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Old 01-13-2010, 12:09 AM   #1
Dave Edlund
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2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

I am excited to post that the U.S. is sending a strong young team to this years Spearfishing World Championships in Croatia to be held in mid-September. We will have one of our youngest teams ever with every diver being 25 years or younger. This years team is composed of Justin Allen, Dan Silveira, Sean Moreshi, and John Modica (alternate) and is coached by Brian Lee.

This will be the third time in the history of spearfishing world championships which date back to 1954 that the tournament will be held in Croatia (formerly Yugoslavia). The first time it was 1957 and we sent a team composed of all Long Beach Neptunes. They were Bob Weaver, Jim Christensen, and Lee Jamison. They could only afford to train on site in Croatia for 1 week, but they dove well and each finished in the top 15 divers. Most of the spearfishing was done at 30 foot depths.

Forty years later the Worlds came back to Croatia and we had a southern California team again. I can not remember all four divers, but three of them were Bill Ernst, Gerald Lim and Rene Rojas. In 40 years, the fish that could be found at 30 feet were long gone and most of the diving was done at the 100 foot plus range. American Gerald Lim took 6th place overall and speared the largest fish of the tournament. I believe the American team was on site in Croatia for 3 weeks. Correct me if I am wrong on this Bill.

Now, another 10 years has passed and the diving will be deeper yet I suspect. I will let the team make comments, but I know they have been doing freedive training the past few months in the 100-140 foot range in Florida.

Our young team is training hard, but one of their biggest issues is going to be fundraising. The more funds they can raise, the longer they can train in Croatia and I believe the higher their scores will be. You will hear more about their fundraising plans, but any support you give will be greatly appreciated.

Here is their website:

http://www.usaspearfishing.com/

Here is some background information on World Spearfishing Championships:

C.M.A.S. (Confederation Mondiale des Activities Subaquatiques) sponsors a World Spearfishing Championship every two years and usually limits participation to the top 20 of its member countries. CMAS is a worldwide organization for underwater sports and currently and has approximately 35 countries as members. Each World Spearfishing Championship is typically held at a different dive location around the World. Here is a liting of the previous Championship sites and the winners:

http://www.underwaterhunters.com/His...0Champions.asp

What happens at a World Spearfishing Championship?

The Worlds are a 2-day championship where divers shoot fish for about 7 hours per day. Each day, the diving is done at a different location. Typically, 20-25 teams qualify to compete at the World Championships. And because too many teams want to participate at the Worlds, sometimes there are regional qualifiers for the World Championships per Continent. In 2006, the U.S. team dove in Peru to qualify for the Portugal Worlds via the Americas qualifier. The World Championships are boat-based meets and each team is allowed to have three divers hunting. The Championships are run somewhat like a mini-Olympics where there are opening ceremonies and a big closing banquet. It is not uncommon for thousands of people to attend the opening ceremony where each team has there own national uniform. Imagine, thousands of people applauding for spearfishermen? What a concept. At the opening event there is a parade of Nations where each country carries their nations’ flag.

What does it take to do well?

These Championships are not about just having great freediving talent as all the divers have a high degree of talent. It is about preparation and having enough resources (time and money). The top teams in these Championships will spend months training at the site, finding fishy locations (scouting) and understanding everything about the tournament area. Let’s say, the Italian team, always one of the top teams brings 10 divers to the World site and spends 60 days diving there in preparation. That’s 600 full diver days in the water. You can have all the 100 foot freedive capable divers you want, but without scouting time to hunt miles and miles of coastline, you will not break the top 5 teams. America has never hosted a Worlds, but our top divers have won individual honors (Terry Lentz) and finished 2nd a couple of times (John Ernst). In my personal opinion, our U.S divers can hang with the very best. Our biggest challenges are the time and money aspect. We seem to "work" more than the rest of the World!

How you can get involved with the U.S World team?

There are many ways. You could qualify for one of the top spots by participating in U.S. National Championships. You could also come to the Worlds as a "scout" for the team. That’s the way I attended in 2004 in Chile. It’s a great way to help the team and prepare yourself for future Worlds. A scout typically spends 2-3 weeks prior to the Worlds and dives everyday with the team finding fishy locations. Then on tournament day you support a specific U.S. team member helping them with gear and advice.

Would you like to represent the United States at the 2012 World Championships?

Well, then you must come and dive this years U.S. National Spearfishing Championships in Geers Ferry Lake in Heber Springs, Arkansas this coming August 5th.

In closing, this will be a trip of a lifetime for these young divers and I know each of them is going to give it 100%. Please support them with their shirt sales and fundraisers and help them make the most of this great opportunity!! They may be young, but that is no limitation because a long time ago before most of you were born, a young American named "Terry Lentz" won the Worlds in age 22 in Malta, 1959. Don't bet against young Americans, particulary of the spearfishing kind!
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Old 01-13-2010, 12:37 AM   #2
Don Paul
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Hi Dave, Terry Lentz won the World Underwater Spearfishing Championship
held in Malta in 1959. He is a Life Member of the Long Beach Neptunes.
Terry's team mates on the US team were Del Wren, Don Del Monico and Paul
Damman. I believe Terry was 22 years old at the time. Here he is on the cover
of Skin Diver Magazine in Nov 1959.
Cheers Don Paul
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Old 01-13-2010, 01:06 AM   #3
chasintail
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Didn't GR win the 2007? Or was that the invitational?Good luck and let the lucky bastards pay thier own way.
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Old 01-13-2010, 01:12 AM   #4
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Don,

I own that very November, 1959 Skindiver magazine with Terry Lentz on the cover and it is right in front of me now. Not only did Terry finish first, but Don Del Monico of Florida came in 4th place. I do not know all the intracacies of scoring, but the American team came in 3rd overall.

