Cable protection for u/w detectors.

Alan Hassell

Jr. Member
Jun 13, 2010
53
3
Detector(s) used
pulse star 2, impulse, spectrum. goldscan, PI 3000
During the life time of an u/w detector how many time has you scoop come into close contact with the coil cable?
It is easy to damage that cable it only needs one hit and a small hole could appear.
If that happens water will get in and eventually mess up the coil and stop the machine working.
One simple little trick that only costs a few dollars will protect that cable for the life of your detector.

Take a visit to any dive shope and ask for the plastic protective sleeves they put on divers air hoses.
Then fit that to your coil and bingo you can stop worrying about any cable accidents and enjoy your day in the water knowing you are protected. hope it helps alan hassell :thumbsup:
 

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Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,305
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Florida
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Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Personally since I wrap the coil around my shaft leaving just enough slack for the coil to move in both directions without any stress I do not ever have a problem with the cable, I have never hit the cable or come close to hitting the coil or cable with my scoop.


DSCF2471-1.jpg
 

Lou from downunder

Jr. Member
Mar 16, 2009
65
0
How on earth would your scoop ever come close enough to your machine to come into contact with it?

I think you need to brush up on your technique.

Hehehe.

Lou.
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
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Primary Interest:
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Ditto for me...........I mount all my water detectors from a neck mount with the cable taped to the left side of the shaft with enough slack at the coil end for flexing. In no way does the scoop come near the cable. The plastic protector you mention would help at the other end where the cable comes out of the control box, but even there I have no stress.
 

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Alan Hassell

Jr. Member
Jun 13, 2010
53
3
Detector(s) used
pulse star 2, impulse, spectrum. goldscan, PI 3000
Lou from downunder said:
How on earth would your scoop ever come close enough to your machine to come into contact with it?

I think you need to brush up on your technique.

Hehehe.

Lou.

You need to get your eyes tested Lou or maybe its too much vino your drinking at Oscars? No where did i say my scoop came into contact with my detector. As for my technique I explained it all in over 50 articles that G&T published and paid me for since 1982. Attacks on individuals are frowned on here thats the 2nd time you tried unsuccessfully.

You could be using some of those tecniques yourself that I described years ago yourself.

If you dont like what I write and post, dont read it, peace and tranquility will prevail.
 

Lou from downunder

Jr. Member
Mar 16, 2009
65
0
Still waiting for a reply Allen.

And while your considering your answer....

Not wanting to be told to get my eyes tested, or be accused of imbibing in one to many Oscars vinos, again...
but this has been bugging me all day.

How does spiral wrap around ones coil prevent ones scoop from damaging ones cable?

Lou.
 

Treasure_Hunter

Administrator
Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,305
54,463
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Minelab_Equinox_ 800 Minelab_CTX-3030 Minelab_Excal_1000 Minelab_Sovereign_GT Minelab_Safari Minelab_ETrac Whites_Beach_Hunter_ID Fisher_1235_X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The spiral wrap would not really protect a cable from being nicked very well if it was struck hard with a scoop since it could easily go between the spirals, a split or slit wrap like Panduit's Nylon Slit Corrugated Loom Tubing would do a lot better job. You use small cable ties to seal it shut, which would protect it completely. The cable ties cause the wrap to over lap at the slit so there is no chance of cable contact. To wrap the cable from the coil up the shaft will create a lot more drag in the water....

PanduitNylonCorrugatedSlitLoomTubin.jpg


Here is a small piece of split panduit I put only over the waterproof splice on my Excal to protect the connector only...It is more to protect it in the back of my vehicle from being hit by something then for protection in the water.

DSCF2120-1.jpg


If the extra cable is wrapped properly around the shaft, it is well protected. I am not sure how someone would hit the cable with their scoop unless they are being very careless. Spiral or split, both would create more drag in the water and make it harder to swing the coil. When I locate a target with my coil, I put my foot at the back of the coil that is over the target, my toe touching it, I then move my coil and detector to my side and place the scoop where the toe of my foot is marking the target and start my scoop there, my coil, cable and detector is well out of the way to my right side, as i carry my scoop in my left hand.
 

