sign in sign up
<<
Home , Spearfishing

Interpacific Spearfishing Report 2014 Raiatea, Tahiti

History of the competition Formally known as the tripartite and comprising of three spear nations this competition has developed into the biggest international spear fishing tournaments in the southern hemisphere Starting in 1977 with , New Caledonia and other nations like Tahiti, Hawaii and Guam have taken up the challenge to strengthen this prestigious international event. Australia has won the Interpacific at least 10 times (5 in Australia, 4 in NZ, 1 in Hawaii) but has never won in New Caledonia or Tahiti.

The team The Australian team was put together at short notice due to the late withdrawal or unavailability of most of the top ranked divers from the national competition at Kangaroo Island. This was probably due to conflicts with the World championships in Peru, work commitments and expense of travel. However there was good communication and several of the top tropical divers in Australia were asked if they were interested to join the team.

Left to right: Jack Lavender, Sam Morgan, Michael Pannach, Dr Adam Smith, Taylah Martindale,

The Australian mens and womens team was managed by Joe Martindale. The women's team was one spearfisher Taylah Martindale as no other Australian females were available. The. Men's team was Adam Smith, Michael Pannach, Jack Lavender and Sam Morgan. There was no reserve as there has been in previous years.

Taylah had represented Australia last year as was part of the winning women's team. Adam has represented Australia ten times in five countries and had experience in Tahiti in 2002. It was the first time representing Australia for Michael, Jack and Sam. Both Taylor and Sam are 16 years old and quite young compared to other competitors, Adam was one of the oldest at 50 years. Taylah was allowed a safty diver to follow her around for the 2 days of compertition and did it tough as a partner would have shared the diving, float towing and fish finding

The rules The Interpacific spearfishing competition is a team based pair’s event for 4 men (two pairs) and 2 women (1 pair) over two days with 6 hours each day. Diving in pairs in much safer than individual. The rules allow a reserve diver to be substituted on the second day. Typically each pair tows a float or small bogie board from a 4m cord. Divers may use a rigcord but most prefer to be unattached and use a reel so they can swim more silently and freely. The fish that are speared are placed on the float. One diver must remain on the surface while the other is below. The fish list provided by the host country was complicated with 82 species and 5 categories (300, 500, 1000, 2500 and 5000g). For some species such as parrot fish the rules permitted capture of 4 of each species and other species such as gamefish were grouped so 4 in total. The scoring is based on 100 points per eligible fish and 10 points per kilogram with a maximum weight bonus of 50 (5kg) points. The team captain must stay in the start zone for the first hour of competition but can then travel and communicate with the pairs and take fish and provide spare gear and water.

The beautiful island Raiatea is one of the most beautiful islands in the Pacific. It is approximately 190km northwest of Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. Raiatea, the second largest Island in all of French Polynesia, is just slightly smaller than Tahiti itself. It's also Tahiti's largest Leeward Island. The group of Islands known as the Leewards, are part of the larger archipelago of Islands known as the Society Islands. These Islands contain the largest and most well known Islands in all of the South Pacific; The island is covered in very steep green hills and is surrounded by a deep lagoon and many small islands and sand cays. The tropical water in April was 27 degrees and no . The reef edge drops quickly to deep water. Underwater visibility varies from a low 3m in the lagoon and passes to over 50m on the ocean side of the reef. There are about 4,000 people living on Raiatea and most of the houses have waterfront access and boats. There is a deep water marina that is large enough for cruise . Our accommodation was at the Hawaiki Nui Hotel which is a small friendly place with 25 rooms and bungalows. The bungalows had thatched roofs and were situated over the water. We could walk from the restaurant to the jetty and swim with tropical fish and free dive a wreck in 27m. The hotel provided breakfast and was also happy to cook the fish we caught. Two other countries NZ and Guam stayed at the same hotel.

Scouting The New Zealand team arrived a week earlier than the other countries and had scouted for 6 days. They were acclimated and apparently able to lie on the bottom at 35m. They had seen and caught some nice fish including a 20kg . We also heard that one of their team had been smashed by a wave in shallow water and lost some dive gear and badly damaged his foot and was on crutches and out of the competition.

