0309_OilRigDivers_final.qxp_0114:Feature 1/15/09 9:56 AM Page 50

Ready,

If a shark doesn’t kill you, shallow-water blackout or a giant propeller might. But the spearfishermen free - the oil rigs off Louisiana’s coast don’t let that get Aim, in the way of the hunt for fresh . By Thayer Walker Sushi. 0309_OilRigDivers_final.qxp_0113:Feature 1/13/09 11:02 AM Page 51

Photographs by D.J. Struntz

Craig Clasen battles an aggressive 12-foot tiger shark; left, grabbing some air. 0309_OilRigDivers_final.qxp_0113:Feature 1/13/09 11:02 AM Page 52

FROM THE SURFACE, the oil platform As the crew prepared to leave, a third man, compelled him to finish the job. But evolution Medusa appears an unlikely hole. The filmmaker Ryan McInnis, became distracted designed these masterfully—big rig, a tight weave of steel girders supporting filming a playful pair of squid at the surface, body, small brain—and Clasen couldn’t cranes, a helipad, and the roughnecks who 150 feet from the boat. When he turned “stone” the shark, despite shooting it several run it, rests atop a narrow support pillar like a around, the 33-year-old McInnis saw a 12- more times. Every time he approached the giant industrial lollipop. Thirty-six miles foot tiger shark, drawn by a perfume of bloody fish underwater, it would snap violently to south of the ’s mouth, off the chum. The shark charged. Armed with only life, until finally he took a deep breath of air, coast of Louisiana, in more than 2,200 feet of his video camera, McInnis knew he had to do swam down to 40 feet, slid under its belly, and water, Medusa extracts up to 40,000 barrels something, so he pressed RECORD. The shark wrestled the shark to the surface by its pec- of crude oil and 110 million cubic feet of natu- veered away just a foot from him and began to toral fins. “I had to bear-hug it to keep it from Fral gas every day. In one of nature’s ironic circle. McInnis yelled for the boat. biting my head off,” Clasen recalls. Kirkcon- twists, this floating monolith doubles as a With a tangle of lines hanging off the nell threw him a rope, which he lassoed thriving, vertical coral , which is precise- stern, Kirkconnell couldn’t immediately around the shark’s tail. They dragged it be- ly the reason that Craig Clasen and Cameron speed over to McInnis. Clasen (nickname: hind the boat until it drowned. Kirkconnell motored a crew out there one “Ragin’ Cajun”), still in the water and with A somber mood fell over the men. “I want sunny day last June. just seconds to act, swam toward his friend, to be very clear,” Clasen said remorsefully. As two of the world’s best spearfishermen, in hand. “That was not a proud kill for me, but I didn’t Clasen and Kirkconnell, both 32, are famous By the time Clasen reached McInnis, the have a choice. She was just being a shark.” in diving circles for spearing fish the size of shark had tightened its circle, and the men The men eat what they kill, so they cut a fil- offensive linemen. But unlike many of their couldn’t reach the boat and fend off the pred- let off the tiger and ate it sashimi style. It tast- peers who hunt using scuba gear, Clasen and ator simultaneously. Clasen has spent much ed like oatmeal with rubber bands in it. “It Kirkconnell are freedivers. In one of the of his life harmoniously with was terrible,” Clasen recalls. purest, most physically challenging forms of sharks, but this one had a different feel. After hearing about the story from photog- hunting, the men dive to 100 feet on a single “Every bone in my body was telling me that rapher D.J. Struntz, who was in the water breath for two minutes or more, a discipline this shark was up there to feed,” says Clasen. when it happened, I gave Clasen a call. “A lot Kirkconnell describes as “calculated insanity.” Tigers are swimming garbage disposals— of people don’t understand what we do,” he After hours of yo-yoing through the water they’ve been known to swallow turtles said. “They’re going to think I’ve lost my column at Medusa, the men had a large cooler and old tires whole. When the shark made a mind. But this is not Disneyland. You come on stocked with an Audubon guide of : move toward the men, Clasen shot it through down here. We’ll show you.” , tuna, dorado. They planned on eating the gills. well that night. Everything was going accord- It was a devastating blow but not lethal, THERE’S HARDLY a more egalitarian sport ing to plan, until suddenly it wasn’t. and the hunter’s code that governs Clasen than : Trudge into the water, put on

