Masks are optional equipment for shorepickers simply because most shorepickers use their sense of touch to find abalone. As a result, pretty much anything made with tempered safety glass will do.

Freedivers, however, require a well fitting quality mask of the type you can only get at a well stocked dive store. The combination of good fit and quality construction are your best bets for not having to deal with a leaky mask. The time, effort, and expensive required to get a good mask will pay for itself many times over. There's nothing quite like the annoying misery of saltwater in your eyes or having to constantly clear your mask at the surface.

In addition to having a good selection of quality masks, a dive shop can offer expert help in getting a good fit. They'll have you hold a mask against your face, press gently, and release. A mask that fits will hold onto your face without a need for the mask strap. You will want to try this fit check with a snorkel stuffed in your mouth because that significantly change the shape of your face. If the mast holds well and the pupil of your eyes are close to the center of the lens, you have a possible candidate for purchase. A couple of other considerations should be taken into account before pulling out the plastic.

A comfortable fit is very desirable but tricky to recognize for the inexperienced. One comfort check worth making is to press the mask hard against your face and note any pressure points. Rock the mask back and forth on your face to better identify where pressure is occurring. In particular, if you feel extra pressure along the upper gum line directly below the nose, be wary. That pressure can become quite painful after an hour or so in the water.

The skirt of a good mask will be made out of silicon and most will have a double edge. The silicon may be black, gray, or clear. Clear skirts allow in more light while the dark skirts help to focus attention on the field of vision. The dark skirts are more popular with experienced freedivers but, in the end, it's personal preference. The nose pocket should make it very easy for you to pinch your nose closed during descent. Remember that you'll probably be wearing thick gloves and that you'll want to pinch using only one hand. Any mask requiring a finger from both hands for pinching the nose is unsuitable for north coast abalone diving.

Finally, you'll want a mask with a very low volume. As you descend, the pressure of the water on the mask increases quickly and can become very uncomfortable. You'll compensate by adding air to the mask through your nose. Ideally, the amount of air being added is minimal as it is can be put to better use in your lungs than in your mask. By carefully shopping around, you can find the extremely low volume masks used by serious freedivers. They're small with skirt coverage that dwarfs lens that are positioned very close to the eyes. They look somewhat like oversized goggles and you'll have to give up most of the variety in styles and colors. In return, you'll get a mask that's easy to use, gives you the best peripheral vision available, and, usually, comes with a European brand name. Your choice.

A lot of old time divers will tell you the best snorkel is a wide bore version of the J- tube described above. They barely accept the idea of adding a purge valve much less tolerating all of the contraptions that have been added to the latest generation of "dry" snorkels. They point out that it increases the price of a snorkel to ridiculous levels and adds enough drag to cause you to swim in circles. If you let them get really wound up, you'll get an ear full about when diving was good and divers were better and ...

The price of a snorkel has definitely reached impressive heights. Beginning in the $10 to $15 range for the most basic models, there is at least one model priced at more than $100. So, in the case of price, I'd have to agree with many of the mossbacks. But this is as far as I can go. Today's dry snorkels do offer one overwhelming benefit: they're much "drier" to breath through when surface conditions are less than flat calm.

When breathing on the surface, it's typical for some water to enter the snorkel through the top of the tube. This is true even while swimming in a shallow pool. Jump in the ocean and you'll find that water enters a snorkel in amounts proportional to how sloppy the ocean surface is. Using the simplest type of snorkel in anything other than the most benign conditions requires constant clearing and very careful breathing. Dry snorkels do not prevent water entry but they do provide ingenious channeling of that water so that it quickly exits the breathing tube and gets very little chance to interrupt breathing. The difference in performance between simple J-tubes and the most popular dry snorkels is quite spectacular. As I've already stated, I prefer every possible advantage when going into the ocean and I believe the right dry snorkel qualifies as a substantial advantage. In terms of which model is the "right" one, pay attention to which model is most popular. That'd be the "right" model.

Yuk. So much marketing hooey gets spun around fins these days that stepping into this issue holds about as much appeal for me as rolling around a cow pasture blindfolded. The latest hype appears to be centered around split fins and, quite frankly, I've studiously ignored all the written opinions on the subject. So, in terms of the latest great fin debate, you're on your own.

What I will share is a general description of your choices in useful fins. Basically, they come in three blade materials (rubber, plastic and something really stiff) and two foot pocket styles (open- and closed-heel).

In terms of the latter, open-heel fins are, by far, more commonly used on the north coast than closed-heel fins. That's because open-heel fins are more adjustable, they have larger foot pockets that can accommodate everything up to steel toed construction boots and they are available in many more styles than closed-heel fins. Open-heel fins have "half" a foot pocket that fits over the front 2/3rds of the diver's foot. It's held on by a stretchy strap pulled up around the back of the heel. Because most north coast diving is some distance from the parking area over rough terrain, most divers prefer heavy, hard-soled diving boots. Those boots add enough size to your feet that an extra large foot pocket is a necessity that pretty much dictates use of open-heel fins. It's worth noting here that open-heel fin straps are the most common cause of entanglement with kelp. Left flopping in the breeze, they'll commonly get a kelp stipe snagged/jammed just behind the buckle. It's easily remedied when it happens but it's disconcerting/dangerous enough to make securing the excess fins straps worth the electrical tape necessary to do the job.

