strap than the Garmin.

Garmin use the Ant+ protocol for all accessories.

Polar use their own propriety standard that they developed originally many years ago when they were the only kid on the block.

Had a couple fishing line incidents as well......I always carry a "River Knife" in my front pocket of my PFD. The type of knife that has a fixed blade, just pull it out of the protective sheath and cut away!! Fixed blade is my preference as in the winter with gloves, you may not be able to unfold it in a reasonable amount of time or you may not want to take your gloves off if it's cold. The knife also has a blunt tip, that way you wont hurt yourself or sealife.

I bought it becuase I never wanted to be in the ocean and come across any sort of sea life that was tangled in a net or something that I couldn't help.....that would just kill me. This way, if a sea turtle, pelican, dolphin whatever is stuck, I can cut them out.

Happy paddling,
Aloha,
-Rich

Well , paying attention would be number 1 , now do you really want to be wielding a pointed and razor sharp knife while sitting on a relatively unstable surfski flailing around trying to cut a near invisible line ? hmmm. There are some nice little hook knives designed for river rescue the at least avoid the flashing blade. Fisherman on piers and jetties can only cast so far.The tangled critter at sea..........

The "River Knife" I have as mentioned before, has a "Blunt tip" so you won't accidently poke yourself or any sea life, mammals, birds you may try to rescue.

I agree with you that paying attention is number one priority.....but accidents do happen, and when you are snagged and can't get lose, in current or any type of danger and hung up in a line or lines, I'll take a knife any day to be able to cut myself free.

Happy paddling,
Aloha,
-Rich

I also use a Garmin 310XT and have lost a heart rate strap due to the clips coming off, however you can use a polar strap with a garmin transmitter. I now use a Polar "wearlink smart fabric sensor" which uses the same clips as the transmitter on the Garmin so you can just clip on the Garmin transmitter to the polar strap. When you get it totally drenched it sometimes doesn't transmit a signal to the watch however I had this problem with the garmin strap anyway. The polar strap has the great advantage that it won't come off.

It sells for $18 and is certainly cheaper than buying the actual transmitter.

Mahalo,

Geoff

PS. If you get one make sure you get the large one as the small one is incredibly small!