Coatesman's Spearfishing & Waterman's Blog

Cyclone Funso Heading South

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:59:03 PST

Cyclone Funso gusting winds at 165mph! and heading south!

Cyclone Funso has hit central Mozambique hard leaving many dead and the rest of the coast beaten by the wind and waves. Funso is gusting winds at 165mph / 264kmh! and has been categorised as a grade 4 storm (above the 131-mph threshold for a Category 4 storm)

Saturdays forecast shows the cyclone directly off St Lucia!

The long term projected forecast shows the cyclone heading southwards reaching SA late Friday night. The cyclone should head south and out to sea, but there are no guarantees and it pass over land like cyclone Demoina did in the 80's.

If you find out any new reports please just post a comment

Coatesman

Spearfishing the Transkei Wild Coast

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:46:57 PST

The Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine has just put up another great article on spearfishing locations. This 'how to' article is on spearfishing the Transkei Wild Coast.

The beautiful Transkei Wild Coast - a Spearfishing Mecca

It’s no wonder our forefathers named it the ‘Transkei’… loosely translated as ‘that place over that river’. It was a place so formidable and difficult to transverse yet alluring beautiful. Not much has changed since those days. Sure, now there’s a spiderweb of mud roads criss-crossing the landscape, which makes getting from A to B at least possible. The mystery of the Transkei still grips you. It’s almost surreal.
Deep green valleys carve their way through to cliffs that plummet into the sea, as if the hand of God came and tore away the shoreline. The Transkei is like something out of a Tolkien novel, a ‘Middle Earth’ of sorts complete with rolling mists that cloak its secrets. Even the trees grow strangely, twisted and battered by the wild winds and elements.
The Transkei ocean, not unlike the land, also has its own thing going on. It’s not at all like the Cape or Natal. The Transkei cliffs seem to give the sea an odd ‘bump’ even on calm days. The colour of the water is different, a ‘clean green’ gloom with an airy feeling to it that only adds to the adventure and craziness of this phenomenal place.
For many however, it’s not just the magical setting but the abundance of world class spearfishing opportunities that provides good reason to make the great trek to the Transkei from all over South Africa. Often, trips to the Kei are planned with great excitement and expectations, only to be washed out by the area’s notoriously temperamental weather… but even in these cases, one only needs a glimpse to fall in love. For some, the Kei has become so much a part of their lives that they regard it with a sense of fierce ownership. Completely smitten, they guard the treasures they have found there, like Gollum protecting ‘the Ring’.

This said, you can imagine that trying to glean information for a write up on the Kei was like pulling hens’ teeth. Suddenly, guys had no idea what I was talking about. Some were blunt and refused point blank to say anything. But, as always, there were those who still remember what it was like to struggle along without a clue, and I am truly grateful to those who shared their stories and secrets.

To continue reading go to: Spearfishing The Transkei Coast

Coatesman

Spearfishing with Cameron Kirkconnell

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:15:09 PST

Cameron Kirkconnell is one of the guys you hear of a fair bit in spearfishing circles. His blog SpearBlog.Com is an institution and one I follow on a weekly basis. Aside from that a couple world records and a host of other notches in his belt I am mostly jealous of the great spearfishing trips he does all around the world. ...it sounds like he dives even more than I do!

We actually featured a section of him in our very successful film OneFish in this section he shoots a worlf record Black Fin Tuna and a host of other great fish ... See below or Watch Here

His most famous record is his Dogtooth Tuna World Record he got in Indo of 91kg although he did get one even bigger last year in Tanzania but because of a mess up with paper work and licensing in the area the record has not been acknowledged yet.

For more on Cameron Kirkconnell's Spearfishing visit his Cameron's Facebook page or go to his profile on Onefish: Cameron Kirconnell

Coatesman

Spearfishing Cape Vidal over Christmas

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:45:20 PST

Trev with 2 good Snoek and some dart Couta just after Newyear.

While the rest of the Natal Coast starts to wake up over the Christmas period, and the Snoek and Couta start to make an appearance. Cape Vidal goes to sleep, well kind of. The Couta for the most part disappear and most days spearfishing will result in a couple nice Snoek if you are lucky.
If you do get Couta they are usually small, and it can be frustrating as the conditions are usually very good.