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From far left, Clasen hunts in sargassum weed; Clasen and Kirk- connell near an oil rig in the Gulf; Clasen eyeing wahoo.

runs the risk of becoming ground beef in a A somber mood fell over the men. “I want giant propeller. In 2007, 41-year-old former to be very clear,” Clasen said remorsefully. Navy SEAL James Martin drowned after shooting a big fish, which slammed him “That was not a proud kill for me, but I didn’t against the rig and knocked him unconscious. have a choice. She was just being a shark.” People have been “diving the rigs” for decades—it’s legal, and the roughnecks and divers have forged a peaceful coexistence. a dive mask, take a big breath, and kick to- blackout. Intermediate divers are often Clasen, a fifth-generation New Orleans resi- ward the bottom. Yet rarely is it that simple, skilled enough to dive deep and stay down dent, began when he was 16. At six foot two, and in recent years the sport has developed a for extended periods, but they can lack the he’s built like a tank and speaks with an aw- nasty habit of killing its stars. lung capacity to complete the round-trip. shucks southern drawl that belies the fact In 2002, 28-year-old Frenchwoman They are the ones most likely to black out that he’s been successful at nearly everything died while attempting a “no during ascent and drown. But even experts he’s done. limits” free diving world record in the can get into trouble. In 2004, champion At Isidore Newman School, Clasen was an Dominican Republic. A weighted sled pulled Hawaiian Gene Higa all-state linebacker, and his senior year he be- her to 561 feet, but the balloon meant to shoot drowned off Oahu, likely as a result of came co-captain, taking over for a quarter- her to the surface never fully inflated, and she shallow-water blackout. back by the name of Peyton Manning. After drowned. In 2007, former world champion On the oil platforms, blackout is but one of graduating from the U.S. Merchant Marine Loïc Leferme, also from , died during a myriad dangers. The structures Clasen and Academy, at Kings Point, New York (where he no-limits dive to the same depth. While the Kirkconnell prefer sit in hundreds, if not met Kirkconnell), he fulfilled his military world’s best freediving spearfishermen don’t thousands, of feet of water, where strong cur- service by piloting supply ships to Kuwait in use sleds or balloons or go anywhere near rents can yank a diver toward . Sharks the early days of the Iraq war. Today he lives in those depths, they nevertheless account for are an omnipresent threat, as is falling debris a slick French Quarter bachelor pad and, like most of the sport’s fatalities. from the platforms hundreds of feet above. his father and grandfather before him, is a Shallow-water blackout is the main cul- The quarry itself can also kill. A line con- Mississippi River pilot, one of the most cov- prit. As the lungs compress under nects the spear to the gun’s barrel, and even a eted jobs on the water. at depth, they push into the blood 30-pound fish, when shot, can tie a diver in Kirkconnell, six-three, brash, and outspo- and tissues. When a diver ascends, however, Boy Scout knots around a pylon in seconds. ken, with thick, unkempt brown hair, holds expanding lungs suck oxygen out of the Then, of course, there’s the structural engi- five world records, including bloodstream and tissues, increasing the neering to consider. Thrusters power some a 201-pound dogtooth tuna—a ferocious, chances of extreme oxygen deficiency and platforms, and a diver who swims too close rocket-fast deep-water continued on page 92