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Alan Hassell

Jr. Member
Jun 13, 2010
53
3
Detector(s) used
pulse star 2, impulse, spectrum. goldscan, PI 3000
Lou from downunder said:
Still waiting for a reply Allen.

And while your considering your answer....

Not wanting to be told to get my eyes tested, or be accused of imbibing in one to many Oscars vinos, again...
but this has been bugging me all day.

How does spiral wrap around ones coil prevent ones scoop from damaging ones cable?

Lou.

Lou get a life anyone can see your attempting to bait me and Im not having anything to do with it or you and your pityfull attempts to stir me up.

What have you done to promote metal detecting or shallow water metal detecting?. Over the years I have done a great deal and made my knowledge and information available FREE to anyone and never asked a red cent or thank you in return.

Fortuneately we have an ignore button on here and by the time you read this you will be history as far as Im concerned and will never have to see your insidious and insulting posts again.

Thanks to TH he has answered your question for you and I compliment him on doing a great job too. Yes, I do appreciate the efforts of others who attempt to promote this great hobby.

However, when I used that spiral protector on my old PI 1000, and thats going back many years the drag if any did not affect me because it made me work slower and cover the ground more thoroughly increasing the number of targets I located.

Sometimes it a person does work more slowly he may not cover just as much ground at the end of the day but he does get the results. Too many people today are too much of a rush to find that nice target and miss the signals.

Lou your on my ignore list now Im not going to play your stupid game, Ive been around too long and can smell something bad even 13,000 miles away. Good luck Lou and goodbye.
 

Lou from downunder

Jr. Member
Mar 16, 2009
65
0
Hi TH, nice neat set up you have on your machine.

I agree that the amount of spiral wrap required to protect an Excals coil cable, if it was even possible to put on, would create an enormous amount of water resistence.
Seeing as most of us are getting on a bit and are seeking to reduce rather than increase the amount of effort required to swing a coil, I, personally, find Allens suggestion to be unhelpful.
I agree that only a careless operator would allow his scoop to come into contact with his machine.

It appears that Allen can be so.
The reason he refused to answer my question regarding his technique is because he was unsure as to whether or not I had read an article he had published in Gold, Gem and Treasure addressing this very issue.
In the article he states categorically that on occasions he had hit his shaft quite hard with his scoop.
It was only after some thought that he realised the possible consequences and rather than correct his technique, he wrapped the cable instead.

Its unfortunate that Allen has chosen to activate his ignore button, for there are one or two matters that I would like to address and I would have been interested in his responses.
But just in case he has had a change of heart and not hit the button.......

Firstly.
I refute Allens claims to have been the first underwater detectorist in Australia.

There is absolutely no evidence to back these claims up, only his say so!

Detectors were already widely in use at this time. As an aside.... my father, having read about the use of detectors in America, in a treasure magazine, imported a machine from the states as they were unavailable at the time here in Oz. It was basically a grey plastic box with a telescopic shaft that did beep when it passed over metal.
Shortly after, he imported a Garrett and had a lot of fun with it. It was only a couple of years later that detectors became widely available here. And no, dad doesnt claim to be the first detectorist in the country.
He did get this info from a treasure magazine. As water detecting had already taken off in the states, articles on it were circulating and would have been seized upon by opportunistic individuals.
It was after reading one of these articles that the old man, knowing of my love for diving, suggested I have a go. At age 20 I was only interested in girls or spearing fish, not in looking like a dork hunting for treasure!

So, I find Allens claims of an epithany at the beach after his car broke down on the way to the goldfields, and in so doing becoming Australias first ever underwater detectorist, to be fanciful. I suggest he just read about it, just like everyone else did at the time, and got into it, just like everyone else did at the time.

Still, if want to sell articles, you need a good story. Poetic license is what writers call it. I have another name for it.

Secondly.

Allen makes much of the fact that "after 4 years of having it all to ourselves, WE decided to share with others etc".
There is no WE.
I suggest that instead HE realised that there was money to be made from publishing articles on the subject.
He alternates between claims of ..."over 50 articles that G&T published and PAID me for since 1982"
and
"Over the years I have done a great deal and made my knowledge and information available FREE to anyone and never asked a red cent or thank you in return."
These two quotes are used freely, depending on the situation. Both have been used just in this thread.