As you get into the new year the spearfishing gets better, the Couta although generally small start showing up in numbers. The tell tale signs are the local ski-boaters taking over the campsite for the late January - February run.

Local Spearfisherman Koos Jordaan with 13kg Kakaap just before Christmas

Although the Couta are slow over the Christmas period there are other fish around if you are whiling to put in the time. Local spearfisherman Koos Jordaan managed to get some really good fish over the 'quiet' period, including a 13kg Kakaap (Green Jobfish) and a 20kg Milkfish (Chanos Chanos)

Koos's Newyear 20kg Chanos Chanos (Giant Milkfish)

So the big decision now is deciding whether to stay at home and capitalise on the good sized Couta that are showing up here and there, or head to Cape Vidal. Which one will be better and produce the goods.

For some it will be back to the 'grind stone' ....damn that sucks!

Coatesman

The Legend of the Christmas Couta

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:40:17 PST

Rat Adjes 16kg Couta Lemonfish Reef 24th Dec

Every once and while you hear some remarkable spearfishing story that becomes an instant legend. Christmas eve was one of those, when Rat rocked up at my house with a Couta .... that he got off Lemon fish Reef.
I listened to his story in total disbelief, as he told how the sea just came a live for half an hour.

You need to understand that Lemonfish reef is a tiny little rock off one of our local surfing points, it only goes out 50m or so from the point and is not very deep. Every diver in the area cuts his teeth here and it is considered a spot you will get the odd Snoek but that's about it.

I can remember a good friend and dive buddy that I grew up with telling us about a Couta he had seen off the reef at Lemon Fish. These were the early days and we were still puddle jumping and just to see a Couta was a big thing. That was almost 20 years ago, since then I have dived that reef hundreds of times and never seen a Couta or even had a notion that I might see one there.

Anyway Rat said as per his usual day before Christmas thing he takes his family that are visiting to the beach. Last year same day same time he swam our for 30min and got 3 Snoek. This year was no exception, the fish were wild. The shoals of Snoek were every where, but he could not get close enough to get one. He swam on to the inside of the reef to the small gap between the reef and the point only to see this big fish just cruzing along. He lined up and made good on his shot. After a long tussle and line every were he landed the fish, and apparently the snoek were shoaling around him the whole time.

So here is a new legend that will be told, the one about the guy who shot a Couta off Lemonfish on Christmas eve. Good one Rat ......

Coatesman

Spearfishing Dog Tooth Tuna - Latham Island Tanzania

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:06:34 PST

Spearfishing Dog Tooth Tuna Tanzania

Dane Salmon co-owner of the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine recently got back from a spearfishing trip to Tanzania with a crew of guys from Durban. The story has been been published in the latest edition of USM and on the website.
Go read the article ..its really good. Spearfishing Dog Tooth Tuna Tanzania

Coatesman

Spearfishing Stories Coming True

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:46:31 PST

35.5kg Daga Salmon - Chris Coates - KZN North Coast

You hear these stories about guys getting awesome fish that just make you green with envy. Up our way the tallest of those stories is usually centered around some one 'lucking' a big Daga Salmon. I have had 2 mates that have shot 40kg fish in 2-3m of water puddle jumping off a point. Then there is the 'sleeping' fish story, a guy goes down and finds a fish just lying there. Swims up to it and shoots it, game over!
Oh and don't forget the 'beginners luck' story, how many times have hear of some newby shooting an awesome fish? In fact it was only a month ago some chap in a surf suit and plastic fins got a monster salmon off Shieffield on a reef that I have dived a thousand times and never seen one.

Call it 'luck' but you cant take it away from the guys they walked up the beach with the fish and you didn't. Then there is the earned fish, the ones you target and do the hard yards to get. Daga off the wrecks is a good example, put it what ever way you like its just not easy diving. ....unless you are Jaco!

So where am I going with all this?

Daga have just been an elusive fish for me. It took years to even see one. Then some more years to get one. Then even more years to get one over 20kg, and despite doing the hard yards on the wrecks and get a number of good fish. It just seem like I was never going to break the 30kg mark. What makes it worse I dive with guys that sometimes break the 30kg barrier on a weekly basis ...... it just pisses me off!

