THE GLOBAL JOURNAL OF SPEARFISHING + FREEDIVING / ONE WORLD / ONE BREATH

www.hawaiiskindiver.com

ISSUE 35 // U.S. $6.95 // CANADA $6.95

NA WAHINE O KE KAI

cover + inhale KIMI WERNER

cover + inhale shooter BRAD UYEHARA / www.bluefoto.com

08 MESSAGES / 12 DAYE_Maas / 15 DOHERTY_Sipperly / 16 RIFFE_Riffe / 22 EASTER_Stockwell / 24 WERNER_Gedo

28 BEIRNE_Lanier / 30 NEILSEN_Neilsen / 32 KALAULI_Holani / 36 KAWABATA_Bettua / 38 INDO_Silveira

46 NEW PRODUCTS / 48 FREEDIVE KONA_Chambers / 56 IUSA RECORD YELLOWFIN TUNA_Allen-Ellis + Carter

58 MIDWEST_Neal + Zeaman / 62 IUSA RECORD BLACK MARLIN_Kerejeta + Carter / 64 HSD RECORDS / 66 SHOW + TAIL

67 FISH + CHIPS_Nico / 69 BLESSED_Daubenspeck / 80 SUBSCRIPTIONS + GEAR / 82 EXHALE_Werner

35 KANAKOLU KU—MA—LIMA

Dear HSD,

My wife Christina practically ordered me to go div-ing this weekend. Being the obedient husband that I am, I complied. Not wanting to take my nephews anyplace beyond their capabilities, we drove over to Hickam Air Force Base to do a quick dive at the flats. While exploring the deeper section near the Pearl Harbor channel, a Navy Harbor Police boat asked us politely to move further east, so as to not get run over by the recreational boat traffic or a passing submarine. I complied. Having not spent much time in this new direction, I really wasn’t expecting much but surprisingly found more and more coral and fish as we went along. The most abundant creatures seemed to be the dozen or so green sea turtles that all seemed to be looking for a parking spot along the channel edge. For a time I was content to shoot surgeon fish until I came face to face with a three and a half foot long Awa. With only a second or two to react, I took a shot and hit him in the back third of his long body. He took off like a freight train until the shooting line went tight. At that moment I let go of the gun but had a bad feeling the shaft would rip out. It did. Then it got stuck in the reef. On my dive to retrieve the shaft, a lone 10 lb Pa‘opa‘o came swimming by within easy range, as if to mock me and my completely unloaded gun.

Calmly I reset the shaft and loaded the bands, hop-ing against hope that the Golden Ulua had stuck around. Somehow, on my very first dive, he swam by again. It was a perfect profile shot and eas-ily within range. This was just too good to be true! Aiming for his head, the shaft entered mid-body at an angle and exited behind his left eye. It was a stone shot and the fish began to sink into the chan-nel. Even though he appeared lifeless, I was careful while pulling him in. With the luck I was having, I half expected him to suddenly come back to life and rip off the spear. Once I had him strung on my float I held a one man prayer meeting to thank God for sending such a great replacement fish for the one that got away. Someday, I also hope to be able to thank the Navy Harbor Police for sending us in the right direction.

Aloha to all.Eirik Hauge

Mahalo to Matt Buchanan for sharing this photo for our HSD ad.

Ad written byWade Nishimura and designed by Chris Ching with constructiveheckling fromJerry Blue (that’shis real name)from the agencyElement 8.

element08.com

08

Hey HSD,

My name is Steffany Chun and I have always enjoyed your zine. It inspired me to pursue free diving and I also developed a passion for taking underwater photos. I haven’t tried to spear any fish yet, but I love eating them. My father lived in the water; he was the greatest spearfisherman. I am currently a full time student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and am studying to become a marine biologist. Thanks a lot for your time and effort into making this wonderful zine.

Sincerely.Steffany Chun

HAWAII SKIN DIVER INC. 1733 Dillingham Blvd. Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96819 > T: 808.843.8182 > F: 808.848.5539. Every attempt humanly possible is made to publish HSD 4 times a year. FO’ REAL. Printed by Lotus Printing Hong Kong.

HANA PA‘A FISHING COMPANYSterling Kaya » publisher/editor/photographersterling@hawaiiskindiver.com

VOICE_GRAPHIC + ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGNClifford Cheng » graphic designer / multi-taskerVOICE@hawaiiskindiver.com

HSD + HAWAII PACIFIC UNIVERSITY MASTERS PROGRAMMarc Inouye » advertising + marketingmarc@hawaiiskindiver.com

FOODLAND ADVERTISINGSithiporn Keller » critical commentarybob@lordsith.tv

HONOLULU FIRE DEPARTMENTRufus Kimura » staff editorrufus@hawaiiskindiver.com

MAUI BREWING COMPANYSean Stodelle » webmastersean@hawaiiskindiver.com

AMAGATA USA INC.John Johnson » staff photographerjohn@hawaiiskindiver.comwww.onebreathphoto.com

WAIKIKI AQUARIUMNorton Chan » biologist

BLUFOTOGRAFICABrad Uyehara » guest photographerwww.blufoto.com

HSD REGIONAL + SPECIALTY EDITORSJames Borja » Guam EditorLarry Carter » West Coast EditorSheri Daye » Florida Editor Mark Laboccetta » East Coast EditorTerry Maas » Bluewater EditorLuis Antonio Pereira (Ted) » Latin America EditorTim Theunissen » South Africa Editor

NATIONAL DISTRIBUTORWarner International Periodical Distributors, Inc.

HAWAII SKIN DIVER TVKyle + Cat Nakamotowww.redseaoceanadventures.com

Send letters and comments to: HSD 1733 Dillingham Blvd. Honolulu, HI 96819 OR email: sterling@hawaiiskindiver.netU N I T E D

breathe different.

Ohanaawaii skin diver

HSD35 BACK ISSUE AVAILABLE NOWBajaTongaKwazulu-NatalLa PazNew ZealandCape TownFijiHatterasChile

Dear HSD,

Wow, Let me just say your magazine rocks! I grew up on the colder side of the ocean, Seattle. I used to be in the water every chance I could growing up. The Puget sound was my front yard. l would free dive and spearfish for perch, lingcod, rock fish back then we didn’t really know about shallow water black out, just a wet suit, weight belt, mask, fins, snorkle and a good Hawaiian sling. Even then when I was 15 years old I get in the middle of a school of silver perch and I always looked and waited for the biggest fish. As you might expect, by the time they swam by me, they were all the same size.So I started hitting the ones at the back—go up for another breath and go back down for a few more. Our freezer was full most summers. I’m planning to dive off the Oregon coast this winter both scuba and some good old freediving as well and see what’s out there. Keep up the good work, you guys have a very well rounded informative magazine with great gear testing, diving tips and great stories.

Thanks.Bruce Davis.Oregon

DEPARTMENT OF BELATED MAHALOS > HSD 33

DENNIS HAUSSLEr would like to thank BrANDI EASTEr for for that great pic of his BEST side, his back, with two nice lings at the nationals.Go to page 22 in this issue for more on Brandi.

Hello Sterling,

I am hoping you can publish my story in HSD. I would also like to give thanks to Renia for helping me type it out after I was finished with writing down everything as I remembered it. The guys in the photo are (l to r) Wayne Matamaura, Kenneth, Andrew, and me Roger Passie.

Please let me know what issue it may come out in so I can get all of my family and friends to purchase a copy.

Thanks.roger H. Passie

Hi Sterling,

If you had a dad like mine, he taught you a lot in life. My dad showed me things like how to dive, ride a bike, go torching, body surf at Sandy’s without breaking my neck, clean fish and work my butt off. He was my usual dive partner and always ready to go spearing.

This picture was taken in 2005, several days before Thanksgiving. I woke up to clear skies so I called my Dad and he was just as eager as I was. We figured we’d chance it so my dad and I jumped in at Chinaman’s Hat. We cruized around and worked inside the reef. Then we had lunch with a good helping of laughs at the table. We only had a small catch but when my mom asked how it went, my dad answered: “it was a good day.” And you know what, it was.

This was the last time I was able to dive with my dad. Two months later he was diagnosed with cancer and treatments left him too weak to spear again. My dad fought the good fight for 2 years (way longer than doctors thought he had). And in those 2 years, he only complained a handful of times in spite of his discomfort. At the end, my dad was peaceful and felt that he had done everything he had wanted to do (how awesome is that!). I think he hung on all that time to mess with the doctors’ heads and to teach me some final lessons in life: live your life with grace, fill it with good times so you have no regrets, and don’t sweat all that manini stuff unless you plan to poke ‘em and eat ‘em.

I’m going to miss my dad especially in the dives to come, but hope to live up to his example.

Dive hard and live well.Alan Wong

For Roger’s story and more photoscheck out www.hawaiiskindiver.com

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HANA HOU!Your magazine sweeps the publication design categories at the 2008 American Advertising

Federation (Pele) Awards. A big mahalo and con-gratulations goes out to all of the contributors to HSD31 (VIEW MASTERS). This issue was judged magazine of the year. HSD30 (DIVE FLORIDA) won an Award of Excellence. Congratulations goes

out to John Johnson. His inhale shot of the Manatee mother and calf in HSD30 helped garner the magazine spread of the year award. This shot is also on display at the Smithsonian Institution. John’s pool shot for the HSD Shootout in HSD32 (GUNS AND AMMO) won an Award of Excellence.

Winning Awards of Excellence were the NZ Bluefin spread in HSD30 (WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE) featuring Kent Fraser’s shot and HSD31’s inhale photo collage also won an award.

HSD also won the magazine covers of the year category. Congratulations to Mark Laboccetta for the HSD30 cover shot, riley Yogi for his gyotaku in HSD33 and Catherine Landa for her awesome shot of Kurt Chambers at the corsair for HSD31. Our friends at Element 8 also won an award for the HSD ad (GILLS) featuring Derek Levault’s corsair photograph. You guys rock! These awards were judged by a national and international jury of top talent in the fields of design and publishing. Once again, we thank all of YOU who made these awards possible. This is your magazine and these are your awards. MAHALO

Aloha HSD,

Thought you guys might like this picture from my last spearing trip over on the east side oahu. All my HSD gear (mask/snorkel, wetsuit, hoody, booties, gloves, knife) works well for me and was reasonably priced at J Hara’s on the big island and HanaPa‘a. One problem is that I do wear through my gloves and snorkel mouthpiece fairly quickly though.

Right on for putting out the mean mag, videos and gear.

Shoots den.rob O’Conner

NA WAHINE O KE KAI

Tanya BeirneAndrea KawabataKimi WernerJennifer KalauliJayme-Lee NeilsenAnne DohertyBrandi EasterSheri Daye > Julie Riffe

OCEAN WOMEN > > >

Many have seen Sheri’s exploits on the Outdoor Channel’s show, Speargun Hunter (See opening spread shot - courtesy Outdoor Channel). As principal cameraman on the first 22 shows, I was able to learn about Sheri, the person. During her high school years she was passionate about ballet, which probably enhanced her natural grace and coordination. Encouraged by her father, she also took up scuba diving in high school.

Vigorously independent and resourceful, Sheri put herself through college by working in the roofing trade. After graduating from college with a mechanical engineering degree, she began a long career with IBM where today she manages one of the company’s most successful units. Along the way, she traveled extensively and garnered top grades while earning her MBA.

I divide people into two groups–net takers and net givers. Sheri belongs firmly in the latter group. She supports her family by sharing in the care of her disabled brother–sometimes more mother than sibling. Her Spearfishing Expos demonstrate how she leverages her abilities to help others. She gave the diving community an excellent forum for sharing knowledge and building friendships. The proceeds were donated to help a school for adults with special needs where Sheri serves as President of the Board of Directors. In addition, her technical contributions to the Freediver’s Recovery Vest project earned her the designation of “co-inventor.”

s UPErLATIVES! That’s how Sheri’s friends describe her. Bonnie Row says, “Sheri is the most unique woman with whom I’ve had the pleasure to dive. She has an uncanny sense for finding and shooting fish. I’ve seen her hunt a fish down successfully even though it was on the run. She’s a fearless and focused diver who is truly in the moment at all times.

Her early mentor and Nationals teammate, Dr. Daryl Wong says, “In the time I have known and dove with Sheri, she has made me a better person, a better diver and I have learned that she is as beautiful inside as she is outside. Our sport is lucky to have such a grand dame of diving. She has it all; the looks, ability, compassion, personality and most of all the humility that we all can learn from. I know I always have my back protected with Sheri as my dive partner.”

Living legend Art Pinder told me that he thought Sheri has pro-gressed faster than any other diver he has known. “I consider her the best woman diver in the world today–better than many men. I took her to the Bahamas where she used a sling for the first time. She missed a couple at first, but within the day she was landing fish.” Chad Palan, her most constant dive companion, says affectionately, “I kid Sheri about being a whiner. She whines when it’s cold, and she whines when we go out to 90 feet. But then I’m in deep, cold, dirty water looking around, and there she is.”

Just a few years ago, mutual friends paired us for the Hatteras Blue Water meet. While scouting an offshore structure, a raging current swept us past barnacle-encrusted stanchions which caught our floats. We could barely see each other in the current that threatened to tear off our masks, and was impossible to swim against. I was wondering how I could help her, as we both twisted in the current. I made my way back, hand-over-hand to free myself. Finally loose, I was amazed to see Sheri free herself at the same time, deftly untangling her line. Since that day, my admiration for her diving abilities has only grown.

WORDS DR. TERRY MAAS

> > > >

14 Another time I dove with Sheri, whales were breaching all around us in turbid water. We kept jumping in hoping for a glimpse. I knew it was madness because they could have landed on us, but when I looked at Sheri, she said, “Let’s go again!” I asked Sheri what she liked most about diving, “I feel like a little kid when I’m out playing in the ocean. The sights we see underwater are stunningly beautiful, but some parts are deadly serious – nature can vicious and cruel too, but that’s life. To me, being in that environment is the real world. It is just you and the laws of nature out there, no man-made baloney, and I like that. My best memories and my best friends are from spearfishing.”

We can expect even more from Sheri this year–more Speargun Hunter shows, now in its third season, a new Spearfishing Expo with an international flavor and a possible run at the world spearfishing champi-onships in Venezuela. Good luck Sheri! PAU

About 10 years ago, Sheri’s interest in the ocean rekindled. She took technical diving classes leading to Trimix certification. Her deepest dives were to 280 feet with over an hour of decompression. She then became fascinated by freediving and found some friends to try it with.

Sheri has been freediving steadily for the last 5 years now and has accomplished some of spearfishing’s top honors: first place Nationals women’s title and first place co-ed team with Daryl Wong. She holds 13 world record fish, two larger than the men’s division, and in all cases “respectable.” The only record she actively pursued was for yellowfin tuna, and she broke that record twice. The last time was documented in the first episode of our show together.

When asked about her records, she says, “Records are a fun accomplishment, but you can’t take them too seriously. I’m more proud of the fact that some young women have said that I influenced them to try spearfishing, and I’ll be proud of them the day they beat my records. I want more women to feel confident that they can succeed at anything they want to try–and they should have fun along the way. That’s the message I would like to leave after I’m long gone from this sport.”

With so much time in the water and in high tension environments, it is natural to run into some serious danger. Sheri recalls, “To this day, the most memorable time I’ve had in the water was a day that Chad and I were spearing big cobias. We had to defend each others’ fish from bull sharks. Chad speared a cobia, and I went down to see if it needed a sec-ond shaft. When I started surfacing, a monster size hammerhead roared in and swallowed this 50-pound cobia whole...in one swallow. After many encounters, we still agree that was the most amazing sight we’ve ever seen, simply because of the sheer size of it. But I could also describe a hundred other amazing sights that I’ve experienced while spearfishing. Each day is an adventure.”

