The real story...
OK, first off if you weren't there, you missed out big time. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. And those of you that said you were coming and didn't, I extend to you the stubby.
:naughty
Second, this clown Anderson was born under a sign that read,"Deposit your luck here".
Aaron (Octo) and Anderson arrived at my palatial spread late Friday night after the usual flight delays and stopping off in the bushes for breaks and to show eachother their scars. That next morning dawned much calmer than Friday where I had considered calling the whole shindog off due to 30+kt winds and building swells, and so after a little Abalone 101 for Anderson, we descended on a secret spot of mine to lay seige. The runoff from the rains and the wind made the viz a scant 2-3 feet, but when your on and arond the rocks, no biggy, right?
A poignant pause... a red abalone must be a minimum of 7" to be a legal catch. I have a motto of 9" and over, it's in my bag. A 10" ab is the Holy Snail, er, Grail of California divers. Many are those that have had their ashes thrown to the winds, after having lived unfulfilled lives from never prying loose the mighty 10" hubcap.:waterwork Back to our feature...
So we tie our floats out on some handy kelp and I go down and pop an ab off to show Anderson what it was Aaron and I were all excited about, see the guy's never done this or dove in the serene Pacific. I show him where the bottom is, tell him to haul himself down the kelp and sit back for the festivities. Aaron by this time was well into his limit of three. And so Anderson heads down leaving me a minute and a half of Sun, peace and quiet. Up pops his head and there in his rapidly chilling paws is a 9" abalone. Way to start a career!
Well I figure that the guys safe and sound so off I go to see what there is to see and after a couple of trips down into the gloom, I hear a shout. "Hey Sven, I got a 10!!" (Bill and Jay, get this...) And there was Anderson with a grin that not even the magical Farallon snorkel could cover. "Yeah OK, whatever ", I'm thinking as I toodle on over thinking that he'd used the wrong gauge to measure the thing. Nope. There in all it's snail splendor was a 10-1/16" abalone. The guy's first time ab diving and his second dive down, he pulls a 10. :head The gold lining in my Picasso went brown...
Aaron had gone off to investigate a likely looking area before heading in leaving me to work like a dog to find somthing bigger than Anderson, afterall, this was my house, right? :king Nope. After rooting around like a rubber coated pig for another half hour, Anderson reigned supreme by an 1/8". :head Even the comorants and herons were laughing. Spanked in my own house...:blackeye
Well, Aaron I figure that if we can't get over on the guy diving, we'll show him how to swing a golf club at the range. Nope, the guy does that too. :mute But at least Aaron was able to save himself by proving his culinary expertise in my spacious gold-guilt kitchen, whilst I fumed and glowered, cleaning and readying my kit for the next day's battle. Anderson, hell the guy was on cloud 10-1/16. :hmm
Sunday came later, calmer and clearer and at secret spot 36d, we dove deeper and longer for the wily molluscs, and though the 9"s were in the bag, nothing was going to remove the kid from the throne. (flipping the bird smiley-face icon) Plane filghts, other soirees to attend and sheer purple underthings

all called so we left eachother with numbers and promises to do it all again, soon.
I'm a richer guy knowing these two. Well, Aaron anyways...
sven DB's sultan of smooth:king