So with all our record rains messing the sea up and being on the back end of Daga season. I kinda had written of this being my season, that was of course until yesterday. Desperate for a dive I got my Mrs to drop me off at one of the local spots that looked like it had some dive-able water in between 2 large patched of yukky river water. When I got there I was kind of committed to go, either that or go pick up kids and go shopping, guess what I chose? The water was not looking great and I grumpily put my gear on and headed off, knowing I was probably going to be 'mulleting' around in 2-3m vis in a futile mission looking for shadows.

Long story short the water was not as bad as I had expected and I landed up on one of my favorite ledges. (one that apparently guys have gotten Daga on, but after 20years I have yet to see one there.)
Anyway after diving the ledge for almost an hour I do a dive right under my buoy that is reefed over the ledge. I hit the bottom and scan around to again see very little. Then out the corner of my eye there is this thing that is not reef next to me. I turn and look, my brain does not even register ..... I swear I though it was a Skate at first. "DAGA" my salt saturated brain finally kicks in, and starts to process at a gazillion terrabites a millisecond. All I can think of as I bring my gun around is when is this going to bolt and wave me good bye, but it just sat there. As I get my gun up and start to aim it sluggishly moves away little, giving me a perfect 45 degree shot above the pec and out the gill plate.

So not only did I pop the 30kg mark, I clapped an absolute sitter! I no longer have to go, " why cant I just dive down and plugg one." I have gotten my 'luck' shot ...too stoked. Best of all now I have my own 'camp fire' story to tell.

Coatesman

World Spearfishing Record Daga Mulloway

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:11:59 PST

New World Spearfishing Record Daga Salmon 57.4kg

Great news!! Jaco Blignaut's 57.4kg Daga Salmon (Argyrosomus Japonicus) A.K.A Mulloway has been accepted as a New World Spearfishing Record but the IUSA (International Underwater Spearfishing Association)

Go to World Spearfishing Record Mulloway to see the official record.

Jaco on the cover of USM with a 35kg Daga

The Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine has used a pic of Jaco which I took of him off Durban on the cover of the next mag to celebrate the Jaco 57.4kg Daga been awarded the South African Record. See previous blog post: South African Spearfishing Record Daga .

So a big congratulations to Jaco on his South African and World Spearfishing record fish. Everybody stand up and give the man a round of applause!

Coatesman

Spearfishing Crystal Clean Mozambique

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:19:05 PST

Jeremy Williams Spearfishing in the Crystal Blue Mozambique

I recently got back from a quick spearfishing trip to Southern Mozambique with the Rob Allen crew where we went to get pics for the mag. I was supposed to be on a charter in Inhaca but the wheels came off that trip and the trip was canceled at the last moment. Rob and Jeremy were going up to Milli for a couple days and when they invited me I was all in!

The conditions were epic and we had some beautiful water which made it great for taking pics. Some days I left the speargun on the boat and just did drifts with the camera looking for species to take pics of. I did not get any shots on big pelagics, as you need to get super close with the camera, about 3m!! Got some great pics of other fish and loads of other spearfishing pictures.

Abundant Reef Life in Mozambique

Here is an example of how clean the water was and the abundant reef life Mozambique has. Its just too good, I am already planning my next trip!

Coatesman

Spearfishing Daga / Mulloway Record

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:03:22 PDT

New South African and Pending World Spearfishing Record Daga Salmon 57kg - Jaco Bilgnaut

Great news Jaco Blignaut's 57.4kg (Argyrosomus Japonicus) Daga Salmon has been accepted as a new South African spearfishing record. It has also been submitted for the IUSA World spearfishing record and we wait patently to hear if it has been accepted.

Jaco is arguably the best diver in the country and is right up there with the best in the world. He is also one of the absolute masters at shooting Daga. Probably because he dives all the spots no one else can dive. His article on the record fish that is going in the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine talks about some of his Daga spots being in up to 40m! So it is good to see him get the recognition he deserves.

Congrats to Jaco on a fine fish, I guess it was only a matter of time before he got a crazy record like this!

Coatesman

Weekends Spearfishing In KZN

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:06:09 PDT

Koos Jordaan - Large Sailfish - Cape Vidal

This weekend saw some of the coldest water we have spearfished in KZN. On Sunday the water was a fridged 17 deg on the North Coast. The forecast looked good for Monday so we decided to extend the weekend and get away from the cold water by venturing to Cape Vidal with Koos Jordaan.