GO TO P. 75

Since then, Anne has been in numerous local competitions and Blue water meets, 6 US National Championships, 1 International Competition in Norway and a World Championships in Chile 2004.

About Anne: Anne works as a metal smith and printmaker. She supple-ments her income by working as a healthcare administrator / Years diving: 12 years since 1996 / Max depth: 80fsw / Max dive time: 4:49 / Average dive time: 1:20 / Titles: 2x Individual US National Champion, 3x Team US National Champion, 2nd Place Team Women’s World Championships, 2x New Hampshire Bluewater Champion, Former Striped Bass World Record Holder

Do you have a favorite dive destination? Norway was absolutely beau-tiful but I would have to say that diving the Southeastern shore of Rhode Island and Massachusetts may be my favorite. The lore of New England with its fishes, lobsters and boulder strewn bottom of the Elizabeth Islands is awesome! I like the cold dirty water. It makes you read the water and try to predict where the fish will be.

Do you have a preferred type of gun? Yes, I prefer to have my Daryl Wong 42” ‘Northeaster’ gun. It can handle any fish that I come across. I also use a Sporasub 75cm gun for competition, mainly for blackfish, scup and black sea bass.

What about a favorite fish to eat? I have to say Winter Flounder. They are easy, plentiful and taste great. How about lobster – does that count? I once caught about an eleven pounder off the Cape. I had to throw it back because of the Mass min/max law. I have also found lobsters up to 13-15 pounds but they had eggs.

What has been your best experience in competitive diving? I’m not super competitive. I would rather beat the fish than another competitor. My best tournament was off Sakonnet, Rhode Island in September 2004. I was diving near the Warnocks’ (Ted and John are legendary spearfish-ing brothers). In just 30 minutes I shot a false albacore, 3 tautog and 2 striped bass.

Did you win? No, I took second to John Warnock, but it was one of my best days of diving. My strategy was perfect. I knew where to go and everything just clicked. For me it was the best feeling because I won against the fish and mother nature.

INTERVIEW DAVID SIPPERLY

About thirteen years ago a new face appeared on the free-diving scene in the North Atlantic. After visiting a local spearfishing store in Newport, Rhode Island, Anne Doherty and Phil Stevens noticed a small flyer from the Rhode Island Freediving Club advertising a tourna-ment at Kings Beach. They decided to participate. After doing everything wrong and nearly swamping her kayak off the treacherous Brenton Reef area, she managed to survive and come back to the beach with a small catch. That day, Anne caught the passion of freediving.

It is tough to find new divers willing to brave the cold North Atlantic but Anne has no problems dealing with the cold, depth, poor visibility or even the men. She constantly places at the top in local competitions.

Annedoherty

15

JULIERIFFEH

IN HER OWN WORDS

> > > >

aving parents like Jay and Jackie riffe has been amazing. I’ve always been “daddy’s girl” shadowing his every step. My parents had me in private swimming lessons at a young age and taking spearfishing trips to Catalina Island as well as La Paz, Mexico to see my uncle John Riffe (Juan Pistolas).

I would kick around with a boogie board with my fins, mask and snorkel checking out fish in the kelp paddies. At times my father would swim underneath me with a decent

Calico, Sheep’s Head or White Sea Bass to show me how prehistoric they looked. I could remember during lobster season being awakened by my father holding a massive lobster over my head with the legs tickling my face.

By age twelve, everyone knew I was a fish out of water. The family knew I was interested in spearfishing because of my love for the ocean. I spent most of my school holidays and summers traveling with my family and attending spearfishing competitions with my father.

For Christmas of 1986 I got my first very own speargun. My father said, “When you’re able to load the bands you can go spearfishing.” So that’s what I did, practiced loading my Standard #2. During a hot summer in June my father was out hunting and I jumped off the boat to see the Calicos in the kelp. I dove down 10 feet and pulled the trigger. At first I didn’t think I got anything until the gun was almost jerked from my hand. My adrenaline was racing beyond belief. What a rush!

18

The Osprey was our home for a week off the islands of Mexico. We made pit stops on each island landing large Wahoo, Grouper and Tuna, including my record fish. I landed a 92 lb. yellow fin tuna off Clarion Island. This extraordinary fish was a fight I’ll never forget. I nearly lost my life. Robin, our friend Juan and I were diving off a pinnacle. We were all spaced approx.100 feet away from each other so our float lines would not tangle. Suddenly I heard both Robin and Juan’s spearguns fire. They both landed nice Wahoo and swam back to the 16 ft. Avon that we had following us. I continued swimming to keep in front of the bait because the conditions were perfect, but the currents started changing. All of a sudden a wall of Tuna appeared from around the point where I was swim-ming. Two of them came towards me head on. My adrenaline began to rush when I realized this was my chance.

I dove 30 ft. and lined my spear tip at the closest one, holding my breath for over a minute waiting for the perfect shot. They both turned their cheeks and I took a 15 ft shot. My fish went straight for the bottom and literally woke up the neighborhood. I struggled to keep my float on the surface to keep my fish from becoming shark food. While on the sur-face I reached for my float and realized the boat was just a few feet away. Robin and Juan were watching the show but they knew this was a world record fish for me so there was no help, just cheering from the sideline.

Unfortunately my father was on the sailboat packing all his gear and missed my amazing experience – although he was definitely in store for a killer story. I was only using a 50 ft. bungee and a single Torpedo float so I knew that I was in store for the ride of my life. Robin had just yelled out, “Julie, look out! There are two huge sharks below, a 10 ft. Hammerhead and an Oceanic White Tip.” I never saw them coming. At that time the

During my teens I worked in the garage on weekends helping my dad with his spearguns. In 1996 the Riffe family traveled to Hawai‘i for the National Spearfishing Competition where I was an alternate on the woman’s spearfishing team. Linda Gray, Linn Soles and I were teammates. Unexpectedly Linn got very sick so I was now a competitive diver. I was surprised to learn that Linda landed the one and only fish of the event for women. This fish won us first place team trophy. Unfortunately, I didn’t shoot anything due to the crazy conditions with 10ft. swells, rain and milky visibility. This competition was a big endurance challenge for all divers in the event. Some divers lost their catches others had their kayaks flipped over in the high surf. They were left swimming against the current with their catch in hand trying to arrive on the beach within the boundar-ies. It was a memory I will never forget.

The next month, our Long Beach Neptune’s dive club had the Blue Water Meet in Encenada, Mexico. I ended up landing my first 38 lb. White Sea Bass, which was my largest catch ever. Not only was it a great experi-ence, it reminded me to never forget a knife. My fish had wrapped itself around the kelp, which resulted in me chewing through it to free my fish. I ended up winning the 3rd place trophy out of sixty divers. My father placed 4th.

In 1997 I competed in the Nationals for my second time in Malibu, California with Monica Hall and we ended up winning the first place team. I was thrilled to find out I had caught the largest fish and had placed an individual third.

A year later, the Long Beach Neptune’s held a Blue Water meet at Catalina Island where I won first place over all with a 30 lb. Halibut. I could hear the cheering and excitement up and down the beach. I couldn’t believe that I had landed this fish. It was absolutely incredible. Especially considering there was a great white spotted only 50 yards from where I caught my fish the day before. As I approached the beach I was surprised to see the TV crew from CNN waiting for an interview with me and my first place Halibut.

After that, I felt as though it was time to see the world. I was single and having fun – I traveled all over Baja, Panama, Costa Rica, Dubai, Fiji, Australia and the US, meeting incredible people along the way. I’ve had the opportunity to hunt with some of the best divers around the world – many of whom have become friends for life. I’ve been lucky in my lifetime to land some amazing fish, such as AJs, Cubara, Tuna, Wahoo, Grouper, Stripped Bass and White Sea Bass.

In March of 2001 my father and I took a trip to the Revillagagedos Islands, which are about 380 miles off Cabo San Lucas, Baja California. My father and his buddies, including Robin Carden, Tony Smith and Jim Baldwin were all onboard this amazing journey. We planned to land record tuna.

> > > >

21

GO TO P. 71

boat was less then 5 ft. from me and I was gaining on the fish with my hand on the shaft. I asked Juan to hold on to the shaft. The plan was that Juan would get into the boat to help me pull my fish in – but it didn’t go as planned.

My tuna was still in the water when the 10 ft Hammerhead decided to give everyone a wake up call. The shark bolted at high speed directly at Robin hitting him in the chest and knocking his gun out of his hand. I was pulling myself up and looked back as the shark tail hit me in the face, breaking the seal on my mask. This was when I realized my tuna wasn’t finished yet.

I fell back in the water landing on top of a mess of float lines. The float lines were tangled up on my knife strapped to my leg. Everything happened so quickly. Sure enough, I was yanked under water and within a blink of an eye I was below Robin who is 6 ft 9 in. I grabbed his fin and he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to the surface. Robin had his hand on the boat to gain leverage, thank god! I owe him my life. After this experi-ence I no longer wear my Riffe knife on my leg. My tuna was in the boat. He slapped me with his tail a few times until I finally finished him off.

I was so excited at this point and that my fish was a possible world record. We weighed it on the beach to make sure I followed the rules, but it ended up that we didn’t have the correct permit so I never got the official record. This bad boy weighed a whopping 92lbs. not too bad for my first tuna. My dad was proud and I’m glad I’m safe and alive to tell this amazing story.

In 2001 I lived in Florida for 6 months and did a lot of diving while visiting most of our dealers on the East Coast. Our new factory was being built at the time so my family needed me back at work.

In January 2002 I packed my stuff to drive cross-country and made a pit stop in Venice, Louisiana. There I met up with Mark Labochetta and his gang to shoot some nice Wahoo & Tuna. I dove there a few years prior so I knew what was in store. We stayed at a local hotel in Venice and geared up for the dive. The next morning we headed out early and jumped on Troy Wetzel’s boat with Al Walker as our main guide. He is the man for a guide down there when you want to do it right. We pulled an over nighter on the lump. It was amazing. We hooked up on Red snapper while drinking Louisiana’s finest, Bud Light and telling unforgettable stories of hunting big fish.

After a few hours of sleep we suited up and by sunrise everyone was landing big Wahoo. The smallest was 50 lbs. and the largest was 105 lbs. Due to the ripping current, everyone had to hold on to a 100 ft. trail line tied to the back of the boat. We looked like a squid lure cruising in the current. Everyone dove down around the same time and saw decent size fish. There were shots fired all around. It sounded like a war zone

under water. We all came up screaming. By the time we popped our heads out of the water we were at the end of the 100 ft. rope, which had a big round buoy with net around it to grab. We were going in every direction. Luckily I popped up right next to the buoy. As I fought the current and my Wahoo I thought I was done. My legs were burning and sweat was filling my mask. In any case I was determined to land this massive fish. I got my fingers on the buoy and inched myself up the rope. I landed my biggest Wahoo yet, 82 lbs. It was a record fish for sure, but unfortunately with all the boats out there on the lump there was too much chum. I got black balled once again.

My sister Jill flew in to meet me for the remainder of my drive home. We ended up on Bourbon Street with everyone for a celebration of our successful and safe dive trip. To add to the excitement we found out that there was a 600 lb Mako spotted cruising the lump earlier that day. We all couldn’t believe it.

In 2003 I met my fiancé Will Laribee. He came into Riffe one day with questions about his new Riffe speargun. We went on a couple dives together and from that time on we were inseparable.

Brandi easter

23

Her shopping list is a good place to start explaining what makes Brandi special. In my experience, most people, while targeting a species or two, generally settle for what they can find when embarking on an activity as challenging as spearfishing. Brandi long ago acquired the skills needed to bring home meat; what’s notable is that she moved right past that to what many of us would agree is a higher place. She sets her mind on a goal for her dive, and she tends to leave empty-handed by choice if the shopping list isn’t fulfilled. Whether she fills the list or not, there are two aspects of her character that never cease to amaze me as I watch her labor in the love of diving – she is always upbeat, and, I didn’t want to bring gender into this article… her combination of confidence and humil-ity are beyond what I’ve ever seen any man display. Rather than feeling like she needs to prove something as a woman who is better than most men at her sport, Brandi is content with her actions.

A question and answer session with Brandi is always a pleasure. As humble and selfless as she is, her history and stats could never be elicited without some coaxing – remember that as you enjoy a peek into the life of this woman who embodies not only what a spearo should be, but what a good person should be as well.

Where did you grow up? I was born and raised in Orange, CA. I lived in the SoCal area until I moved to Northern California in 1993.

How did you get into diving? An ocean outing in my teens got me introduced to the idea of diving. However, it wasn’t until 1987 that I was SCUBA certified. Visiting the North Coast in 1992 diving for abalone is probably when I really began freediving. I entered my first CenCal tourna-ment in 1997 which introduced me to spearfishing. Regardless if I harvest a fish or an abalone, I thoroughly enjoy freediving into the beautiful and mysterious underwater world.

Like most of us, you have a “real job” – how’d you get into photog-raphy and how long have you been at it? My photography began in Mr. Ferris’ 8th grade photography class and I haven’t put the camera down since. I started out wanting to be a ‘starving artist’ photographer, dabbled in underwater photography for awhile yet my journeys ultimately lead me to commercial advertising photography. I officially began my business in 1989. www.brandieaster.com

GO TO P. 74

INTERVIEW ERIC STOCKWELL

g etting to the Point with Brandi Easter. It was a warm Spring day. The ocean was flat, there was no wind and the fish were biting. My gang of kayak fisherman and I jigged for lingcod and rock fish a mile from the beach near Cape Mendocino in Northern California. We don’t tout ourselvesas macho men – but it definitely took some moxie to paddle offshore in remote territory that is known for Great White Sharks. The guys and I had been fishing for around two hours, hanging about 100-300 yards outside of the exposed reef. While there were no signs of any large predators around, we knew that there was one very impressive animal in the water beneath us...

Courage for paddling out onto Big Blue for rod and reel fishing is completely overshadowed when you witness an individual like Brandi Easter, rejoicing in her element, free-diving solo with her spear and abalone iron up to a quarter mile from the rest of us. Her shopping list for the day, as she likes to refer to it, turned out to be a limit of 10” abs, and she brought home the bacon! Having grown up myself in a family of men who fish, dive, hunt, and generally wear their manhood on their sleeves, I was subject to a unique and wonderful re-education when I got to know the ways of the animal, a nick-name I gave Brandi years ago for her diving prowess and eagerness to experience new adventures. Watching some-one thrive in the water, knowledgeable of terrain, species, and conditions is nothing new to me. Watching another’s expertise in finding, collecting and securing game is also something I’ve seen a lot of. Brandi is at a level that makes it clear that the aforementioned traits are only basics, like making toast would be to a chef! The qualities that make Brandi a top diver are closely tied to the ones that make her a model citizen, great neighbor, admired business person and valued community member.

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kimi werner

KWORDS LAARNI GEDO

imi Werner is a sleepy-eyed 28-year old daughter of Makawao who always wears a 5-year old’s Kool-Aid smile. She also happens to be spearfishing’s best-kept secret. Don’t be fooled by her charming and delicate femininity. Underneath the laid-back girl with the flirty-short hair is a voracious, record-breaking hunter in camo-green neoprene. She’s not just ‘good for a girl.’ She’s just good.

“When I’m diving I am completely in the moment. My mind is not worrying about the normal stuff I think about when I’m on land.