Allen has written professionally, his works are copyrighted and it was only after their commercial usefulness had expired that this information has been made freely available.
However, before this had occurred, truly selfless individuals, The Golden Olde comes to mind, had written and given freely of their knowledge without constantly reminding us of what a great guys they are for doing so!

Thirdly.
I remain highly suspicious of claims of a deep desire to further the expansion of the hobby and of desires to aid newcomers.
As I had stated on an earlier occasion, attempts were made to bully others off what had been claimed as his beach.
When ignored, threats were made to dump large amounts of, aluminium shavings I believe, in the water thereby ruining it for everone.
Hardly the actions of someone professing to want to help others.
Strong accusations that even though had been aired earlier remain unchallenged. Why?

Oh, by the way, am I the only one to have noted that Allen is writing a book?
And is it once, or twice that he has mentioned and attempted to direct others to his website?

If I have offended anybody, please accept my humble apologies.
My intention is not to upset, but to question.
I believe that if a claim is made in a public forum, then I, as a member of the forum has the right to question and refute said claims if I believe them to be misleading or untrue.

Thank you.

Lou.
 

S.S.Tupperware

Hero Member
Jul 18, 2009
798
51
Orlando
Detector(s) used
PI Dual/Coinmaster 5500d/DFX/BHID
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I just don't see a need and a spiral wrap will still leave exposed cable... how in the world would ya hit the cable anyway? I guess if your that careless ya get what you deserve... :tongue3:
 

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Alan Hassell

Jr. Member
Jun 13, 2010
53
3
Detector(s) used
pulse star 2, impulse, spectrum. goldscan, PI 3000
Lou from downunder said:
Hi TH, nice neat set up you have on your machine.

I agree that the amount of spiral wrap required to protect an Excals coil cable, if it was even possible to put on, would create an enormous amount of water resistence.
Seeing as most of us are getting on a bit and are seeking to reduce rather than increase the amount of effort required to swing a coil, I, personally, find Allens suggestion to be unhelpful.
I agree that only a careless operator would allow his scoop to come into contact with his machine.

It appears that Allen can be so.
The reason he refused to answer my question regarding his technique is because he was unsure as to whether or not I had read an article he had published in Gold, Gem and Treasure addressing this very issue.
In the article he states categorically that on occasions he had hit his shaft quite hard with his scoop.
It was only after some thought that he realised the possible consequences and rather than correct his technique, he wrapped the cable instead.

Its unfortunate that Allen has chosen to activate his ignore button, for there are one or two matters that I would like to address and I would have been interested in his responses.
But just in case he has had a change of heart and not hit the button.......

Firstly.
I refute Allens claims to have been the first underwater detectorist in Australia.

There is absolutely no evidence to back these claims up, only his say so!

Detectors were already widely in use at this time. As an aside.... my father, having read about the use of detectors in America, in a treasure magazine, imported a machine from the states as they were unavailable at the time here in Oz. It was basically a grey plastic box with a telescopic shaft that did beep when it passed over metal.
Shortly after, he imported a Garrett and had a lot of fun with it. It was only a couple of years later that detectors became widely available here. And no, dad doesnt claim to be the first detectorist in the country.
He did get this info from a treasure magazine. As water detecting had already taken off in the states, articles on it were circulating and would have been seized upon by opportunistic individuals.
It was after reading one of these articles that the old man, knowing of my love for diving, suggested I have a go. At age 20 I was only interested in girls or spearing fish, not in looking like a dork hunting for treasure!

So, I find Allens claims of an epithany at the beach after his car broke down on the way to the goldfields, and in so doing becoming Australias first ever underwater detectorist, to be fanciful. I suggest he just read about it, just like everyone else did at the time, and got into it, just like everyone else did at the time.

Still, if want to sell articles, you need a good story. Poetic license is what writers call it. I have another name for it.

Secondly.

Allen makes much of the fact that "after 4 years of having it all to ourselves, WE decided to share with others etc".
There is no WE.
I suggest that instead HE realised that there was money to be made from publishing articles on the subject.
He alternates between claims of ..."over 50 articles that G&T published and PAID me for since 1982"
and
"Over the years I have done a great deal and made my knowledge and information available FREE to anyone and never asked a red cent or thank you in return."
These two quotes are used freely, depending on the situation. Both have been used just in this thread.

