Triton X Tournament: Saturday Sep. 17, 2011

I have no affiliation with the Freedive Shop, but I figured this would be pertinent here for anyone interested.

The Freedive shop will be hosting the Triton X Spearfishing/Ab Tournament this Saturday, September 17, 2011 at Caspar Beach, Mendocino County. It's a species meet and diving may be done anywhere.

There is a raffle at the end, and from what I've heard, I believe all the prizes are raffled off to anyone who has paid entry, and everyone wins something. Prizes include wetsuits, spearguns, fins, and the like.

I'll be there, looking to make some noise.   

More info/registration here:
http://www.freediveshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=101&products_id=782

Good luck Rick!

See ya there.

Se you all there, Rick and james be sure to say hi if you se me.

See everyone there!   

I went the last two years and had a good time. I don't think I am going to be able to make it this year but I hope we have some good NCKA representation. Have fun and be safe.

Looking forward to it!

I went the last two years and had a good time. I don't think I am going to be able to make it this year but I hope we have some good NCKA representation. Have fun and be safe.

What the....???

Where are your priorities.

If you change you mind....I'll see ya in the AM.

Congrats Rick! Looking forward to your report!  And I guess fuzz did OK too...   Nice job guys!

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

Rick's score of 77 was impressive!  The photo below is a 12 point stringer.  Glad Rick upgraded to a 7mm suit.  Conditions were awesome with 20+ vis.  Whole Pig for lunch. 

Freedive Shop is looking for recommendations on a charity to benefit from next years event.  Recommendations?

WTG James!!!!!

Rick!!!!!!  Sounds like you slayed em buddy!!

WTG!!!!!!!!!!

Fuzz, how'd you do???

I want more porn and details!!

Congrats to all who dove and competed!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Quick stats:

135 entrants.  120 showed up to dive on Saturday.


Open
1st - Dan Silveira
2nd - Dave Edlund
3rd - Justin Smith
4th - Harold Gibson
5th - Tino Bernazzani

Womens
1st - Star Ramos

Junior
1st - Rick Duenas

Largest Ab
Justin Smith

Largest Fish
Lou Galliazo

(pics to follow)

It was a great event, and I'm very glad I went. The forecast didn't look too great, and I was starting to believe that I'd have to dive my plan B spot, but in reality conditions were awesome. I think I found 30-35 foot vis in some areas.

Friday afternoon I left school early to get up there to scout my backup spot (Albion). There was a strong outgoing tide, though, so I didn't see a substantial amount of fish life. I found one ling that probably would have made the 30 inch tournament restriction, but I was otherwise discouraged by the sparseness of it. That night I hoped that my original spot would be launch-able and not blown out. Luckily, it wasn't.

Saturday morning I woke up around 5:30 for the event. It was still dark in the campground and very cold. I headed straight to the showers to put my suit on in the warmth at my leisure. Then 6:30 rolled around, I turned in my waiver, and we were headed southbound to the dive spot.

After a quick load and launch I was headed to my fish grounds. The launch was very easy, with no need for precise timing. Paddling out I immediately noticed the awesome vis in the sand.

I had a concise gameplan, and I intended to stick to it until I started to get in a groove. My plan was to work a cove; first at the far end in deep water, then mid-cove, and then finally the shallows for abs, cabs and greenlings. For the most part, I stuck to it and it paid off.

My first stop had some nice structure, but the only fish I found were lings between 24-26, none of which made the size restriction. I also saw a few greenlings, which wouldn't have either. I swam into the shallows hoping to pick up a perch, and I did. The striped perch was just over 14" and made the limit.

I moved about 100 yards away into about 35 feet of water, and was pleased to find a big school of blues. I picked a couple of the biggest ones (including one I shot with a polespear) and made a couple drops to see if a ling was around; I didn't find one.

Here's where I started to get into a zone. After shooting one blue in the shoulder, it wrapped up around a couple kelp stalks. As I was diving down to untangle it, I noticed a brown fish levitated off the bottom below me. My first thought was a ling checking out my blue, but then I noticed that it wasn't moving to stay suspended. That's when I realized that it was a vermilion. I quickly strung the blue up and loaded two bands, and then made a drop down. At first I couldn't see it, but as I looked to my right and downward, the red sat staring at me. Very slowly I brought my gun to bear on the fish. It moved ahead slightly, but then turned to look at me. Not wanting to risk spooking it, I took a solid shot through it's shoulder rather than a head shot. Unfortunately, it tied up in several kelp stalks and it took me a couple dives to cut it out.

With a blue, a red, and a perch, I decided to move towards the center of the cove to look for blacks and lings. Here I noticed a yellow kayak of another diver, so I clipped off and jumped in. The depth was about 35-45. My first drop I spotted another verm and had a shot at him, but as I moved my gun to get a better shooting angle, he jetted off. I wasn't able to find where he holed up. Instead, I was able to pick off a couple of 16-17" blacks at mid depth to raise my specie count to four.

As it turned out, the kayak belonged to Tino Bernazzani, who shot a really nice ling and a big cab shortly after I arrived. We chatted a bit and then I spent 30 more fruitless minutes looking for a big ling (which eluded me).

With four species on my stringer and time beginning to run down, I had to make a decision. I could either stick to the 30 foot range and look for a ling, or head in shallow to look for cabs, greenlings, and abs. Ultimately, I decided to head shallow so I could make a lot of drops in less time.

In the shallows I started gauging abs with my make-shift 9 inch gauge. I wasn't seeing a whole lot though, so I began to look hard for fish. Luckily, I managed to just hit a greenling before it escaped into the haze. I had my five fish!

Next, I paddled to my ab spot, jumped in, and popped a 9.5", all in less than 5 minutes. With time running down, I headed in.

On the drive back to Caspar, I reflected on the Big Ab Big Ling tournament back in June, where I had failed to produce a ling or a cab and was beaten in the Junior Division. I hoped that my array of species and large ab would push me to the top this time.

At weigh-in's, after looking at the other Juniors' stringers, my first thought was that I had had it. Only one other Junior had a 5 fish stringer, but he had a smaller red, black, and greenling. Fortunately, he had no lings either, but he did have a decent cab. This made me nervous.

My red weighed in at 4.95 pounds; not a PB, but a nice fish that I was happy with.

Time passed and I was awed by some of the stringers brought in. Finally, it was time for the scores to be posted, and I had come up on top of the Junior Divison, with a score of 77.94 (if I remember right). From what I was told, it was the highest score by a Junior in the history of the Triton X/Picasso Open. I missed making the Top 5 by less than 4 points, with 5th place being none other than Tino himself. I think I finished 8th overall, but I'm not totally sure.

At the prize table I went straight for the wetsuits. After quickly looking over the Yazbeck and Esclapez that were remaining, I opted for the Esclapez. Unfortunately, it was too big, so I had to give the suit back and exchange it for a smaller size. I'm going to call in later today.

The next day, I took my buddy Nick out to Albion to show him the pretty nice reef I had found while scouting. This time, the tide was right and there were some fish. Here, Nick shot his first "big ling", a 17 pounder! I took a china rockfish and a sea cucumber. I was almost as stoked as Nick was for the ling, which had a big belly.

Driving back Sunday afternoon, I knew it would be a late night of cleaning gear and finishing homework, but ultimately, it was all worth it for a great weekend of diving.

Picture of fuzz and rick!  Damn.. it was awesome..  I must say the vis was so cool, but the wind made me puke.  None the less, I got three videos out of it, so I'm happy.

AWESOME!!!!!

WTG RICK AND FUZZ!!!

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim