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Included T-Shirt Raffle Tickets Live Band Libations and Awards Ceremony

Sign Up Here! >>>   Sat. May 19, 2012 Name of Team Captain

Categories:

Mens Professional
Mens Amateur
Mens Senior (Over 60)
Womens
Primitive Gear (slings and pole spears)

Format:

• Check in begins at 7am at Cocoplum yacht basin.
• Shotgun starts at 8 am.
• Coolers must be in quarantine area by 4pm or the fish will not be weighed.
• Teams weigh in as individuals and as team.
• Tournament boundaries are US waters from whistle buoy to Haulover inlet.
• 1 point per pound up to 20 pounds and 1 point per fish.
• Maximum number of points for any single fish is 21 points.
• Maximum number of fish per competitor is 10 fish.
• Each competitors fish must be on a stringer prior to weighing in.
• Minimum lengths for fish according to FWC regulations except for hogfish which have a minimum length of 14″.

Qualifying Fish:

Groupers: black, gag, red, tiger, scamp, yellowfin
Snappers: mangroves, cubera, schoolmaster, dog, mutton, yellowtail
Pelagics: cobia, cero mackerel, spanish mackerel, wahoo, dolphin,
blackfin tuna, yellowfin tuna
Other: Hogfish, Ocean trigger, Lionfish

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Contact SFF VP Manny Dobal @305-812-8631 or
mdobal@bellsouth.net

Contact Ted Harty

Immersion FreeDiving

Tournament Format is as follows:

 Prize Winnings

Largest Lionfish: $500 Smallest Lionfish: $200 Most Lionfish: A FINE CASE OF RUM

Sign Up Here! >>>   Sat. Oct. 29, 2011 Name of Competitor #1 Name of Competitor #2

Competitors who don’t have access to a boat or don’t have good lionfish spots should contact our sponsor AQUATIC EXPLORERS as they will be running their dive charter boat the day of the tournament. There are still a few spots available so contact them right away to reserve your spot. >>>> Click Here To Visit Website <<<<

The part of deep diving that was hard for me to get was that at about 100’, I had no more air in my mouth or head to use for equalizing so you have to actually bring air up from your lungs into your mouth.

Most of the other divers there were competitive freedivers from U.S., Canada, Japan, and Brazil.  It was part of the advanced course, but because there was so much going on preparing for a competition that’s happening in Cayman right now plus Kirk and Mandy training David Blaine for a record attempt breath hold on the Oprah Winfrey show scheduled for next Wednesday, we weren’t able to complete the course. They owe me two days which I’ll get eventually.

The really cool part of the trip was the underwater scooters (see attached pic.).  These things are rated to go to 600’ and move along at about 6 or 7 knots.  I was cruising along the reef wall at 130’ then doing hairpin turns through cuts in the reef.  It was a blast.  Kirk bottomed out his Suunto D4 dive computer on a breath hold scooter dive at over 100 meters (like 330 feet)!!  The visibility was the best I’ve ever seen (anywhere between 100 and 160 feet) and there is absolutely no thermocline until about 400′.

R

This year the Widowmaker trip moved to Costa Rica from Panama for the first time. Reviews were mixed but there is definitely enough potential to return. Unfortunately our late departure due to the newborns put us into the rainy season by just 2 weeks and a hurricane which blew through the week prior to our arrival. We dove in murky water pretty much the whole time. It was a Murphy’s law type trip and we are lucky to be back all in one piece. Well, apart from my 4 cracked ribs when I slipped and hit the gunnel of the boat. Horrible flight, delays, lost bags and a dead guy crushed in his car 1 minute before us on the road greeted us on our arrival day.

We did manage to see some clean water open up 35′ below the murk. 10′ of vis on the surface but once you got below between 20 and 35 feet it would open up to blue water on a pinnacles. There we saw some wahoo’s and big cuberas. Santa shot some pretty weird dinosaur mullet, or Milk Fish(we think). Octavio(Don Quijada) and I shot some nice cuberas and Colorado snappers and Santa(Mango bajito) shot 2 wahoos and lost one after it ripped off. Mike was the glue that held the team together. Santa and I also came across an amazing whale shark swimming by at the pinnacle. First time for both of us to see one. Mike also won the MVP on Surf day at Playa Hermosa. He managed to catch a wave, surf backwards, crush himself on the beach break all within 30 seconds of entering the water. Mike also valiantly scaled semi submerged jagged rock in search of lobster for the team. One second he was snorkeling and the next second when the wave receded he was flailing on his belly in the middle of giant oyster and barnacle encrusted rock.

Of course the one day that we took a break was the only day anyone saw blue water and the boat we were on caught 10 yellowfin. Our last charter was slow as molasses and the weather was miserable, rough and rainy. We headed back in early but of course the captain hit a log 37 miles out and lost the tranny on one engine so we idled back for 3 hours in that crap.

Overall we had a good time but somebody’s wife did some voodoo shit on us for sure.

We will retool, despojar and be back next year.

July 2008

Yep, it bolted and took some line out. I bent my knife in its head, man they are tough. I was on scuba and when I shot it, I went for the surface. Then I realized I was on scuba and I could follow the line and subdue it. It all happened so fast that I barely had time to look at it. You know, I have been imagining my whole life what a monster ‘Butt’ would look like. When I saw it, I could not believe it. It was lying on the bottom, no sand on top, and its head was pointed toward me. All I thought was shoot shoot shoot as fast as possible. Yes, Mr. Scully, the human Steele lung went. He got a 52# WSB and a bag o scallops.

Dr. Steele was in awe of the butt. He said he had never seen one that big and if he did he would have had a heart attack. I nearly did.