Allen has written professionally, his works are copyrighted and it was only after their commercial usefulness had expired that this information has been made freely available.
However, before this had occurred, truly selfless individuals, The Golden Olde comes to mind, had written and given freely of their knowledge without constantly reminding us of what a great guys they are for doing so!

Thirdly.
I remain highly suspicious of claims of a deep desire to further the expansion of the hobby and of desires to aid newcomers.
As I had stated on an earlier occasion, attempts were made to bully others off what had been claimed as his beach.
When ignored, threats were made to dump large amounts of, aluminium shavings I believe, in the water thereby ruining it for everone.
Hardly the actions of someone professing to want to help others.
Strong accusations that even though had been aired earlier remain unchallenged. Why?

Oh, by the way, am I the only one to have noted that Allen is writing a book?
And is it once, or twice that he has mentioned and attempted to direct others to his website?

If I have offended anybody, please accept my humble apologies.
My intention is not to upset, but to question.
I believe that if a claim is made in a public forum, then I, as a member of the forum has the right to question and refute said claims if I believe them to be misleading or untrue.

Thank you.

Lou.

If you dont sign in and read threads one can see new posts even ones by people you figure unworthy of talking too.
I was mystified by Lou's outburst and personal attack on myself for no apparent reason. Something was bugging Lou and I had no idea what could of cause his outburst.

he talks about misrepresentation over my writings which were published over 26 years ago, and why i wrote some fanciful terms like owning your own bank hehehe. For gods sake, you try entering any bank in the world and asking for a gold ring hehehe the staff would be in fits of laughter so would the manager hehe.

Banks dont own money, they use other peoples and that's exactly why after their abuse of other peoples money the world is suffering right now because of their stupidity. As for misrepresentation there was none intended at the time it was entirely up to the reader to interpret my writings their own way.

Remember, that was over 26 years ago too and sure a lot of people have been attracted to the hobby some were successful some were not. There are no guarantees for anyone that they will find anything its up to the individual themselves and how hard they work at it.

Remember too 26 years ago in Australia no one apart from John Crowley and Jack Bosanquet, myself and a few others that I became interested were detecting in the water.

There were no statistics of what could be found, what had been lost or what the potential of finding anything was. So how can anyone claim it was misrepresentation of using a few elementary statistics to come up with a rough estimate of what could or might be found on a beach?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had forgotten that Lou had sent me emails here's one he might of thought i had put in the trash can.
Allen Hassell, you old wanker, how are you going? You might remember me from the old "Oscars" days in Frankston. l was the abalone poacher that used to be there on a nightly basis some 16-17 yrs back. Lou, big, sauve, sophisticated. Well big anyway. You tried to get me interested in U/W detecting to no avail. However interests change. I've purchased an xterra70 and am cleaning up on the coins with the odd piece of jewellry thrown in. Stumbled onto your website and thought l'd say hello.Being the expert diver that l am U/W detecting seems like a natural progression [ clearly l am also a modest man], so l'm saving my coins to buy a water machine. Was planning on the Minelabs Excalibur, you still reckon Fisher is better? Most of my detecting will be in the bay obviously. Hoping for sound advice.
Not diving anymore? Health problems l believe. Bugger, you seemed pretty fit back then. Are you in England now? no wonder your crook what with there weather and all. Just kidding, my daughters over there on a working holiday, loving every minute of it, lucky little bugger.
Had to give the shellfish away. Big trouble with the dept. Huge court case, been going on for years $200,000 out of pocket so far and rising but we,ve pretty well got them beat. Then its our turn! Will write a book one day.
Anyway drop me a line if you care to chat, all the best, Lou.

Lou sent me another one telling me about how hard it was to find anything these days because of sand build up inn the bay and wanted to have an edge on other guys who were still detecting in the water.

He asked me for details about geomorphology, which means basic information re tides and sand movement in oceans and tidal area's.

Yahoo, had closed my old website down, the information that had been available for all to see was now gone. I had retired, and was recovering from a heart attack so I told Lou to go to a library or look it up on the internet, this is the cause of Lou's outburst and attempt at character assasination.

