2017-Paul-Castillou
I grew up on the beach in Santa Cruz with my family members. The ocean was our playground and we were taught to respect the ocean and all it can give and take.
My grandfather purchased me my first wet-suit when I was just twelve years old to freedive for abalone. He would drive my cousin and I up and down the Santa Cruz coast and drop us off to catch abalone. I have great memories of the parties at his house in Santa Cruz to celebrate our catch with all the family. Grandpa was always arranging events with the family to catch abalone and Pismo clams. By the age of 14, I was able to catch my own limits of abs to share with the family.
Once in college at San Jose State University, I took the Advanced SCUBA diving class from the famous Lee Walton. His advanced SCUBA class taught me about freediving, spearfishing, night diving, 100+ ft deep dives, rescue and search and recovery skills.
Soon after completing his course I competed in my first CenCal spearfishing competition at Fan Shell Beach in Monterey. It was a very rough ocean day and I dove at the peak of my ability and only shot a few small fish and thought that I did well. It was an eye opener when I saw what the old timers came back with full stringers of huge fish; some species I did not even know could get that large! I was hooked and wanted to learn how they caught those monsters. The only way to learn was to spend more time in the water diving. In doing so, I have met the most amazing people with exceptional skills and dedication to the sport of freediving, forever changing my life for the better.
In the last few years, I have become more serious about competitive diving, so that my son, Jacob, and I could rank in the Mixed Team Division as a father and son team. Since 2014, we have placed 1st in all the spearfishing division events we have competed in and I have enjoyed teaching and training Jacob to be the best diver possible along the way. The work we put in competitive diving as proven successful when Jacob and I took 1st place in the 2017 Fort Bragg National Spearfishing Competition in the Mixed-Team division. I was also proud to place 1st as the mixed individual champion.
Spearfishing is the greatest sport in the world.
Tournament Record:
- US National’s
2017 Fort Bragg, CA 1st place mix individual 1st place mix team 2012 Albion, CA 3rd place individual 3rd place team, All American Award 3rd place mens largest fish 2009 Malibu, CA 18th place individual 8th place team 2007 Fort Bragg, CA 2nd place individual 3rd place team All American Award 2004 North Shore, HI 59th place individual 15th place team 2003 James Town, RI 69th place individual, 2002 Carmel, CA 3rd place team 14th place individual 2000 Russian Gulch, CA 8th place Team
- Regional and Local Tournament Record for CA:
2016 1st place CenCal mixed team of the year 1st place mixed team, Albion 1st place mixed individual, Albion 1st place mixed team, Monterey 1st place mixed individual, Monterey 1st place mixed individual DOY, CenCal 2014 1st place team of the year, CenCal 1st place individual DOY, CenCal 1st place individual, Anchor Bay 1st place team, Anchor Bay 2009 2nd place individual, Santa Cruz 2nd place team of the year, CenCal 3rd place individual DOY, CenCal 2008 1st place individual, Santa Cruz 2nd place team of the year, CenCal 4th place individual DOY, CenCal 2006 4th place team of the year, CenCal 2005 3rd place individual, Pacific Groove 2004 4th place individual DOY, CenCal 3rd place individual, Carmel River 2003 4th place individual, Long Beach Neptune’s, blue water meet 2nd Place team of the year, CenCal 2nd place team, Carmel River 2nd place team, Ocean Cove 2002 1st place individual, Noyo River 3rd place team of the year, CenCal 2002 3rd place team, Timber Cove 4th place individual, Navarro River 2001 1st place individual, Natural Bridges 2nd place individual, Fort Ross 4th place individual DOY, CenCal 4th place team of year, CenCal 2000 1st place individual, Carmel River 2nd place team, Pacific Coast Championship 3rd place team of year, CenCal 3rd place team, Natural Bridges 3rd place team, Reef Campground Northern 1999 4th place individual, Ocean Cove 4th place individual, Timber Cove 4th place individual, Carmel River 1997 1st place team champion B division, CenCal 1st place team B division, Anchor Bay 1st place individual B division, Jack Rotter Memorial Dive 1996 1st place team champion C division, CenCal 2nd place individual C division, Albion