I feel free.” Kimi’s words flow like thick syrup, slow and laced with sweetness – as if she is professing her love for the man of her dreams.

Amazingly, it only has been three years since Kimi began to take the sport seriously. Kimi’s sister, Christy Werner, remembered their introduction to diving by their dad as three and four-year olds. “He would tow us on a kick board while he dove and we’d hold on and float at the top with our mask and fins,” Christy said. “We’d watch him and clap whenever he speared a fish or grabbed a lobster or tako.” She said that it wasn’t until they were about six and seven that they started diving down. “Kimi and I would challenge each other to see who could grab sand off of the bottom. At the time I was better – she was a little runt up until she turned ten.”

Christy said that it wasn’t until Kimi moved to O‘ahu for college that she started spearing fish. Even at that point, diving was only a hobby – secondary to cooking, paint-ing, or paddling.

“I was never really a diver, I just had the love for diving,” Kimi said. “I would always tag-along with my dad so I always had the appreciation for it.” However, a shoulder injury that sidelined her from paddling caused her to focus her attention on diving. “I used to watch tv and see Kalei Fernandez and Wayde Hayashi dive together and feel completely stoked and in awe of their skills. Nothing could pull me away from the television when they were on,”

Kimi paddled with Kalei’s brother and repeatedly introduced herself to Kalei hop-ing for an invitation to dive. She said that every time she saw Kalei anywhere she would reintroduce herself so he wouldn’t forget her. “He always told me that one day he’d take me so I just kept diving on my own and tried to get better and better – hoping that I would really be able to dive with him.”

Kalei said that despite talking with Kimi and sharing tips with her in passing, he was hesitant. “I was unsure of bringing her out,” he said. “I’ve taught guys before, but I wasn’t used to taking a girl out. I didn’t know how much of a responsibility she’d be.”

Though disappointed that she didn’t get an invite immediately, Kimi understood. “A lot of people just won’t take you. It’s a liability issue and I don’t blame them at all. I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have the right equipment. It would have been more babysitting than diving.”

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Meeting Kalei ultimately changed Kimi’s life. “He dives on a whole different level from anything that I’ve ever seen before as far as what kind of fish he shoots or how deep goes,” she said. Through Kalei, Kimi was introduced to a whole new world and community of great divers that included Wayde Hayashi and Gavin Sato. “They were an elite group of div-ers,” Kimi said. “Once I met them and became friends with them, it was only natural to want to be like them.”

Kalei said that prior to Kimi’s first dive with him she was only able to dive 15 to 20 feet. “I was really impressed with her on our first dive,” he said. “I gave her some tips, and on her third try she was down 35 feet. She learned quicker than any of the other guys I took out.” She continued to tag-along and Kalei said that within three to four months, Kimi was diving 30 to 60 feet. “One spot was 70-foot deep, and she could reach the bottom.”

Within a few months, Kimi entered her first tournament and expe-rienced her first real introduction to the dive scene. She didn’t place, but did good enough to draw attention. “She would put most guys to shame,” Kalei added. “Not many women would even have a chance. She’s definitely in a league of her own.”

Her newly earned nickname is the Mahi Magnet. In October 2007, Kimi shot a 34 lb. mahimahi off Kona. “I always seem to get lucky with that fish,” she said.

Being a fortunate diver might be an understatement for the self-pro-claimed “lucky” girl. It takes more than luck to break the women’s state record for whiptail uhu twice in the same day – which Kimi did in May of last year. She also holds the women’s state records for the illusive mu and the delicious munu – which she shot at the North Shore Spearfisherman’s Classic Tournament in the summer of 2007.

Kimi’s encounter with the elite divers, who eventually became her best friends was definitely instrumental in kicking her diving into the level where she wanted it and where it is today. “They were always so positive and encouraging,” she said. “I felt like the luckiest girl in the world to get to learn my passion from my idols.”

As much as she knows what she wants, Kimi also has a firm understanding of what she doesn’t want. This strong sense of identity has helped her make difficult life changing decisions. Kimi left Maui to attend Kapiolani Community College where she earned a degree in Culinary Arts. Once Kimi experienced a taste of the restaurant business, she quickly realized that what she loved about cooking didn’t exist in that environment. Cooking, from then on, was something she happily performed on her own terms and in her own kitchen–usually with the fish that she shot.

When Kimi dives, she usually emerges with a fish to eat for dinner that evening. “Kalei would probably say that I don’t shoot enough,” she said. “But I only shoot what I want to eat.”

“She’s big on not wasting,” Christy added. “And if she catches a fish, even one that she doesn’t really care for, she’ll figure out a way to cook it so that she or other people like it and it won’t go to waste.”

It is Kimi’s thoughtfulness when it comes to shooting fish that impresses her closest dive buddies (that and her panko-crusted stuffed ulua). “Kimi has always been selective about the fish she shoots,” Wayde said. “This is usually something divers learn later on in their lives.”

It is her precision and patience that complement her focus and drive for freediving. “She has tunnel vision when it comes to fish,” Wayde said. “She just goes crazy until she gets it. That really shows her drive.”

This drive earned her a chance at making one of her dreams a reality when she represents Hawai‘i at the 2008 Freedivng Spearfishing National Championships at King’s Beach, in Newport, Rhode Island. Kimi was pleased that Andy Tamasese of Kona, agreed to be her partner. Not only is Andy a great diver, he is also a good friend. In 2006 Andy placed in the top ten at the World Spearfishing Championships in Portugal.

Their mutual respect for one another shows. “Kimi’s a really good diver and usually beats half of the guys in the tournaments,” Andy said. “I think that we have a really good chance of winning first place at Nationals.”

Kimi has been training for the tournament, which will be held in early August. Her workouts include pool exercises, running and paddling. The focus is there, but for Kimi, she giggles at the foreign idea that she is a world-class athlete. But she is committed – she’s even giving up beer for the time being.

With Nationals just around the corner, Kimi’s dives switched to competition mode. “I feel more determined and more focused on a goal,” she said. “I always remind myself that the main thing is to have fun, but when you’re trying to win, you’re trying to win.”

You can help send Kimi to Nationals. Visit her fundraising website at kimiwerner.chipin.com. “I’m trying my hardest to raise $4000 to help with the costs of airfare, lodging, escort boats, entry fees, equipment, and kayak rentals that will be necessary for scouting and competition day,” she said. You can check out her paintings at kimiwernerart.com. PAU

Kimi recently led her team to victory at the 2008 Inter-Pacific Spearfishing Championship in Kona. Partnering with Tanya Beirne (p.28), the pair shot a total of 9 fish. Kimi’s first shot, a 9.5-lb uhu, out weighed the other team’s combined catch.

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T anya Beirne is a woman who enjoys a challenge. She is a spearo who has competed in several nationals as well as a number of local tournaments. Tanya has demonstrated that fear is not a factor for her in terms of competitive diving or in the real world. She made the move from chef and lunch wagon owner to business owner of two speargun shops on the Big Island.

Tanya’s affinity for the ocean began when she was a young child. Born and raised on Oahu, she grew up in Kalihi but took trips out on the weekends with her parents to the family’s beach house in Punalu‘u. “We would swim all day and fish,” she recalled. It was in Punalu‘u where Beirne first started diving as an eight year old girl.

Tanya spent a lot of time in the water as a youngster and swam com-petitively from the age of 8 up to her college years. She saw both swim-ming and diving as complementary activities. “The swimming background and the diving background went hand in hand” she observed.

While a student at Punahou, Tanya swam competitively and set a few state records as a scholastic swimmer. She also got the chance to attend the Junior Olympics. It was the experience of swimming competi-tively in high school that developed and sharpened a competitive instinct in her. After graduating from Punahou, she got a swimming scholarship to attend Indian River Community College in West Palm Beach, Florida. After matriculating there a year, Tanya wearied of collegiate swimming and opted to come back home.

She then attended school for a couple of years in the islands before deciding to go to the Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon to train as a chef. Upon completing her course work, Beirne headed back to Hawai‘i to work as a chef and caterer for the next thirteen years.

Her culinary career saw her work for a number of different compa-nies and corporations including stints at United Airlines, Hilton and at Gordon Biersch restaurant at Aloha Tower Marketplace as a pastry chef.Tanya’s last job in the food industry came when she purchased a lunch wagon and parked it near a Young Brothers’ depot on Oahu serving plate lunches to truckers and stevedores. “It was fun,” she observed “there were a lot of customers.”

As a diver, Tanya said she is comfortable in any type of condition. “I’ve dove in extreme conditions before and because I’m used to that semi-roughness, it doesn’t really bother me.”

As a young girl she started out diving with a bikini and a three prong. Her uncle also taught her how to use a hinge gun as a youngster. Tanya’s shooting and stalking skills led to local tournament victories. She also began qualifying and competing in several national tournaments as well. In fact, the Honolulu Advertiser wrote a profile about her in April of 2005 before she was slated to compete in the Freedive Spearfishing National held in Missouri.

GO TO P. 73

WORDS ALBERT LANIER

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S taring into the horizon I can see the sun beginning to rise. It casts a shiny glare over the ocean. There is nowhere I’d rather be. I grab my gun and with a smile on my face, jump into the water. My passion for spearfishing started with watching my Dad bring

home coolers full of beautiful fish – many bigger than me. Whenever it was my turn for show and tell at school, I would always take shells he had found or spearfishing medals that he had won. I would tell all the other kids that one day I would have more than him.

I grew up embracing every chance I got to jump into the water with my snorkeling gear – even if it was just in the bath. I also grew up dealing with the stench of fish guts that leaked in the boot of my Dad’s car and lingered for months at a time.

In 2001 Adrenaline Spearfishing Supplies opened and ever since then, it’s been my home away from home. I begged my dad to take me to the shop when I was younger so I could write on the white board and make stickers using the labeler. These days, at the age of sixteen, if I’m not begging Dad to let me work in the shop, I’m begging him to take me in so I can check out the gear, say hi to the boys, suss out the mags and yes, they did end up hiding the labeler from me – but I always manage to find it so that I can make spearo stickers.

Even though I was raised immersed in spearfishing and was as keen as ever to start killing fish, my dad held me back from becoming a spearo at an early age because he wanted me to be aware of the dangers. He didn’t want me to get put off spearing early, because of a bad experience,

preferring instead that I develop a lifetime passion for the sport.

At the age of 12, I was one of the first students to complete my open water scuba course at DEEP Scuba Centre. Although scuba div-ing is an awesome sport, I knew there was something missing – namely the adrenal rush I would get from shooting a fish almost the size of me and having to land it. I continued to ask Dad to teach me, but it wasn’t until grade 10 that my Dad gave me the old .7 Rabitech

hunter sitting in the garage. Before I knew it, I was nailing Luderick and Butter Fish (one over 2 kilo but I was too embarrassed to claim the record) under the Boyd’s Bay Bridge. I was finally a spearo. It seemed I had waited a lifetime for that day to come. A few months went by and I could soon dive to 10m (33 feet), load the gun, shoot fish and process them all by myself.

Last October, my Dad agreed to take me on a four day reef trip to the Coral Sea. To this day, those four days have been the best four of my life. The visibility was breathtaking for me because I was used to the 4m Tweed River vis. I met some keen spearos, landed some fish and saw a heap of sharks – it was like Jurassic park out there.

IN HER OWN WORDS

GO TO P. 79

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33If you could pass down any piece of knowledge to the up and coming divers what would that be? To be patient, only take what you need and don’t forget to feed your kupuna.

Why do you prefer the three prong instead of the spear gun? Whenever I use a spear gun, I always get tangled up with the line and I have a hard time pulling back the rubbers. I only catch myself with the gun. But with the 3 prong it challenges me to be quiet, because you need to get closer to the fish, so I have to be as stealth like as possible…and I love to antici-pate where the fish is going to be swimming to especially the smarter fish like Mu.

Why a boogie board instead of a floater? Because I hit myself in the head with the lifeguard buoy all the time. I literally have 3 lumps on my head from hitting myself with the lifeguard buoy…but I love my boogie board cuz I can attach my kui line onto it, and that way I can keep my fish on top of the boogie board for less drag on the water. The board also provides me rest, when I’m tired. Most of all it’s a great escape to the shoreline, when the water conditions change quickly. I only wish I could teach my dogs how to carry my diving equipment up the mountain when I am pau.”

JENnIFer KALAULI

When did you start diving? Back in the days before you were born…in 1985.

How did you learn? My first boyfriend took me down to Keaukaha, on the Big Islands and let me pull his stringer around. I wasn’t given a three prong, and that lasted about a year before I got to actually hit my first fish, but that’s only because I went ahead and bought my own three prong. He was always afraid I’d get in his way or lose his equipment.

What was your first fish? A Hinalea. H-I-N….Mom I know how to spell Hinalea! Oh that’s right you can speak fluent Hawaiian—maika‘i loa. But that was the last time I’ve ever poked another Hinalea, just because I didn’t want to scale it, it’s so slimy.

Why do you dive? It’s one of my gifts that God gave me…it’s a passion for me…I feel so grateful to be able to feed people, and teach them how to feed themselves, especially young people.

What is your most memorable diving experience? It had to be the Ulua cave or the Kumu? Just going into an Ulua cave and hitting it with my three prong. It was probably 60 plus and he swam right up to me. His eyes were as big as a Koele, and he turned like a Menpachi would. I aimed right for his brain, my three prong went all the way through and he barely moved. I had to come up for air and when I came back he drifted into the dark, dark part of the cave…it made me feel like I left a part of me there…including my three prong. In addition my most memorable moments are when I’m diving by myself because I am completely relying on God to keep me safe. It is so empowering to know he created all this for us to sustain ourselves; it’s such a humbling way to live.

What is the most valuable thing people need to know before you dive? I believe you need to ask this question, why are you diving? I believe it’s important to have good intentions every time you go into the water. Also, dive with someone you trust who is familiar with that area. God didn’t create the ocean ecosystem for us to live in fear of it but for us to respect it by being good care takers and leaving a healthy sustainable ecosystem for our future generations.

INTERVIEW KALENA HOLANI

GO TO P. 72

35w“Look at the goats.” Huh? I hang my head over the boat’s gunwale

looking into the deep blue waters of South Point, the bottom barely visible at such depths–how can she see them from the surface? Only days before she had e-mailed me a photo of her latest catch, a 4.12 lb moana ukali taken while shore diving. I look back at Andrea Kawabata quizzically. She smiles, shakes her head and points up. A herd of goats is trekking across the cliff making their way to new ground. They are camouflaged into the cliff’s background, and I have to squint and really focus to see them. All the divers on board are, for a few moments, fixated on the herd, amazed at their surefootedness.

e finish gearing up, and jump in. I decide to follow her, and within seconds she is pointing her speargun towards a kawakawa that has quickly become wary of her and darts back into the depths at lightning speed. She

ascends with an infectious grin, and it was then I realized that Andrea has a keen eye for any type of game, whether in the water or out. It was my first dive trip with Andrea, or “Anj” as she is affectionately called by her family and friends. I have to admit, I was very curious to see what she was all about…

Born and raised in Hilo, Andrea spent a lot of her youth near or in the ocean, often fishing with her father. She fondly recalls weekend camping trips and how she would walk back to camp, proud of her collection of fish and crabs from the tide pools. It was her love for fish and the ocean that led her into the water, and without much prodding, launched her into the world of diving and spearfishing.

Of Japanese descent, her Great Aunt in Japan was an excellent Ama pearl diver, which might explain Andrea’s natural ability as a diver. As a young child, she was exposed to spearfishing by her uncles who dove for kole. She watched in admiration as they displayed their kole dangling from stringers that reached the ground and back up again. Although

diving seems to run in the family, she muses that it must have skipped her father’s generation as he prefers to stay on solid ground.