As for Lou's remarks about dumping scrap in an area that I searched on a daily basis is total madness no one in their right mind would do it, especially if they loved the hobby as much as I did, thats why I promoted it.

Now think of this I never sold detectors, I was not out to make profit from the sale of them, but there were plenty of people who did minelab was one of them. After a few years of guys chasing gold on the goldfields the finds were hard to come by the only other place they could find gold was in water.

I have no idea as to how many detectors were sold by minelab and others but it would be in the thousands. What I had actually done was build a market for underwater metal detectors. I could not cover the entire Australian continent by myself so I let people in on this great and wonderful hobby.

What Lou fears more than anything else is a resurgence of interest in shallow water metal detecting in Australia and because of that Lou took it upon himself to have a go at me and my past writings.

Lou in his own admission was an abalone poacher meaning he dived for and sold shell fish ileagally when people were paying huge licence fee's to do it legally. Now he's fighting a battle with the authorities he tried to cheat and its costing him money.

The first detector I bought was a MinRad geophysical instrument made in Geeling in 1964. Well the makers claimed it could find gold.
I was gullible at the time and bought one dreaming of going to the gold fields finding huge gold nuggets hehehe i was a dreamer.
But it was great on the beach even for an old BFO in finding coins.

Whites bought out an improvement in the early 70's I saw a 2nd hand one and bought it for about $100 and had a lot of fun on the beach with it but gold still eluded me. A photographer from the Sun newspaper caught me using it on the beach and took pics of myself and it appeared in the Sun Newspaper.

I'm sure if anyone did a search they would find that pic to prove i was detecting back in the early 70's long before the gold rush took place in 1979.

My mail box always had loads of emails thanking me for putting that website up with all the information on it, the first one up was in 1989-90 the University of Shallow Water metal detecting. Maybe some of you oldies will remember it. It was there to promote the hobby thats all.

On reflection, had i responded and given Lou the information he wanted maybe this reply would not be neccessary but it appears to be that Lou wanted to have a go at me for failing provide him with the information he wanted.

People are lazy and cant be bothered doing their own research when someone else has already done it for them.

Lou may your worst fears could come true maybe its time to write a new article and publish it in G&T and get more newbies interested in the hobby giving you more competition... hehehe

Remember the old saying Lou Sticks and stones can break your bones, names can never hurt you.

Your a loser Lou, a bad one at that. You give your father a lot of praise about his detecting while you were out trying to sow your wild oats chasing girls and diving. You weren't even detecting and you come on here with a load of old crap trying to discredit me?
How pathetic can a grown man get? How petty minded can a man become? How about all those people who took up the hobby and never complained once? You should be ashamed of yourself Lou, your a disgrace to Australia and to the hobby.
I have always said GREED is a terrible thing and its true.
What you want is all of Victoria to yourself so you can enjoy your little hobby and reap all the finds. You certainly havent done anything to promote the hobby? Anyone can now see you in the light of day and what you are.
A pathetic grumpy old git with nothing better to do than have a good old whinge and it got you no where.
Go bite your bum Lou get back in the water. You can't change the past and your not going to change the future either.
If you cant beat them join them and your havent beaten me not by a long shot stop this idiocy your only making a bigger fool of yourself than you already are. Good luck to you Lou, may the fleas of a 1000 camels infest your underpants hehehe Im just not interested in your delusions of granduer so get lost your not worth knowing.
 

Lou from downunder

Jr. Member
Mar 16, 2009
65
0
Welcome back Allen.

And I thought you were going to ignore me, hehehe.

Mate, dress it up anyway you want, you lied with your outrageous claims ," source of income, no bottom to the barrel, gold mine, 3 ounce chains etc."

And you DO whack your machine with your scoop, dont you? No lies now, you wrote an article on it in G&T, remember? But its important to pretend we dont!
So I repeat, you really do need to brush up on your technique! Hehehe.

But lets not kid ourselves Allen, I know you dont get into the water anymore, you have'nt for years. Dont lie about this either, for this is not the only forum I read.... eh Ned Kelly?

