Spierre Blogsite

Freeing the Giants of the Deep

2012-02-07T16:57:00.007+02:00

Recent headline of the San Francisco Chronicle. Female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spiderweb of crab traps and line weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, tail, torso and a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them.

Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

Sharing the Ocean

2012-02-01T07:47:00.005+02:00

Sijmon de Waal sent us this pic of his wife Debbie, freediving with a Great White and her Spierre fins. Beautiful image.

Freediver Sara Campbell features in this BBC documentary

2012-01-11T09:49:00.005+02:00

Here's a link to the newly released informative documentary filmed by the BBC featuring Freediver Sara Campbell. Sara is also diving with our Spierre Pure Carbon bi-fins in the clip.

Jaco Blignaut's new Mulloway/Daga World Record

2011-12-08T12:11:00.005+02:00

Well done to South African 5 x Spearfishing Champion Jaco Blignaut, on his new 57.4kg Mulloway/Daga confirmed World Record, shot while diving with his Spierre Pure Carbon blades!

2011 Bonito Open

2011-12-05T18:15:00.008+02:00

This year's Bonito Open Comp was held this past weekend on Saturday the 3rd Dec. After waiting for the past few weeks for a break in Easterlies, the organiser's and contestant's patience was rewarded on Thurs night with a favorable forecast and news that the mussel crackers had started to arrive in Stilbay and the Bonito Open was on. Friday's forecast looked good to do some scouting, but I had some urgent orders that needed to leave on Monday and we only arrived in Stilbay late Friday afternoon, missing out on the best part of the day. We got out to sea at 16:30, just in time to be greeted by a strong southerly which dropped soon afterwards and we had a nice dive with some clean water and I also heard the sound of some big cob but never saw them. A few boats had gone out to sea to scout earlier the day and Tommy Kruger managed to shoot a nice 12.5kg black mussel cracker (poenskop) which was a good sign that the large reef fish were in the area.

Reports for Saturday showed a light wind in the morning that would increase rapidly towards 2 o'clock with a growing swell leaving a smaller diving window period. Leaving the starting point just outside the harbour, I had to head back to the shore to try and sort out my unresponsive echo sounder, probably the result of the previous afternoon's sea spray and moisture. I managed to borrow a battery in the town and headed back to sea at 09:00am after allowing myself an hour to fix the problem, without an echo and working 'blind' with a few marks. Having no idea of the depths or reef contours I was passing over, I was happy to shoot a few weighers. The sea temp was a nice 17degrees with about 8m viz in places. We also encountered a 3m great white at Rog se Baai. At the weigh-in and prize giving back on land, a number of nice poensies (black mussel cracker) and mussel cracker came out, amongst them a 16.7kg cracker shot by Rian Weideman. Adrian Kriel took 1st place with 9 weighers and selected a pair of custom built Spierre Pure Carbons as his prize, with Chris Albrecht and Hein Eksteen coming in 2nd and 3rd place. Well done to everyone and thanks to the organisers for an enjoyable comp.

Adrian Kriel, 1st Place

Tommy Kruger with Poensie

Tommy Kruger, Anthony Day with poensie

Rian Weideman with his 16.7kg Musselcracker

West Coast Rock Lobster (Crayfish) Season 2011-2012

2011-11-11T09:15:00.002+02:00

WEST COAST ROCK LOBSTER (WCRL) SEASON ANNOUNCED

The Fisheries Management branch of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has announced the new recreational fishing season for West Coast rock lobster.

The season for 2011 will open on the 15^th of November 2011 and close on the 15^th of January 2012.

Thereafter, the season will open again from the 6^th of April 2012 and end on the 9^th of April 2012.

The following conditions for the WCRL recreational fishing season will apply:

· From the 15^th of November 2011 to the 15^th of January 2012, fishing will be allowed every day;

· From the 6^th of April 2012 to the 9^th of April 2012 fishing will also be allowed every day.

Recreational permit-holders collecting and landing WCRL may do so only between 08h00 – 16h00. The rock lobsters must be landed by 16:00.

The bag limit has been set at four per person per day and the size restriction is 80mm carapace length. Any WCRL caught, collected or transported shall be kept in a whole state.

A maximum of 20 rock lobsters may be transported per day, on condition that all the persons who caught such rock lobster are present in the vehicle, vessel, aircraft or whatever means of transport is being used during transportation. Such persons should also be in possession of their recreational rock lobster permits.]

No person catching WCRL with a recreational permit may sell such rock lobster.

Permits are obtainable from the Post Office. Permits will only be issued to persons above the age of 12 years.

Israeli Freediver Alon Rivkind and Spierre Pure Carbons

2011-10-12T17:16:00.001+02:00

Alon Rivkind, Israeli Freediving Trainer and the first Israeli to reach 100m in variable weight discipline, sent us the following feedback after diving with his new pair of Spierre Pure Carbons -

“Hi Pierre, I was diving with the fins thelast weekend

and fell in love, they are amazing!!!

the way that the fin is moving in thewater

is impressive-soft but powerful.Alon.”

Below are some images of Alon with his blades, taken by photographer Boaz Samorai

SA Team at World Qualifiers

2011-09-28T09:41:00.007+02:00

At the end of August we built some custom blades for Neil Barnard and Brent Borslap, two of our South African Spearfishing Team members who were heading out to the Euro / Africa World Qualifiers, held during September in Peniche, Portugal. South Africa not only managed to qualify for the Worlds next year but also had one of the Team, Neil Barnard, come in the Top 10 overall. Well done to the Team and to Neil for doing so well - here's some feedback from the comp written by Angelo Spada:

As I am sure many of you have seen from windfinder, windguru etc, the Portuguese coastline around Peniche is hammered by wind. In the almost three weeks we were there we had about 4 days of light winds - the rest of the time it BLEW.

The two official comp zones were very different from ont to the other. The northern zone had quite a lot of reef in the northern 3/4 with a long beach in the south and some reef right ate the south (bear in mind that the zones were about 11 km long). The southern zone had limited reef and long stretches of sand (hence the continual poor viz). Most of the reef was located in the north with some very good patches of reef in the south (but viz tended to be poorer in the south - if that is possible).

When we first arrived, conditions were OK with 4 to 5 m viz on the bottom, temperatures around the 17 to 18 degrees with a slight thermocline at about 10m. Then the wind started in ernst and the conditions deteriorated with vis dropping to 2 to 3 m. We focused out attention for the first few days in the northern zone to aclimatise. Quite a lot of fish was found and once John arrived, we were able to find some really good reef in the 'deep'(around 19m)with loads of blacktail and double banded sea bream.

Brod and Thando arrived on around the 9th and since Brod was going to be my top man for the comp we scouted together. We started out scouting the southern zone and despite excellent weather conditions the viz in the south was poor (about 2m) - despite this we found an exceptional piece of reef with sizeable fish everywhere. We were jumped by the Brits but that is the way it goes. We then proceeded north and found more reef and better water towards the northern part of the area. the following day we went back to the second zone and things had changed once again. A thick layer of dirty water moved in and between 5 and 15m viz was zero. Below this the thermocline had moved in (13 degrees) and the viz improved to 5-6m. Strangely there was a lot of fish below the thermocline and good deep areas were found with BIG (2kg) wrasses, black tails, seabass, gilthead brean (like out stumpies).

On the way back we stopped to look at deeper areas in the northern zone and it was impressive to see Thando (who had previously only dived to 10m) dive next to me to 18m lie on the bottom with me, see fish swim in, then slowly return to the surface for a 1:30 dive. Quite something!!! Anyway, further interesting reef was found.

Then the wind arrived. 25 to 35 knot northerlies which kept us (and most other teams) on land. The sea changed into a raging mess. Talk around was that there was no way that the southern area would be used as the viz would be too bad. Everyone was convinced that with the predicted conditions we would dive the reserve zone (around Peniche) and the northern zone.

On the last allowable day of scouting (14th) we went into the northern zone to check conditions in the shallows, mid depth and the deep in the north and mid way through the zone. Generally conditions were poor with 2 to 3m viz. We then went the the reserve area and the viz was much better with 5 to 6m in places. There was also loads of fish.

Convinced that the zones would be the reserve zone and the northern comp zone we were fairly confident to do well.

The day before the comp, at the captains meeting the issue of the zones was brought up but the reserve zone was not considered as it would only be used if absolutely necessary (which we thought was the case already). No decision was made on the zones.

The day of the comp dawned with still wind conditions - the organisers boat was launched to check the zones (while we waited to find out where we would be diving - so no preparation could be made!!!!). Word came back that there was 3-4m vis in the southern zone (I think the individual who had a look has no concept of distance and at least needs to visit an optometrist soon). So off we went to the middle of the southeren zone (30 odd km down the coast). The viz looked grim on the surface! Anyway the SA team got together and we quickly decided to split up. I decided to go to the spots we had found furthest south - I knew it was a gamble as the viz there tended to be worse than the northern portions. At the start of the comp about 8 boats headed south (including a Portuguese and Spanish boat). My first dive in 5m and I almost dislocated my shoulder when my 60cm gun smashed into the reef. I could see as far as my elbow. I tried to see if I could see shapes against the sight from the sun, but the swirling clouds of sand from the 2.5m groundswell made it impossible. After 3 dives, I moved to my 'hotspot'once again I was greeted with 50cm viz and the real threat of bodily harm as you get smashed against the invisible reef. A few dives lated I decided to head north (so 30 min of day 1 wasted). Started diving a spot in 15m I called blacktail city for obvious reasons. On my second dive (viz 1 to 1.5m) 4 seabass swim past, which I stupidly duff as I had mounted a pranger on my 60cm gun. A word of advice - NEVER change your equipment before a comp - I tell everyone this but on this occasion did not heed my own advice. I carried on diving the area, and saw another small seabass (would not have weighed), then dropped double banded sea bream (not sure if it would have gone the weight though). After this I did not see another fish and had to close the day with a zero (at least I was in good company as only 19 of the 45 divers had a single fish!!! Even the world champion hit a blank). Clearly there were a lot of complaints about the choice of zone. Since the winner had only 4 fish, any fish shot on the first day carried huge points. In the SA team, only one fish was weighed (Niel had a 525g double band seabream).

The second day dawned with a real buster blowing (25 to 30 knots). On the was to the port, we had a look at the reserve area and it was wild! Wind blown waves everywhere, but the water looked fairly clear.

Once again we had no idea where we would be diving (we were all convinced it would be the reserve area. Incredibly it was decided to dive the northern area .... we were all convinced that it was a crazy choice considering the wind. On the way to the meeting point, we were all surprised to see how flat the shallows were and with this in mind I decided to start my comp right in the shallows to the south of the fortress where Brod had seen big shoals of karrenteen, mullet and blacktails. This is precisely where I went and despite the fairly bid waves was able to get right into the white water but is was totally dead - a few small seabass but nothing shootable. Worked my way right through to the next point and saw nothing shootable. 1 hour into comp - no fish - conditions good - oh k*k! Then moved deer into 15 m where I had some wrasses marked - dived on the exact spot where I had seen big wrasses in scouting - nothing!!! Conditions still good still no fish - again oh k*k! Then moved into an area in about 10m where we had not scouted but looked good on the sounder. From the first dive started seeing signs of life and since it was shallow it was easy to keep up a good tempo (1:20 to 1:30 dives and less than a minute recovery times). After about 40 minutes, I was lying in a gulley and a BIG blacktail comes slowly swimming by in mid water - I don't think I have ever been so careful with the shot...finally on the scoreboard with a good 1.1kg blacktail. I keep drifting and then shoot a good 1.5kg wrasse. OK so the plan is coming together. Brod starts moving me to promising looking areas he is finding on the sounder - and I drift through looking for fish in the open. This seems to be the best strategy as the fish bold once they have seen you so it is almost pointless repeating a drift. Using this technique I shoot three more wrasse (I was sure there were 4 more but that's another story) and a further balcktail.

By the end of the day I was totally exhausted. However it is amazing what a lift you get when you get back to the harbor and hand over the stringer with your fish and the crowd (yes there is a crowd!!!) applauds you. They tak photo's clap etc - like a hero...I wish this was the case back home. then you hear that the rest of the team have done well - Niel 10 fish and Brent 3.

At the weigh in we way in first as we weighed in last the previous day - this applied to all those who had not weighed a fish the previous day. Unfortunately 2 of Brent's fish did not make it, 6 of my eight weighed with 5 of the fish over 1 kg. We had to wait for Niel's fish to be weighed in. During this period, some good bags were weighed in by the Croatians and the Italians. Eventually Niel's turn came and his bag of 10 fish was impressive - 8 blacktail, 1 wrasse and a big conger found by John in scouting.

Then we witnessed some exceptional bags being weighed in by the Portuguese and Spanish athletes.

Then the wait starts to see if SA is within the top 10 (automatic qualification to worlds) and of course how has Niel done.

Eventually we scores are handed out. I collect the sheets and go to the team (I have not seen the results as I want us to see them together). The first sheet has the top eight - SA is not there. The second sheet has us at 9th overall ----- we have qualified for Vigo next year.

We then look at the individual results and Niel has cracked a top 10 - the first time a SA diver has done so. It is an incredible that totally overshadows my personal result. I am proud of what the team has achieved.

There will always the the thought of what if.... but that does not matter anymore. We went to Peniche with the goal of qualifying for Worlds and the dream that one of us would break the top 10. We achieved both.

Picasso Wetsuits

2011-09-17T17:50:00.004+02:00

Our new shipment of top quality Picasso open-cell camo suits will be arriving shortly, e-mail us at info@spierre.com to order yours.

Winter Snapshots

2011-08-17T15:45:00.008+02:00

With winter still upon us and little diving happening, we went for a drive yesterday to check some galjoen spots and had a nice catch with my daughter shooting a galjoen (her 3rd to date) before I could get a shot in!

Monofin Breach

2011-08-16T09:01:00.004+02:00

Columbian finswimmer Mauricio Fernandez performing a breach with a monofin.

Jaco Freediving with Tiger Shark

2011-07-14T22:46:00.004+02:00

5x South African National Spearfishing Champion, Jaco Blignaut, freediving with a Tiger Shark and his Spierre Pure Carbons at Aliwal Shoal.

Hottieshoot Comp '11

2011-04-15T19:38:00.018+02:00

This year's popular Hottieshoot comp organised by the Huguenote Club took place at Dassen Island off Yzerfontein (Cape West Coast), it's the first year that it was held at the island. We had numerous obstacles to overcome on the way to the comp, the biggest probably being a lingering sinus infection that I've been battling with for the past 3 months and was dosing with a high dose of antibiotics and cortisone daily until the Friday before the comp, the 2nd was our towing vehicle that broke at 06:30am 40km short of Yzerfontein and meant having us call for a backup towing vehicle and only entering the water almost an hour after the other boats had launched.

Despite the challenges it was still a great day with plenty of fish around, they weren't as big as some of Dassen's hottentot (west coast bream) can be on a good day but the fish were a fair size and almost everyone weighed a full bag of 5 fish in with weights averaging between 1.2kg - 1.8kg with the biggest fish at 2.05kg. Well done to Jan Louw who won the Comp and Innes v/d Vyver (diving Spierre Pure Carbons) who took 2nd place. Till next year's Hottieshoot...

Yzerfontein slipway

Weigh-in

Top 10

1st Place : Jan Louw

2nd Place : Innes van der Vyver

Pieter Frick

Skipskop Yellowtail

2011-02-28T11:56:00.008+02:00

We took a trip up to Struisbaai for the Nationals End Function and managed to also get in a nice dive in blue top to bottom viz at Skipskop with a few nice size yellowtail.

35kg Red Steenbras

2011-02-10T21:25:00.005+02:00

An amazing 35kg Red Steenbras shot by Ruan Smal in 2.5m water with a 0.90m speargun during a shoredive on the Cape East Coast.

Freedive Cape Town Comp

2011-01-19T10:56:00.004+02:00

Freedive Cape Town will once again be holding a Freediving Competition on 27 Feb. Come along and participate or it's great fun just to support the compeititors. Details below:

FreeDive CapeTown Pool Challenge 2

AIDA FREEDIVING COMPETITION

27^nd February

CAPE TOWN, Strand Pool

FREEDIVE CAPE TOWN will organize an indoor freediving competition for static and dynamic apnea disciplines.

The static apnea discipline will be in the morning and dynamic apnea disciplines (with or without fins) in the afternoon.

The competition will have AIDA ranking status, which means that it is an official AIDA competition and that it is possible to set national records and that all results will end up in the international ranking list.

Training/coaching sessions and pool courses prior the competition are available in Cape Town from the 1^st of February.

On Saturday the 26^th we will run a warm-up competition to get comfortable with the most important competition rules and procedures.

Participants who want to be included in the AIDA ranking will need to present their ID and medical certificate stating “fit for freediving” at the registration. They must also be members of a national AIDA (you can do this directly at the registration). If AIDA ranking is not important to you then none of this is necessary.

Competition fee: R200 (for 1 discipline), R300 (for 2 disciplines)

Fee for the warm up competition on the 26^th: R150 (if minimum 5 people)

Coaching sessions: R200 per hour (minimum 2 people)

For information, contact:

Linda, 072 259 8188, linda@freedivedahab.com

Jacques, 079 478 2899, jvos213@gmail.com

www.freedivecapetown.co.za

www.freediveinternational.com

First good Yellowtail dive of 2011

2011-01-17T11:06:00.004+02:00

We spent some time spearfishing at Struisbaai and had two days of blue water at the banks which resulted in some nice size yellowtail. I lost a big yellowtail to a large ragged tooth shark and it was just awesome to dive in such clean water again.

Latham Banks - Dog Tooth Tuna Hunting

2010-12-08T11:57:00.013+02:00

A great series of pics taken by 11x South African spearfishing Champion, Tommy Botha and renowned wildlife photographer, Daryl Balfour with their Spierre Pure Carbons while at Latham Banks recently.

Bonito Open - Stilbaai

2010-11-22T21:42:00.008+02:00

We took a drive up to Stilbaai this past weekend to take part in the Bonito Open comp. The water was a warm 19deg with good viz against the side, getting progressively worse towards the deep. Alot of nice fish came out, amongst others a 14.5kg Garrick (leervis), some good size musselcrackers in the 8-10kg range. All in all a very nice competition. Well done to Adrian Kriel who won a pair of our new 3D Reef Camo blades and to Fred Bester for taking 1st place.

Hottieshoot Results

2010-11-02T19:30:00.006+02:00

Top 5

Winner Pieter Frick with 2.15kg Hottentot

The annual Hottieshoot Comp, organised by the Hugenote Ope Club, took place at Paternoster on Saturday. This comp is not for the faint-hearted and usually takes place in very cold and often poor viz. This time the water temperature was a cold 10deg but the visibility was good and 34 of the 50 competitors managed to weigh in fish. Well done to Pieter Frick of Vredenburg who took 1st place with a nice bag of fish as well as the biggest Hottentot of the comp - 2.15kg.

Clean water, good fish

2010-10-27T11:31:00.008+02:00

We had some great diving in clean, warm water yesterday and shot some good yellowtail

Pure Carbons reach 71m at Triple Depth

2010-10-14T09:07:00.003+02:00

Freediver Sebastian Naslund took a pair of our medium strength pure carbons bi-fins to 71m at the 2010 Triple Depth Freediving Comp, Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt.

Order Spierre Blades Online

2010-10-08T19:22:00.009+02:00

You can now order your custom built Spierre Pure Carbon Blades as well as Spierre Fiber Camo and Plain fiberglass blades online by visiting our Spierre Orders page and placing your order via Paypal selecting to pay either by direct debit or credit card.

For any queries please contact us - info@spierre.com

Worlds 2010

2010-09-14T08:58:00.004+02:00

The Spearfishing World Championships kicks off today in Croatia - click http://www.spearfishingwc.com to follow the teams' progress.

Yellowtail action

2010-09-12T19:39:00.010+02:00

Some yellowtail taken during the past week by Grant and myself:

A fun clip - Freerunning while Freediving

2010-09-02T16:16:00.004+02:00

Courtesy of "My Life in Water" blog

A week before leaving for Worlds

2010-08-31T11:50:00.006+02:00

Our national spearfishing team members Angelo Spada and Craig Heslop taken a week before leaving for Worlds in Croatia.

http://www.spearfishingwc.com/ to read the latest about Worlds.

IHound Comp

2010-08-23T12:32:00.017+02:00

Myself, Paul Winter, John Daines

We spent the morning with Freedive Cape Town and IHound yesterday at the Strand pool where some freedivers, including John Daines, Trevor Hutton, Paul Winter were attempting to break some SA freediving records during a pool comp. Linda Paganelli of Freedive Dahab and Hanli Prinsloo were judging the event. John Daines set a new SA record for dynamic apnea using our Pure Carbon monofin. IHound and Spierre also sponsored Paul Winter with a set of Ocean Camo blades. Below are the results:

John DYN 153 (first)

Chris DYN 83

Jacques DNF 74 penalties

Paul DYN 153 red card

Trevor DYN 121 red card

Reece DNF 75 red card

Safety diver Sophia and the team professionaly dealt with a Samba and blackout by two of the divers and ensured that none of the divers were ever at risk during the record attempts. We were impressed by the level of professionalism and expertise present during the event.

The Big Wave Surfers & their blades

2010-08-13T09:50:00.033+02:00

James Taylor at Mavericks

The big wave surfers are getting geared for spearfishing, we made up some fiberglass Reef Camo blades for James Taylor who is taking his fins on a trip across the Indian Ocean starting in Madagascar. He's getting back into the water, starting with freediving after a serious back injury in April while surfing a 6ft barrel at a Cape beach break. Click here to read James' account of what happened - James Taylor's website.

UK big wave surfer, James Hick is also in SA at the moment and we built a pair of our Pure Carbons for him. James took his blades for a quick dive yesterday at Robben Island and really enjoys them. To read more about James Hick follow the link to his site.

Both guys surf some seriously big waves and I'm sure they're going to use their fins to chase down some impressive big fish as well.

James Hick

Surf Rescue in Melkbosstrand

2010-08-10T14:08:00.009+02:00

There's a big swell running at the moment and I was watching the surf at about 12:00 today when I saw a swimmer caught in a strong rip just off the slipway in Melkbos in front of the NSRI building. His friends were standing on the rocks and shouting out to him but couldn't reach him. One of the local beachfront restaurant guys saw what was happening and paddled out on his surfboard to help, the rip was so strong that it took him about 15 minutes of constant paddling to cover the relatively short distance back to shore. The swimmer is a runner working for one of the beachfront restaurants in Melkbos, he went for a swim on his day off and got into trouble in the strong rip. If it weren't for the surfer who came to his rescue, he could've definitely drowned.

Musselcracker Clip

2010-08-03T21:02:00.003+02:00

East Coast Cracker

2010-08-03T09:08:00.006+02:00

A 14.2kg musselcracker taken in shallow water during a shoredive on the South African East Coast. I'll upload a short underwater clip of the dive this week.

Support the SA Team going to Worlds - details below

2010-08-02T11:52:00.012+02:00

We have tickets available - just give us a call on 082 693 2635.

Aida Freediving Comp and Training with Linda Paganelli

2010-07-30T18:33:00.009+02:00

Linda Paganelli of Freedive Dahab and Freedive Cape Town sent through some info. about a freediving competition to be held in Cape Town during August and freedive training that she will be offering in Cape Town during August:

iHound Pool Challenge - AIDA FREEDIVING COMPETITION

22^nd AUGUST

CAPE TOWN, Strand Pool

FREEDIVE CAPE TOWN in conjunction with www.iHound.co.za is organizing an indoor freediving competition for static and dynamic apnea disciplines.

The static apnea discipline will be in the morning and dynamic apnea disciplines (with or without fins) will be in the afternoon.

The competition will have AIDA ranking status, which means that it is an official AIDA competition and that it is possible to break national records.

Training/coaching sessions and pool courses prior the competition are available from the beginning of August in Cape Town.

On Saturday the 21^st we will run a warm-up competition to get comfortable with the most important competition rules and procedures.

Participants who want to be included in the AIDA rankings will need to present their ID and medical certificate stating “fit for freediving” at the registration. They must also be members of a national AIDA (you can do this directly at the registration). If AIDA ranking is not important to you then none of this is necessary.