In their backyard pool, her father taught her to defog goggles with grass, clear a snorkel and swim with fins. Amongst friends, breath-hold competitions ensued. At age 12, she speared her first fish—a kupipi. At 17, Andrea began diving more seriously in the ocean with her 3-prong. At the time, she preferred diving on the Kona side of the island where there were easy entry points and warm, calm water. As a beginner, she would often dive by herself at Kawaihae after her Friday morning college class and on weekends during the summer. Extremely concerned, her parents suggested that she join the East Hawaii YMCA Freedive Club to establish a network and gain some dive partners. It was there that she met Gabe Sasaki and Chris Ragasa, who eventually proved to be major influences in her diving knowledge and experience.

Hanging up her 3-prong and opting for a speargun for the first time, Andrea entered the Sonny Tanabe Invitational Freedive Tournament in 2002. Despite this being her first real competition against fellow female divers, she did exceptionally well placing first for largest fish and second in team for total aggregate weight. In 2003 her team came in 3rd for total aggregate weight and in 2004 she helped her partner win largest tako. It was at that last “Sonny” that she recalls a tako tale that has literally stuck with her.

“I anchored my float, swam down and persuaded the tako out of its hole. On the surface, I strung it up and gathered myself to continue diving. I started to swim for my anchor and was immediately pulled back to the surface. The tako managed to crawl onto my back and wouldn’t let go. I couldn’t swim anywhere because my anchor was secured to the ocean floor and I couldn’t reach the tako to take it off—I was stuck to my float! I yelled to my partner Nadia for help. She eventually swam over and tried to pull the tako off but to no avail. With her final attempt, Nadia put

WORDS ANGELA BETTUA

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36

both fins on my back, braced herself and ripped the tentacles free. I’d managed to demolish the tako in hide and seek but it kicked my a** with its 8 to 2 advantage.”

She laughs and then proceeds to tell me about one of her scariest diving moments that happened outside of the Four Seasons Resort.

“Gabe and I are diving one afternoon and we already have an omilu and uhu. Shortly after we anchor our floats, Gabe approaches and asks where his float is and if I’d seen it. I shrug and we look around only to find his float making its way out to sea. He needs his float because the car keys and his speargun are on it. I stay put and Gabe swims to retrieve his gear. Not long after, he comes back and tells me that a tiger shark is circling his float so he’ll have to get it another way. We swim in. Already a bit panicked, I barely notice that fish are swimming toward and under us instead of away. My concern is that I’m exhausted and still dragging my uhu. As we get out, I’m practically in tears from standing alone in the surf and having my goggles knocked off while Gabe is looking for a way out. In the back of my mind, I’m waiting for that sharp tug that says my fish is gone. On shore, Gabe is taken out by boat to collect his belongings. After looking at his gear, we suspect that as the shark ate his omilu, it bit through the tag line and broke the float free from the anchor. As we clean up, tourists on the second floor balcony stop us and ask if we were being chased by sharks. We tell them no, but that we did have an encounter. One of the ladies shakes her head and tells us that they could see 2 fins sticking out of the waves behind us, probably the tail and dorsal fins of the same shark. Needless to say, the tiger shark had followed us all the way in. Thinking about it later, that’s probably why the fish were swimming in the wrong direction.”

Wide-eyed at her story, most would be bloody void of intestinal fortitude to try diving again!

Today at 26 years of age, Andrea handles the very terrain she was skeptical of in her youth with much certainty and confidence, and is now able to guide other divers in and out of the water. She holds female spearfishing records for largest moana ukali, tako and opelu kala and has been a strong competitor at dive tournaments on Oahu and the Big Island. She is a member of Oahu’s Ali‘i Holo Kai freedive club in addition to the Hilo freedive club. She also donates her time and custom-made speargun covers to help Brian Yoshikawa with the Daniel Perreira Memorial (Children’s) Spearfishing Tournament on Maui. Outside of diving, Andrea

holds a master’s degree in tropical horticulture and is employed as an agricultural inspector at the Hawai‘i State Department of Agriculture.

These days her biggest challenge is finding gear that suits her. At only 4’10”, with a petite frame and tiny feet, she is constantly searching for a wetsuit and fins that fit. Currently, unable to wear longblades, she uses a pair of Cressi fins that are smaller and softer, usually referring to them as her “little fins or shortblades”. But to my amazement, I watched as she descended to 74 feet with those very fins.

Andrea’s main drive for spearfishing is to share her catch with family and friends. Usually passing up omilus and uhus, she targets tako, nenue for poke and more flavorful species like goats, pananu and nabeta. She is a conservationist and an ethical diver who does not believe in selling her catch but rather giving it away to someone who appreciates it. Ever selective when she dives, she waits for holding shots instead of taking desperation ones and would rather exit empty-handed with a great fish story to tell.

Primarily a reef hunter, Andrea has begun her newest chapter into the blue water realm, and has aspirations of one day landing large ulua, uku, ahi and other pelagic gamefish. Always on a quest to challenge herself and improve, she has begun apnea training which she intends on applying to her hunting skills. One of her goals is to break the 100 foot mark.

Once an admirer of her uncles’ talents, Andrea has now become the skilled hunter with unlimited potential. She is a positive role-model for future generations of divers and a living example of determination. A true pioneer in the field of women spearos, this little lady has accomplished much. But don’t let her size fool you—you can expect giant things from one of Hawai‘i’s best! PAU

Dogs of

IndoWORDS + PHOTOGRAPHSDAN SILVEIRA

he Dogtooth tuna is an illusive and prehistoric fish by nature, Tunasauarus rex. The mighty force of its tail drives this fish to some of the most ferocious currents known to Indonesia. Their thriving nature brings them to seek waters that could take the lives of those who hunt in search of this creature.

Obedient to instinct, the tuna hunts vigilantly attacking prey at the neck, splitting their throat, or sinking their lethal teeth in a cracking fashion, into their brain. Fear is not a mat-ter of concern when it comes to the impulse of this fish. Within their intuition, thrives survival of the fittest. These tuna have been known to lurk in the deep green waters where light is only a memory of the past; they swim with sharks, and eat their own kind. Like the Tyrannosaurus Rex of the sea, this fish requires a hunter willing to rise above fear.

Stories of these brave hunters have imprinted vivid cap-tures in my mind, One that I never forgot was of a diver who went to uncharted ripples of the sea where local fisherman never dared enter due to the large sharks that roamed the

water column. The diver speared a dogtooth tuna that sunk his buoys and broke the five hundred pound monofilament hundreds of feet below.

Twenty-four hours away from where I live, United States California, in the heart of Indonesia, the rocky cliffs of the lush forests plummet to the sea below. This is where the rag-ing waters throw standing waves coupled by swirling down currents from merging masses of water, and miraculously this is where I found my dream come true.

Upon my arrival in Bali I decided to call my local friend. I was ready to spearfish. I asked him for the report and it did not sound good to go out to the islands where the tuna are, so I asked him if he knew of another spot that could have some nice fish. He told me of a place that could produce something, but that it was probably not the right time of year to see much there. At this point I was ready to dive anywhere, I had been waiting for this trip for a long time so I told him that I would like to give it a try. The next morning, I jumped out of bed at five am, ate breakfast and organized my gear. I was going to use my 55-inch reef gun with a breakaway system. I used a 50-foot hard line followed by a 25-foot bungee that was connected to a solid foam buoy. I figured that this would be the most effective system to hunt a variety of fish. If I were to shoot a giant travelli, the hard line would be the most durable against the coral and if I were to shoot a Spanish mackeral or tuna, the bungee would help keep the fish from tearing off.

It wasn’t before long that we were on the boat heading out to the spot. The water was very choppy and green and I pondered the thought of sleeping in. As the boat came to a stop, I rolled back off the side of the boat energized and ready

T

to spear some fish. The current at this location was strong, so I swam at a perpendicular angle away from the shore until I could see the drop off. There were hundreds of surgeonfish, so I continued to hunt the edge of the bait. I made many drops into this murky water and never saw anything worth shooting, however, I did see a large manta ray and a few blacktip reef sharks. After 6 hours of fruitless efforts, I was beginning to get sick from the constant smell of two-stroke exhaust from the boat. It was fun to be holding a speargun in anticipation of seeing a large fish, but that day would prove to be discouraging.

Once I was back on shore, I told my friend that there must be a better spot to dive on the island where the wind would not be so strong. I was not about to spend my trip hunt-ing at the same spot that I had just gotten skunked. I needed to find some clear water with strong currents. He thought about what I had said, and after a long pause, he said “ I take you to secret spot… you see tuna… I promise”. Now this was music to my ears!!! He must have felt bad that I did not see any fish the first day, so he offered to take me to a location that few people know about.

I woke up the next day at the same time, but we left earlier. The location we were headed to was one hour away by car and another hour away by boat. When we finally arrived at the beach I was frustrated to realize that I only had my reef gun with me. I was going to have to get extremely close to the tuna if I was going to land one. We filled the boat with our gear and started the sea voyage. During our ride out to the spot, I was stunned at the beauty of this side of the island. The sun was lighting up the mountains where the lush

The life of the sea is like a pumping

heart surging the tides and currents

through its veins. This incredible

miracle that gifts us with the riches

of the sea is what created our planet

earth. From the emptiness of the

deepest depths of the ocean to the

ceremonial like dances of fish at

the reef tops, beauty can always be

found in the ocean giving light a

new meaning. —Dan Silveira

tropical forest grew right up to the water’s edge. I asked my friend about the islands we were passing, as they looked like great places to spearfish, and he said that only a few of them produce abundant amounts of pelagic fish like the place we were about to go to.

As we approached the secret spot, I watched my friend as he was focused on the water. He was checking the current. After a moment of concern, he turned to me and said, “today you see tuna”. The current he had been watching was moving in the correct direction in order to produce tuna. We suited up, dropped the buoys behind the boat and entered the water. I swam out to the where the reef dropped sharply, creating a wall of current where brightly colored soft corals were filtering the marine plankton. I was stunned, found myself speechless, and unable to describe the abundant sea life. The visibility was 75 feet, clear like Gin compared to the murky waters I had been diving the day before. This was a good sign that something was hunting and I was soon greeted by a pod of bottle nosed dolphins. Wow, this was the first time that I had been swimming that close to wild dolphins. They swam right up to me and continued to swim around me. It was like they wanted to play so I stayed down with them for as long as I could but after a while, it was time to say goodbye and head for the surface.

By the time I had surfaced from playing with the dol-phins, I was approaching the spot where the tuna congregate, due to the fast current. So, I took a few deep breaths and dropped back down. I wanted to be 20 feet off the bottom at the thermo cline, which was at 45 feet. I hung there sus-pended in the water calm and motionless, allowing the cur-

rent to carry me directly into the approaching school of small 20 pound dogtooth tuna. My heart started to speed up with the thought of spearing a tuna with my smaller gun. Finally the fish looked close enough. I took aim and pulled the trigger. Bang!!! I fired the gun and to my astonishment, I missed the fish. Wow, the fish must have been bigger then I had calcu-lated. The visibility was close to 75 feet and I figured that the tuna must have been closer to 50 pounds.

I jumped in the boat and got ready for a second drift but by the time we got to my friend, he was fighting a tuna. He had speared a 25-pound tuna. He did not see the large school that I had seen, but 5 tuna rushed him 50 yards behind me. It was my turn to shoot a nice fish.

We continued our day diving without seeing any more tuna, when all of a sudden the current changed. We regrouped and moved the boat to another spot known for big giant trav-elli. Slowly the boat motored full throttle as we punched through 4-foot standing waves. The current at this spot

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44 was raging like a class 4 rapid. Once the boat finally made it through the rough waters, we pulled in to a small lagoon where we would enter the water. My friend went in first since I was a bit concerned about the conditions. As I looked up through the crashing waves created by the current, I could see the speed in which we were moving. The current was at 5 knots and I could see the whirling down currents like a tor-nado under water. My friend dropped down to take a look and lined up on something. I quickly swam over to his buoys and grabbed on as I heard the gun go off. For the next five min-utes, I was towed around desperately trying to keep the fish from sinking the buoy. My friend had been sucked away from his buoy when the fish headed up current. That is why I was holding onto his catch. The boat picked him up and dropped him back in the water so he could land his prized catch. The fish was now close and we could see it materializing. He had shot a 90-pound giant travelli. I told him to hold onto the buoy

as I could see the slip tip ready to fall out. I took a breath and dropped down for the kill shot. I lined up on the head and let the steel penetrate his brain. We enjoyed working together and it proved to be successful. We did another drift when suddenly I felt a strong pull on my float line. I quickly looked back to see what was happening and realized that my two buoys were gone. I looked down and could see that they were underwater. The whirlpool down currents had sucked my buoys under. I yelled for the boat and quickly got in. I pulled hard and finally they surfaced. I had never seen anything like that before and decided that it was too dangerous to dive that spot that day.

I was now two fish behind and I really wanted to spear something, but it was time to head home. It was the end of day two and I had not managed to spear a tuna yet. I knew that day three would be my lucky day. I had learned how to manage myself in the currents.

The last Day. We returned to the same secret spot the next day and I was well equipped with a 64-inch tuna gun. I eagerly enter the water first this time and immediately saw frantic baitfish being chased by large rainbow runners. I took a breath and dropped vertically towards the bottom. Dropping down to 40 feet 6 large shadows grow closer with curiosity. The bottlenose dolphins had returned to greet me. They stayed within 10 feet of me for the next 3 dives. It was a beautiful experience. Once I was just outside the drop off I made a dive to 60 feet. I kept my kicks to a minimum and closed my eyes. I was envisioning the tuna in my mind, and as I opened my eyes I could see the white coins of dogtooth tuna creating a wall in front of me. Knowing that these fish

GO TO P. 70

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ranspiring quietly under most divers’ radar, a small freediving competition was held in Kona earlier this year. The competition included all of the main disciplines of freedive competition, including constant weight in the open water. Kona has played host to several freediving competitions in the past, including the national championship in 2006, and the international field-

drawing Pacific Cup in 2002. The competitive freediving scene is drawn to the Kona Coast for the same reason Hawai‘i’s divers are—consistently per-fect diving conditions and deep water literally a stone’s throw from shore.

Hawai‘i undoubtedly possesses one of the highest proportions of breath-hold diving enthusiasts among its population, but few of these divers practice competitive or “pure” freediving, instead training their underwater breath-hold ability for only the practical application of spearfishing. Yet, in Kona, there is a small crew of dedicated freedivers that have been gathering on weekends for some time now to practice their obsession together. Their meeting place every Sunday is the bay at Pu‘uhonua o Honaunau, which is a magical place offering exceptionally perfect diving conditions practically every day of the year.

I am providing an account of the competition from the point-of-view of a competitor, as well as a spearfisherman. It is my hope that more of Hawai‘i’s fishing-focused divers will take interest in this sport, which is all too appropriate for us considering our favorable setting. You gather a deeper appreciation for freediving when you learn to descend deep enough that an extended freefall or “sink phase” is involved. It’s a transcendental experience when you are deep enough that light becomes limited and your heart is thumping only once every three seconds, all to the tune of your fellow aquatic mammals singing with eerie moans that reverberate within your chest—and you don’t yet feel the urge to return to the surface to breathe. For further inspiration, get your hands on a copy of the freediving cult classic “The Big Blue”.