The Australian team had two days scouting with a local commercial fisher in his 23 foot boat to familiarise ourselves with the geography, and possible fish species and hotspots of the four possible competition areas. The areas were very large at about 4 nautical miles of reef so we concentrated on two zones that we thought were most likely based on weather and discussion with other teams. We also concentrated our scouting on the passes in the reef and looked in the deep water and wave break zone. We were not allowed inside the reef crest during the competition. There were very few fish in the easily accessible depths of 5 to 22m. We speared a few different fish particularly the parrotfish to familiarize our team with the 18 different species and the minimum weight. After the first day all the men were diving 25m plus and our lady competitor was focussing on fish in the wave zone to 15m.

We wore minimum and to allow us to maximise our diving efficiency. For most of us this was a 1-5 to 2mm wetsuit and lycra pants and 1 to 2.5kg of weight. We had two small 90 minute competitions to practice the feel of an event in these waters. We speared 11-12 species each day of scouting and saw another 15 species that were too wary to catch. After the second day the men all reached 30m, and our lady diver was hitting 20m After each days diving we had a team meeting and discussed what we had seen and how we had dived and how we could improve.

Opening ceremony The opening ceremony was a big event with speeches from the Mayor and local dignitaries in three languages: Tahitian, French and English. There was hula dancing and live music and some of the competitors were encouraged to join in and shake their hips. Then we had cocktails and some local foods and mingled. Local television stations and newspaper cameramen and reporters were recording the event.

Competition day 1 The boats stopped in the middle of the zone. We had planned that the young guys would swim north to the pass where some good fish were seen in shallow water and the older guys would swim south and a longer distance of about 2Nm towards a pass. There was a slight traveling south and an outgoing . For the first hour of the competition there is no assistance from the boat captains.

The start went well and the Australian team were in the top 3 teams heading south. We swam in shallow water hoping to pick up some fish. In contrast the Hawaii team swam hard with no fishing for 1 hour to reach the end pass first. Adam shot a very large in shallow water and it swam around a Bommie and he lost the fish and his spear. A bad start. Adam and Mick shared a gun and moved in 20-25m and picked up some large parrotfish. After an hour Joe picked up fish and provided a new gun. After the first hour we had 9 fish. The young guys were seeing some good species but struggling a bit to spear them. They did not swim as far as planned and did not make the pass. The older guys reached the southern end after 2.5 hours and found good species of surgeon fish in 30-33m and landed some good fish to 3kg, Our manager Joe was coming up to each men's and women's pair about every hour and taking our fish and weighing them and giving us an update of how our team was going as well as other teams and giving us plenty to drink. The six hours went quickly. We had set a men's team target of 20 fish and the women’s target of 5 fish. The men caught 23 on day one Jack and Sam 9 and Mick and Adam 14 and were happy as exceeded our target. Our women competitor had 2 sabor squirillfish and 3 souilder fish which were all just undersized and weighed in one coronation . At the weigh in the top catch as expected was by the Tahitians men and women’s teams and New Caledonian men. New Zealand had two large long nosed unicorn fish and was second and obviously the extra days scouting was an advantage that showed in the results. Australia and Guam were close followed by the local team and Hawaii was disappointed with a catch of 6 fish and cited strong current and deep water as challenges.

Competition day 2 The zone for day two only had one pass on the north side and a long boundary to the south. The Australians discussed tactics and agreed that the stronger swimmers would head south and the young guns would aim for the pass in the reef where fish can be found concentrated in shallow and deep water. We had heard that the reef was much steeper sloping and much deeper with less fish and harder diving in this area. The first 90 minutes was disappointing for both Australian pairs with only one fish each. We could see thousands of trigger fish and a few undersized parrots but not much to spear. We saw that the NZ pair also only had one small fish. Eventually we picked up a few more parrots and Mick speared a saber squirrelfish in a cave in 33m. The north team saw very good fish including , emperor and surgeon in very deep water and speared a few surgeons. Taylah speared 2 coronation trout and 2 yellow keel surgeons that were just under and only the coronation trout would weight in. Adam and Mick reached the end of the zone and as there were so few fish in the deep they headed into the gutters in the reef and caught some blue lined snapper and parrots. They also caught two large giant trevally up to 15kg from the shallow gutters. Unfortunately the rules only allowed for a maximum of 5kg of weight of the GTs to be scored. However these were the two biggest fish of the competition and a nice catch. At the weigh in our Australian women's team had two fish and did well as the NZ women has not been able to catch an eligible fish. We were blown away by the Tahitian women's team with 11 fish all from shallow water. The Australian men were happy with 20 fish and we were outclassed by the ability and local knowledge of the Tahitian men's team with a catch of 40 fish. We heard that they had 20 fish caught from a hotspot in 40m water after the first hour. There was some controversy as the New Caledonian team were dropping their weights and pulling them up on a line. This allowed them to dive deeper than constant weight divers

