Tragedy at the U.S. Nationals Spearfishing Tourney

[uluapoundr]

Gene's dealth is still ringing around the state. Even those who know totally nothing about spearfishing are asking about the sport and SWB. My diving buddies, who always seem to dissapear when we enter the water, are a lot more conscious about staying within sight. Many spearfishermen realize that if Gene was vulnerable, so are we. If anything good can come from this, it would be to educate spearfishermen and hopefully, save some lives. One more life lost, is one too many.

Gene unselfishly gave his time to help others like myself in the dive community. Whether it be tips on adding an open muzzle to choosing speargun rubber lengths, Gene was always willing to give helpful advice.

On a more positive note. It was nice to have the Nationals held in Hawaii. It would be nice if we could have more events, even if it isn't the Nationals. The Expo was cool too. Mark was a hit with Omer's mimetic line of gear. My partner went to Hanapaa today to buy a 110 T20 Mimetic and reel after selling two of his guns. What a sweet setup. Fuzz, nice to see you too. Hope you enjoyed your short trip back home.

[fuzz]

Originally posted by uluapoundr
Mark was a hit with Omer's mimetic line of gear. My partner went to Hanapaa today to buy a 110 T20 Mimetic and reel after selling two of his guns. What a sweet setup. Fuzz, nice to see you too. Hope you enjoyed your short trip back home.

Too short... not enough time spent with family & friends. Is this the infamous "chinaman" that you're a gun broker for? Let me know how it shoots

On a sad note, I do wish that I was still in Hawaii to attend the memorial service. As you mentioned, Gene's death has a very profound effect on a lot of people that many do not realize the depth of.

[mjacobs]

Let's not let the "safety freediver" idea go. I think being a "safety diver" would be a great way for newbies to learn about spearfishing and also an incentive for accomplished spearos to provide sound safety instruction for their spotters. Everybody wins. I'm under the impression that the Cuban spearfishing culture emphasizes safety more than some others and the up-and-down-a-line guys certainly do. Maybe we can learn something here. How many guys on this list use a safety diver for spearfishing? I have not usually done so, but am willing to encourage by example. Maybe the safety could even run a camera tethered to a float so it could be dropped at will.
Mark

[fuzz]

Originally posted by mjacobs
Let's not let the "safety freediver" idea go. I think being a "safety diver" would be a great way for newbies to learn about spearfishing and also an incentive for accomplished spearos to provide sound safety instruction for their spotters.

I understand the point of your post, but your quote immediately throws up some red flags - if something goes wrong on the bottom, a lot of newbie divers would have difficulty reaching the depths of more experienced divers & additional difficulties trying to provide aid at those depths. As Paul V(great guy & excellent diver) mentioned, the helpfulness of this system also decreases substantially in the NE or NW where visibility can be abysmal.

Not intending to be a downer, just providing any insight I can

[mjacobs]

I agree that the safety should be fully competent, Fuzz. That point is key. What I meant to say is that a lot could be learned by acting as a safety to a better spearfisherman. The basic freedive and rescue skills should be prerequisite. The right to act as safety to a top level spearfisherman should be earned and deserved, sort of like scuba angels at a freedive competion.

I also agree with Paul's observation about bad viz. I spearfish in 3' or less viz in Maryland and Delaware and know exactly what he's talking about. Most of our diving is relatively shallow and very dark. A spearo would have to stick close by a spearo's float and that spearo would have to use a floatline to his gun or his person if the safety were to have any chance of being effective at all. In shallow water the safety would be in the way much of the time. I just dive alone and don't push it up here. There are local competitions most Sundays during the summer and everyone dives alone, some for over 50 years. I don't think that will change. It seems to me that a designated safety would work in clear water, though.

Thanks for helping to clarify this thought.

Any insights on bad viz safety? My kids dive with me and I spend some effort keeping track of their floats. I just trust them not to push it for the most part. That has carried over to clear water diving and I want to develop a better system. I like the team concept a lot.

Mark

Originally posted by fuzz
I understand the point of your post, but your quote immediately throws up some red flags - if something goes wrong on the bottom, a lot of newbie divers would have difficulty reaching the depths of more experienced divers & additional difficulties trying to provide aid at those depths. As Paul V(great guy & excellent diver) mentioned, the helpfulness of this system also decreases substantially in the NE or NW where visibility can be abysmal.