Speaking of which, did you know that Ray is alive and well and living in WA? I might just give him a call and see if he would like to join this discussion. Now, about those denials of threatening to shut down Frankston beach.... no more lies now, who knows what other gems might be exposed if he decides to visit?

Yes, its true, I did send you that email and you appear to have reproduced it fairly accurately. You never replied.
You claim I sent you another email?
Thats funny, I have no recollection of that. But no worry, I'm sure that you can reproduce it by FORWARDING it to the forum with dates received etc, not typed like you did with the one above. Should'nt be a problem.... or is it????

Now why do I just know that for some reason you wont be able to find it, accidently deleted it etc etc. Cause if you dont we're going to think you've made this up. So no lies... hehehe!

It was after this that I sat down and had a good read of your various articles and realised that they were short on substance and long on self promotion, with a fair amount of bull (lies) thrown in. Further reading on the WA forum confirmed my conclusions that you are no more than a shameless self promoter whose only interest is to milk the hobby for all it is worth.

By the way, you will be pleased to know that we won our epic 5 year battle with the fisheries. We even made "case law" in the process. What a trip!

And yes, you've got me at last!
You'll be pleased to know that your sterling endeavours to promote the sport here in Oz have been a resounding success.
Why in 2 1/2 years of solid detecting I've grudgingly had to share the waters of MY bay on 5 separate occasions!
So please, dont write anymore articles to G&T, for a hoard of, maybe another 5?, might descend upon the 100 odd miles of MY bays shoreline and clean it out on me.
Nah... I know you wont... just another lie.... hehehe!

Now one last thing..... While I'm not in the least bit offended by your personal insults, if you dont tone it down a bit you'll get us both banned.
Now for me, thats not a problem, for I have nothing to promote and I will always be able to peruse the forum as a guest, but in your case, you wont be able to promote your upcoming book or direct others to your website ....... hey actually, banning might not be that bad after all!
Mr. Moderator????????

Lou.
 

Lou from downunder

Jr. Member
Mar 16, 2009
65
0
Sorry folks but I'm back again.

Upon reflection I am embarrassed to realise that I have allowed and have contributed to this becoming an undignified squabble.

For this, I humbly apologise.

To maintain the dignity and integrity of the forum, I will make no further comments in relation to Allan Hassell.

Thank you.

Lou.
 

OP
OP
A

Alan Hassell

Jr. Member
Jun 13, 2010
53
3
Detector(s) used
pulse star 2, impulse, spectrum. goldscan, PI 3000
Lou from downunder said:
Sorry folks but I'm back again.

Upon reflection I am embarrassed to realise that I have allowed and have contributed to this becoming an undignified squabble.

For this, I humbly apologise.

To maintain the dignity and integrity of the forum, I will make no further comments in relation to Allan Hassell.

Thank you.

Lou.

I hope you keep your word on that I didnt come here for petty squabbles or insults I came here to share my knowledge with newbies. And anyone else wanting to read about shallow water metal detecting or treasure hunting and history.

since you instigated these insidious attacks members should know something or your not so squeeky clean past.

What sort of man deserts his own brother in Bass Straight shark invested waters to fend for himself? in an attempt to avoid justice and to save himself from the law and police?

How can anyone appeal against all that eveidence 200 abablone found on his boat depriving legal fishermen of making a living.

I checked for appeals none were recorded so who is the bigger liar and what prompted his outburst?

I was only getting people interested in a great hobby for that i cop flack

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200209/s679331.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200209/s679013.htm

http://www.hotbite.com.au/content/news_archive/?page=2&nid=79

Lou isnt worth knowing, a man with a grudge with a not so squeeky clean past either.

you judge for yourselves do your own checks on mr Lou Hadja

Sorry folks but i have a right to defend myself I also have a right to be proud of my achievements and anyone in the same position as myself would be too, at least I did it my way the hard way.

I dont care how many people benifit from my writings i used to enjoy it and got a lot of pleasure from it too. Even if i did glamorise it and make it look too good to be true. But it was when no one else was doing it in Australia.
Ray Hudson might of been detecting on the beach at the time but he wasnt in the water till i told him about the Aquasport and he bought one. even then most of the time Ray used the discriminator and only went for the dollar coins.