The water there was a bit water 21-22deg and we got some great Wahoo between 16-18 kg, some couta and a decent sized Cobia arround 18kg. Koos got a nice big Sailfish that was the cherry on the top of a great day.

Gary Uys - 23 Kob

Back home the guys dived the KZN trials on Sunday. Although the water was very cold at least it was reasonably clean. Gary Uys got a brilliant Kob, this with his 10 fish total gave him first place in the trial. Second was Sean Burns .. who was also diving with Gary! Do you think they found the fish??? I know some of the more competitive guys would have been pretty bleak at not placing well, especially since 'Burnsy's' competitive diving is strictly speaking a 'social' affair. ...... well so he says!

The results are as follows:

Gary Uys
Sean Burns
Brent Borstlap
Guy Le Meme
Carl Werner
Corry Versluis
Iain Ewing
John Girdza
Brandon Barth
Niel Barnard
Calvin

The next trials will be next year and probably on the south coast.

The weather and ocean forecast this week looks a bit bleak and it does not look like there is much chance of it warming up just yet.

And talking about cold and warm waters here is a segment out of the one fish film. The one section is in the Arctic circle with sub 10deg water and the other is in the Persian Gulf with plus 28deg water!!

If you cant see the Spearfishing Video - Go Here

Enjoy

Coatesman

Spearfishing News: Braiden's Garrick and Cold Water

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 06:31:15 PDT

Braidy 9.5kg Garrick

The east wind s have pushed in some clean water, but as can be expected any water from the east is going to be cold. With the afternoon high tides Braidy and I climbed in to look for some Garrick. He out did me 1- 0 ...and some how I get the feeling that this is only the beginning of him beating me.

Other spearfishing news is that there have been some Snoek on the Westbrook to Umhloti stretch. This is rather strange in the 18deg water that we are having. Maybe they think that they are Cape Snoek!!

The Zululand coast has had some marginal conditions, but the Couta are still coming out in fair numbers.
...... maybe we will go have a look there next week if the sea doesn't warm up here at home.

There are still 18 more days left in the Spierre Carbon Fins Promo on the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine. The topics so far are cooking, and there are also some heated debates going down.

So far the top topics are:

Which Carbon Fins for Spearfishing?

Imported Wetsuits or Local?

Baited Diving, Chumming & Cage Diving

So if you don't feel like working head over to the forum ...

Coatesman

Spearfishing Weekend Wrap Up

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:12:17 PDT

Ryan Berry doing it right.

Conditions along the Natal coast this weekend were a bit iffy for spearfishing, although there was a dive to be had at most spots. North and south of Durban had some diveable water but it was not the warmest water and the od Garrick and Snoek came out here and there. Most guys were not complaining as they were happy to ad least get in the water.

Further up north the story seemed a little different. Ryan Berry an old time local at Sodwana went to test drive his sinuses after a recent sinus op. It seems all went well with good fish speared and sinuses ok.

Other news is that Brod put up his short documentary on the Euro Africa Spearfishing Championships this is definitely worth a watch ... give some good insight into how tough it really was.

The Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine and Spierre fins have also started a competition on the USM Spearfishing Forum where you can win a pair of Pure Carbon Spearfishing Blades from Spierre.
All you need to do to win is start a "Hot" topic on the forum and the one that gets the most action wins.

Go here to find out more: Spierre - USM Competition

So even if the water stays cold at least the forum will be heating up this month.

Cheers

Coatesman

Euro-Africa Spearfishing Qualifier Update

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:15:32 PDT

Hey Guys

The Euro-Africa CMAS Spearfishing Qualifier in Peniche Portugal is over and our boys have done us proud. The results were pretty grim and you could be forgiven if you thought the guy blew it. But you need to have an idea of what they were up against and realise they actually did ok.

Well at the end of the day the mission was to qualify for the World Spearfishing Championships, and they achieved this! So hats off to the guys.

