Tech Tip: Cylinder Stage Straps

Cylinder straps (aka stage straps) provide an efficient means of using bolt snaps to attach the cylinder to your harness hard points (D-rings or sidemount rails). In some designs the strap may also be used to help carry the cylinder. The strap itself is a piece of round cord or flat webbing that creates secure attachment points for two stainless steel bolt snaps. The strap encircles the cylinder's neck and is secured at the cylinder's base by a stainless steel hose clamp. A fabric sheath on the clamp is used to prevent the clamp from causing damage to the cylinder or abrasion against the diver. Elastic hose retainers are used to dress the regulator hose neatly against the cylinder.

Metal to metal stage rigging, brass alloy, and boat style snaps are no longer considered best practice among experienced divers. Even the best snaps can jam, but brass snaps are prone to jamming if not carefully maintained. The boat snap (aka "suicide clip") is very effective as a line trap, and notoriously ineffective as a reliable attachment device.

It's also proven to be a bad idea to clip yourself to bottles that have the clips permanently attached to the tank using metal-to-metal rings or clamps. Should a jam or entanglement occur, a diver might find it impossible to free themselves from the bottle.

Straps and stainless steel marine-grade snaps that can be cut free in case of entanglement are now the accepted form of stage bottle rigging.

Pickering Point

Reef Dive | Shore access

Pickering Point

Depth: 5 m (16 ft) to 20 m (66 ft)

Level: Open Water and beyond.

Pickering Point is a diving and snorkelling site suitable for all levels of divers in the right conditions. It lies just east of Thunder Point in the Merri Marine Sanctuary south-west of Warrnambool, located between the Harbour Breakwater and Thunder Point Coastal Reserve, on Victoria's Shipwreck Coast.

Merri Marine Sanctuary is a protected no-take zone that includes Pickering Point. See the Merri Marine Sanctuary Map.

Pickering Point and Merri Marine Sanctuary

Pickering Point & Merri Marine Sanctuary | © The Scuba Doctor Australia

Diving and Snorkelling at Pickering Point

Pickering Point Shore Entry
© Sally Watson

At Pickering Point the bottom slopes gently from 5 metres in close to 20 metres on the reefs about 200 metres offshore. There are plenty of interesting ledges, smim throughs and gutters creating great habitat for a vast array of marine life.

It's particularly diverse and colourful and is accessible during low tides with plenty of reef fish and invertebrates. Little Penguins roost and breed on the islands within the Merri Marine Sanctuary and hunt in and beyond the sanctuary for food to feed themselves and their chicks.

Follow the reef around to the right (north) where you'll find a cavern, several channels, and overhangs with lots of fish, crayfish and rays.

Pickering Point faces south-west into the Southern Ocean and is suitable for all levels of divers and snorkellers in the right conditions. It needs to be very calm with low swell. Conditions need to be constantly monitored as they can change quickly into dangerously rough seas with big sells and strong currents.

Merri Marine Sanctuary Parking
© Google Street View

Location: Viaduct Road, Warrnambool, Victoria 3280

Parking: Park along the western side of Viaduct Road, near the first set of steps closest to the concrete wall (i.e southern end of the parking). Before gearing up check out the water. If you see lots of white water, head on home.

Entry/Exit: Shore entry is from Singray Bay. Take the steps down onto the beach, walk towards Pickering Point and enter the water.

Ideal Conditions: This dive site is prone to surge and swell and is best dived at low tide on a low swell with light offshore northerly winds. See WillyWeather (Thunder Point) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Boat Launching: Pickering Point ia also popular as a boat dive heading out from the nearby Warrnambool (Lady Bay) boat ramp.

History: Pickering Point is named after William Pickering, a government surveyor who in 1844 completed Tyers' survey of the country between the Moyne and the mouth of Merri Creek (Warrnambool & District Historical Society).

Eastern Maar country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Eastern Maar people of south-western Victoria between the Shaw and Eumerella Rivers and from Yambuk in the south to beyond Lake Linlithgow in the north. This truly ancient Country extends as far north as Ararat and encompasses the coastal townships of Port Fairy in the west, Warrnambool, Peterborough, Port Campbell, Apollo Bay, Lorne, and Airies Inlet in the east, including the Great Ocean Road area. It also stretches 100 metres out to sea from low tide and therefore includes the iconic Twelve Apostles. "Eastern Maar" is a name adopted by the people who identify as Maar, Eastern Gunditjmara, Tjap Wurrung, Peek Whurrong, Kirrae Whurrung, Kuurn Kopan Noot and/or Yarro waetch (Tooram Tribe) amongst others. We wish to acknowledge the Eastern Maar as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Pickering Point Location Map

Latitude: 38° 24.042′ S (38.4007° S / 38° 24′ 2.52″ S)
Longitude: 142° 28.149′ E (142.46915° E / 142° 28′ 8.94″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2021-06-07 08:52:59 GMT, Last updated: 2022-05-24 09:39:23 GMT
Source: GPS
Nearest Neighbour: Middle Island, 346 m, bearing 145°, SE
Merri Marine Sanctuary.
Warrnambool, Shipwreck Coast.
Depth: 5 to 20 m.

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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.

The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.