NE Florida, First Coast Freedivers

[Dignan]

I went to south florida this last weekend to compete in a spearfishing tourney hosted by the Longfins Club out of Ft. Lauderdale. I got to thinking that jax doesn't have anything similar, so why not start one? The initial idea was based on this years 2006 spearfishing Nationals (Ft. lauderdale has been selected as the location) and wanting to field a team to compete and respresent NE florida. First Coast Freedivers kinda has a nice ring...

I know offshore jax is not the most inviting place for freedive spearfishing (with the lack of shallow diving and the typically moderate - crappy visibility), but i thought it could be one more reason to get together once a month and drink beer (Fly's Tie is proposed to be the meeting hall). Plus if you can proficiently hunt jax, you can pretty much hunt anywhere.

Also, competing in nationals would be really cool. team would be selected by some tournament beforehand, it's in the very infant stage at this point, very open to suggestion.

Wanted to put the feelers out and see if there was any interest??????? Post or send me and email at: ryan@affiliatedmedia.com

or give me a call at 904 537-3406.

[MKDVR]

I don't have any current interest in the hunting aspects. Maybe later on. I am however frequently armed with a camera. I'm still just a newbie but am willing to help out. There are at least a couple of other locals here but as yet haven't socialized with anyone. I plan to change that.

I was in Ft. Laud. this past weekend. Can you put up a link to the Longfins Club or is it self explanatory?

[Dignan]

MKDVR,
Glad to hear from another local! Even if spearfishing is not your focus, i don't think that should really matter. I know how tough it is to find some one to train with, especially in jax. Me and a couple buddies do pool workouts twice a week, so maybe we organize some kind of training, etc. Like i said, this idea is in the very infant stages. If nothing else we could get breaks on hotel rooms by going to south florida together? ANyhow, here is the link to the longfins:

http://www.longfins.org

any thoughts???

[StretchArmStron]

waiting for AJwaverider to chime in on this as he's in Jax.
I agree w/ the viz thing...AJ came and hunted w/ me (our viz is VERY similar) w/ no problems.

Hell I'll come down and shoot w/ ya'll if you all put somthing together.

[Dignan]

Originally Posted by StretchArmStron

Hell I'll come down and shoot w/ ya'll if you all put somthing together.

That would be great! The plan is to put together some kind of small tourney to select a three man team for nationals, assuming we can get an invite. I've been in touch with Bill Ernst from the USofA, he doesn't seem to think it should be a problem. I just have to apply before a board and meet their requirments for membership. Looks good at this point.

Even with most of the bottom being in 60+ feet of water, there are lots of dives where the structure rises well above that, and you often have fish rising off the structure up into the water column.

I would appreciate some feedback on it...what do you all think about a tourney????:

[MKDVR]

There is "Florida Freedivers" thread. Something like that anyway. I think there were a couple of local guys. Might be worth bumping the thread or giving them a ping.

[Dignan]

Done. Thanks for the heads up!

[BladeRunner]

I live in Georgia but I go down to Mexico Beach florida as much as I can to spear. I would willing to come down and do some shooting with you guys!

[ajwaverider]

I remenber another guy that showed some interest .I don't remember his screen name but his real name is Michael Solis(excuse the spelling).He trains here in Jax and would be interested.Like I said in that pm i'm in.Where do you train and has that anti-breathholding thing caused any problems there?

[MKDVR]

Originally Posted by ajwaverider

I remenber another guy that showed some interest .I don't remember his screen name but his real name is Michael Solis(excuse the spelling).He trains here in Jax and would be interested.Like I said in that pm i'm in.Where do you train and has that anti-breathholding thing caused any problems there?

"Jaxfreediver" is the guy. We were supposed to get together last year but I've been too focused on scuba diving until recently.

[StretchArmStron]

how bout setting up a dive w/ a couple boats for a fun day....we can get to meet each other and then plan on a small tourney if people are interested after that?

[ajwaverider]

Originally Posted by MKDVR

"Jaxfreediver" is the guy. We were supposed to get together last year but I've been too focused on scuba diving until recently.

That's the guy.Have you been to that new Atlantic prodive on beach?It's
a pretty useless shop for freedivers but they have a pool inside the shop for scuba training.

[MKDVR]

Originally Posted by ajwaverider

That's the guy.Have you been to that new Atlantic prodive on beach?It's
a pretty useless shop for freedivers but they have a pool inside the shop for scuba training.

When I first moved here a couple of years ago. Haven't been there recently but when I saw that they were offering trips to Pompano that kind of killed it for me locally. I just moved from there. So I do all my ocean diving in SE Florida and the springs. I also got the feeling that spearfishing was the only game in town here.

[Dignan]

I train at the church of good shepard in Riverside. No one has ever mentioned anything about the breath hold being a problem. We never do statics there, i think that would probably draw alot of negative attention. It's also nearly always empty, so that probably helps.

I think a little meet and greet would be a good idea, I was thinkiing Sunday night? Southside / tinseltown area is pretty centrally located, what do you guys think????

[Dignan]

Also, if everyone interested would post your email address, or send me an email, so i can keep everyone in the loop.

ryan@affiliatedmedia.com