Angelo has an in depth report up:

Hi all,
Some feedback from the proverbial 'horses mouth'.
As I am sure many of you have seen from windfinder, windguru etc, the Portuguese coastline around Peniche is hammered by wind. In the almost three weeks we were there we had about 4 days of light winds - the rest of the time it BLEW.
The two official comp zones were very different from ont to the other. The northern zone had quite a lot of reef in the northern 3/4 with a long beach in the south and some reef right ate the south (bear in mind that the zones were about 11 km long). The southern zone had limited reef and long stretches of sand (hence the continual poor viz). Most of the reef was located in the north with some very good patches of reef in the south (but viz tended to be poorer in the south - if that is possible).

Read More ....

Coatesman

Markus Potgieter - 22kg Garrick Spearfishing

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:13:04 PDT

Markus Potgieter 22kg Garrick

The spearfishing the last few days has slowly gotten worse. And now the conditions are bad with some swell and wind all thrown in together. Yesterday seemed like that last gap and a few guys tried to jump in and make the most of what conditions were diveable.

Markus Potgieter snuck out to one of his spots in some deepish only to find a 22kg Garrick in a shoal of snoek?? Here's the mail he sent me:

Hey bud thought you might be interested in my Garrick I shot yesterday; I shot it out of a shoal of snoek. When I first saw it I thought it was a GT at first, but was the biggest Garrick I have seen! Every time I get one it amazes me at the power of the fish! It tipped the scales at 22kgs a personal best!

This is with out a doubt the biggest Garrick of the year this side, and possibly the biggest over the last few years. Ok ...some guys have claimed bigger but when you look at the picks and fish is no ware near shoulder high then you know they need to check the scale.

The last 'genuine' big Garrick I have seen spearfished off our coast was Warren Blackmore's 19kg Garrick in 2004

Warren Blackmore 19kg Garrick - Tinley Manor

So well done to Markus, any more crazy fish like that and we will have to make him 'King of the Coast' ....sorry Brod :-)

Coatesman

Vaalies take the Weekend!

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 23:05:51 PDT

Vaalies PJ Kotza & Mark Rogotzki

This weekend saw some good diving on the natal coast for a change. The forecast looked good and ment that a few "Vaalies' would come down as always to 'try their luck'. Mark and Pj traversed the Vaal river and broke through the 'Boerewors Gordyn' and ventured south to seek out some diving.

PJ is normally the first to admit his shortcomings, and what they might lack in skill and experience he makes up for in shear determination. He has a saying that, "nothing is impossible for a Vaalie"

Anyway I have been hearing reports of guys having some good diving this weekend and the best has to be the 2 Vaalies. They kinda took the cake from us this weekend!

Here is the mail PJ sent me:

Hey Chris!
What a weekend man! I'll send you a short write up (and yet another story) soon!
Basically, Mark and I went out of Saturday with Alan Potter to Aliwal on his awesome little duck.
First Dive of the day, I got my first Saily ever! 45kg! Stripped my gun and belt reel then dragged me on the surface for a good couple of minutes! Epic! I'm still in the clouds!
Then, we headed to Green Point to dive up against the rocks, and Mark goes and shoots a 19kg Garrick! The boat was full with only two fish on it!
To top it all off, I got in, swam right up against the rocks and wham, in about 3m of water I shoot a 13kg Prodigal Son. Too much man! Epic! 3 personal bests in about 3 hours!
I'll send you a proper story later.
Wow, this was the best weekend of my life! I still can't believe it!
Cheers man!
PJ

So well done to the Vaalies :-)

Coatesman

Spearfishing Daga Salmon in Durban Bay

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:51:16 PDT

Good sized Daga Salmon speared off the wrecks.

The late winter this will not be remembered for its diving. The conditions have just been terrible, with cold green water plaguing our coast. Even after a number of westerlies that normally clean things up the sea remained undiveable.
This week saw the first break in the conditions and we were able to get back in the water. The large swell meant that the only launchable spot was in the bay in Durban. Not a bad thing as you can get to all the wrecks and containers as well as all the reefs further north.

The first few spots we looked at were horrible, and diving 28m in only a meter or so vis is not fun. But as we worked our way north the vis improved. We stopped at the wreck of the Fontao, I did not even think to take my camera as the previous spots were not good.