My dive partner, Derek Levault, who is also an avid spearfisherman, participated in the competition as well. We met in 2006, and since the beginning we have shared a keen interest in diving deeper. Over time we have worked from being comfortable below only 100ft to plunging to respectable depths beyond 200ft. Integral in our progress was meeting and training with the Kona freedivers. When our friends in Kona tossed around the idea of hosting a small freediving competition, we jumped at the opportunity to test our mettle in this little-known sport.

We did not attend the competition completely naïve and unprepared. We actually spent several months training at Palolo pool and in the ocean, whenever we could find the patience to put our spearguns and cameras down. We also exploited the airfare discount wars to afford multiple trips to Kona to train with the crew there.

Day 1

The competition opened with the discipline of static apnea. Great performances were expected considering the abilities of some of the competitors in this discipline. The mother and daughter duo of Annabel Edwards and Jessica Wilson (opposite top) have exchanged the American record for static between each other (and Annabel even held the world record at one time). Then there was 70-years young Bill Graham (opposite bottom left), former American record holder for static, who has a recent personal best in the neighborhood of an unbelievable 8 minutes. Derek Levault was the dark horse, rumored to possess incredible static apnea ability, but which no one had ever witnessed (except me). The current American record for static was 7:28 by Deron Verbeck, another Kona native (2007). There was some excited anticipation that some static records might fall.

Jessica Wilson did succeed in breaking the American record (6:27_6:30), which was already her own! And she did so without showing any instability during her recovery, indicating that she had more in the tank. Bill performed a very respectable 7+ minute static, while Derek (left)unfortunately succumbed to a disqualifying samba.

T

NAME AP rP NOTES PTS

Bill Graham 7:00 7:10 Good 86

Jessica Wilson 5:31 6:30 Good 78

Kurt Chambers 5:00 6:18 Good 75.5

Annabel Edwards 0:30 6:05 Good 72

Andy Norlander 4:00 5:26 Good 65

Leo Muraoka 4:30 5:00 Good 60

Megumi Matsumoto 4:00 4:24 Good 52.5

Derek Levault 5:59 6:28 DQ (SP) 0

Kevin Busscher 5:00 5:52 DQ (SP) 0

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53

Even though both Bill and Derek possess the ability to perform beyond the American record mark, the competition atmosphere tends to reduce performance, some times significantly. Competitors in the know may expect up to a 15% reduction in performance, and they make their performance announcements accordingly. A typical strategy for a record attempt is to assure that, in training, one reaches performances exceed-ing the record, preferably several times. This provides a buffer in case stress from the competition inhibits performance, in addition to providing valuable confidence—the greatest aid a diver can bring to a competition. Deron Verbeck pulled off a 7:28 in a competition. Who knows how far beyond this mark his real personal best is...

Day 2

The second day of competition was devoted to the most anticipated segment of the competition—depth. Competitors could choose to perform constant weight either with or without fins, which are recognized as dis-tinct disciplines. The arena was Honaunau, and the conditions, as usual, were ideal. However, the addition of support boats, rebreather-equipped safety divers, judges, and a strict timeline provided for a very different atmosphere than the relaxed one we normally experience there.

The most notable performance was Andy Norlander’s 80m/262ft CWT dive, making him only the fourth American known to ever reach 80m. This was only 2m/6.5ft shy of the American record (82m/269ft, Theo Ivanovic, 2007). Andy is one of the Kona-based freedivers, and a product of the Performance Freediving course taught there. In only 4 years he has progressed from being a beginner, sub-100ft diver, to being capable of world-class performance in constant weight. 80m was the maximum depth allowed in this competition, so Andy did not have the opportunity to challenge the American record. But his PB is several meters deeper, and he may get that chance soon.

Another notable performance was Megumi Matsumoto’s (far right) CNF dive of 32m/105ft. Megumi travelled all the way from Japan to participate in the competition, and she made sure to make it worthwhile by claiming a new Japanese national record with that dive. Leo Muraoka (right) also competed CNF, and performed a respectable 44m/144ft.

Both Derek (opposite page) and myself had the ambitious goal of resetting our own national record for CNF. We felt that some of the American records for freediving were still within reach of our capabilities, such as the CNF record (50m/164ft, Rob King, 2007). We trained for it by working on no fins technique and performing DNF a lot in the pool, but we could have used more open water training. Still, the competition offered a rare opportunity to have everything in place for a record (judges, safety divers, support boat, medics) if we could pull off the performance. Unfortunately, the combination of stress-generating factors present at the competition thwarted both of our efforts to dive 51m/167ft—we both grabbed our tags but succumbed to blackouts before reaching the surface. That “buffer” I mentioned earlier—neither of us had developed enough of one in training.

Day 3

The last day of competition was back in the pool for dynamic apnea. Competitors were allowed to perform with or without fins, or in both disciplines. Kevin Busscher (opening spread), a resident of O‘ahu, was seeking to reclaim the American record for dynamic no fins, which he held only months earlier (now held by Wes Lapp, 125m, 2007).

It was now Annabel Edwards’ turn to shine, as she bested everyone in dynamic apnea with a 125m performance. Only a short while later she demonstrated that she could humble everyone all the same without her monofin, performing an impressive 100m in DNF. Only Kevin Busscher went further in DNF, performing 106m. This was quite shy of his goal, but he just didn’t have it that day. Leo and Megumi also put up respectable DNF performances, of 100m and 93m, respectively.

NAME AP rP TIME NOTES PTS

Andy Norlander 80m 80m 2:24 Good 80

Jessica Wilson 54m 54m 2:04 Good 54

Annabel Edwards 54m 49m 1:42 Penalty (short) 43

Leo Muraoka 44m (CNF) 44m 2:03 Good 44

Megumi Matsumoto 32m (CNF) 32m 1:37 Good 32

Derek Levault 51m (CNF) 0 n/a DQ (BO) 0

Kurt Chambers 51m (CNF) 0 n/a DQ (BO) 0

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The competition was a great success, bringing nearly all of Hawai‘i’s serious freedivers together, and even attracting some from abroad. Many standout performances and two new national records resulted. A great deal of the success is attributable to the organizers, Annabel Edwards and Jessica Wilson (opposite page), who began working on organizing the event months in advance. The judges, Kirk Krack and Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, extended their stay in Hawai‘i for a week after teaching their Performance Freediving course just to coordinate and officiate the compe-tition. And numerous volunteers contributed by serving as safety divers, timekeepers, medics, and boatmen.

Even though the competition atmosphere can be stressful and reduce performance, every competition provides valuable experience for its participants intent on competing further. The setbacks and perfor-mance breakdowns are a necessary part of developing into a competitive freediver. For my first competition, it was better to experience it in the familiar setting of Kona, in the company of friends, rather than halfway around the world where most of the freediving competitions occur. Most valuable of all, though, was the camaraderie that we all got to share over the days of the competition. I look forward to the next competition, which may be as soon as the Aloha State Games this summer, with eagerness, and a little bit of experience under my belt. PAU

Neither Derek nor myself competed in the dynamic apnea competi-tion after the debilitating blackouts we had the day before. Blackouts can leave performance-attenuating effects for several days afterward, as well as an increased risk of having another blackout. We didn’t want to mar our track record in competition yet further by having a couple more blackouts.

OVERALL RESULTS

Andy was rewarded with the overall win for his consistent per-formance through the disciplines, and an extremely impressive 80m constant weight dive. Annabel won by dominating the dynamic competi-tion, and otherwise being a well-rounded performer. Both also avoided committing the detrimental mistake of having blackouts.

NAME AP rP TIME NOTES PTS

Annabel Edwards 20m 125m 2:26 Good 62.5

Megumi Matsumoto 50m 117m 2:01 Good 58.5

Leo Muraoka 100m 111m 1:47 Good 55.5

Kevin Busscher 100m (DNF) 106m 1:51 Good 53

Andy Norlander 75m 105m 1:42 Good 52.5

Kevin Busscher 100m (DNF) 103m 1:54 Good -

Annabel Edwards 100m (DNF) 100m 2:22 Good -

Leo Muraoka 75m (DNF) 100m 2:12 Good -

Megumi Matsumoto 40m (DNF) 93m 2:03 Good -

Jessica Wilson 75m 105m 2:22 DQ (BO) 0

Kurt Chambers 100m (DNF) 0 - DNS 0

FREEDIVING GLOSSARYStatic Apnea Discipline of freediving competition (pool) where (STA) competitors are striving for maximum breath-hold duration while stationary.

Constant Weight Discipline of freediving competition (open water) where (CWT) competitors are striving for maximum depth with the assistance of fins, carrying the same amount of weight throughout the dive.

Constant Weight No Fins Discipline of freediving competition (open water) where (CNF) competitors are striving for maximum depth WITHOUT the assistance of fins, carrying the same amount of weight throughout the dive.

Dynamic Apnea Discipline of freediving competition (pool) where (DYN) competitors are striving for maximum lateral distance with the assistance of fins.

Dynamic Apnea No Fins Discipline of freediving competition (pool) where (DNF) competitors are striving for maximum lateral distance WITHOUT the assistance of fins.

Personal Best An individual’s personal best performance in a (PB) discipline, whether in practice or competition.

Announced Performance All competitors must announce their performances (AP) beforehand so that safety divers can be in place and competitor order determined.

realized Performance The actual performance that a competitor performs in (rP) competition.

Blackout Defined in competition as when a competitor cannot (BO) keep their airway above the surface on their own.

Samba/Loss of Motor Control When, upon surfacing from a performance, a competitor(LMC) displays instability due to being very hypoxic (i.e., on the verge of blackout), usually indicated by jerky move- ments, trembling lips, and/or slurred speech. In compe- tition, display of a samba is not considered grounds for disqualification. As long as the competitor can complete the surface protocol within the time allotted the performance is deemed valid.

Surface Protocol In competition a competitor must validate his perfor-(SP) mance by demonstrating sufficient consciousness through completing a set of actions immediately upon surfacing.

Disqualification A competitor’s performance can be disqualified for (DQ) blacking out, not fulfilling the surface protocol, or infracting any of a number of competition rules.

Did Not Start A competitor announced a performance, but did (DNS) perform it.

NAME PTS NAME PTS

1_Andy Norlander 197.5 1_Annabel Edwards 177.5

2_Leo Muraoka 159.5 2_Megumi Matsumoto 143

3_Bill Graham 86 3_Jessica Wilson 132

4_Kurt Chambers 75.5

5_Kevin Busscher 53

6_Derek Levault 0

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t was day two of our week-long trip to Mexico. The conditions were beautiful and it was everything I had hoped for and dreamed of before leaving my home in Hampshire South/East England. My part-ners Ray Klefstad and Eduardo Godinho

were as excited as I was. While it is no secret these days among spearos that big Yellowfin Tuna can be found here or in Costa Rica, I’ll forego naming the exact location. However, I must give recognition to my panga captain “Peecha” and his mate Ben Cowley who guided Dr. Craig Petersen to his IUSA World Record 317 lb. Yellowfin last year.

On the first day, Ray and Eduardo had both taken two shots with Ray landing two Wahoo and Eduardo landing one. Eduardo also got a shot into a 100 pound class YFT but it managed to tear off before he could get a sec-ond shot into it. I saw two nice Wahoo but was afraid to shoot as I didn’t want to be fighting one of those fish and have a huge tuna or Marlin come by and wink at me. My patience almost paid off when I saw a 200 pound tuna approach – a truly magnificent sight! Unfortunately, he didn’t quite give me the shot I wanted and so he remains out there, growing bigger every day.

As we approached the fishing grounds

we saw hundreds of boobies diving on the bait balls. Peecha told us with a smile that it looked very good. No sooner did he finish his predic-tion when we saw several large tuna jump from the water and hammer the bait. Passing over the pinnacles we could see tons of bait with GT’s ripping through them and schools of pom-pano cutting the surface with their dorsal fins. It was every divers dream day.

Ray exclaimed excitedly, “Guys! Something is going to happen – big Tuna! I can feel it!”

Like a military fire team we were abreast of each other as we closed on the next high spot. My pattern was two minutes breathing up and about two minutes down. I saw Ray down approaching the bait when a huge Marlin of about 500 pounds swam by the leading edge of the bait just out of his range and too far away for me. I dove to about 50 feet and saw several nice tuna from 50 to 150 pounds. All my instincts said to fire but my worst nightmare was to have a small tuna on my shaft when a monster came by. There were so many tuna in that pack it seemed to take forever for them to pass. My attention was riveted on the back of the pack, hoping for a trailing cow.

Just when I am out of air I see a dark shape behind the pack another 20 feet below. From

my position, the back of the fish is jet black in the deep water and it’s hard to estimate the size or distance. As I drop down to intersect with the fish I see an amazing mass between the pecto-ral fins marking the massive back on this fish.

I come closer to the fish and it seems to pay me no attention. My ears are killing me but I’m afraid to move my hand to my face for fear of spooking the monster. As the great fish and I close the last few feet, I see the incredibly long arching sickles of the Yellowfin Tuna. The fish is huge! My Daryl Wong Ono gun seems to come from beneath my body and fires on its own. I don’t even feel the recoil. Targeting the head and gill plate area, I am surprised to see that the fish is at least 20 feet away and moving so fast the spear hits it in the rear third of its huge body. On impact, the fish turns around in a full 180 and accelerates down into the deep. I rush for the surface, narrowly dodging my massive tuna float as it flies by. As I surface, I watched in awe as all my gear disappears below in a great cloud of trailing bubbles.

I swim in the direction of the bubbles. Just as I am about exhausted I see the special float/flag that trails behind the tuna board. Ray made

I

Peecha’s MagicWORDS JULIAN ALLEN-ELLIS (as told to Larry Carter/IUSA)

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world record

An Introduction to Freediving and Spearfishing in the Midwest

WORDS

CHRIS NEAL +

JON ZEAMAN

PHOTOGRAPHY

JON ZEAMAN +

SCOTT OTEY

5959here are quite a few freedivers in Wisconsin. They are a very loose group of people who keep in touch mainly through online message boards. The laws in Wisconsin are much more diver friendly than in Illinois. The visibility in the area varies drasti-cally from day to day and lake to lake. On average, 10 to 15 feet of visibility is a good dive – we hope for 20 feet.

One weekend in October we were in Lake Michigan and experienced 70 feet of visibility. On that same dive, the wind picked up and inside the break wall the water turned brown and the visibility dropped to about 5 feet. The visibility in Lake Michigan has improved over the last 15 years as Zebra mussels have invaded the lake. The mussels have also found their way into other nearby lakes from boats and equipment. While the Zebra mussels clear the water, they choke out native species of mussels and increase the rate of decay on some wrecks. Lake Geneva and Lake Wazee also offer better than average visibility. Water temperature plays a big part in the water clarity. Temperatures range from 32 degrees up to the high 70’s. Thermo clines are another factor in our freshwater environ-ment. Generally, in the smaller lakes the first thermo cline is somewhere between 20 and 30 feet deep. Lake Michigan can be 74 on the surface and drop to 50 degrees at 50 feet.

Spring and early summer bring the best visibility. However, even in the cold of winter dive sites have been found. One of the more popular mid-winter locations is “The Outlet” in Madison. If the power plant is running, the cooling water will be flowing. With the air temperature at -10 degrees (yes some of us were out there in -10), the water is a much warmer place to be. The outlet pushes 55 - 60 degree water at the open-ing and fades to 32 degrees at the edge of the ice. The warm water at the opening is swarmed by all species of fish and even some animals. Ducks mill around on the surface, while below them swim muskie, bass, bluegill and crappie. Every so often, one can even see a muskrat dive down under

the water looking for a meal. The muskies are very impressive for a fresh water fish. They are illegal to shoot and will swim very close to check out the action – just taunting the hungry spearo.