Competition fee: R200

Fee for the warm up competition on the 21^st: R120

Coaching sessions: R200 per hour

Linda is also offering Aida accredited freedive training while she is in Cape Town during August. For more info. contact Linda at 072 259 81 88 or email her at linda@freedivedahab.com

www.freedivecapetown.co.za

Update from the sardine run

2010-07-03T15:57:00.008+02:00

Yesterday we dived on an AMAZING bait ball! At 11am a friend called to say he had seen something worth checking out and we should come. We searched and searched in 20k SW seas and found nothing. We headed back to Port St Johns, picking up two small bait balls on the way, one of which had at least 30 Coppers and Dusky sharks but they left minutes after the divers entered.

At 1:30 I had another look for the bait ball we'd heard about and found it!! It was a block of sardine 5 times the size of the boat and 5m deep, with all the predators one could ever dream of feeding on it.

The dolphins were tearing through it every few minutes, the sharks were lazily swimming though and then like lightning smashing some sards and the whales were coming through... Yes whales!! There were at least 20 Bryde's whale lunges. The scale of this animal feeding is not something I can express in words!! Needless to say, the guys on the boat, me included, all like to think of themselves as experienced seamen and we all came up grinning ear to ear and will be for a long time... That ball lasted from at least 11am till 4:30pm when we left as the sun was setting !!!

Below are some pics.
Steve

www.animalocean.co.za

Sardine Run

2010-07-01T14:27:00.014+02:00

We're going to post some updates by Steve Benjamin of Animal Ocean as he tracks this year's sardine run from Port St John's. Here is Steve's first feedback:

Our first day was last Sunday and we were greeted by 10m viz and bait ball activity. The divers got in on 4 balls, only one of which was being predated upon by Common dolphins. We dived on the last ball for over an hour and left it with the dolphins still tearing it apart. That particular ball was sardine but the majority of the bait fish was red eye. On Monday we found a ball of red eye being eaten by sharks and bonnies. The sharks were Zambezis, Duskys and Coppers. The rest of the day was slow. On Tuesday we found 2 baitballs. The first was dominated by 20 snorkelers from the others dive boats but the dolphins stuck around for a while. We found a patch of clean (6m) water under Brazen head and had another bait ball there.

Yesterday we traveled to Water Fall bluff and found the thousands of Gannets everyone is talking about. They were not diving all over the show with nothing being focused and there was 2m viz!

Today we will head back to Waterfall Bluff and hope the some clean water has moved in and we have a killer bait ball there.We haven't seen any large shoals of Sardine yet most of the bait fish has been red eye or mackerel.

Gamefish wise - we saw a Sailfish off the river mouth and the rock anglers caught alot of big Kob yesterday at the river mouth. Heard of a big Garrick coming out yesterday as well. Steve

Sports Illustrated

2010-06-15T11:48:00.008+02:00

Spierre Pure Carbons are in the July edition of Sports Illustrated (below):

Guillaume Nery base jumping at Dean's Blue Hole

2010-06-09T11:21:00.005+02:00

An awesome underwater clip of World champion freediver Guillaume Nery's special dive at Dean's Blue Hole, the deepest blue hole in the world filmed entirely on breath hold by the french champion Julie Gautier.

Freediving adventures with Animal Ocean

2010-05-31T16:00:00.008+02:00

A nice clip of freediving in and around the Cape compiled by Steve Benjamin of Animal Ocean.

Animal Ocean is an ocean adventure company run by Steve Benjamin. Animal Ocean strives to show enthusiastic divers the wonders in the oceans around Cape Town, the focus of the diving being with the playful Cape fur seals, curious sevengill cowsharks and the majestic pelagic sharks in our offshore waters. Animal Ocean has been the choice of professional photographers, adventurers and those who seek an in-depth and different ocean experience. We want to spend as much time on the sea with the aniamls as possible and we want to do it with divers who want to explore and see this amazing underwater world.

To pay a worthwhile visit to Steve's site "Animal Ocean" to see what they are about and can offer click www.animalocean.co.za -

SA Spearfishing Nationals

2010-05-24T08:59:00.014+02:00

The South African and Croatian Spearfishing Teams pictured above, which included Euro/Africa Champion Daniel Gospic, who competed at the SA Nationals held in Durban at the begining of May 2010. Croatia beat SA with 3 points and well done to SA's Ryan Burmeister for winning the Nationals.

Tuna & tail!

2010-05-01T13:33:00.007+02:00

We got some nice fish this week past, Grant shot a slender tuna of 10kg and we got some good yellowtail. The water was a clear 10m viz with 12deg temperatures - quite cold for yellowtail.

Spierre Story

2010-04-21T14:07:00.006+02:00

Read our story below that appeared in the latest IFSN (International Freediving and Spearfishing News) of how Spierre blades began as well as some memories of diving during the early days at Struisbaai.

New 3D Reef Design

2010-04-19T22:02:00.007+02:00

Here is a preview of our new 3D Reef fiber composite blades, designed to camouflage and blend with the tropical coral reefs.

Slow roll

2010-04-14T18:32:00.004+02:00

Our apologies for the lack of blog updates, we're busy with large volumes of blade orders but will make time to post news inbetween.

This Saturday the popular Huguenote Club Hottieshoot Competition takes place in Paternoster, last year we had thick mist and freezing water but the divers still enjoyed it. Hoping for good conditions on Saturday. We'll be sponsoring a pair of our Ocean camo fiberglass blades for the Comp.

Spierre Blade Testimonials

2010-04-10T11:10:00.007+02:00

Click on the link below to have a look at our new testimonial page with reviews from top Freedivers such as Linda Paganelli, Italian Woman's freediving Champion of Freedive Dahab and top Spearfishermen - http://spierretestimonials.blogspot.com/. We'll keep adding to our testimonials as we receive them from the divers using our blades.

Bonito Open Results

2010-03-11T12:59:00.002+02:00

Well done to Russell Warren for winning this year's Bonito Open despite bad diving conditions and to Neil Barnard for taking 2^nd place, his prize – a pair of custom built Spierre Pure Carbon blades.

Bonito Open

2010-03-03T10:20:00.004+02:00

Conditions look promising for this weekend's Bonito Open to be held at Stilbaai. Hopefully the weather stays that way for the competition day. Update to follow after the weekend.

You decide...

2010-02-26T15:36:00.006+02:00

Much has been said lately about the proposed new increases in recreational fishing and spearfishing permit yearly fees. You can access the table of proposed new fees in the gazette by clicking on this link Gazette (page 24) if you'd like to read more about it or visit SA Spearoranking site to find out how you can contribute to SAUFF's public comment to the proposal on behalf of SA divers (by end Feb). Basically the spearfishermen will be paying R300 (from R75) for their licenses if this is passed and fishermen will pay R200 yearly. This is apart from the boat permits and additional crayfish permit fees that are also potentially increasing. These catch permits allow them a total of 10 fish and 4 crayfish per day.

I thought I'd post some pics of a haul of yellowtail taken by treknetters in False Bay. Considering the bag limits imposed on spearfishermen and fishermen and the impact of hauling out an entire school of yellowtail at a time, anyone can draw the logical conclusion that something is seriously wrong with this picture. Keep in mind that this catch goes into the pocket of one permit holder and are their proposed fees increasing in proportion to the size of the catches below not to mention the impact of such catches on our resources.

Yellowtail action

2010-02-13T10:02:00.005+02:00

We took a trip out to Cape Point on Tuesday after reports of good catches of yellowtail. The water was relatively clean towards the SW reef area but quite dirty towards Rocky Bank. There were no visible signs of fish in the morning but we did notice alot of bait in the bay. Coming back from Rocky Bank we saw birds working towards SW Reef and we managed to get 8 fish altogether. Just appreciating every opportunity to get into the water as we've had such a bad season so far.

Destined for Oz

2010-02-03T14:08:00.002+02:00

A sample order of our blades that left for Australia this week, hope to see divers there diving with the blades and sending us feedback soon.

Taking the plunge

2010-01-26T15:21:00.013+02:00

We were discussing the effect of cold water on the face before a dive and how it in turn affects the body and I decided to read up some more on the topic. I found the following description on the net and there are some interesting related threads that I'll post as a follow-up. Interestingly, one positive aspect of diving in our cold Cape waters is that temperatures of under 21°C trigger the reflex.