Not intending to be a downer, just providing any insight I can

[Oldsarge]

The big game hunting community also lost a brother two weeks ago when a Canadian guide, hunting in Africa, was ambushed by a buffalo while stalking kudu. From the accounts, there was nothing anyone else could have done and he had an armed Professional Hunter with him. But at least he wasn't alone! I've hunted with the same guy for more than 25 years. We work the same way whether on dangerous game or cottontail. One shoots, the other backs. Of course things can always go wrong. Sh*t happens and Murphy rules but perhaps if we started thinking like the other social hunters of the world, like wolves, lions . . . or orca . . . instead of sharks we'd be safer and who knows, maybe even more effective. I'm off for Africa again, see you in 3 weeks . . .

very sobered and grieving,

[icarus pacific]

I count myself as being ridiculously fortunate to have had the opportunity to know and dive with Gene, and the phrase, "Gene's da man" is appropos now as it was then. The Sea is richer for having him as are those whose life and diving he touched.

Gene demonstrated his diving excellence over here in the cold, green that is NoCal, and though I never had the chance to see him in his native waters, I can be very fine in seeing his mastery here.

The children of divers, nay, true watermen are blessed and I believe know innately that the sea is in them as they are in it. Though dying doing what you love is cliche' and innappropriate in the moments after a loss, it seems comforting that Gene is truly now "in the Sea."

[fuzz]

Next Thursday, Gene's ashes will be spread out to sea & divers in Hawaii are welcome to swim/paddle out with their floats/kayaks.

9:00 in the morning at Waialee

[fuzz]

In a very odd way, this thread gave me some little measure of solace.


http://www.spearboard.com/forum/show...threadid=10786

[w3ac]

"In a very odd way, this thread gave me some little measure of solace."

Yeah man.

Brad

[donmoore]

if something goes wrong on the bottom, a lot of newbie divers would have difficulty reaching the depths of more experienced divers & additional difficulties trying to provide aid at those depths

There were some great ideas and powerful memories in this the thread, but I had to comment on this quote. All though I know fuzz and agree with 99% of things he says, I just feel I need to voice a different opinion here, because of the importance.

The idea of the buddy’s depth ability has been popularized before, but I believe this reasoning is in error. The chances of a diver not making it up a substantial way is very slim compared to the chance a diver blacks out at or in the last 25 feet from the surface. Having a buddy who is only capable of diving 40 feet, is about a 100 times safer than no buddy at all!

Anything that promotes buddy diving in both tournaments and recreational diving is good. There are still plenty of opportunities to find solitude in freediving even with a buddy watching. In fact the knowledge that somebody is watching makes it easier for me to find that solitude.
don

[efattah]

Even a buddy who can't dive at all is helpful, because most of the time you reach positive buoyancy before you black out, so you'll make it to the surface conscious or not. Now, it is true that many spearos dive excessively heavy, this is unfortunate, perhaps the organizers could try to enforce a 'neutral at 10m' rule?


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

[sturgeon]

I have to agree with Don and Eric F. on this one. Of the 6 blackouts I've seen (including my own), everyone of the divers broke the surface before sinking back under (hence Eric F.'s comment about spearos usually being too heavy). Luckily for me I blacked out after taking the PFD clinic and so was diving much lighter than usual. It's the only thing that saved my life because I blacked out in a depth that me and my friends consider shallow (60 ft) and therefore had nobody watching me. It was a big fish and a malfunctioning reel gun (this is one of several reasons why floatlines are much safer) that almost got me. I was fortunate enough to have gotten half a breath in me before the fish yanked me back under, causing me to lose consciousness. When I woke back up a couple seconds later I was floating face up on the surface minus my buddy’s $350 gun. That crap about dropping your weight belt is a fallacy. You may do it all the time when you feel close but I can pretty much guarantee that when you really do blackout, you won't know it’s coming and you won't think to drop your belt. That's why it's so important to dive light. I use 5-6 lbs with a full 2-piece, hooded 3 mm wetsuit on.

I like the idea of a safety as long as there's someway to make sure the diver's the only one diving and shooting fish.

Scott

[mjacobs]

Originally posted by sturgeon
I like the idea of a safety as long as there's someway to make sure the diver's the only one diving and shooting fish.

Scott

The safety guy could shoot video with the camera tethered short to a float so it could be dropped without fear of loss. I'd keep the tether to 10m or less to preclude deep video temptation by a safety diver. Any thoughts on that? I would also encourage every diver to take a class like Kirk's. I plan to do it again, hopefully with my kids.
Mark

[sturgeon]

There's a couple problems with the camera thing: 1) this year you would've had to have 93 of them (plus housings) and 2) whose going to review 93 cameras with 7 hours each of diving video on them (that's 651 hours of video to watch and have it done by the awards ceremony for the next night or worse yet by the half hour after weigh-in deadline when formal protests must be filed by). Another problem with the safety thing is just the sheer numbers of divers it would generate. Like I said, this year there were 93 divers which equals 93 kayaks. Now double that (186). Where are they all going to come from (most must be rented for out-of-towners) and where are they all going to fit both on the beach at the launch and in the small tournament zone itself. It's crowded enough as it is.

Scott