Spearfishing in Wisconsin is allowed for rough fish and pan fish throughout most of the state, however spearing is not allowed in the north near Native American tribes. All that is needed is a standard Wisconsin fishing license. The surrounding states only allow the spearing of rough fish and their laws on lake accessibility vary. You can also spearfish while on scuba in Wisconsin. Some of the guys I spear with like to go after carp. There are several reasons for this. They are generally the biggest and most sporting of the fish we can take. Also, local line fishermen all but ignore the carp as they are not real tasty. From some lakes, carp are not recom-mended to be eaten. In a lot of lakes the carp become a nuisance due to over crowding. Carp in the 25 to 30 pound range are common. We only shoot crappie, bluegill and perch if we are going to eat them. Crappie and bluegill of 10 inches or more are often seen. Lake Michigan holds some

The most common question asked of me about my diving is “where do you dive around

here?” The Midwest is not known as world hot spot in the world of diving. In Illinois

there are a few lakes to dive in, but access to swimming and rules for spearfishing

are very limiting. As I got more into freediving, I discovered a group of freedivers

and spearfishermen to the north in Wisconsin.

T

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large perch that are a favorite among some fishers. There is a 5 fish limit on perch from Lake Michigan. The crappie and bluegill are safe to eat from any of the lakes in Wisconsin. The walleye, which are not legal to shoot, are probably the worst to eat as they have the highest concentra-tions of mercury.

As they learn, the members in our group pick up new techniques and tools. We use spearguns and pole spears but now some of us are making our own Hawaiian slings. Who knows, maybe one day one of us will make our own gun – maybe one of the spearos I have not met already has. Shorter guns are usually the norm with the lower visibility. Most spearing is done in water in the 15 to 20 foot range. Lake Michigan is the exception on days with great visibility, bring your long gun.

One of the key elements for the start of this group was Jon Zeaman’s Freedive-A-Palooza at Lake Wazee. Jon’s goal for the event was to gather Midwest divers together. It did that and then some. The palooza attracted

divers from California, Florida, Texas and several other states as well. Jon invited me to attend to get a taste of freediving. It had taken me awhile to set down the scuba and give freediving a try – man was I missing out. I still have not gotten to attend the Freedive-A-Palooza, but I’m hoping 2008 will be the year. Jon started the tradition and hosted a great gather-ing. This coming year Jon will not be able to coordinate the event. A lot of us still want this event to go on and have begun to plan it on our own. From stories I have read and heard, if we can capture even a fraction of the spirit Jon started, it will be a great time!

The spearing we do seems so much different than the stuff I read about and see on TV. But at the core it’s all the same and you are welcome to join us any time! PAU

Go to: http://www.hawaiiskindiver.com/videos/?tubepress_page=2

61

world record

MEXblack marlin

WORDS JOSEBA KEREJETA (as told to Larry Carter/IUSA)

t is 2003 and the Kristiansund Cup Championships are under way. Spain, Finland, Norge, France, Denmark, Latvia, Israel and Germany are battling it out for the coveted K.C. Championships. To the sur-prise of almost no one Joseba Kerejeta of Spain exits the water with the winning score. He repeats this feat again in 2004.

It is July of 2007 and Joseba has taken a rest from competition to come to the United States to dive with long time friend Andy Ansin of Florida. Andy is an accomplished diver himself having the IUSA World Record for Black Grouper at 59.5 lbs with a sling!

Setting their sights on the coast of Mexico they charter a boat and off they go, dreaming of warm blue water and monster fish. What they find for the next twenty-three days is a murky sea and few fish to brag about.

Finally, on July 24th the dues were paid and the dive gods gave up a small window of opportunity. There was a ripping 6 knot current and ten feet of murk, but a fantastic seventy feet of visibility below that. It was very divable if you have the skill of those men.

The divers searched for structure and bait and eventually started seeing small tuna at about 60 to 80 feet. After two hard hours they deter-mined that they only had two choices, shoot small fish or dive deeper. Dive deeper they did. On one such dive to about 75 feet Joseba finally saw the form of a huge tuna. We all know you never see a great fish when you are fresh and have plenty of air. Giving it his all, Joseba made a heroic effort and fired at the last possible moment only to see his shaft hit the fish with little penetration and fall away. The great fish barely flicked his tail and faded into the blue.

On the surface Joseba reloaded, trying to put his disappointment aside and clear his mind for another deep dive. As he approached 70 feet he saw a shadow coming up from the depths towards him. Coming into view, Joseba recognized it as a marlin. Kicking deeper and stretching his bungee, Joseba fired – watching as his shaft pierced the fish near the anal fin. The shaft apparently struck the spine and a “moderate” fight took place with the fish eventually weighing in at 341.90 lbs. It was a new IUSA World Record.

Soon thereafter, tropical storm Delilah struck, forcing them to run for port or be lost at sea. The good news was that the storm was short lived and brought with it clear blue water.

Back at their lucky spot, three hours of dives produced nothing but clouds of bonito with no shots. Returning to the surface after a dive and passing through the layered bonito, Joseba caught a glimpse of a large shadow bulleting up directly beneath him. Bracing himself for a shark attack Joseba dropped his Daryl Wong Ono gun almost between his legs and fired into the large head. It was then he saw the fish to be a huge Black Marlin! Firing almost on a collision course the diver saw his Rob Allen foam float streak by inches away followed by a completely collapsed Riffe float waving goodbye as it faded into the depths.

I

Joseba gave chase, catching up with the float. As he applied pres-sure to bring it to the surface the great fish felt the tug and made another run dragging Joseba deeper and deeper like a rag doll. Out of air, ears bursting, he let the float go and rushed to the surface as the floats faded into the darkness below.

On the surface Joseba yelled to the boat that he had lost his floats. The boat happened to be close by as the captain had seen the initial run-ning of the floats. The captain was already in the boats tuna tower and yelled back the direction of the floats. Sprinting in that direction, Joseba finally came upon them, grabbing the Riffe float that was then standing upright on the surface.

Eventually Joseba was handed an unloaded Steve Alexander Blue Water gun which he loaded and killed the fish with. Seeing this fish to be larger than the first Marlin taken, the boat raced to the marina where it

was weighed on a certified scale at 467.24 pounds, another new IUSA World Record Black Marlin!

After a proper celebration the divers found a local shelter that cared for 60 abused chil-dren and donated the fish to them. The children and locals were very excited to receive such a gift and later returned the chest of the marlin which was baked and succulent. PAU

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Record fish must be captured within the “spirit” of spearfishing guidelines. The wild, unrestricted, uninjured fish must be speared with a muscle-powered device while breath-hold diving during day-light hours. The spearfisherman should be reasonably unassisted. Fish must be speared within the main Hawaiian Islands. Eligible fishes include any “generally accepted” game fish. We are accepting retroactive applications for fish speared after January 1, 2000. Records will be awarded only to fishes which meet documentation requirements and can be independently verified.

OPEN RECORDSPELAGIC (MINIMUM SIzES)Ahi (Big Eye) 50 lb.Marlin, Black 100 lb.Marlin, Striped 80 lb.Pacific Sailfish 50 lb.

NEARSHORE (MINIMUM SIzES)Aholehole (Flagtail Fish) 1 lb.Palani (Dussumier’s) 6 lb. Lobster, Purple Spiney 2 lb.

Hawai‘i Skin Diver 2wenty1st

Century State Spear

fishing records

NEW RECORDS IN BLUE_DOWNLOAD APPLICATION FORMS @ WWW.HAWAIISKINDIVER.COM. FORMS ALSO AVAILABLE @ HANA PA‘A HAWAII + MAUI SPORTING GOODS

PELAGIC LBS. DIVER DATE LOCATION SPEARGUN FROMAhi (Yellowfin) 148.5 Rob White 07.23.03 Kona, Hawaii Riffe Comp 4X BoatAku (Skipjack) 20 Rob White 06.18.07 Kona, Hawaii Riffe Comp 4X BoatKamanu (Rainbow Runner) 22.1 Tyler Nishioka 10.09.03 North Shore, Oahu Picasso 90 ShoreMahimahi 51.8 Calvin Lai Jr. 09.01.06 Big Island, Hawaii Riffe Island BoatOno 70.0 Johnny Pestana 06.10.05 Waianae, Oahu Daryl Wong Ono KayakKawakawa (Wavy Back Tuna) 12.67 Marc Mizumoto 06.01.04 Yokohama, Oahu Riffe Island BoatMarlin, Pacific Blue 278.5 Calvin Lai Jr. 12.19.05 Big Island, Hawaii Riffe Metal Tech Comp4 BoatTombo (Albacore) 63.0 Bruce Ayau (D) 07.11.07 Kona, Hawaii Riffe BoatNEARSHORE LBS. DIVER DATE LOCATION SPEARGUN FROMAwa (Milkfish) 44.0 David Hudcovic 07.13.03 Niihau, Hawaii Sporasub 130 BoatAwaawa (Ladyfish) 9.26 Andy Ikari 07.31.04 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu Omer 100 cm ShoreAweoweo (Hawaiian Bigeye) 2.22 Chad Quedding 06.25.06 Ulupalakua, Maui Home-made 3 prong ShoreBarracuda, Great 72.3 Charles Barenaba 12.01.01 Reef Runway, Oahu Alexander Ono Hunter BoatFlounder 3.59 Vernon Takata (E) 02.11.08 Sand Island, Oahu Yokooji Hybrid 3 prong ShoreGoatfish, Blue (Moana Ukali) 5.64 Robert Miranda 02.21.04 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu Omer 110 ShoreGoatfish, Manybar (Moano) 1.14 Norton Chan 04.29.06 Kaimana Beach, Oahu Omer Excalibur 100 ShoreGoatfish, Double-barred (Munu) 3.48 Richard Bettua 08.23.05 Molokai Daryl Wong Hybrid BoatGoatfish, White Saddle (Kumu) 5.51 Alvin Yoshida 12.21.03 Hawaii Kai, Oahu Pipe gun BoatHapu‘upu‘u (Grouper) 132 Bruce Ayau (C) 01.03.00 South Kona, Hawaii Riffe ShoreKahala (Amberjack) 72.6 Chris Paglinawan 01.26.05 Kahala, Oahu 55” Daryl Wong Wood KayakKala 9.71 Lance Nakamitsu 11.26.04 Kaneohe Bay 45 custom half + half BoatKawale‘a (Heller’s Barracuda) 5.9 Lance Fujioka 04.01.07 Kahala, Oahu DND KayakKole .88 John N. Oka 11.22.06 Makena, Maui Beauchat 100 ShoreKole (King Kole) 1.06 Dustin Taka (B) 04.06.08 Honaunau, Kona Omer 90 ShoreLai (Leatherback) 1.54 Clint Nahina (F) 01.08.08 Kahala, Oahu Omer 100 ShoreLizard Fish 1.04 Ron Cayaban 09.12.07 Koloa Landing, Kauai 3 Prong ShoreLobster (Green Spiney) 5.19 Nathan Hillen 11.21.05 Kahului, Maui ShoreLobster (Slipper) 3.01 Sean Stodelle (E) 01.18.08 Pali, Maui ShoreManini 1.0 Ben Forsyth 10.25.07 Ewa Beach, Oahu 3-prong ShoreMenpachi 1.37 Nathan Ramos 10.05.06 Sand Island, Oahu 3 Prong ShoreMoi 5.86 Corey Manley 12.22.03 Hawaii Kai, Oahu Picasso ShoreMu (Porgy) 10.5 Jason Hijirida 11.10.02 East Oahu Picasso Basik 100 BoatMullet, Striped 2.74 Francisco Perez 05.31.06 North Shore, Oahu Picasso Basik 90 Shore Nabeta (Peacock Razorfish) 1.4 John Panela 06.03.06 Honolua Bay, Maui Yokooji 55 Hybrid ShoreNenue (Rudderfish) 10.6 Pernell Mondoy 05.12.06 Kamalo, Molokai Marc Valentin 90cm BoatNohu (Scorpionfish) 6.75 Kawainui Lagunte 09.16.07 Hilo, Hawaii 3 Prong ShoreOio (Bonefish) 11.19 Russell Palmeira 12.18.05 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Riffe 39” ShoreOpelu Kala 9.0 Richard Kaiawe III 10.09.03 Keauhou Kona, Hawaii Beuchat Carbon Fiber Shore Parrotfish, Redlip (Whiptail Uhu) 18.1 William Mahin 03.18.01 Uaoa Bay, Maui Riffe Island BoatParrotfish, Spectacled (Fantail Uhu) 11.71 Andy Mau 07.24.06 Kaneohe, Oahu 3 Prong BoatParrotfish, Star Eyed (Pananu) 6.47 Chris Paglinawan (A) 11.22.07 Nanakuli, Oahu Rob Allen 100 KayakPualu (Yellow Surgeonfish) 10.74 Johnathan Barretto 02.14.04 Barbers Point, Oahu Omer 120 - Ko muzzle KayakRoi (Peacock Grouper) 7.88 Sky Sierran Kubby 03.11.07 Puna Coast, Hawaii DND ShoreSquirrelfish, Sabre (Ala‘ihi) 5.0 Wayne Judge (A) 03.15.08 Captain Cook, Hawaii rob Allen 1300 carbon BoatSpotted Knife Jaw 16.55 Donovan Gadingan 06.28.06 West Kauai Omer T-20 BoatStriped Mullet 4.23 Jasen D. Kaya (G) 11.29.07 Diamond Head, Oahu Beuchat Marlin 95 cm ShoreTable Boss (Black Spot Wrasse) 5.72 Chris Mitobe 06.15.04 Kahana, Oahu 90 Cressi-Sub ShoreTako (Octopus) 12.73 Ronald Castanaga 01.22.06 Waianae, Oahu Omer T-20 90 ShoreTo‘au (Blacktail Snapper) 2.65 Elvin Chang 02.18.07 Kaneohe, Oahu 44” Homemade gun ShoreUku (Gray Snapper) 29.8 Hans Buetzer 04.15.05 Kapalua, Maui Beuchat 110 cm ShoreUlua, Island Jack (Yellowspot) 15 Jordan Kilkenny (C) 02.17.08 South Kona riffe 4x ShoreUlua, Big Eye Trevally 11.51 Chris Paglinawan 01.20.06 West Oahu Riffe 61” Kayak Ulua, Bluefin Trevally (Omilu) 21.92 Justin B. Lee 10.18.06 Kailua, Oahu Rabitech Stealth 110 BoatUlua, Golden Trevally (Pa‘opa‘o) 17.12 Tyler Nishioka 06.22.00 Kaneohe, Oahu 36” Home-made pipe BoatUlua, Giant Trevally (White) 144.2 Travis Kashiwa 12.25.03 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu Rob Allen 120 BoatUlua, Mirror Trevally (Kagami) 39.0 Ryan Calleon 07.24.04 Yokohama DND ShoreWeke (Nono) 5.66 Justin B. Lee 03.07.05 Portlock, Oahu 55” Riffe Mid-Handle ShoreWeke (Yellowstripe Goat Fish) 1.62 Joey Villon 03.06.06 Anini Beach, Kauai Omer 100 Shore WOMEN’S RECORDS LBS. DIVER DATE LOCATION SPEARGUN FROMAku 14.6 Julie Klaz 06.30.07 Kona, Hawaii Riffe Comp 3x BoatAwa (Milkfish) 26.6 Wanda Yonamine 12.12.04 Kihei, Maui Beuchat 90 ShoreAweoweo (Hawaiian Bigeye) 0.66 Brandi Easter 12.29.04 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu 50 Wong Hybrid BoatGoatfish, Blue (Moana Ukali) 4.12 Andrea Kawabata (F) 02.17.08 Puna, Hawaii Aimrite 105 Venom ShoreGoatfish, White Saddle (Kumu) 3.4 Angela Bettua 02.04.07 Honomalino, Hawaii 55 Wong Hybrid BoatGoatfish, Double-barred (Munu) 1.8 Kimi Werner (D) 08.18.07 Waialee Beach, Oahu Omer 100 ShoreKahala (Amberjack) 44.1 Jasmine Lum 12.23.03 Kaneohe Poppers OMER Aluminum 110 Boat Mahimahi 41.5 Sierra Mahin 02.11.06 Kona, Hawaii Wong Magnum Hybrid BoatMenpachi 1.36 Bonnie Row 07.21.04 Wailua Beach, Oahu Omer 90 KayakMu (Porgy) 5.7 Kimi Werner 08.05.07 Molokai, Hawaii Omer 100 Shore Nenue (Rudderfish) 7.42 Brandi Easter 12.26.04 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu 50 Wong Hybrid BoatNohu (Scorpionfish) 5.79 Jasmine Lum 09.20.03 Pyramid Rock, Oahu Picasso Hunter 110 ShoreOno 34.45 Brandi Easter 12.26.03 Kailua, Oahu Daryl Wong Ono Gun BoatOpelu Kala 6.13 Andrea Kawabata 08.17.07 Honomalino, Hawaii 8’ Kawabanga 3 prong Shore Parrotfish, Redlip (Whiptail Uhu) 11.6 Kimi Werner 05.20.07 North Shore, Oahu OMER 100 BoatParrotfish, Spectacled (Fantail Uhu) 10.4 Angela Bettua 03.04.07 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu 55” Wong Hybrid BoatParrotfish, Star Eyed (Pananu) 4.71 Melodee Ferreira 10.08.06 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu Omer Aluminum 90 BoatRoi (Peacock Grouper) 4.99 Mahea Lau 12.05.05 Hau‘ula, Oahu Omer 90 Excalibur KayakSpotted Knife Jaw 5.60 Angela Bettua 02.22.06 Molokai Wong 50 Hybrid BoatTable Boss (Black Spot Wrasse) 5.0 Brandi Easter 12.29.04 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu 50 Wong Hybrid BoatTako (Octopus) 7.1 Andrea Kawabata 01.22.06 Waimanalo, Oahu 8’ Kawabanga 3 prong Shore Uku 19.0 Sheri Daye 12.27.06 Kaena Point Wong Super Magnum 61 BoatUlua 56.8 Angela Bettua 03.04.07 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu Daryl Wong Mahi BoatUlua, Bluefin Trevally (Omilu) 20.0 Sheri Daye 12.26.06 Kaneohe Bay, Oahu 55 Wong Magnum Hybrid BoatUlua, Mirror Trevally (Kagami) 11.0 Wanda Yonamine 11.21.04 Kihei, Maui Esclapez 75 Kayak