The mammalian diving reflex optimizes respiration which allows mammals to stay underwater for a long time. It is exhibited strongly in aquatic mammals (seals, otters, dolphins, etc.), but exists in a weaker version in other mammals, including humans. Diving birds, such as penguins, have a similar diving reflex. Every animal's diving reflex is triggered specifically by cold water contacting the face – water that is warmer than 21°C (70 °F) does not cause the reflex, and neither does submersion of body parts other than the face. Also, the reflex is always exhibited more dramatically, and thus can grant longer survival, in young individuals.

Effect

Upon initiation of the reflex, three changes happen to the body, in this order:

Bradycardia is the first response to submersion. Immediately upon facial contact with cold water, the human heart rate slows down ten to twenty-five percent. Seals experience changes that are even more dramatic, going from about 125 beats per minute to as low as 10 on an extended dive. Slowing the heart rate lessens the need for bloodstream oxygen, leaving more to be used by other organs.

Next, peripheral vasoconstriction sets in. When under high pressure induced by deep diving, capillaries in the extremities start closing off, stopping blood circulation to those areas. Note that vasoconstriction usually applies to arterioles, but in this case is completely an effect of the capillaries. Toes and fingers close off first, then hands and feet, and ultimately arms and legs stop allowing blood circulation, leaving more blood for use by the heart and brain. Human musculature accounts for only 12% of the body's total oxygen storage, and the body's muscles tend to suffer cramping during this phase. Aquatic mammals have as much as 25 to 30% of their oxygen storage in muscle, and thus they can keep working long after capillary blood supply is stopped.

Finally is the blood shift that occurs only during very deep dives. When this happens, organ and circulatory walls allow plasma/water to pass freely throughout the thoracic cavity, so its pressure stays constant and the organs aren't crushed. In this stage, the lungs' alveoli fill up with blood plasma, which is reabsorbed when the animal leaves the pressurized environment. This stage of the diving reflex has been observed in humans (such as world champion freediver Martin Štěpánek) during extremely deep (over 90 metres) freedives.

Thus, both a conscious and an unconscious person can survive longer without oxygen under water than in a comparable situation on dry land. Children tend to survive longer than adults when deprived of oxygen underwater. The exact mechanism for this effect has been debated and may be a result of brain cooling similar to the protective effects seen in patients treated with deep hypothermia.

When the face is submerged, receptors that are sensitive to water within the nasal cavity and other areas of the face supplied by cranial nerve V (trigeminal) relay the information to the brain and then innervate cranial nerve X, which is part of the autonomic nervous system. This causes bradycardia and peripheral vasoconstriction. Blood is removed from the limbs and all organs but the heart and the brain, creating a heart-brain circuit and allowing the mammal to conserve oxygen.

In humans, the mammalian diving reflex is not induced when limbs are introduced to cold water. Mild bradycardia is caused by the subject holding their breath without submerging the face within water. When breathing with face submerged this causes a diving reflex which increases proportionally to decreasing water temperature. However the greatest bradycardia effect is induced when the subject is holding breath with face submerged.

Freediving with Linda

2010-01-19T07:57:00.012+02:00

Some feedback from my daughter on training with Linda Paganelli:

"Sunday saw us diving with Linda Paganelli of Freedive Dahab - a really awesome experience! Linda is one of the deepest woman divers in the world; it was quite a privilege to be trained by her. We met up with Linda and John at Blue Rock which is a nice place to dive if you want to dive deep, but the water isn’t that clean so you use the rope as a guide to see if you are actually going straight down and not sideways. Linda went down alongside me on each dive, fine tuning the smallest details and she showed a lot of different techniques to improve my diving style which once I did them really made a huge difference and I was diving way more comfortably within a few minutes. Even my dad, who’s been diving for many years, learnt some techniques to better his diving and his equalizing method in the time we spent in the water. I would rate the training with Linda pretty high up there, definitely something to consider if you’re considering spending some serious time underwater

Here's a clip showing Linda in action. As you can see, I wasn't exaggerating about the color of the water " - Danielle

Trip to Alphard Banks

2010-01-10T21:54:00.005+02:00

We went out to the Alphard Banks, 42 miles in an Easterly direction off Struis Baai this morning. It's ± a 2hr run there and we were expecting to find blue water but arriving there we found the visibility poor with only about 6m viz and very little yellowtail. We shot 6 yellowtail between 3 divers, I managed to shoot a 12kg yellowtail on my first dive. It was a long day and a long run for 6 fish but you never know unless you go.

Freedive Training with Linda

2010-01-05T12:04:00.006+02:00

Come and join Linda Paganelli of Freedive Dahab on an Apnea training course tailor made for Spearfishermen and Freedivers wanting to improve their skills. Linda is the Italian Woman's record holder for CWT (75m), CNF, FIM and VW and is one of the top AIDA certified freedive trainers in the world, co-owner of the Freedive Dahab School in Egypt (http://www.freedivedahab.com). Linda will be presenting AIDA recognised Apnea courses for all levels of skill and experience during her visit to Cape Town from 15 January. To receive more info about the various training programmes contact us on info@spierre.com or Pierre on 082 693 2635 to book a timeslot with Linda.

Chill time...

2009-12-24T08:49:00.003+02:00

We'll be taking some time off next week but you can still reach us by e-mail or telephone during this time.

We have some exciting developments planned for 2010, details to follow.

Wishing you all a great Christmas and New Year and safe diving!

Ocean relics

2009-12-22T10:47:00.005+02:00

Some fun underwater pics of Kevin Day taken in Italy with his Reef Camo fiber composite blades.

A moment in time

2009-12-11T14:27:00.014+02:00

Some historical pics of the Chinese tanker the Oriental Pioneer that sank off Struisbaai, Cape East Coast - a good spearfishing wreck. The structure remained intact for quite awhile after running aground about 2 kilometers off Struisbaai in 12 meters of water in 1974. Fishermen would climb up to the deck of the ship and fish for large Galjoen (some over 5kg) milling around the wreck in their hundreds in the 70's. It also attracted a vast number of other species including big cob from time to time. In the late 70's we did quite a bit of diving at the Pioneer shooting mainly galjoen, parrot fish and the odd big yellowtail that came through on the land side of the wreck. At that stage although the wreck was intact there was a gaping hole in the side enabling you to swim inside sheltered from the strong North/South current, to hunt fish. The broken up pieces of wreckage still remain a good underwater spearfishing area for yellowtail and galjoen today although not nearly as good as back then.

Rob Allen Gamefish Challenge

2009-12-10T15:44:00.003+02:00

30 Jan 2010 - Rob Allen Gamefish Challenge - click the link below to download the entry form.

http://www.saspearoranking.co.za/downloads/ROBALLENGAMEFISHCOMP2010ENTRYFORM4.jpg

Diving out Crayfish @ Rooi Els

2009-12-08T13:42:00.005+02:00

Some footage of my daughter diving out crayfish at Rooi Els on the Cape Coast. I think that the crayfish should be very afraid!

Cape Yellowtail Clip

2009-11-30T11:50:00.002+02:00

A short clip of some yellowtail shot last week on our Cape West Coast.

Tail on Friday

2009-11-22T19:26:00.002+02:00

Some nice yellowtail that we shot on Friday. Conditions were perfect and the water was a fair 6-8m viz.

West Coast diving

2009-11-19T19:14:00.000+02:00

I shot this 1.72kg Blacktail on Tuesday in front of my house, the conditions were perfect this week, very little wind and flat, warm water. I dived down for some crayfish when I saw a large Blacktail coming past me at speed, it disappeared and I thought I'd seen the last of it. I kept diving in the area and was surprised to see it reappear and I managed to place a good shot. 1.7kg is a large fish for this species and a personal best. Although you do find Blacktail on the West Coast, it's not as common as Hottentot or Galjoen.

Hunting Halibut

2009-11-18T14:21:00.006+02:00

A cool dive story sent to us recently by our USA distributor Erik. Glad our reef camos are giving the younger guys a jump start:

Viz: 15 but hazy, little red film on the water (red tide I'm afraid)
Surge: Moderate
Swell Size: 1-3ft.
Temp: 68
Game Taken: 1st Halibut!!!