Terry shot 12 fish at the tournament and the one of the key fish looks to be a big grouper that he shot at 75 feet deep (a depth which in those days was like going to the moon).
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Old 01-13-2010, 01:25 AM   #5
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Yea Dave, I was having scan issues, I just posted the cover.
Cheers, Don
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Old 01-13-2010, 02:27 AM   #6
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Dave
why has the US never hosted the World's?
Just curious.
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Old 01-13-2010, 01:10 PM   #7
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Excellent question Joe. I was not around in the early days to say why we did not host a Worlds, but it is a lot more complicated that hosting a U.S. Nationals. Worlds are boat based meets where each country team is assigned 4 boats. One per diver and one for the captain. Multiply that times 20 countries and you need 80 boats. PLus safety boats, I bet we would need 100 boats. Plus there are opening ceremonies that typically include fireworks, a big parade and speakers. It could be done, but it would take a one geographic area like Hawaii or Florida to roll up their sleeves a ton. So far, no one has stood up. In other countries, all sorts of quasi-government people are involved with these events and people are getting paid to work on this stuff. Everything is volunteer work here in the U.S. and everyone is so busy here with seemingly no time to invest for such a big event. Anyone with ideas on where I could gather 100 boats (in Hawaii, California or Florida) at a reasonable price in one location, speak up. They do not need to be fancy boats. They can be open row boats like panga's as long as they can hold 4 people in them.

The one thing I could tell you is if we had it in the U.S., we would do so well. Then they would see the real U.S. and with scouting on our own turf, we would be hard to beat. Pedro Carbonell and those Europeans are great divers, but they are beatable.
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Old 01-27-2010, 04:09 AM   #8
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

There are some videos of that Us team.

http://www.vimeo.com/8464624

http://www.vimeo.com/8476593

I couldnt find how to embed these videos, so if anyone of you knows how to do it please help.
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Old 02-01-2010, 01:13 PM   #9
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Thanks Dave for the great information!! All of us here at FII are super excited to support the 2010 USA Boys (Dan, Sean, John, Justin & Brian) Martin is 100% behind them with training advice in preparation for the event, they are all super guys and great representatives of this sport. GO TEAM USA!!
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Old 02-17-2010, 08:09 PM   #10
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

When wiil the shirts be out? Im still wearing my 2008
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Old 02-18-2010, 05:31 AM   #11
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Forward to seeing team USA prestation in the World's Crotia go and kick some ass, i know there's a lot of talent there, unreveald.

Rodrigo Salvador, Portugal
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Old 03-25-2010, 11:09 PM   #12
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Quote:
Originally Posted by borquaoar View Post
There are some videos of that Us team.

http://www.vimeo.com/8464624

http://www.vimeo.com/8476593

I couldnt find how to embed these videos, so if anyone of you knows how to do it please help.
Sorry, I do not know how to do the video thing.....but,

Del & Terry stopped by the dive store about 2 weeks ago. Terry was back again on Tuesday. Terry has already signed up for the May 15th Colorado River shoot in Bullhead City, Arizona put on through DIVE SHACK USA. Terry & his son Rory will be teaming up.
I may still have a few copies of the dvd around the shop. Quite a bit of history. Del and Terry made the dvd for each competitor last November.
So, if anyone can be in Arizona on May 15th, 2010 you will have the opportunity to compete against Terry Lentz & other champions from yesterday...today...& tomorrow. diveshack@npgcable.com
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Old 03-26-2010, 12:35 AM   #13
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Thanks for the update Jerry.
Don
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Old 03-27-2010, 01:58 PM   #14
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

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Originally Posted by Spearo56 View Post
When wiil the shirts be out? Im still wearing my 2008

They are now available in our Pro Shop at www.freedivinginstructors.com
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Old 04-04-2010, 06:26 PM   #15
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Re: 2010 CMAS World Freedive Spearfishing Championships

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Edlund View Post
Excellent question Joe. I was not around in the early days to say why we did not host a Worlds, but it is a lot more complicated that hosting a U.S. Nationals. Worlds are boat based meets where each country team is assigned 4 boats. One per diver and one for the captain. Multiply that times 20 countries and you need 80 boats. PLus safety boats, I bet we would need 100 boats. Plus there are opening ceremonies that typically include fireworks, a big parade and speakers. It could be done, but it would take a one geographic area like Hawaii or Florida to roll up their sleeves a ton. So far, no one has stood up. In other countries, all sorts of quasi-government people are involved with these events and people are getting paid to work on this stuff. Everything is volunteer work here in the U.S. and everyone is so busy here with seemingly no time to invest for such a big event. Anyone with ideas on where I could gather 100 boats (in Hawaii, California or Florida) at a reasonable price in one location, speak up. They do not need to be fancy boats. They can be open row boats like panga's as long as they can hold 4 people in them.

The one thing I could tell you is if we had it in the U.S., we would do so well. Then they would see the real U.S. and with scouting on our own turf, we would be hard to beat. Pedro Carbonell and those Europeans are great divers, but they are beatable.
Hello Dave:
One of my dreams will be to host a World Spearfishing Championship in The US.
I have been enquiring about boats for a meet like that, but as you said, that is the most difficult task to achieve, once we get the boats everything else is just a matter of organizing.
I agree with you that Florida, Hawaii and California will be the best possible locations due to their natural geographic conditions although other places cannot be ruled out. For instance, never before there was a freshwater world championship, Mike McGuire mentioned it in the past as a possibility that I found acceptable and feasible.
I think that if we (the US spearfisherman) joint forces; will be able to launch a memorable world championship in our waters.
Erick Salado
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