I hope this ends this sordid thread I will not partake in any of Lou's outbursts in future and remind him to abide by the rules and not attack other members if he wants to talk take it to PM not in here. If he fails to do that then he does so at his own risk.

Im not interested in his petty minded insults my skins thicker than his anyway. :laughing7: :laughing7: :laughing7: :thumbsup:
 

Lou from downunder

Jr. Member
Mar 16, 2009
65
0
Dear, oh dear, oh dear!

The shame, the humiliation, to be so exposed..... "abalone poacher leaves brother behind in shark infested waters in desperate attempt to save his own skin".

Wow! What a great story!

Would be even better if it was true!

But the story is on the net! It must be true! No... It just proves that there is more than one writer of fairy tales around. But as they say in the classics, "never let the truth get in the way of a good story".

I make no secret of the fact that at one time I was an abalone poacher, in fact it was I that first raised this here.
It is a badge that I wear with honour.

The story above is in relation to an incident that occurred in Tasmanian waters 10 years ago.
Tasmania is an island state, some 200 miles off the Australian mainland, separated by the treacherous waters of Bass Strait. Tasmania is regarded disparagingly by mainland Australia as a "hillbilly state". And rightly so!

As all of what I am about to write was given in evidence, under oath in the various arenas of battle, court
transcripts of all proceedings are available if any interested parties feel the need to examine the veracity of my statements.

I'll try to keep this brief for there is a lot that happened, both on the day and over the next couple of years.
So a lot will be left out.

On the day in question, brother Mick, myself and two mates were spearfishing at Rodondo Island which is just inside Tasmanian territorial waters.
A couple of minutes after sunset, but still with good light, everyone but Mick was on board.
Mick was about 50 yards away and swimming back to the boat when a boat appeared from behind a headland and approached us at high speed. The path that this boat was taking put it on a collision course with Mick.
Despite frantic efforts to alert the approaching boat of Micks presence in the water they continued on.
The guy behind the controls, realising that as we were the focus of their attention, gunned the engines to move the boat away from Mick.
This action probably saved Micks life, for they turned to intersect our path. As it was they only missed him by a couple of feet.
The other boat, the Fisheries as it turned out, decided that we must be trying to escape and in a deliberate action rammed our barely moving boat, at what was determined by an expert witness to be at approx 30-35 knots.

The force of the collision was incredible. The guy at the controls panicked and powered us out of there.
The Fisheries gave chase but their boat was no match for ours. Seas, out from the lee of the island, were quite rough, to the extent that it was one of the three officers on board that fell over the side, not Mick, who was wondering what the hell was going on back at the island. He climbed out and onto high rocks to see what was happening.
Seeing as we were miles ahead of the Fisheries, who of course had to stop to pick their man up, we raced back to pick Mick up. Unfortunately, before he had a chance to climb back down, get in and swim to us the Fisheries made it back and again approached us at speed. We powered off again. They spotted Mick on the rocks and approached him, we went to return but as we did the Fisheries mothership rounded the corner.
On seeing this I realised conclusively who the other party were and knew that Mick would would come to no harm at their hands, so a decision was made to go home.
And so, no abalone were found on board.

Why did we leave?
The boat would have been immediately seized, its standard practice with them.
I have had an enormous amount of contact with the Fisheries and know of their fondness for fabricating evidence to secure a conviction.
Much later, my fears came to pass.

The next morning we set wheels in motion.
The boat was taken to a yard and the considerable damage assessed.
I contacted my legal team and outlined what had happened, letters were drafted and posted immediately.
I rang the Victorian Water Police and asked for advice in this matter.
Some time later we drafted a letter and sent it to the Commissioner of Police in Tasmania outlining events and asking for the officers to be charged.
From memory they were...
Reckless endangerment, wilfull destruction of private property, ignoring a Diver Below flag, assault plus one or two related charges.
The boys were in a lot of trouble. Or so we thought.

Months went by with letters going to and fro, until from out of the blue, I and only I from our crew of four was charged with abalone related offenses.