Overall Results Mens Country Fish Day 1 Fish Day 2 Total % Tahiti 34 40 200 New Caledonia 28 33 170 New Zealand 29 24 135 Australia 23 20 131 Guam 24 18 111 Raiatea 21 17 104 Hawaii 6 6 33

Overall Results Womens Country Fish Day 1 Fish Day 2 Total % Tahiti 8 11 200 New Zealand 3 0 37 Australia 1 2 29

Closing ceremony The traditional Polynesian welcome is with a flower lei and kisses on both cheeks. The traditional Polynesian farewell is a huge feast of local food, exchange of gifts and more kisses and a shell necklace. At the closing ceremony there were about 2 hours of speeches and presentations. We then went up to the smorgasbord with local delicacies. One of these was raw fish marinated in seawater and prawn heads for 3 to 4 days. It smelled terrible and was challenging to eat. Other foods were fish, pearl meat, pork, yam, breadfruit, coconut rice, vegetables, fruit and a few unidentifiable dishes. Some of the more adventurous of us ate steamed squirrelfish, rudder fish and surgeonfish for the first time. Of course there were lots of live music and very attractive hula dancers, men and women and plenty of locals at the feast.

Shopping We had limited time for shopping but we did buy some black pearls and local textiles and clothes. The local dive shops were well stocked with basic gear. The local divers were keen to buy our carbon fins and guns.

Cost and Sponsors It is expensive to travel and stay in Tahiti. We all had to pay for 6-8 flights at between $2200 and 2900 per person. There were some excess baggage costs. Each country paid a sign on fee of $2500 which covered 4 days of boathire and skipper, closing ceremony meal and some host country organization costs. Accommodation and meals were about $50 pp day,

The major sponsor of the team was the Australian Underwater Federation ($5000) Underwater Spear Fishing Association ($2500) and Newcastle Neptune's $500, Townsville skindiving club $400, Central coast sealions $300, St George spearfishing club $200, San souci dolphins $200, south coast skin-divers $200.00

What we learned that will help the next Australian team

1. Team members must study and know the fish species (including local names) very well. Test each other. Some of the species we found very difficult to weight such as the squirrelfish varieties (300g), the common yellow keel unicorn fish (500g), most of the goat fish and the sling jaw wrasse. It was better to concentrate on species that would weigh and not efficient to chase and spear these marginal species. 2. Minimize your dive gear, spares and clothes. Aim for 20-25kg luggage per person. Arrange beforehand to borrow or hire weights and floats from locals if possible. 3. Only use gear that you are comfortable with and don’t use a new longer gun. Most divers used a 1.3m for the deeper diving and a small gun for hunting in shallow water and caves. Dive the shallows early and late in a competition and focus on catching rudders, mullet, trevally, snapper and some of the deep water species can just as easily be speared in 2m such as paddle tail, saber squirrel and Moses perch. Check your gun does not have a safety and your spear is sharp and straight and rubbers, bridles and line are in good condition. We noticed that locals used 6mm shafts and we normally use 7mm 4. Communicate with other countries and locals to learn about the area, fish, techniques and conditions. Make a plan for the competition so that you work as a team and maximize catch 5. Look after your physical and mental health including hydration, sleep, and nutrition and have fun and don’t stress. 6. Select the manager and team as early as possible and have a fit team with some experience and skill for the conditions. Ideally we should select a team 12 months in advance rather than 1-3 months. The 2015 event is in New Caledonia. 7. Raise sponsorship early. For example the NZ team sold $300 spots for sponsors on their shirts and raised $7000. In return sponsors received a shirt a DVD and a talk from a competitor.

Report by Adam Smith (tel 0418726584) and Joe Martindale, (0415687826) April 2014