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3NEW RECORDS IN BLUE_DOWNLOAD APPLICATION FORMS @ WWW.HAWAIISKINDIVER.COM. FORMS ALSO AVAILABLE @ HANA PA‘A HAWAII + MAUI SPORTING GOODS

RECORDS

PRONGONLY

3 PRONG RECORDS LBS. DIVER DATE LOCATION 3 PRONG FROM

Aweoweo (Hawaiian Bigeye) 2.22 Chad Quedding 06.25.06 Ulupalakua, Maui Home-made 3 prong ShoreFlounder 3.59 Vernon Takata (E) 02.11.08 Sand Island, Oahu Yokooji Hybrid 3 prong ShoreLizard Fish 1.04 Ron Cayaban 09.12.07 Koloa Landing, Kauai 3 Prong ShoreManini 1.0 Ben Forsyth 10.25.07 Ewa Beach, Oahu 3-prong ShoreMenpachi 1.37 Nathan Ramos 10.05.06 Sand Island, Oahu 3 Prong ShoreNohu (Scorpionfish) 6.75 Kawainui Lagunte 09.16.07 Hilo, Hawaii 3 Prong ShoreParrotfish, Spectacled (Fantail Uhu) 11.71 Andy Mau 07.24.06 Kaneohe, Oahu 3 Prong BoatOpelu Kala 6.13 Andrea Kawabata 08.17.07 Honomalino, Hawaii 8’ Kawabanga 3 prong ShoreTako (Octopus) 7.1 Andrea Kawabata 01.22.06 Waimanalo, Oahu 8’ Kawabanga 3 prong Shore Ulua, Bluefin Trevally (Omilu) 16.81 Kimi Werner (G) 11.21.07 Ewa, Oahu 3 prong Boat

A B C

D E F G

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All photos become the property of HSD and will not be returned.

Email JPG photos to show@hawaiiskindiver.comInclude all info please.

Email digital photos as JPG files. Please take pics at your cameras highest setting.

Snail Mail prints to: HSD 1733 Dillingham Blvd. Honolulu, HI 96819

Please send quality photos. Photos not used may appear on the HSD web site.

GLOSSY FINISH SEND YOUR DOUBLES  SEND AS HI-RESOLUTION JPG

SHOW+TAIL+ Tentacles

Eric Hauge16 lb Awa > Secret spot_HI

Robbie Lewis45 lb Cobia_Bunker Group_AUS

Able + Ariel14 lb Mutton Snapper + Bugs_Puerto Rico

Todd Anderson55 lb Ono > La Paz_MEX

Reyton Siliado + Keith CamardoGroupers > Okinawa_JPN

Dave Edlund12 lb Lobster > Channel Islands_CA

Heather Medina8 lb Awa‘awa + 4 lb O‘io > Kauai_HI

Jon20 + 25 lb Spanish Mackerels > Bali

Quinton Steimle + Tony60 + 145 lb Groupers > MEX

Brandon Chin + Brandon Wahlers +Roy McDennonMahis + Yellowtails

Tim Hatler277 lb Black Marlin_Palapas Ventana

1 2 3

1 >

2 >

3 >

67Manufacturers of

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for years.Pole Spears

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Available at quality Specialty and Department Stores throughout Hawaii and the Pacific Rim

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Nico brings fine food to the plate lunch counter. A “Frenchman—turned-local boy”, Nico is an avid free diver who escapes to the ocean whenever he’s not creating another culinary delight at his restaurant.

Nico’s at Pier 38 Located at 1133 N. Nimitz Hwy, across from the Nimitz Business Center on the Pier 38 waterfront. Open Mon to Sat.Tel: (808) 540-1377 www.nicospier38.com

Pacific Style Beer Battered Swordfish “Fish + Chips”

BEER BATTER1 cup beer2 eggs1-1/2 cup flour mixed with cajun spices, salt and pepper1 tbsp oil

DIRECTIONSCut 6-7 oz. swordfish steak and coat with flour. Dip into batter mix and then deep fry in oil until golden brown. Don’t forget the tartar sauce and malt vinegar.

Swordfish, or “Shutome”, is a high-profile fish on the Honolulu Fish Auction Block. Swordfish are migratory and most common from April through July. It has a mild yet rich taste, and the firm and fatty flesh takes well to grilling and broiling. I also found out it works really well deep fried.

6868

6969ou ready to head in? More than an hour of swimming had brought us no reward. It was only my desperation that caused me to say; “I’m okay,” leaving the decision up to him.

“Let’s swim out this way for a while,” he said as he pointed out in front of us.

Below us was another world. It was as if the glassy water were a portal from Earth to a distant place. Looking up was like seeing a rippling blur of our faraway home. For the few sacred hours that we ventured in this vast expanse, it was as if nothing else existed – nothing else mattered. All the worries of life were no longer a concern. All that remained was God, my dad, and I. Peace reigned.

I scanned the rough bottom of coral, rock and sand. Small fish scoured the bottom for food and shelter. Occasionally, a fish, slightly larger than the rest, would swim by along the bottom, but we would take little notice. To us, these waters were filled only with an unquench-able thirst for greater life, something larger than the common 10-inch fish that no longer satisfied us. I focused my eyes on the bottom, about fifty feet below us. I could just barely make out the white dots of a spotted eagle ray.

“There’s an eagle ray down there,” I said.My dad thought little of it and continued

on. I decided to dive down and take a look. I had barely submerged when I noticed something.

This ray seemed to have two tails. I turned mid-dive, surface and shouted, “Dad! There’s an Ulua under that Eagle Ray!”

After three quick breaths, my dad dove. He dropped like a missile and with a few kicks was already near the bottom. I watched as he straightened out his body and began to glide.

Everything was in slow motion. My father drifted down, down, down. His gun was stretched out in front of him, ready to fire. His fins controlled the angle of his descent as he began to accelerate. Click! Whzzzzzzzz!

The Ulua bolted with the 65inch spear newly wedged into its body. It was a good shot, and the spear held fast as the fish rapidly took line from my dad’s reel. The reel’s drag set in, and the fish began to pull my dad down. He was forced to pull line out of the reel himself in order to get to the surface. The fish still fought hard, trying to escape. Adrenaline pumped through me and I foolishly attempted to swim down and help pull on the line. I was immediately signaled to stop. This was not my battle. The fight went on. My heart was pounding even faster and harder than before, and I was sure that my dad’s was too.

Then came the shark. Its light gray body slid in from the distance and began circling around our trophy. The blood was fresh, the vibrations very apparent. It intended to steal our prize. The shark’s presence ignited the fight once again. The fish pulled toward the bottom

YBlessed

WORDS CARTER DAUBENSPECK

with new, uncontainable energy, taking my dad along with it. My dad shouted for me, “Come and grab my weight belt, quick!”

I swam over and grabbed it from him. His weight belt, combined with the weight of mine, was pulling me down. I was expending a lot of energy, so I swam to the buoy we were dragging around. I looked down and noticed that I had also floated into deeper water. Fear was start-ing to run through me. Once again I began to pray. Just as I managed to get the weight belt onto the buoy, I heard, “Just drop it and let’s get out of here!”

“I got it,” I replied and began to make my way back towards him. Once I got to him, he had the fish up and had wedged his hands in its gills, to try and stabilize it. He told me to grab all of the gear, and we began our long, 45 min-ute, trek back to land. The current was against us. I constantly looked at the fish that my dad was carrying. We both wore smiles. I constantly gave him the thumbs up, showing my joy in this catch. As we approached the beach, we happened to end up right in front of a crowd having a Labor Day party. A noise came from the crowd as we came out of the water. Then, as my dad thrust the fish around to display it broad-side to them, an even louder cheer erupted. Amazement sounded as we dragged the fish through the water, its weight too great to carry on land. We had been blessed. PAU

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DOGS OF INDO FROM P.44

are best hunted like white seabass I sank motionless and did not look at them. The large school was continuing towards me, but I knew that the bigger ones would be below them, so I waited and sure enough the school split and out came the Big Daddy with a length of almost 5 feet. I kicked 4 more times to close the gap and by this time I could probably reach out and touch the 50 pounders around me. I took the shot as the big fish was swimming away (17 foot shot). The shaft went in from above the spine just behind the halfway mark and came out on the other side near the belly. The fish paused, and then went into a ballistic race. I could see the shaft bending as it hit every boulder 90 feet away from the surface. I pulled hard on the float line with no success of lifting him off the bottom, so I turned towards the surface only to see a 40-liter solid foam buoy passing me at 40 feet. WOW, it was being followed by bungee and another float. Upon hitting the surface I realized that my dream of 4 years was about to come true. 30 seconds later my second buoy surfaced and I was taken for a FAST ride with the current raging its 3 foot standing waves at my back. After pulling and giving line for 5 minutes my primary buoy surfaced and now I knew the fish was only 150 feet away. 20 minutes and 1/2 a mile down current my friend was waiting with a second gun.

He was a smart man and even had his camera on his wrist. As I came up with this large fish with 2 shafts in it, he was taking pictures of the fish as the blood was pouring out of this magnificent tuna. After landing the fish I was flooded with emotions of accomplishment. I quickly prepared my gear and over the next 4 drifts, I shot 4 more tuna in the presence of many 14-foot great hammerhead sharks. That was an experience I will save for later, but I managed to land 3 smaller tunas. This fish has my respect after having seen 3 floats sink in the whirlpool down-currents and their ruthless power pull me and my large floats everywhere. PAU

As a child, I was raised by a man of the sea who taught me the amazing treasures that can be found below its surface. My father was born on the islands of the Azores. He taught me about the sea and primed me for adventures only few would ever dream of having. At the ripe young age of seven many people claimed I was starting to grow scales under my chin. He explained the dangers of the ocean and I would soon come to respect it. The ocean is a force that is to be respected by those who seek pleasure in it.

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On October 10th 2004 our first baby was born, Kaelyn Taylor Laribee. As you could imagine my diving was put off for a bit. Motherhood is incredible and I love every minute of it.

In April I decided to get back in the water and took a trip to Gonzaga Bay with friends where I shot some nice grouper. I was feeling good and getting back in full diving mode. At this time I was ready to book a spot with the Performance Freediving Clinic in Malibu. It was in June of 2005 when both Will and I took this amazing clinic.

In July we put a trip together with Cameron Kirkconnell and some of his buddies to La Paz Mexico (HSD27). It was Cam’s first trip to Mexico and I knew the local hook up’s down there so we made a full family trip, including Kaelyn.

I think everybody landed some personal records on this trip. I was proud to land myself a woman’s world record 67 lb. Amber Jack. It was a great catch and a lot of fun having good people there to share the joy. It was really cool having Kaelyn on the beach taking in all the excitement as I did as a child.

While on a spearfishing trip in Hawai‘i little did I know I was one month pregnant with my second daughter. Now I know why I was feeling crummy that week. All I kept thinking was, here we go again, being sick and the diving is now fading. I love being a mom, but it tends to put a dent in my diving career.

Our second baby girl, Sierra Ann Laribee was born right on time and a beautiful addition to the family.

All this time has passed and I have been a busy mother of two and a fish out of water. I’ve been putting all my time into our girls and feel like it’s time to start training again. Spearfishing is my life.

In October 2007 I was talking with Kirk and Mandy from the Performance Freediving Clinic and we discussed that I should take the All Woman’s course in Kona and that’s exactly what I did. Six days later I was on a plane to the beautiful island of Kona, Hawai‘i. This clinic was exactly what I needed. I accomplished a 5-minute breath hold and 111 ft. freedive after being absent from diving for two years.

Needless to say, I’m hooked. My sister Jill and I are taking the clinic this April in the Cayman Islands. This will be my third time with Kirk and Mandy as an Intermediate diver.

Don’t get your hopes up on Jill shooting anything soon. This is the first step. I’m looking forward to a great trip and spending time with my sister in the water. Dive safe my friends! PAU

JULIE RIFFE FROM P.21

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How do you prepare for a dive competition? I don’t…I don’t really care for competitions unless it’s to help raise conservation awareness for our ocean resources.” Uncle Sonny Tanabe and Donna Kahakui (Kai Makana) are some of my role models in this area.

Is there any hardship you deal with being a wahine diver? Not anymore. When I first started out, it was hard to get people to want to take me out. I think it is a natural instinct that women have to nourish and feed so I’m just following my God given instincts.

What would it take to keep you out of the water? DEATH…ha-ha, but even then you better throw my ashes in the water! So I guess really that will never happen. You know me, I go crazy when I can’t be in the ocean, I gotta either jump in the bathtub or the fish box.