In court the Fisheries claimed that they actually approached us at a speed of 5 knots and as they were pulling up along side, we suddenly accelerated and turned hard across the front of them, resulting in a collision.
From alongside and in a standing position they claim that they could clearly see 5 bins, 6-8 bags and hundreds of loose abalone on the floor of the boat.
They claim that whilst motoring alongside us they saw us throw everything over the side and that it took 8-10 minutes to do this.
But as it turns out, there were two independent police observers in an airplane circling overhead, one with binoculars and one without.
Both verified a high speed collision, rendering any observations of abalone from a standing position impossible.
The policeman with the binoculars' observations were that at all times he had a clear view of the floor of the boat and could clearly see the movements of all of the occupants.
His sworn evidence is that there were no bins, no bags or any loose abalone on the floor of the boat and at no time did any of the occupants throw anything from the boat.

Should have been cut and dried, but no. I was found guilty of all charges!
How?
You tell me! Like I said before, Tasmania is our hillbilly state, or as our senior council said "Tasmania is not noted for its jurisprudence."

Now in any other state in Australia if your not happy with a magistrates decision you can appeal it to the County Court where the case is reheard before a proper judge.
In Tasmania there is no County Court, one goes automatically to the Supreme Court where the case isnt reheard, just the magistrates method of arriving at his decision is questioned. Even though his decision is ludicrously wrong, as long as he followed a legal procedure in arriving at it, his decision is upheld. Guess it makes sense to some.
We took it before the Supreme Court, then the full bench of the Supreme Court and finally sought leave to appeal before the High Court. This was denied. I lost. $80,000 in legal fees and $52,000 in fines imposed.
But it had to go that way.
If the magistrate found in our favour the three long serving officers would have lost their jobs and served jail time.
And hillbillys look after their own!
Certainly an expensive days spearfishing!

My more recent case, the 5 year battle which we won and in so doing created "case law" goes like this.

The Fisheries put in an all out effort to try and catch Mick and I doing something wrong.
For nearly 2 years every available officer in the state was on our case.
They kept a 24 hour, 7 day a week watch on us. Phones were tapped, houses bugged, GPS tracking devices and illegal cut out switches fitted to the boats engines. Airplanes and helicopters tracked us from the air, using infra red radar to track us at night.
Dozens of officers would be stationed around Port Phillip Bay at night hoping to catch us dropping something off.
They tried sneaking up on us in decrepit old fishing boats, paddling out on surfboards, you name it, they tried it.
Finally, our houses were raided by teams of Fisheries officers and police.
8 hours in each house, took our computers, every bit of paper that had any numbers on it, our cell phones, diving photos, fish fillets from the freezer, dive gear etc etc.
And what did they get? Nothing!
In two years they spent between $8 to $10 MILLION for nothing!
Not one abalone!

Finally, in desperation, they charged us with conspiracy, to be heard before a jury in the County Court.
Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to pursue a course of conduct illegal.
They felt sure that they could overwhelm a jury with the sheer volume of information they had on us to the point where the jury would have to conclude that even though there was no proof of any wrong doing, we MUST have been up to no good.

They were wrong.
It never even got before a jury.
The wise old judge, the learned Leslie Ross took one look at their case and dismissed it despite their howls of protest. He made no attempt at hiding his contempt at their pathetic case.

It was his finding in this matter that made "case law".

This is only a brief account of proceedings.
We had 23 separate appearances and spent over $200,000 on our defence. But we won.

Some of you might say that because we were one time abalone poachers we deserve everything we get.
That we are criminals and that poaching is a very serious offence.
Well thats your hang up!
Poaching is a summary offence, meaning small time, as against an indictable offence which is big time.
The media, in years gone by have described us as "lovable rogues", I have friends who are currently and some who have been licensed abalone divers, and even share an amicable relationship with a lot of the Fisheries officers.
I have the respect and admiration of my peers.

But if this is still not good enough then let me quote the good Judge Leslie Ross, who delivered this outraged response to Grant Griffin, senior Fisheries officer and my main protagonist, who had just been caught telling yet another outrageous lie....

"Stop right there sir. Do not say another word. Let me say that I find it wrong that these men should be forced to wear the stigma of conspiracy for what is, after all, A MERE FISHING OFFENSE!"

Ok.... next?

Lou.
 

Montauk3

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Nov 2, 2006
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Girls, Girls, Girls, give it a break. I seems to me that the english have quit an attitude problem. Take a deep breath.
 

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