As always I am a little slow off the mark and the other guys dived down while I was still prepping tom dive.
Not wanting to go over where they had been I drifted back in the current. Knowing that this would probably put me off the wreck and in deeper water than I would have liked I took my time.

When I hit the sand the wreck was just visible, and the water was actually very clean. Next thing a whole shoal of Daga came swimming in to have a look and with them 3 or 4 Iggies aswell. What a sight .... absolute eye candy!!! Its times like that you really need the camera.

Not wanting to blow the opportunity and land up having night mares reliving the scene over and over in my head I made sure on a fish that gave me a good shot.

The wrecks are super fun, but you need to be fit. With the diving being so bleak the 26-28m dives became quiet difficult after a while.

We did manage another Daga and some good sized Grunter. Not bad for morning out!

Lets hope we get some more ...

Coatesman

Phoenix Ship Wreck Pull Off

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 09:48:51 PDT

The Phoenix moments before she left our shores

After weeks and weeks, and much debate over what was going to be the out come of the wreck of the Phoenix at Sheffield beach. The Phoenix was dragged off and miraculously floated! Some including myself were hoping that it would sink some distance from shore and create a new dive and fishing location.

Anyway after 6 weeks and well over 5 million US Dollars later the engineers and specialists got it right. This time there were 2 tow ropes and I am sure a host of other details we don't know about to make sure that everything went to plan.

Early hours of the morning cutting the gang plank off started the proceedings.

What was interesting is that aside from the fact that there was a huge hole in the hull near the engine room, the engineers speculated whether the stern of the ship would be too heavy and cause problems. The countered the problem by pumping huge volumes of air into the effected sections. On the other hand they also said that it would take a number of hours for the ship to sink as there were many bulk heads and other water tight sections still intact.

Its hard to see but the puff of dust on the bow was the winch housings breaking off under the pressure.

The original plan was to pull the ship on the full high tide earlier in the week, but with no swell they took a chance and waited for better swell. So even though the tide was not as high as a few days ago the increased swell height helped rock the ship off the rocks.

The Light bow lifting up in the swell as she made her way.

Once the bow was facing out to sea it took a while for the heavy stern to get pulled free. You could see the bow was light as it lifted over the swells. Once the ship was pulled a safe distance they started to flood the bow with water to balance the ship and towed her over the horizon.

If you cant see the video go to Phoenix Leaving

Here is a short video clip my mate put together of the whole ordeal. Its a classic so check it out. I a sure that there are many happy Sheffield residents at the moment. And although we did not get our reef there are rumors that they will sink her somewhere near Aliwal Shoal.

I guess this is the end of this little saga and Sheffield can now return to its quiet sleepy self.

Coatesman

Brods New Video-blog No 5

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:10:24 PDT

Here is the next offering my our good man Brod Whittaker. In this vid you will see Jeremy Williams of the dive factory getting some really nice Kakaap up at Milli. The vis is soooo good it makes me wanna go dive.

Coatesman

Billabong Pro Tahiti - Jordy Smith Goes Down!

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:26:15 PDT

Billabong Pro Tahiti - Jordy Smith injures his ribs. pic ASP/ Kirstin

The Billabong Pro Tahiti 2011 is going down in a spectacular swell. The 8-10ft thumping barrels exploding over the reef have provided some amazing performances from the worlds top surfers. As always guys like Kelly Slater have made there mark, making it look easy.

Kelly and Ricardo Santos had an awesome duel in round three, which was followed by Jordy Smith and Travis Logie's heat. To be honest they did not look as comfortable as the guys in the previous heat and it looked like they landed up taking off out of position and and a bit deep. Jordy's first wave was too deep and he got smashed, injuring his ribs. With all the attention on Jordy the heat was put on hold, this was rather odd and there were a number of protests.

Travis Logie getting putting everything on the line. pic ASP/ Kirstin

The clock was stopped and the heat restarted, Jordy eventually got back out and finished the heat. Both guys took a couple more big hitts and it was more like a WWF round than anything. Travis put everything on the line and got some scoring waves. Jordy remarkably still got some waves and put some scores on the board.

Travis Logie deep and committed in Tahiti. pic ASP/ Kirstin

Travis was just ahead at the end of the re-started heat, and Jordy got a really good wave posting an 8+ and it looked like he took the heat. Even the on the Heat Analyzer it shows Jordy winning, but the judges did not count the last wave and took the original heat time. This meant that Travis went through the heat and into round 4 and eventually through to the Quarter Finals where he will meet Brett Simpson from California.