So I'm hanging out at the beach with one of my friends and I see that the water is really clear, so I run back to the house and grab my gun, fins and a mask, no wetsuit, just skin. I get back to the beach and right away I see a sheephead (8-10lbs) I had never shot one before, but it was a female, so I held up on the shot. Then I look over and see a Calico in the 20-24in. range, but I hold up yet again cause I've shot plenty of calicos this summer and decided to let this one live. I had my mind set on a Halibut. And with the storm in Baja and the dove opener tomorrow, I didn't know if this would be the last summer dive. It had been about 15 minutes, and I was starting to get cold. So I slowly start heading back and I see a hole filled with lobsters. And out of the corner of my eye I see a large mound in the sand. I get up for a closer look and it's a Halibut! Just looking at the size of his head, I knew he was big. But I look for the tail to double check. Yep, he's legal. So I take the shot. I hit him just below the top of the gills and hit him through the gills and spine. He swam in two very small circles and then he stopped moving. So, I grab him and make sure he's not goin' anywhere. It took me a whole summer to get this fish! I'm stoked, and I felt like a stud carrying down the beach . It measured 27in. and weighed just over 8lbs.

Oh, and I shot it with the gun I made!

New Ocean Camo Monofin

2009-11-03T13:04:00.004+02:00

Here is the picture of the fiber composite Ocean Camo Monofin that I built last week, it turned out great, nice and light.

Mozambique Queenfish

2009-11-02T13:10:00.001+02:00

A clip of a 12kg Queenfish that I speared during July in Mozambique.

Diving Galjoen

2009-10-30T14:44:00.005+02:00

A short video of some galjoen footage that I shot during our Cape '09 winter season.

Picasso gear

2009-10-21T14:01:00.011+02:00

We are now supplying the full range of Picasso gear - contact us for more details at info@spierre.com

To download the complete Picasso 2009 catalogue click here - download Picasso catalogue

We are now stocking the Freedom7 Shark Shields

2009-10-19T14:51:00.008+02:00

The Shark Shield Freedom7 is a compact, versatile and light-weight personal shark deterrent system which allows you to explore and enjoy the oceans without fear. It's designed for spear fishing as well as swimming, scuba, snorkelling and surfing. The unit is fitted to the ankle region with the supplied neoprene and Velcro pouch. Contents include:

- Shark Shield unit (with enclosed battery); - 2.2m antenna;
- Velcro pouch;
- Universal Charger (will suit any voltage or frequency).

Exclusion Zone: 3-5m Radius from centre of antenna In water weight (Complete): 69 grams (2.4oz) Unit Operating Time: 6-7 hours The unit incorporates a velcro pouch, that is attached to the ankle region and 2.2m flexible mesh antenna. Once the antenna is submerged in salt water the electrodes emit the protective field.

The antenna has been designed to cause minimum of water resistance and drag on the user.

Shark Shield's unique wave form elliptical field only affects free swimming sharks and to a minor degree rays and skates. The field generated by the Shark Shield is detected by the shark through its sensory receptors known as Ampullae of Lorenzini, situated on the snout of all predatory sharks. The unique and unfamiliar pulsing sensation emitted by the Shark Shield does not replicate that given off by a fish and does not attract sharks to an area. Shark Shield allows you to hunt, photograph or just swim with all other marine animals roaming freely in their ocean settings.

To order your Shark Shield contact us - info@spierre.com

Gyula & Blue Grouper Down-Under

2009-10-14T09:45:00.005+02:00

Our Spearfishing National Team Captain of 2008 World's, Gyula Plaganyi, with a nice Blue Grouper shot in Western Australia while diving with his Spierre Pure Carbons.

Yellowtail dive

2009-09-25T17:25:00.007+02:00

Had a really nice yellowtail dive yesterday at the Island, the water was a beautiful 15-20m viz and the yellowtail plentiful. It was an awesome dive amongst large schools of fish, I took some guys out who are relatively new to spearfishing and they each managed to shoot and land some nice fish - a great dive overall with some tired but happy divers at the end of the day. I also saw a school of slender tuna who came in to have a look at my Rob Allen spinning flasher a couple of times - a beautiful sight in the clean water! I took the opportunity to do some test dives with a new carbon blade design and I was pleased with the results, just need to do a few minor adjustments to perfect it. I could unfortunately not take the underwater camera with on this trip but look forward to shooting some good yellowtail footage in the near future.

GT dreams

2009-09-09T14:40:00.006+02:00

Our Cape weather has stayed consistently poor for spearfishing, apart from quick dives @ Cape Point we've had an occasional day in between cold fronts at the island but nothing spectacular. In the meantime I've kept busy with designing new products and further refining a couple of favorites. I'll be posting more info. about these soon and until then here's a short clip of the 43kg GT shot by Pieter Scholtz in Mozambique mid July.

Reef Camo blades - 251lb Yellowfin Tuna

2009-08-14T09:56:00.008+02:00

Colin Chester with an impressive 251lb (113.85kg) yellowfin tuna including some nice pics of the Reef Camo fiberglass blades in action.

Mozambique July 2009

2009-08-03T10:20:00.029+02:00

Just returned from a trip to Mozambique where we had warm weather conditions with a few cold fronts passing from the South that affected our weather during the first few days. After they passed we had some excellent diving with 15 - 25m vizibility being the norm and water temperatures of 23-24deg. We dived two good reefs coming up from 35 to 15meters which attracted some nice game fish - on our second day out Michael shot a 31kg saily and I managed to get a 20kg couta. The next day I got a nice 14kg wahoo and during our stay we managed to shoot a number of very nice fish such as good size Kaakap of up to 9kg and a number of nice size coutas and other Kingfish. I also shot a nice 12kg Queenfish and on our last day at sea Pieter got an impressive 43kg Ignoblis Kingfish! (clip to follow). Overall it was a fantastic trip, great to escape the cold Cape winter and dive in some idyllic conditions with whale sharks, manta rays and a warm laid-back lifestyle and excellent hospitality and friendship on land. Can't wait for my next trip!

Winter down South

2009-07-01T21:08:00.002+02:00

It's cold in the Cape and I'm heading off in search of some warmer waters. Trip report and pics to follow.

Galjoen target

2009-06-23T15:22:00.007+02:00

Danielle spearing her first fish - a nice size galjoen!

Dassen catch

2009-06-13T14:20:00.000+02:00

Some more yellowtail caught at Dassen recently.

West Coast Cob

2009-05-29T13:06:00.002+02:00

Shot a 7.5kg surprise cob on the West Coast a short while ago, the water was between 12 - 14deg, not normally the kind of water temperature they favor. It appeared while I was lying on the bottom waiting for a galjoen to come in and I managed to stone it with a head shot.

Spierre Pure Carbons at the Alphard Banks

2009-05-14T09:18:00.006+02:00

Here is some nice footage shot by James Loudon of myself hunting yellowtail at the Alphard Banks off Struisbaai, South Africa in January. You can see the Pure Carbon's action quite nicely in the video.

Spinning for Yellowtail

2009-05-13T15:26:00.006+02:00

A short clip of a good catch of yellowtail by AD and myself yesterday. We managed to get our full quota.

SA Nationals - Individual's Results

2009-05-08T10:38:00.003+02:00

Below are the individual results for the South African National spearfishing competition held on the Natal South Coast this week (5-8 May). We are happy to see how many of the top 25 divers are diving with Spierre fins, 5 of them placing in the top 10.

Well done to Brod and Gyula for taking 1st and 2nd place.