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OIL RIG DIVERS continued from page 53 Kirkconnell with a 20- fish widely considered the sport’s most diffi- pound red snapper cult quarry—he shot in . He’s li- censed to captain just about anything that floats, and recently he’s been working on bulk carriers as a first mate, spending months at a time crossing oceans. During downtime at sea, he stays in shape by running a ship’s 14 stories while holding his breath. I’m a longtime surfer and dive master, but I held no illusions of keeping up with these guys. I hoped just to stay within sight. To that end, two weeks before meeting Clasen and Kirkconnell, I took a four-day course in Mon- terey, California, with Performance Freediv- ing. Instructor Kirk Krack established the importance of proper training early on, when he asked the class, “What other sports do you know, besides spearfishing, that [annually] will have 40 to 50 fatalities in such a small group, except competitive Russian roulette?” By the end of the first day, Krack and his wife, seven-time freediving world-record holder Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, had taught me to extend my feeble 90-second breath hold to three and a half minutes, facedown in a pool. On the last day, I dove to 82 feet in Monterey Bay. The trick, as Krack had ex- OO plained, was mental. Every time I passed the two-minute mark in the pool, my diaphragm His tone carries more exasperation than fear, For more of D.J. Struntz’s photos, and to see video of filmmaker Ryan McInnis’s close encounter with a tiger spasmed in an effort to stimulate . It as if he were speaking about an obnoxious shark, go to outsideonline.com/spearfishermen felt like a mix between severe hiccups and uncle that occasionally visits. “We’ll dive someone trying to rip out my trachea, but this hard today and tomorrow,” he says. Dorados are brilliant in coloring if not intel- was simply a natural reaction to the buildup The 3,800-plus production platforms that lect; because of their rich sunshine hue, they of carbon dioxide, not a dearth of oxygen. pincushion the Gulf of Mexico face a constant were named after the Spanish word for “gold- Even as my body began to twitch after three threat from hurricanes. In 2005, the most en” and are known for a Technicolor display minutes, I still had enough oxygen to contin- damaging season in the Gulf oil fields, Katrina of green, blue, and yellow as they expire. It’s ue, as long as I could disregard the physical and Rita destroyed 108 structures and caused morbidly stunning, in a smoggy Los Angeles discomfort. Still, Krack warned, it’s not a more than 7.1 million gallons of oil to spill sunset kind of way. They’re even better sensation to ignore for too long. across southeast Louisiana. Still, Clasen, like known as damn good eating, and as Head many Gulf residents, accepts this of hauls the first catch of the day into the boat, ACCESSIBLE ONLY BY BOAT, Pilottown, disaster as routine. Kirkconnell says, “Well, we have dinner.” Louisiana, has been used by river pilots for When we stop at our first platform, 20 or Thanks to the heavy flow of nutrients more than a century as a base to meet ships so miles offshore, I ask Clasen if he knows its flushed into the Gulf by the Mississippi, heading up or down the Mississippi. The ro- name. Louisiana waters are at the epicenter of dents come beagle-size, and the mosquitoes, “Yup,” he replies tersely, ending that line what’s called the Fertile Crescent, an area of as locals say, are big enough to stand on two of questioning. These platforms stand hun- consistent and exceptional productivity. Sec- legs and stare a turkey in the eye. “It ain’t the dreds of feet above the water, are visible ond only to Alaska, Louisiana brings in about Four Seasons,” says Clasen. from miles away, and are owned by the likes 12 percent of the country’s annual catch and But since it’s fewer than two miles from the of Shell and Exxon, but still Clasen treats $271 million a year in revenue. Certain , mouth of the Mississippi, it’s the best place them as closely guarded secrets. “I don’t let like the near-shore red snapper, suffer from to start a trip to the rigs, which is why Clasen my friends take GPS’s on the boat,” he says. overfishing, in part because they are victims still keeps the island’s last privately owned After catching a few (a blue, leop- of bycatch, caught in shrimp nets. As the cabin. Thirty-year-old Brian Head has joined ard-spotted relative of the tuna) for chum dorado, a healthy fish stock, sits on ice in the Clasen, Kirkconnell, and me on this humid with a rod and reel, we continue deeper into boat, Kirkconnell is quick to point out that August evening, and under the harsh glare the Gulf. Anything that floats—plastic spearfishing is the most sustainable form of of exposed lightbulbs, they are making a buckets, driftwood, trash—can create a fishing, because every is taken with “flasher,” a cluster of reflective objects thriving if temporary ecosystem. We pass a intent, eliminating bycatch. meant to attract fish. few small patches of sargassum, open-ocean As we approach a cluster of rigs, an explo- We leave at six in the morning. Clasen stops seaweed that can form giant floral rafts. sion of mist appears above the water. in at Pilottown’s HQ to check the status of Kirkconnell and Head clamor into the water “Is that a sperm whale?” asks Kirkconnell, Hurricane Gustav, which has already ham- carrying a camera and speargun, respective- squinting his tight almond-sliver eyes. He mered Haiti. “The hurricane is heading right ly, swim right up to a dorado as if asking for instantly recognizes the giant by the shape towards us,” he says while we load the boat. directions, and bury a shaft behind its gills. of its spout and grabs his mask and camera,

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preparing to film the world’s largest toothy and came away with a 580-pounder. whale. “I hope that’s not a sperm whale.” The bigeye Clasen just spotted is legal to “Why, what do sperm whales eat?” asks hunt, and there’s not a second to waste. Foufs!Opx Head. Clasen and Head quickly add a pair of buoys GPS!ZPVS!DIBODF “You mean besides giant squid?” I reply, to the two already clipped to the gun by a long recalling that these leviathans inspired the cord. The extra floats will help them track the UP!XJO!2!PG!4!QSJ[FT monster Moby-Dick. The whale exhaled fish from the surface if the quarry runs after GSPN FVLBOVCB© again, spout hanging heavily in the air like being hit. Kirkconnell furiously cuts the ! ! © my question. bonito for chum. “I’ll turn this boat into a BOE!SVGG!XFBS/ “Yup, that’s a sperm whale,” says Kirkcon- processing plant,” he promises, throwing nell as he rolls into the water. slider-steak-size chunks of meat into the water. Clasen spends several minutes hang- THE WHALE DISAPPEARS before Kirk- ing off the stern, taking slow, deep breaths, connell gets close, but it’s clear that this then slides into the and disappears. area draws very large animals. After 30 Forty-five seconds later, Clasen’s buoy minutes of , Clasen swims to rises like a big orange exclamation point, sig- the boat and says quietly, “We’re going to naling that he’s stretched out his 100-foot need more chum.” bungee line. “This is when I worry about Kirkconnell, a flurry of energy, launches him,” Kirkconnell says. He knows all too well Ruff Wear Palisades Pack™ out of the water, over the gunwale, and how quickly things can go wrong. MSRP $124.95 into the boat. “What?! What did you see?” Last July, Kirkconnell went diving 70 miles he cries. off the west coast of Florida with Steve Ben- “Tuna,” Clasen says. “Six feet long. nett, a 20-year-old University of Florida stu- Three or four hundred pounds.” A claim dent. Bennett suffered a shallow-water like that would normally warrant skepti- blackout on his way up from 75 feet, and by cism, but Clasen knows big fish as well as the time Kirkconnell saw him plummeting to he knows these waters. He says it’s likely a the bottom, Bennett was out of reach. Kirk- . connell aimed his speargun at Bennett’s thigh Tuna are these spearfishermen’s dream in hopes of burying the shaft in his friend’s leg catch. The bluefin is the real king, a 15-foot, and pulling him to the surface, but he couldn’t 1,500-pound torpedo that can hit speeds of get a clear shot, so he aimed for the fiberglass 60 miles per hour. In 2001, a bluefin fetched blade of Bennett’s fin. Miraculously, it held, more than $173,000 at a Japanese fish mar- but by the time Kirkconnell pulled Bennett to ket, and voracious demand drives unsus- the surface, he’d already been underwater for WJTJU tainable levels of global fishing. According to four minutes. His face had turned blue, and the National Marine Service, the he bled from every orifice in his head. Kirk- PVUTJEFJOGP/DPN U.S. stocks—which spawn in the Gulf of connell began CPR, and a Coast Guard heli- UP!FOUFS Mexico—are overfished. In 2007, the indus- copter flew Bennett to the hospital. He made try could land less than 15 percent of its a full recovery, and after five days the hospi- To celebrate 40 years of making good dogs quota. Even so, commercial and recreational tal released him. “Cameron is a hero,” lauds great with the best in nutrition, Eukanuba take of bluefin continues, though spearfish- Bennett, who went diving a few weeks later. premium dog is giving each of three ermen are prohibited from hunting the ani- “That was the best shot of my life,” says winners new Ruff Wear products that make mal in the Atlantic and the Gulf. Clasen had Kirkconnell. fun in the great outdoors with your furry to fly to New Zealand in 2007 to hunt bluefin With Clasen’s hover at more than 100 feet best friends even better.

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OIL RIG DIVERS Diving the rig is like swimming through the call to attract the curious cobia. The going into the second minute, his body calls of a skyscraper: Fish weave through a fish turns toward the men, who kick off the upon a physiological adaptation millions of lattice of support beams that drop ominously beam in its direction. Seconds later the hol- years in the making, the mammalian diving into infinity. Every inch of this maze of metal low metallic pop of Head’s gun signals the reflex. It begins with a process called is covered with a spectrum of life. My urge to successful end of the hunt. bradycardia. Though Clasen is essentially breathe is suppressed by fascination at the After geeking out on a colony of orange running a 40-yard dash while holding his improbable wonder around me, and all I want on a crossbeam, I turn for the sur- breath, his heart slows to half its average to do is swim deeper and stay longer. At face and nearly plow headfirst into a barna- resting rate, helping to conserve oxygen. around 25 feet I pass through the murk layer cle-encrusted beam. It could’ve knocked me His arteries constrict—a blood shunt—and and into 50 feet of visibility, like a plane rising out cold, and when I tell Kirkconnell about funnel blood to the heart and brain rather out of the clouds and into clear skies. it, he says, “Welcome to the game.” than the extremities. And the spleen, an The alarm that signals 30 feet comes not We dive a couple more platforms and then organ better known for its role in the im- from my dive watch but from my ears. While pull anchor to head home as a stiff breeze mune system, releases extra red blood cells, taking the freediving course in Monterey, washes over the bow. “There’s the wind,” adding more oxygen to Clasen’s rapidly due to an old case of surfer’s ear, I picked up says Clasen. “More of that coming.” dwindling stores. an infection that has rendered me tem- Back at Venice Marina, near Pilottown, the Clasen finally surfaces empty-handed porarily deaf in my left ear. At three stories few remaining people are loading their boats after 1:55 underwater. Kirkconnell pulls him down, it feels like there’s a swollen balloon to tow inland. Homeowners board up win- in by the safety line hanging off the back of in my ear canal pressing against my skull. dows, and New Orleans, 85 miles upriver, is the boat. Clasen is enervated by the hunt, The malady is frustrating, because I won’t already emptying. The guys have more im- disappointed by the result, but excited by the be able to dive deep. mediate concerns. They have fish to clean. o prospect of finding monsters like this again. The water is thick with fish, but for these “Tuna is like gold,” he told me earlier. “If there men the biomass is white noise to be filtered THAYER WALKER WROTE ABOUT were no more tuna, it would rip my soul out.” in search of real prizes. Head and Kirkconnell ADVENTURE FILM SCHOOL IN JULY 2008. grab on to a crossbeam at 45 feet and hang in I DON’T EXPECT to see any fish that large, but the current, a technique to conserve energy Volume XXXIV, number 3. OUTSIDE (ISSN 0278-1433) is published monthly by MARIAH MEDIA INC., 400 Market St., Santa Fe, NM 87501. Periodical postage paid at Santa Fe, NM, and addition- on our second day, with Hurricane Gustav while waiting for fish. A cobia—a long, broad al mailing offices. Canadian Goods and Services Tax Registration No. R126291723. Post In- churning its way up through the fish that resembles a shark—swims just out of ternational Publications Mail Sales Agreement No. 40015979. Subscription rates: U.S. and pos sessions, $19.95; Canada, $35 CDN (includes GST); foreign, $45. Washington residents add toward the Gulf, it’s my turn to go looking. We range. Kirkconnell uses his prolific commu- sales tax. POSTMASTER: Send U.S. & International address changes to OUTSIDE, P.O. Box 7785, tie up to a platform and I jump into the 80- nication skills, which seem to transcend both Red Oak, IA 51591-0785. Send Canadian address changes to OUTSIDE, P.O. Box 877 Stn Main, Markham ON L3P-9Z9.

degree water. species and mediums, by gulping out a

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