Closed-heel fins are for more serious freedivers willing to accomodate their peculiar impositions. Closed-heel fins are sized like shoes and slip over the diver's foot like a tight slipper. They have to be tight enough so as not to slip off during hard kicking. Because of size limitations and form fit requirements, users of closed-heel fins must use dive socks rather than dive boots. Dive socks are not suitable for crossing rough ground on the way to an entry which must be taken into account by potential users (typically, these guys wear knockabout tennis shoes to the entry where the change into the dive socks; the shoes are left sitting on a rock or on the beach). But, with all their disadvantages, serious freedivers swear by these fins and wouldn't use anything else. They also have the advantage of not having straps that can get tangled with kelp.

Moving on to the materials... rubber is the oldest commonly used material for fins and remains a strong contender today. Heavy, solid black "Jet Fins" (Scubapro and IDI) have been around a long long time and are still very popular. They're relatively cheap and few newer fins can keep up with them. Their only real disadvantages are that they sink like a brick and their color makes them hard to spot (whether on or off a diver's foot).

Varying types of plastic are materials most commonly used in new fin models. These new fins are more expensive than the older rubber fins. They are quite adequate for abalone diving but I would recommend keeping things as simple as possible. The more expensive end of this line of fins tend to include some fin strap attachment/adjustment/egress systems that rival 19th century variations on the mousetrap. Those are all well and good for your boat-based tropical diver. Off the California coast, though, Murphy's Law and ocean conditions combine to entertain the mischievousness of the dive gear gods.

Do be careful how you store and transport plastic fins; they will deform rather badly if haphazardly stored in a car trunk on a hot summer day.

Then there are the stiff material fins with blades made of fiberglass, kevlar or carbon fiber. These materials are only found on fins designed specifically for freediving. They aren't commonly seen in central/northern California dive shops but are easily spotted when they are: the blades run narrow and very long. 18" - 20" blades are the short end of freediving fins; they can run much longer. Some of the blades are quite fragile and entirely inappropriate for north coast abalone diving which tends toward shallower depths with lots of being banged around by surge. Other blades of this class of fin are much tougher and more appropriate on the north coast. These fins start in pricing alongside the upscale plastic models.

Finally, no discussion of fins would be quite complete without mentioning the monofin. It is now possible to order a fin with a single, wide and stiff blade with two closed-heel foot pockets attached. For those with the aerobic capacity to power them, these fins are a blast. I haven't yet seen them being used for abalone diving. That's probably because they'd be serious overkill at that application. But to each their own.

One dive safety consideration is the need to be familiar with your equipment. In the case of abalone diving, the weight belt is a necessity that, under the wrong circumstances, will do its best to kill you. Be sure you know how it operates. If you think that sounds funny, you probably don't know what I'm talking about. The buckles on a dive belt are designed to be opened using one-hand operation. Specifically, you're supposed to be able to rake your right hand across the belt buckle and, in the process, have it pop open. That means there is a right way to wear the belt and a wrong way. Learn the right way and practice with it until it becomes second nature. Each year, an average of 2 abalone harvesters drown in the waters off the Sonoma Coast and the overwhelming majority are found still wearing their weight belt. Learn to ditch your weight belt without hesitation and you're less likely to compound those statistics.

Another weight belt consideration is to be sure you're not starting with too much weight. If you don't know whether or not this is the case, don your equipment and get into some shallow water to make certain you're not going to be dragged straight to the bottom. If you seem fine, check more closely. As a new diver, you want to be positively buoyant with less than half a breath. That is, without moving your hands or fins, you should be floating on the surface when holding a full breath. As you let that breath out, you should remain floating with your lungs half full. Continuing to let your breath out, you should begin to sink as you're forcing the last of the air out of your lungs. This entire check must be done without finning or paddling with your hands. Otherwise, start over. Take your time. Once you get the weighting just perfect, take at least 2 more, preferrably five more, pounds off your belt. At the end of this process, you are weighted comfortably for calm conditions. Note, however, that if you're using rental gear, have a new suit, or have changed some part of your rubber gear, repeat this exercise. In the case of a new suit, the exercise should be repeated every few outings because, as suits initially break in, they lose buoyancy.

Weighting is a sensative subject. The truth is that new divers tend to have problems getting to and staying on the bottom. As a result, there's a strong tendency for new divers to be more comfortable with too much weight. It lets them get down with less struggle and they're more comfortable with their diving. That is a stark contrast with experienced freedivers who recognize that struggling to get down is much better and safer than struggling to get back up. Those freedivers carry enough weight to be neutral at their working depth (15', 20', 25') which necessariliy means they're going to be very bouyant at the surface in a 7mm wetsuit. This is worth noting when you're trying to sort out where you stand on the spectrum of freediving prowess.

In terms of the weight belts themselves, there are three styles: nylon belt, rubber belt and rubber belt with buckle.

