On Sept 9th, Retrosub members Art Li, Jim Slack, and I (Mario Korf) joined the CENCAL competition at Reef Campground, near Fort Ross, CA. Kurt Bickel was going to join us, but discovered prior obligations he had forgotten about. Too bad, he was one of the motivators behind this excursion.
For all of us, this was our first official CENCAL competition. Art and I dove the 2000 New Years "High Five" tournament in Carmel, and I dove the first Lingcod Tournament the year before. But other than that, we were newcomers. This means we would dive in the "C" division. Teams in "C" division are composed of two divers instead of the usual three. Each of us volunteered to be the one-man-team, but Jim somehow got the honor. So Retrosub would have two teams of the five or six in the "C" division.
When we arrived at Reef Campground the wind was blowing hard. We got some warnings from fellow divers, but we decided to go in for a look anyway. Once in we noticed little swell, just some wind chop and relatively warm waters. But not many fish. We scouted a couple schools of perch and blues, some scattered greenlings, but little else. Vis ranged from 5 feet to maybe 15 feet on the bottom. On the way back in Art found a lingcod in 8 feet of water.
We got really lucky with the camping arrangements by squating at the bountiful camp of Eugene Porter and Dennis Haussler. They treated us to a great dinner, beers, and a once-over of the rules. I offended Brandi with a sexist comment, so she vowed to kick our asses in fish tomorrow. Alan Spehar and Paul Verveniotis showed up later that evening.
Neither Art or myself slept very well; our heads were cold and we forgot our hats. In the morning there were pastries which we once again freeloaded on. Our adopted hosts were so generous, I hope we'll get the chance to repay them in kind in the future.
We were required to sign waivers, and pay dues of $50, ($20 for the comp, $15 for CENCAL, and $15 for USOA). Had we done competitions all year, this would have been a small price to pay. But for the first timer at the end of the season, it is quite a chunk of change for one competition. I think CENCAL should waive the fees for first timers, as they might get more people involved. We got a free filet knife with the registration, so that was nice.
Looking around, we were the only ones that would be going out with just floats. One dynamic duo from Bodega Bay Pro Dive had an inflatable canoe, and there was one or two paddle boards, but other than that it was all Scupper Pros.
We had some time to kill so I thought about my strategy a bit. I would tow the inner tube with my right hand and put my hawaiian sling in my left. This way, if any schooling fish showed up at range I could get a snap shot off. I left my flashlight and polespear on the float in case I came upon a good cave, in which case I would anchor the float and switch weapons.
It was hard to get in a rythm at first. I wanted to spear fish so badly it was taking me longer to get relaxed. About an hour into the meet I still hadn't speared a fish, and I started getting frustrated. My duck feet were starting to hurt my instep, my shitty snorkel kept giving me problems, and my oval mask required two hands to be pressed against it to clear my nose (there is no nose pocket). All that meant that my bottom times were pretty short and my surface intervals longer.
But then I skewered a blue with my hawaiian sling and started having fun. The blue wrapped up my sling line so I had to cut it out of the fish. I got a knot in the line which I couldn't untie, so I left it.
Working my way across the kelp I came across a small clearing, perhaps 15 feet in diameter. I decended and checked it out, and it was a large, smooth boulder, perhaps 10 feet under water. The bottom of the boulder was at around 20 feet, with cracks and holes all along the bottom edge. There was a buzz about this area, and I knew it would produce, so I switched to my polespear and flashlight.
A couple of dives down to the bottom of the boulder and my suspicions were confirmed. Several perch and blues were around, but out of spear's reach. I nearly put my hand on a rockfish, so when he spooked a couple of feet I put a trident into his head. Nice fish, I thought to myself, now I'm having fun. I did several more dives to the bottom of the boulder looking for signs of life in the caves below. And then I saw its tail.
Maybe ten dives later I had everything arranged: my flashlight was on and pointed into the cave, my polespear was wedged in a crack to the left of the flashlight, my hawaiian sling on the sea floor to the right. My strategy was to use the sling if he was too far back, and the polespear if he came closer. I rested up on top and dove. He was closer.
I grabbed my polespear and worked my way around to the right of him. I had a perfect shot at his head, so I took it. The barbs sunk deep, and I pushed the spear in to make sure. He barely moved, but I could feel his strength. I tried to manuever him out of the cave, but he wouldn't budge. The crack to the left was too small to haul him out of, and the opening to the right would have required me to pull on the spear, and I didn't want to dislodge the points. A bit of fighting and indecision took its toll and I was running out of air. As a desperation move, I wedged the shaft of the polespear into a crack and sank the barbs in one more time.
At the surface I couldn't relax. Three breaths and then down, I spied the polespear still in the crack. I gave it another push and went back up for five breaths. This time down I had drifted off the rock and I couldn't find it. Damnit! Five more breaths and I'm back down again, but this time no polespear and no lingcod. Both of them gone.
I threw my gear on the beach and walked dejectedly to the car to get another polespear. I was wearing neoprene socks which were now full of water and piss, and they didn't provide solid footing. I slipped and banged my little toe. It was a good one. It was dislocated or broken, surely.
I grabbed my yellow skipolespear and headed back to the water, a little slower and less sure footed. I threw myself back in the water determined to make something of this sad day. I found Art and Jim in the water and gave them the short version of my bad luck. They both had some fish, so I felt good about that. Maybe our team wouldn't be an embarassment afterall.
I searched the bottom for greenlings but found none. Then a large perch swam in front of me and I took a quick shot at him. I nicked him in the tail and he bolted, only to return and face me head on. Bad idea, I pull the polspear back and skewer him through the brain. That's one great thing about a polespear, fast reloading. He was a big rubberlip, and if it weren't for my toe complaining, I'd have been happy.
I decided to go look for that ling again. As luck would have it, I found the rock, a slim chance at best. I took several more dives around the rock, but didn't see him anywhere. Several blues sat in the haze out of harms reach, taunting me. I decided to call it a day, and headed back in. A few dives later I came across my hawaiian sling on the bottom. So at least I only lost one weapon.
More people came in and some really nice fish were displayed. Alan Spehar got 20 fish, one of which was a 17 pound ling, and I think he had 4 cabezon. Art got some good fish, but all his blues were a little short. In the end he weighed in 3 fish for just under 10 points. Unfortunately Jim's fish were all too short to score (good legal fish, just too short for the 14" CENCAL minimum), but they were nice fish.
As the "C" division scores came in it looked more and more like Retrosub #1 was going to take the day. Finally, the last "C" diver checked in and indeed, Retrosub won!
The awards ceremony was preceded by a potluck featuring abalone, fried fish, various salads, and some great desert. A perfect ending to a great day of diving. When it came time to receive the awards, Retrosub was greated with a very warm reception.
All told, it was a great day. The food, commaraderie, and fun will be remembered always. That CENCAL were so receptive to a trio of unknowns was really swell. A week later, Larry Ankuda posted the following report on the CENCAL list:
Retrosubs Invade Meet at The Reef
September 9, 2000
Diving the way it used to be! Pole spears, Voit duck feet, and even an old oval mask which you had to smash against your face to clear your ears, were de rigueur for the The Retrosub #1 team of Mario Korf and Arthur Li. And yes, they eschewed kayaks to walk in and walk away with first place in C Division! Mario (who is the designer of the Freedive bumper sticker), after at least 20 dives to line up a 15-18 lb. lingcod for a shot, was bested when it swam off with his pole spear. None the less, he was the top C Diver and gets to advance to B Division next year.
Honorable mention goes to Retrosub diver James Slack who dove as a one-man C team. His float was a large inner tube with a galvanized pan in the center, and he generally used Healthways equipment, including a small bore snorkel which must have caved in his lungs.