		Day 1	Day 2	Total	%
1	Brod Whittaker	36.81	69.55	106.36	100%	Spierre Fins
2	Gyula Plaganyi	43.42	56.8	100.22	94.23%	Spierre Fins
3	James Lawson-Smith	38.8	55.95	94.75	89.08%
4	Adriaan Kriel	47.73	44.65	92.38	86.86%	Spierre Fins
5	Angelo Spada	39	48	87	81.80%
6	Craig Heslop	41.02	44.6	85.62	80.50%
7	Neil Barnard	46.58	35.6	82.18	77.27%	Spierre Fins
8	Fred Bester	35.66	39.7	75.36	70.85%	Spierre Fins
9	John Girzda	38.49	36.5	74.99	70.51%
10	Richard Bruno	38.17	28.85	67.02	63.01%
11	Graham Carlisle	39.74	25.5	65.24	61.34%
12	Renier Coetzee	32.82	29.7	62.52	58.78%
13	Jeremy Williams	23.27	38.8	62.07	58.36%
14	Robert Reynolds	25.76	35.3	61.06	57.41%
15	Andrew Henwwood	18.21	40	58.21	54.73%	Spierre Fins
16	Chris West	26.87	30.45	57.32	53.89%
17	Garrick Morris	22.61	34.7	57.31	53.88%
18	Brent Borstlap	41.73	14.8	56.53	53.15%	Spierre Fins
19	Tony Heugh	30.99	25.35	56.34	52.97%
20	Garret Staats	26.82	26.15	52.97	49.80%	Spierre Fins
21	Carl Werner	22.66	27.7	50.36	47.35%
22	Rob Willes	21.58	26.1	47.68	44.83%
23	Sean O'Connor	17.09	29.4	46.49	43.71%
24	Ian Ewing	22.72	23.65	46.37	43.60%	Spierre Fins
25	Chris Swart	21.15	23.9	45.05	42.36%	Spierre Fins
26	Rick de Vries	21.96	22.15	44.11	41.47%
27	Bartho Kotze	22.34	15.55	37.89	35.62%
28	Owen Huxtable	9.73	27	36.73	34.53%
29	Greg Bisset	23.45	11.85	35.3	33.19%
30	Simon Karsten	26.65	6.65	33.3	31.31%
31	Eugene van Wyngaardt	15.57	13.4	28.97	27.24%
32	Paul Putter	16.2	12.75	28.95	27.22%
33	Hylton Newcombe	10.17	16.2	26.37	24.79%
34	Trevor Burger	16.55	9.78	26.33	24.76%
35	Hardus Bouwer	5.74	18.85	24.59	23.12%
36	Darryl Hiscock	11.91	8.75	20.66	19.42%
37	Christo Vermeulen	16.41	4	20.41	19.19%
38	John Little	12.9	5.6	18.5	17.39%
39	Craig Burmeister	4.94	10.85	15.79	14.85%
40	Dane Salmon	2.77	12.5	15.27	14.36%
41	Glen van Ooten	2.42	12.55	14.97	14.07%
42	Dave Coetzee	3.1	11.2	14.3	13.44%
43	Terrance Bellingan	2.15	12	14.15	13.30%
44	Andrew Kallman	3.11	8.9	12.01	11.29%
45	Shane Strong	2.33	6.3	8.63	8.11%
46	Stuart Jardine	7.78	0	7.78	7.31%
47	S Aiken	6.55	0	6.55	6.16%
48	Fred Snyman	3.54	2.05	5.59	5.26%
49	Grant Teubes	2.41	2.6	5.01	4.71%
50	John Kallman	0	1.95	1.95	1.83%

underwater camera

2009-05-04T22:03:00.003+02:00

I just received a new underwater camera and tried it out in the kelp on some local galjoen. check
the clip below.Tomorrow I'll try get some yellowtail footage.

Two garrick in one

2009-04-28T12:10:00.006+02:00

Marc White sent a clip of a friend of his who shot two garrick with one shot at Cape St Francis (with his RA gun).

20.8kg Amberjack

2009-04-23T10:05:00.005+02:00

Some nice shots of a 20.8kg amberjack shot by Eyal, our distributor in Israel.

2009 Hottieshoot at Paternoster

2009-04-19T17:57:00.000+02:00

This year's Hottieshoot took place on 18 Apr at Paternoster on the Cape West Coast. Freezing conditions and low viz didn't deter the close to 50 entrants of this popular competition. Early morning west coast mist delayed the start of the comp by ± 2 hrs and it stayed misty for most of the day. Diving in these conditions requires at least a 7mm suit and although hunting for hottentot is perhaps not as high adrenaline as game fish hunting, it's every bit as competitive and enjoyable.

The fish were scarce all round, the divers who dived just before you enter the islands did the best, most of the top 10 finding their bags of fish in this area. The rest who headed out amongst the islands mostly did not fare as well but it was still a great day and enjoyed by all.

The informal atomosphere at the prize-giving went down well, it was a beautiful windless evening at the camping site where the guys stayed and the prizes were well sponsored. Well done to Riaan Theron who chose a pair of Spierre fiberglass camo blades as his 1st prize and to the Hugenote Club for organising an enjoyable comp.

Skipskop – Arniston

2009-03-03T23:00:00.007+02:00

Erik Lombard and myself headed up last night to Arniston to join Gavin Hau and well-known big wave rider Pierre de Villiers for a days diving at Skipskop having received reports of some nice yellowtail and cob being shot there over the weekend. There was a light westerly blowing, the sea was quite dirty on the inshore but the closer we went to the banks it became progressively cleaner. The viz though was only about though 6-7m which is quite scary for this area (whites). Erik was first in the water and on his first dive down he shot a 14kg yellowtail. The ice being broken and despite the less desirable viz we continued diving and I shot 3 nice size yellowtail. Gavin also landed a nice fish.

On our last drift of the day, while I was at the bottom I noticed a large great white approaching me from the right, I immediately turned and headed for the surface while watching to see if he was following me up. On my way up I saw that Pierre de Villiers was busy fighting a nice size cob, luckily the boat was already there to pick his fish up and I hopped in. The white came and made a turn at Pierre’s cob but moved off again. The cob weighed 15.7kg, needless to say Pierre was very chuffed with his fish.

We ended the day with 6 big yellowtail between 11-14kg and 1 great cob.

Bonito Open – Stilbaai

2009-02-28T11:43:00.000+02:00

The weather predictions in the week running up to the Bonito Open comp held in Stilbaai were looking as if they could go either way; the predictions for Saturday were not looking too good for the morning but each day closer to the weekend looked progressively better. The morning of the comp looked excellent, divers had been out the previous day to scout the area and Russell Warren had shot a 16kg and 9kg poenskoep so things looked promising for the comp. The conditions on the day were windless, there was very little swell and the viz was a good 10m on the inside. The boats gathered at Morris Point just outside the harbour at 07:00am for the start. Just before we left the area we noticed some birds working and signs of fish breaking the surface of the water, jumping in a school of bonito came through and I shot my first weigher.

We continued further up towards Jongensfontein to look at one or two areas that we had scouted the previous day. Most of our dives were in 8-12m depths but we found most of our fish in the 8m range. I had just shot and lost a nice red roman and had just reloaded and dived down looking for another nice weigher when I saw the silhouette of a lone yellowtail approaching just off the bottom. It first turned away when he saw me and then turned back towards me and I managed to give it a nice spine shot. When I swam up to the fish and grabbed it I saw that the barb had not exited on the other side so I could have easily lost it. A little later in the same area a nice size musselcracker of about 9kg swam straight up to me and just as I pulled the trigger he turned while my spear just harmlessly bounced off his thick head. I found another school of yellowtail nearby and managed to shoot another fish of about 6kg. At the weigh-in some nice fish were weighed in amongst others a 17kg poensie by Renier Coetzee. My friend Morné who has very recently started diving managed to win the doppie prize (beginner prize) with his first parrot fish – a nice Rob Allen1.3m tuna speargun!

James Lawson-Smith took first place and chose a pair of Spierre pure carbons as his prize, the top 6 divers in the comp are now all using Spierre blades!

James with his prize of pure carbon blades

Morné receiving his Rob Allen prize from Russell Warren

Mozambique spearing

2009-02-17T19:30:00.003+02:00

A nice pic of Pieter Scholtz taken during his Dec trip to Mozambique

Gletwyn's pure carbon review

2009-02-04T15:52:00.003+02:00

We built a pair of pure carbons for SA Springbok spearo Gletwyn Rubidge in July last year. Click the link below to his blog site to read his review written after diving with his blades for a couple of months.

southafricaspearfishing.blogspot.com/

Some great Brazilian catches with our Pure Carbons

2009-01-23T19:54:00.005+02:00

Chris pictured below with an impressive catch

Yellowtail @ the Alphard Banks

2009-01-20T11:14:00.011+02:00

Friday morning saw Eric and myself sitting at 04:00am with our kit on the dockside at Struisbaai waiting for our lift to where the 42 foot Mac Diver lay on its mooring. The reports from other divers who had been to the Alphard Banks the previous week was that the water was dirty and we were hoping that the blue water entering the bay for the first time in months would mean that the deeper reefs would be clean.