It looks like the Quartes, Semi's and Finals will be held in cracker conditions... dont miss it.

Coatesman

Kanoa Igarashi - the Future?

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:01:21 PDT

Kanoa Igarashi Mini Freak from Toby Cregan on Vimeo.

I am generally not prone to posting vids of surfing, let alone lightys surfing. But you need to see Kanoa Igarashi this 13 year old from California rip. In fact for me its not so much what he is doing, its the in style that he does it. Most grommets look like grommets on a wave, Kanoa Igarashi has the style and poise beyond his years.

We all watch guys like Slater from the days of 'Black & White' and Jordy Smith busting the bowl at New Pier. And they were not surfing like this! If this guys continues to progress who knows how rad surfing is going to become?

Coatesman

World Spearfishing Record Tanzania

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 01:55:46 PST

Tanzanian World Record 5.3kg Blue Lined Large Eye Bream by Eric Allard

For years Eric Allard of OWEA has been lobbying for the legalisation of Spearfishing in Tanzania. He has been in successfully getting permits for certain areas which has meant that for the first time a World Spearfishing Record has been acknowledged in the area.

The International Underwater Spearfishing Association (IUSA) World Record 5.3 kg Blue Lined Large Eye Bream (gymnocranius grandoculis) was speared off Leven Bank, Zanzibar. View Record Here
This is significant as this will further help the authorities in Tanzania to see and understand the the sport of spearfishing as a valuable asset to the region.

Congrats and well done to Eric and his team at OWEA.

Coatesman

Phoenix Sheffield Beach Shipwreck Update

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:57:30 PDT

The wrecked Phoenix getting pulled off the rocks ... well almost!

On the spring high tide this afternoon the Phoenix shipwreck was almost pulled off the rocks. The Smit Amandlha and a secondary tug almost succeeded in pulling the stricken vessel off the beach. With a combined pulling force of over 290 tonnes they were able to slowly edge the ship off the rock shelf.

The chain seconds after snapping at the D-shackel

The beach erupted in applause as the ship turned and faced out to sea. Only to have the the crowd groan like in a Sharks Rugby match as the chain attached to the bow snapped at the giant D-shackle.

The marine salvage team, running in to assess the situation.

There was a lot of running around, and a marine salvage team shot in on a duck. I guess everyone on the beach was hoping they would be able to quickly hook the ship up again and resume getting it out to sea. At this stage the Phoenix was still pointing out to sea and it was sad to watch each swell slowly turn her back around.

The Aerospatiale SA 330 J PUMA Helicopter removing the salvage crew for the day.

Eventually the growing swell and high tide had turned the ship to past the point where she had been before. It was quiet sad, but hope is not lost. According to the salvage team they will have another attempt tomorrow morning.

The swell is due to pic up and this could pose a problem, but it could also help. Lets hope that the salvage crew get it right and they get the Phoenix off our beach.

Coatesman

Grounded Phoenix Press Release

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 06:09:41 PDT

MT Phoenix, now even more mystery surrounds the stricken vessel.

The operations continue to remove the pollutants from the vessel and to date we can
report the following

• All the drums containing lube oils, grease and other rubbish from the decks have
been flown ashore;
• Pumping of the fuel commenced yesterday to the bladders ashore and then to the
road tankers, it is estimated that some 50 tonnes were taken off;
• The heavy duty pumps finally arrived, having been delayed when the road
transport became stuck in the snow; and were flown on board this morning; this
has increase the pumping rate to approximately 100 tonnes per hour;
• The operation is being slowed due to slower rate of pumping the bladders to the
road tankers against a 40 metre head;
• If the current rate is maintained removal of the fuel should be completed on
Sunday 31 July;
• The work of strengthening the bow is on-going and preparations are being made
to connect the Smit Amandla to the Phoenix before last light today. This is not
an attempt to tow the vessel off the rocks but to stabilize the vessel and stop her
moving on the rocks.