Do you have a favorite fish? To eat or to look at? Both. My most favorite fish to look at is the Omilu, because of their translucent blues and greens, also the Ulua!!! My most favorite fish to eat is to deep fried Aweoweo with chili pepper water, Hawaiian salt and Limukohu on the side.

Where was the greatest spot you’ve ever dived? I love em ALL! Through out all the places in the South Pacific I have dived my most favorite place is the east side of the Big Island. There is no place like home.

Do you look up to anybody in the diving family? I look up to Kyle Nakamoto, producer of the Hawaii Skin Diver TV Show. Every time I go on a trip with Kyle he amazes me. He is quieter than any man I know, he can hold his breath longer than any diver I know. He’ll say, “Look over there, or point and it’ll take me at least 30 seconds before I can focus on what he’s looking at. And I have good eye sight under water. He’s just phenomenal and he has probably gotten closest to the biggest fish known to man. But above all he loves the Lord and dedicates his diving show to the apostle Paul; the walk that Paul made when he was here on earth, by naming their (wife Kathy included) company Red Sea Ocean Adventures.

Is there anything you want to add Mom? Just that I look forward to you and your brother catching me some Kole, and don’t forget to pick me some Limukohu as well. Always ask permission before entering the water. If you’re diving to sell your fish be aware that the fish you sell today is one less fish for tomorrows future. And just to remind all the young people that might think I’m some-thing special. Please don’t say to me, “aunty Jenn you da bomb!” It is not about me! I am just living proof that my lord and savior Jesus Christ exists. Through his good works in me I have been able to not live in fear, to go out diving by myself. This is so freeing and a pure blessing! God came to me and said let’s go. So I went! I just got in the water, closed my eyes and opened my arms and surrendered all reverence on to the Lord. This is purely God’s doing. I am fortunate to pull His stringer for Him. We do not own anything we are asked to be thoughtful caretakers of these gifts that God has given us. Thank you my beautiful daughter for taking the time to do this interview. And thank you to all the young people who sent us your great pictures, you are all my inspiration. PAU

JENNIFER KALAULI FROM P.33

It’s all about ohana for aunty Jenn.

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In order to compete, Tanya had to make the transition from three prong to speargun. “Three prong – unless you’re lucky and catch some-thing big in a hole – most of the fish that you can acquire with a three prong are small game.”

When it comes to female speardivers in Hawai‘i, Beirne puts the number at 1 to 10 – (1 woman for every 10 male divers.) “There’s not very many,” admit-ted Beirne “most of us know each other and there are a few that are off and on. In fact, Tanya is the only female diver from Hawai‘i to compete nationally. Tanya feels that the ocean is an equal opportu-nity for females compared to other sports. “Anybody can win in any tournament.” “I think women have the opportunity to speardive just as well as men,” she observed. “Women are known to have the capability of having larger lungs due to their physical make-up.”

“It is a sport where women can compete with men on a pretty level playing field, because it’s just you and your breath holding.”

“The water medium makes it an easier playing field” she added. The challenges of competitive speardiving that continue to draw Tanya to the sport are the natural conditions – one competes with

the environment too.Kole, Uku and Menpachi are among her favorite fish to spear recre-

ationally. Tanya’s work now has begun to dovetail with her recreational and competitive diving exploits.

The transition from operating a lunch wagon to owning her stores began when she began to feel burned out as a cook and decided to sell her lunch wagon operation. After working a few subsequent jobs and get-ting even more exhausted with working for employers, Tanya decided to go into business for herself. Along with a business partner, she decided to test the waters to see where an effective diving oriented shop could be opened. Tanya actually sold diving gear from the back of her truck on the side of roads in Waimanalo, Kahalu‘u, Waianae and Ewa Beach for about a year.

However, Tanya felt Honolulu was too rife with fisherman and pollu-tion so she moved her operation to the Big Island. A local fisherman told her she should set up shop near Wall Mart and sold spearguns from the back of her truck there and got loads of customers. Tanya also sold spear-guns in Hilo to test out the business climate there. Though business was slower, she eventually decided to open her first store in Hilo and after two years, returned to Kona to open up a store there last November around Thanksgiving. Despite owning two stores, Tanya gets to dive 2 to 3 times a week either in Hilo or Kona depending on conditions.

Divers interested in finding out more about Beirne’s two stores should go to their website at www.bigislandspeargun.com PAU

Tanya recently won the 2008 Inter-Pacific Spearfishing Championship in Kona. Partnering with Kimi Werner (p.24), the pair shot a total of 9 fish.

TANYA BEIRNE FROM P.28

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I know you’ve had great success in competitions – 3 time National Champion in team spearfishing – what are your favorite competition memories? My favorite overall competition experience has to be diving in Chile in 2004 representing the United States in the first ever Women’s International Competition (top left). To quote my friend and Women’s Team USA 2004 team member Bonnie Row, “it was over the top!” Diving in dif-ferent waters for different fish than what I dive for along the North Coast is always a unique experience when participating in competitions in other regions, nationally and internationally, but when it comes down to it, it is the people in the sport who make the memories special. The bond of kindred spirits and camaraderie supersedes all else.

Where do you see spearfishing, especially women’s competitions, heading in the future? I feel there will always be spearfishing by both men and, hopefully, more women. The challenges that lie ahead of us are in the changes to our access to the resources by natural means as well as political.

Give us the good stuff – what are some of your greatest spearing accomplishments? I would say my top four fish speared in both the adventure of the catch as well as the catch are: 10.4 # Pacific Bonito, cur-rent Women’s IUSA World record (bottom right) Catalina Island, CA; 19# Lingcod Northern CA; 48# Ono/Wahoo - Oahu, HI (botttom left); 50.6# White Sea Bass - San Benitos Island, MEX (top right)

What is your ideal dive? Any dive where I can get out of the water and talk about it is an ideal dive. PAU

BRANDI EASTER FROM P.23

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Do you have a memorable dive? No not really. I just love diving all the time no matter where I am.

What about the Worlds? Yeah, that was memorable. The people were great. They had a huge parade to honor and represent all of the countries involved. What was so special to me was the camaraderie and team-work that the US team had demonstrated. We worked like a well-oiled machine. There was no bickering, yelling or arguing. Everyone knew they had a job and everyone just did it without saying a word. Everyone had

a real connection without any stress. That feeling is difficult to describe but it was very special. I knew that my back was covered. Everyone else did too.

What will be your next Comp? I will help with the Junior Meet in June and then Dennis Haussler’s Blue Water Cup in La Paz.

Any pre-dive rituals? Never bring bananas on the boat. Always eat breakfast (usually oatmeal) and stay hydrated with water.

Do you have any special training? I do some cross training to stay in shape and practice judo in the off sea-son. In the summer, I just dive.

How did the North Atlantic Junior Championships come about? Phil first saw freedivers bring in codfish on Horseneck Beach when he was 9, in 1957. He thought that was the coolest thing ever. After reading about the Father/Son Meet in HSD, Phil thought that a meet like this in the Northeast would be a good idea to promote the sport to kids. So he started it. Each June, any male or female under the age of 18 can enter. They must be accompanied by a freediving adult. We provide diving guardians if needed. It is three hours of diving followed by a weigh-in, barbecue and awards ceremony. It has been great. Over the past 10 years we have put through a lot of kids and some like Justin Allen and Amanda Ernst have gone on to become very good national competitors. Sponsors and volunteers really make this a special event. I’m committed to seeing this event continue

For new people do you have any advice or suggestions? You must respect the time and effort it takes to become comfortable in the water. You should be a competent swimmer before you try freediving and hunt-ing. I would also like to add that Amanda Ernst is the coolest thing in div-ing right now. Just keep diving and having fun. You go girl! PAU

Last year Anne lost her favorite dive buddy. Phil Stevens passed away last summer while diving off Newport. Phil introduced Anne and many others to fishing and freediving. Together they tirelessly promoted the sport they loved. They were responsible for resurrecting the Massachusetts Freediving Club, founded the Junior North Atlantic Freediving Championships and were the driving force behind the Mass Club hosting this year’s US National Championships in Newport, Rhode Island on August 7th. Our thoughts and wishes are with you Anne.

ANNE DOHERTY FROM P.15

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IUSA RECORD YELLOWFIN TUNA FROM P.57

this for me before the trip and it was worth its weight in gold. Another fifty yards or so and the float came to the surface where I could catch it. Somehow the boat was next to me and I could hear the guys yelling encouragement and celebrating. Everyone senses that this is a special fish. All the cheering and celebrating just made me more nervous that I’d lose this prize. The shot was long, the shaft was a light 5/16th and I had no idea if it would hold or not. Because of this, I threw my gun to one of the guys so I could free swim along side of the float – thus avoiding unnecessary drag on the shaft.

The next hour was the longest hour of my life. The fish would make incredible runs with some lasting nearly ten minutes. The fish would come to a rest and just when it seemed the battle was over off it would go as strong as ever. Several times I had to let the float go for fear of pulling the spear from it and sprint after the trailing flag. My arms and legs were like wood. Finally the great fish came to a standstill. Pulling and clipping, I eventually had all but about 3 feet of Bungee clipped off. Ray handed me

an unloaded five-band tuna gun and after loading it I dove and cautiously approached the fish. My heart was beating so fast I could barely make the dive and when I checked the shot I could see the outline of the sliptip just under the skin. Somewhere between suffocation and panic I made a hurried shot and actually missed the monster from point blank range. As I struggled to breathe and reload, Eduardo jumped in with his camera and began taking photos. Again, trying to hold my breath, I dove and my head shot turned out to be a body shot but the fish was secure at last!

Having seen the size of the fish and thinking that it could very well be a World Record, I didn’t want to do anything wrong and while I had studied the IUSA rules before the trip I thought it was necessary to kill the fish before dragging it aboard. Laying in the water for some time my respiration returned to normal and I dove and hammered a knife into the tuna’s brain with my fist. A trail of blood spilled from the gills and mouth and the fish was still.

Pulling the fish the rest of the way to the surface, I swam it to the boat. We put a rope through its gills and mouth and pulled and bounced it into the panga. Lying in the bottom of the boat, exhausted, someone handed me a bottle of Gatorade which never tasted so good. While the day was young my buddies gave up their day to get the fish back to shore for weighing. Its been said a tuna like that could lose up to ten percent of its bodyweight drying in the sun and losing body fluids. That of course meant a World Record could easily be lost. At the dock it took five strong men to get the fish out of the boat and another hundred yards up the beach to the scale. With Peechas certified scale the tuna weighed out at 353 pounds – or about 36 pounds more than the previous IUSA World Record!

The taking of this fish, the weighing and the sacrifice of my mates giving up a prime dive day will never be forgotten. Thanks to Ray, Eduardo, Peecha and Ben for fulfilling my lifelong dream. With mates like this it’s difficult to fail! PAU

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A pictorial history of diving off of Hawai‘i Island, beginning with the ancient Hawaiians and continuing on through today with spearfishermen who free dive 80-100’ and search for apex predators such as ono, mahimahi, ahi, billfish and ulua. A great book by a legendary diver.

$19.00

JAYME-LEE NEILSEN FROM P.31

I knew I was addicted to spearfishing when I shot my first fish big enough to take off and make me let go of the gun.

On the second day of the trip, I was in a really fishy area and I saw a small school of GTs swim through a gutter so I shot one weighing 1kg just shy of the Queensland Junior Record. The 10kg GT put up such a fight it was incredible. I was addicted for life. Missing out on the record by 1kg made me more determined than ever to break it, which is exactly what I did the following day when I nailed one weighing 18kg, almost breaking the Queensland Women’s Record as well as the Junior one. In addition my GT was awarded Queensland’s most meritorious fish for 2007 in the Junior category.

Six months have passed since that trip and I’m currently sitting on five Queensland Records – a combination of both Junior and Women’s. I can also dive 21m with a bottom time long enough to shoot a fish while I’m down there. A month ago I was using a 1m Rabitech hunter and now I’m using a 1.4m carbon stealth.

Over the past year that I’ve been spearing, I’ve learned the best way to fast track my skills is to dive with as many good spearos as possible. Hopefully, I can learn a thing or two from each person as I go along. I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to dive with a number of top spearos such as Cameron Kirkconnell, Ray Powell and Tim Macdonald.

I intend on competing in the Australian Titles in early 2009, which will be held in Western Australia. I hope this leads to the opportunity to spear in many more competitions over the next few years.

The water is clear and the morning light illuminates a school of Rainbow Runner swimming right below me. I load my gun, dive on them, line up and shoot. I hit one! I pull it up, dispatch it and swim back for more. At the end of the day, as we head home with a boat full of fish, I can’t help but feel proud to be a spearo. PAU

C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T H E R E C U T D A N E L L E C U T T A Y L O R C U T I R I E C U T M I C H E L L E C U T D A V I D C U T B A D T Z C U T G H A N D I C U T K E L S I E C U T T A B B I C U T G A B B I C U T J E S S I C A C U T D Y L A N C U T J A Z L Y N C U T D E R E K C U T M I C H A E L C U T C O U R T N E Y C U T C A R T E R C U T K E L S E A C U T T A S H A C U T P A I G E C U T E L I S E C U T S T A C E Y C U T R A C H E L C U T R A I N A C U T R Y A N C U T H E R E

Kimi + Back Pack

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HSD PowerBlades > Constructed from an advanced Composite Fiber compound HSD PowerBlades provide the freediver with unmatched performance, durability, and power. Composite Fiber materials are revolutionizing fin technology. This mod-ern material is impact resistant, has a high modulus of elasticity, excellent resistance to scratching, superb energy transfer, and unmatched durability.

Blades Only: $ 170.00 > Complete Fins: $260.00

HSD LeaderFins_Camo > Angled Spearfishing blades with a camouflage pattern. The angle in front of the blade allows you to keep your knees more straight, thus saving your energy. The blades measurements are a slightly shorter 22cm x 70 cm. The blade also has full-length rubber rails for protection, hydrodynamic stability and for silent swimming.

Blades Only: $225.00 > Complete Fins: $330.00

HSD LeaderFins > Spearfishing fiberglass fins without angle, prevents noisy splashing while swimming on the surface. High quality fiberglass blades are lightweight, very elastic and effective. The blade construction consists of 18-21 layers of fiberglass, which provide extreme resiliency and reactivity. The stiffness and flexibility are achieved by cutting layers away by hand. The blade also has full-length rubber rails for protection, hydrodynamic stability and for silent swimming.

Blades Only: $125.00 > Complete Fins: $230.00

HSD 3-Prong Pole Spears1 or 2 pc. available. “As seen on HSD TV” used by Vernon Takata and Shawn Fujimoto. Every pole spear is individu-ally hand-made by Lance Ohara. 60% Aluminum/40% graphite. Rubber grip is pre-installed on the balance point. Slings are plugged to prevent water pen-etration. Every joint is epoxied, drilled and pinned. All threaded fittings are stainless steel. 11" carbon steel, angle-cut prongs. Also available with threaded fitting and screw-on head.

The HSD LeaderFin Camo is the best short blade freedive fin I have ever used. It’s light-weight and shortened blade makes these fins very responsive and easy to maneuver. As a shore dive fin, it can’t be beat. Surface swimming becomes effortless and with it’s wide blade design it produces enough thrust that I did not notice a loss of power even at depths of up to 60 feet. This fin is a great multi-purpose all around fin and definitely worth checking out.

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HSD36 > The Old School Issue 3 prong testing Pioneers_ Sonny Tanabe Jay riffe + more

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