If you have any concerns or wish to voice an opinion about the club, the meetings, the direction, goals, the management (not the writers) or what some of your interest and passions are, please email us at  jacksdivecorner@bellsouth.net. We will respond in kind, or if noteworthy, we will publish your gripes, passions, girlfriend’s phone number and bra size, what a great diver you think you are or anything of merit, even if of limited intelligence. Which is what the authors, sponsors, writers and general majority of our brainless oxygen starved members and staff are. But we love them one and all.

I was attacked in my parking lot by a large chark, (that’s a shark from Cuba) and my right elbow is messed up. Our regular column as it relates to the club and our friends in diving will return next month.

Incidentally, if you have any great diving spots and videos, please contact Mike or myself and we welcome you to appear and discuss your dive trips. Those of you or your friends that have been bitten by a sea critter, bring your/their scar and the critter if possible and put them on display. You have to keep your pants on. (That eliminates Art Pinder who got bit in the ass.) Everyone loves shark stories. Truth or Fiction.

We are planning on an open competition in September, exact date unknown. Men and Women, Boys and Girls 16 and older. Along with prizes for the winning teams, biggest fish and most unusual photos and videos.

Mike, try to find some video on spearing with sharks in the water and I will do the same…we can request questions and stories from the audience. Tell them to bring their shark bites and stories to the meeting. I can tell the story about Guy Cisneros Perez, Cuban diver, who was bitten by a barracuda in the 59 nationals, on Fowey Rocks reef, that first tried to bite me after I knocked some scales off of him. Guy then tried to shoot him and it bit him between the legs, badly, multiple times.

That’s a sad story. There is a lot of talk about an upcoming Sling Contest. I understand you’re involved.

I <have offered to> write the rules and requirements for the contest.  They will be comparable to the UnderWater Society of America rules that I know by heart.  I will figure out the dates for the end of the month.

Hopefully, no big storms.  If we have one, we will have an alternate date.

It will be three man teams, an observer, and a boat operator.  The observer cannot run the boat, he or she is there to observe that the rules and regs are followed.  In a pinch, one of the divers can be the driver and alternate with one of the other divers, if so desired.

The tourney boundaries are Fowey to the left and the Whistle Buoy to the right.  Spearguns must be muscle loaded, lines and floats are optional.  Each person can weigh in five fish in each category. (to be determined as soon as I find out which fish are legally eligible to be speared and the minimum sizes.)

There is no chumming the day of the tourney.  However, flashers are always allowed during competition.  Gaff hooks, rope hooks and crowbars are also allowed.  We will discuss the use of GPS and Lorans as location aids at a competition meeting prior to the tourney. Remember no explosives.  I will provide a typical release form for each diver that must be included with the entry and information forms provided to the respective teams.  These forms must be turned in one hour prior to the start of the competition. All forms, with all info shall be completed and mailed out to the members by the fifteenth of September.  

Go Team Triton!!! Let’s do this. The contest is on! What are the hot spots in Miami? 

There is absolutely no fish off Miami. You have to go south of Pacific Light or past the park to Pickles or down to Gator and Grassy Key……. 

Jack, Didn’t you tell me there is a reef named after you? Where is it?

The Reef is located just North of Conch Reef and Kearns Wreck is located inside in 25ft of water. Kearns Rock is located near the buoy off Grassy Key. The other Kearns Rock is located between Pacific and the Whistle. Check out the book by Martin Meylach, “Diving To A Flash of Gold”.

How did they get named after you?

From books, news stories, being a famous asshole and winning tourneys in these areas. Especially since certain ones are hard to find.

When was this and who named the spots after you?

P.S. Can we divulge GPS locations to club members?

There are no gps coordinates for these spots. This was long before GPS was in existence.  You can find Kearns Wreck and Kearns Reef in Diving to a Touch of Gold.  I will give you these coord’s - 305deg to south end of Tavernier key-laying in sand pocket amongst rock area in 20′s of water. I find all my sites by reading the bottom and land markers. That’s how they did it in galleon days. It’s easy once you have 10,000 hrs of experience.

I give out no coordinates to anyone. Divers have to earn it by lots of dragging or being my dive partner………. There are many other sites like Shinn Shoals, or DelMonico’s Patch or Pinders whatever… They all spent thousands of hours locating these places………………Usually people would follow us to find these locations …… We would just go fool around in 100′ of water until they gave up and moved off. Then we would go to our spots, we were warmed up. 

What time of year and what is your best catch there?

Best time of year to shoot fish is, early spring, winter, late fall. I won the Cuban International Tournament in 87 in 120 ft of water, south of Pacfic Light. It was late fall but the fish were all very deep. I had the six largest fish in the tourney………..

When the waters hot, the fish go deeeeeeeeeeeeeep……….

What was your best catch?

Best catch for a single day was a little over 1200lbs for 2 divers in the keys, 1962. Best catch in islands was 2,750 lbs for myself and a spear carrier with a small boat transporting fish to a big boat.

This was at Great Isaac Light in 1957.  A single day 8am to 3pm.  Spawn everywhere, sharks everywhere………..Just luck, right day, right place, right time.

You used to do a lot of deep diving. Tell me about the time you fell asleep and woke up on the bottom.

I was on the Elbow in 80′ of water. All alone. Really relaxed, just diving, not spearfishing. I had been slow breathing for four minutes, I took off for the bottom, kicked for the first 20′ , shut my eyes and tried to completely relax.  Fell sound asleep and woke up with a terrific headache when I hit the bottom.  I had water in my mask. I blew it out and started for the surface. I realized that this was my last dive alone deep, for time down. I was trying for four to five minutes, or, whatever was comfortable. I continued to spear alone because I was always awake. I think…………

This took place in the late 60′s…………………………

The Elbow is where I have requested they spread my ashes……………