During the operation yesterday the tug Mahaweli towing the bulk carrier Asma 1 to
scrap, requested assistance 24 nautical miles east of Durban. The Smit Amandla was
scrambled to stand by until the Mahaweli resolved her main engine problems. The
weather conditions atrocious with gale force south westerly winds with 8 metre swells.
When the Mahweli regained her engine power the tug and tow were ordered to clear the
coast. The Smit Amanda started her return to the Phoenix.

We have been asked to comment on why with the Smit Amandla in attendance did the
Phoenix ground and was this an “insurance job”. The following facts are now in our
possession;

The Smit Amandla fired 8 rocket lines to the Phoenix while attempting to reconnect, 6 of these lines have been found on board the Phoenix;
Two messenger lines were then put on board the Phoenix in order to allow them to pull the towing gear on board. The Phoenix reported that on both occasions the messenger rope “slipped off” the drum end of the winch. Various maritime experts have been consulted and none of them can recall this happening in previous operations, in these conditions it is possible that the messenger line would part.
The Master of the Smit Amandla had to instruct the Master of the Phoenix to pay out more anchor cable when the vessel started dragging. A very junior officer knows that this is the first action that is taken when a vessel starts dragging anchor.

It would not be the first time that an unscrupulous ship owner was prepared to sacrifice a
vessel in attempt to realise the insured value.

The Smit Amandla Marine salvage crew on board have been suspicious that there is still
one person still on board, all the crew were accounted for when they were evacuated
from the vessel. Last night a medical kit was left in the accommodation prior to the
salvage team being flown ashore. This morning some of the medication was missing. As
the salvage team are totally consumed in removing the fuel from the vessel, the South
African Police Services will be requested to search the vessel. It is not unusual for vessels
coming from West Africa to have stowaways on board.

Contrary to recent newspaper reports the documentation in our possession indicates that
the owners of the vessel are either A & L Shipping Inc. of Panama or A & L Shipping of
Belize. We have also been contacted by Lloyds Casualty Intelligence of London as they
can find no records of the Phoenix, however a vessel of the same type, size and name was
scrapped in India in November 2010.

The vast majority of Sheffield Beach residents have been fully supportive of the effort
being extended to avoid a massive pollution incident which has led to disruption to their
lives.

SAMSA and the salvage team would especially want to salute Mr & Mrs Don and
Carolyn Spier, the vessel is beached directly opposite her house. She has opened her
house to the salvage team and her lounge is the operations centre, they are also being
offered food and coffee continuously. The fuel lines run through her garden into her
house and then to the road tankers. This unselfish gesture is making a difficult operation
much easier and we are extremely grateful for her support.

Capt. N.T.Campbell

Regional Manager: Southern Region

Tanker Ship Wrecked at Sheffield Beach on the North Coast

saltydiver@gmail.com (Coatesman) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:59:31 PDT

Bulk Tanker "Phoenix" aground on Sheffield Beach.

The carrier the 'Phoenix' was en-route to India to be scraped when they broke anchor late on Monday afternoon. The vessel obviously was having mechanical problems and the help of a salvage tug Smit Amandla was called in to try and pull the ship out to sea.

The stormy seas and heavy winds made the NSRI's job impossible and the help of Subtech's salvage crew came to assist. At around 9am this morning it looked like the tug was pulling the Phoenix shipwreck out to sea. What happened after that is still not known, but by 11am the Phoenix was wrecked on the rocky shelf's of Sheffield beach just north of Salt Rock.

It was quiet a thing to watch the spray from the waves blow right over the helicopters as they came in and air lifted the crew from the vessel. Fortunately there have been no reports that I know of of any major injuries and all the crew were evacuated safely.

The massive bulk carrier now a major feature at Sheffield Beach

Fortunately because the ship was being decommissioned it was not caring any cargo or substances other than its own fuel and oil. Hopefully this will be able to get removed from the ship before it causes any environmental problems. Not that a couple thousand tonne ship on a pristine beach is not an environmental disaster. One wonders if there is any hope of being able to haul the ship off the rocks and out to sea?

The Phoenix right on our Garrick Spot!

So what now, will Sheffield have a permanent new horizon? With such a large vessel that is probably full of holes by now the chances are probably slim that it is going anywhere.
I suppose we should look on the bright side that its not pouring oil everywhere, and who knows maybe it will form a cooking wave.

Coatesman