Apart from myself the divers were Gavin (the skipper), his son Chris, Eric and James. On the way out to the banks Eric caught up on some sleep after having left Cape Town at 12:30am. After a two and 1/2 hour trip at 22 knots covering 42 miles we arrived at the Alphard Banks to find the water a nice blue with around 15-20m viz. and a light South Wester blowing the whole day. There were quite a few whales around the pinnacle area to greet us on arrival. The reef rises from the deep to a large area of 15-20m depth.

At first there were no yellowtail to be seen on the shallow pinnacles and then James spotted some after a few dives. I dived down to be greeted by a large school of yellowtail, with a couple of big ones in between. I managed to shoot a nice fish of around 11kg with my 1.4m Rob Allen reelgun with 2x 16mm's and 1.9m 7mm spear. The ice was broken and we continuously landed fish throughout the dive with Gavin, James, Eric and myself each managing to shoot some nice fish with quite a few between 10 and 14kg. We headed back to the harbour around 13:00 as it was still a long run back to land. An amazing day's diving, the kind you won't easily forget.

Yellowtail at last!

2009-01-05T10:21:00.002+02:00

The weather has turned and it looks as if we're in for a week of flat water and very little wind on the West Coast. Saturday we managed to get 4 yellowtail (the largest was over 6kg) and a couple of bream, the water was still murky in places but the cleaner water seems to be moving in from the deep.

Whale watching :)

2008-12-28T09:28:00.004+02:00

We went to check for fish at Dassen Island yesterday, more just to get away from it all and into the water. The weather conditions at the island were perfect with glassy seas and the wind that was predicted not arriving. The water though is cold (12.3deg) and the visibility is poor - I only saw only a few small hottentots (bream). There are a number of whales around the island at the moment and we enjoyed the whale watching.

Pure Carbons and Cubera Snappers

2008-12-18T12:34:00.003+02:00

A nice pic of Chris with cubera snappers - 18kg and 35kg.

Weather blues

2008-12-15T12:20:00.000+02:00

We're still waiting for the winds to die down and the water to clean up, especially on our Cape East coast where we normally head this time of year for blue water and large schools of gamefish on the deeper reefs while the shallower reefs are abundant with bottom fish with the occasional bonus of a gamefish coming through. Late last week I spoke to my friend who lives on the east coast,he has been diving this area extensively for the past ± 20 years and we recalled how December time was normally the begining of clear water on the banks and other reefs, this pattern seems to have changed the past 10 years with the 'wrong' winds blowing longer and longer into the season. At this stage we're living on memories of schools of fish turning around us in purple blue waters with large shapes that bear the promise of the fight of your life swimming in between. As soon as the light is green we're heading out and the waiting will be over, in the meantime we'll keep the spearfishing dvd's playing and once again check that the equipment is ready :)

Putting some new equipment to good use

2008-12-06T18:00:00.002+02:00

Not much happening on the spearing side on the west coast, the water is dirty and cold here at the moment so I headed out to Rooi Els with my dad for a crayfish dive yesterday. Conditions were fair (about 4m viz) and we managed to get our quotas relatively quickly with a strong South Easter blowing.

Morné, Neil and Rob headed out to an undisclosed spot where they had clean water (± 15) and a really enjoyable dive shooting some nice hottentots (bream). Morné took his new Rob Allen 1.2m Caranx with to test and according to him it was deadly accurate. He also found his Scorpio perfect for maneuvering in the kelp beds - the right speargun for that type of hunting, it enabled him to shoot his biggest hottentot to date. Neil and Rob also cleaned up amongst the fish.

New Spierre Brown Camo fiber composite blades

2008-12-03T08:13:00.003+02:00

We've just added another camo design to our kelp camo range of fiber composite blades, I'm believing this will prove to be an excellent camouflage when hunting the brown kelp/weed forests. I've had some really good feedback from the guys diving our composite blades some of them going down to 32m on the 5 mile banks at Struisbaai with their blades, Ryan showed me his set of kelp camo blades that he's been diving with for over a year and he has put them through some hard dives including diving for sea cucumbers against strong currents the Coral Sea where his fins worked very well for him. It's really good to hear about the fins performing well for the guys diving them, it makes up for the many challenges faced working with epoxy resins, getting a good finish just being one of them.

December looks as though it's going to be a busy month for us on the blade manufacturing side, I'm just hoping the east coast starts to clear up so that we can get even just a day trip in sometime soon.

Kitted out with a Rob Allen Caranx

2008-12-02T22:05:00.004+02:00

We rigged up a new Rob Allen 1.2 Caranx today for Morne, adding one of the RA nylon re-inforced reels with dyneema line to the gun as well. I was reminded when I gave Morne his gun of myself as a relatively new spearo, not being able to afford the then expensive Omer and Picasso guns - looking longingly at the equipment and then nursing my old Champion handles to last a few more years and sanding down my rusted spears. Starting out spearing with an excellent gun like Rob Allen's Caranx is really a pleasure and when the long-awaited clean water and good conditions finally kick-in I'm sure we'll soon see some great fish being shot by Morne with his new gun.

West Coast crayfish dives

2008-11-29T09:00:00.007+02:00

Crayfish season on the Cape west coast is in full swing and the conditions were favourable during the past 2 weeks allowing some good days for diving. Some nice size crayfish came out at Melkbos and my dad (at 75) dived out one on the West Coast of 1.5kg (pictured above held by my daughter). The water has now turned so hopefully we get some good water again next week. The nice thing about crayfish diving is it keeps one fit for spearfishing.

Spearfishing Worlds - Venezuela

2008-10-31T21:34:00.000+02:00

What a controversial ending to the South African team's 2008 world championships in Venezuela! After all the personal sacrifices and time and money invested so that the team could compete and represent our country, to be disqualified from 2nd position overall as individual and at least 5th position overall for the team - a decision based on the testimony of one Chilean competitor without any appeal or hearing granted. Well done to our team for having such a good attitude despite the huge disappointment and to Jaco for going back to compete on the 2nd day, achieving 14th position overall without a score for day 1! Read the full report by team member Mark Jackson on the www.saspearoranking.co.za forum posts.

The pics of Gyula and his carbons were taken during scouting in Venezuela - apparently the various teams at Worlds tested each other’s equipment and according to the SA team our pure carbon blades came out tops above the other brands. Our whole team ended up returning to SA minus their fins after selling them to the other competitors!

Stretching the boundaries

2008-10-22T22:36:00.003+02:00

Yesterday saw Trevor Hutton, Piet Zietsman, Dirk and myself heading out to Oudekraal for a quick training dive for Piet & Dirk, the water was dirty and I'd pulled a muscle while running earlier the same morning and decided to rest so I observed Trevor actively coaching the two divers, from the side. I found myself thinking that although teaching is an intagible transfer of skills it's really hard work and I could see Trevor continously interacting and training them during the dive.

Leaving Oudekraal we headed to Sea Point pool where we did some preparation for today's dive at Blue Rock quarry.

Arriving at Blue Rock we suited up while Trevor shared some further words of instruction, starting at the 26m part of the quarry. My first descent was to 22m meters as a warm-up attempt, next I went down to 26m comfortably with some time spent at the bottom. The water was quite cold down there, about 15deg, and dirty - only about 2-3m viz. we then moved to the 30m mark, I went first going down to 27m but turned just short of 30m as the water became pitch black ahead of me .I tried again awhile later and again went to 27m. Next time I'll take a torch with just to overcome the psycological barrier of diving into the unknown. Overall it was an exhilirating feeling to pass the 16m depths that we normally dive in, I had a sensation of pressure on my chest but Trevor explained that it should disappear in future as my chest gets used to the pressure. I was also diving an old very soft pair of fins and would definitely take some of my latest pure carbons next time. Piet Zietsman managed to make a dive to 30m with 20 seconds to spare at the bottom, using a demo pair of our pure carbons. Dirk also managed to reach 30m. I'm looking forward to my next attempt with Trevor for the 30m mark!

For Trevor's version of the dive - http://trevorhutton.blogspot.com