If you have no hips, you'll probably want to set yourself up with a rubber belt. This involes a length of rubber belt with a fixed-position buckle. The buckle is adjusted (on dry land) to provide a snug (as in, you'll have to stretch the belt to get it clasped) fit in street cloths... it should be even snugger when wrapped around wetsuit clad diver. Once you're in the water, there's no practical way to adjust this style of belt so you'll probably want to strive to get it right before then. Once attached to you, the fit results in a snug belt regardless of depth or activity.

A more common style is a combination nylon web belt with a clamping nylon or stainless steel buckle. This kind of belt is easily adjusted under water or at the surface. For that reason, it's a better choice for those with hips where there's little liklihood of a belt sliding off the diver.

Finally, there's a European style rubber belt/buckle combination that's rarely seen on the north coast.

For the hardware, I suggest sticking to stainless steel. Plastic parts are cheaper and might work good enough for awhile but ocean conditions are hard on gear and weight belts are a lousy thing to have fall apart at the wrong time.

In terms of the weights, I prefer 1 pound bullet weights. They are nicely streamlined and they aren't big/heavy enough to dig into your hips. They're also nearly impossible to find.

Carrying a knife is de rigueur for cold water SCUBA and most free divers in spite of the fact that they're usually much more trouble than they're worth. The hilt of a knife must be quickly and easily accessible and that also makes it a great "hook" for catching on kelp. Therein lies the reluctance of some very experienced abalone divers to carry a knife. Their experience has been that they've never actually needed to have a knife but they have gotten tangled because of them plenty of times. So it's not uncommon to encounter abalone divers sans knife.

On the other hand, untangling kelp from a knife hilt is usually just a minor annoyance and preventing it from being a major annoyance is simply a matter being aware of your surroundings during a dive. However, if you find yourself tangled by monofilament fishing line, not having a knife will very likely prove fatal. Encountering monofilament is extremely rare but it only takes one occurance to justify the knife. So my choice is to carry a knife.

If you're going to carry a knife, you have a couple of decisions to make. First, what kind and style of a knife and, second, where do you carry it. Because the second question impacts the first, we'll start with the where.

For north coast diving, the most common location for strapping on a knife is the inside of a calf. This location preempts the vast majority of entanglements by shielding the knife while you're passing through thick kelp. On those occasions when entanglement does occur, it's fairly easy to reach your calf and free the entanglement. Another location that can be useful is to strap a smaller knife on the inside of one forearm with the hilt pointing toward your armpit. This location provides easy access under most circumstances and the orientation of the knife precludes most entanglement opportunities.

My preference in knives is to strap one of the big Rambo style knives on the inside of my calf. That choice isn't, as some might suggest, a form of physical compensation but a simple matter of economics and practicality: these knives are very cheap and very functional. They have a chrome plated, tempered steel blade and come with a cheesy plastic sheath that includes a rubber ring for securing the knife. While they tend to rust, tempered steel takes and holds a sharper edge than the stainless steel blades of more expensive knives. Personally, I prefer a sharp rusty knife over a dull clean one any day. And, if the rust is an annoyance, a generous coating of silicon grease over the entire blade and immediate rinsing in fresh water following each dive day goes a long way in keeping the blade rustfree.

Plenty of fancier knives are available and they include some very nifty sheath designs. Usually, they're hard plastic with a recessed, spring-loaded button that is pushed to release the knife. Alternately, there may be a slide release of some kind with, again, a spring release. The problem encountered with these spiffy sheaths are two fold. First, sand tends to work it's way into the release mechanism and jam things up quite nicely. It's very disconcerting between dives to reach for your knife to dispatch a block of cheese only to find you can't get your knife released without a crowbar. Of course, it's much more convenient to deal with that situation than to discover the jam while out diving. Second, none of the sheath mechanisms is keyed to require a finger for releasing the knife. Pretty much any pointy object will do the trick. Accidental contact with a protrusion from a boulder or a rock on the bottom are all that is required to release the knife. As the proud owner of a handful of fancy and vacant sheaths, I can attest to the ease of losing a knife in this manner.

So, I've switched to a cheap knife with a nice sharp edge and low tech rubber retainer. I check the retainer for cracking at the beginning of each season and replace it if there's any sign of trouble. If I lose this knife (hasn't happened yet), it won't be the heartbreaking experience I've experienced with the prettier knives I've lost in the past.

Regardless of which knife you end up with, I'll make the following suggestions:

• The blade should include a line cutting notch. These make short work of standard monofilament line.
• The blade should have a chisel tip rather than a point. If your knife has a point, grind it off to make a chisel. The point tip serves no purpose and can be a danger when you're trying to resheath a knife in surgy conditions. That is, it's pretty easy to stab yourself when you're being bounced around by waves and it's much less painful to stab yourself with a chisel than a pointed knife.
• Replace the plastic straps that come with some knives with stretchy rubber straps. Keep the plastic straps in your save-a-dive kit for temporary emergency use only.
• Size the straps to tightly hold the sheath. Once you're certain you have things properly sized, cut off the excess strap material and tape the loose ends down. Not only will it prevent the goofy look of flapping straps but the taping will reduce the occurance of straps tangling with kelp.