The Blue Water Hunter's Ten Year Anniversary Tournament

Working off of about three hours of sleep per night for the last week, my alarm sounds at 4:00 am but I am already awake and staring at the ceiling fan trying to think of something important I might have missed. It is Saturday, November 3, 2007, the day of The Blue Water Hunter's 10 year Anniversary Spearfishing Tournament and I want everything to be perfect but I realize my biggest fear is for the safety of everyone involved. My check-list tells me I have more prizes than I know what to do with because all the sponsors like Riffe International, AQA Water Sports, Spetton USA, Izuo Brothers, Kawabanga Spears, Clark Sales, S. Tokunaga, UK, Oceans in Action, Oceanic, Time Warner Cable and The Blue Water Hunter donated so much stuff I don't know what to do with it all.

A tournament would not be the same without an awards ceremony with plenty of food. Local restaurants donated enough to literally feed a small army, like Jack and Mike at Boston Basil's, Elliott and Rusty at Fujimamas, Bruce and Ohana at Big Island Grill, Jeff at Lava Java, Kathy at Hooters, Zack at Kanaka Kava and Rebecca at Kona Brewery. Without all of our sponsors this event would have not been the same. Thank you all VERY much! A special mahalo to Tate Marks and his brother Jerome who I called only the day before the event to see if they could help out with the water safety. And last but definitely not least, mahalo to John Tagupa and Ohana for volunteering to help out with the food prep and clean-up. Ho cuz, without you guys I would have been stuck in the mud!

I left the house well before 5:00 am with the intention that I would set up before everyone arrives for the Open Division briefing at 5:15 am. To my pleasant surprise almost everyone was already there when I pulled up. Wow, I thought! However, we all had to wait for one last person to show up at around 5:30 am so we could start the briefing and go... but I don't want to embarrass him by mentioning Doug's name.

The rules and regulations were unique for a spearfishing tournament and they went like this; The boundaries were from the southern-most tip of Hawaii island, otherwise known as South Point, and extended to the northern most tip called North Kohala. Approximately 140 miles of coast line where a team can swim from shore, use a paddle board, kayak, Jet Ski or boat. And the divers were not limited to only reef fish but pelagics as well. Reef fish counted as one point per fish and one point per pound while pelagics were worth two points per fish and two points per pound. Only five reef fish and five pelagics per diver were allowed and only one of each species. Just about everyone that was involved had mentioned how a good strategy would play a major role in a teams success. The difficulty in the Open division venue is the hosts or water safety personnels inability to monitor the divers actions by limiting variables concerning anything from safety to fairness due to the broad scope of the boundaries. This tournament was largely based on the teams ability to keep within their own limitations and to monitor the safety of their partner as well as the honesty and integrity of the team.

The 13-17 age bracket met at 8:30 am, just a few hours after the Open division briefing. Tate and Jerome, my eyes on the water and jet ski safety for the kids, checked in and were right on time. All the kids got into the water with their adult supervisors/partners, which were there to help in case of a problem but not to spear, at 9:00 am and had until noon to do their best work.

About noon I met all the 13-17 age group participants for the weigh-in and everybody had great stories to tell. The Open division guys started rolling in around 3:00 pm with their amazing catches to weigh. The deadline for everyone to be back or to call in was 4:00 pm and by 3:45 everyone was accounted for. Thanks guys, I can exhale now! By 6:00 pm the dinner was in full swing with DJ Brent Silva playing the best tunes while all the participants, family and friends enjoyed the incredible grinds provided by our local restaurant sponsors mentioned above.

The awards ceremony took a while due to all the prizes but I didn't hear anyone complain. The 13-17 division cleaning up the majority of prizes but there were quite a few things for the Open division adults as well. Next, we raffled off prizes and our volunteer photographer of the day, Joshua Greenspan , ended up winning the brand new Riffe Euro 110X model speargun. Funny how karma gives back. Congratulations to him.

This event was to celebrate The Blue Water Hunter's Ten Year anniversary in Hawaii and we want to give our fondest and most sincere 'Thank you, Mahalo' to all our customers, friends, associates, manufacturers and distributors, to all of you that have contributed in one way or another to the sport of freediving and spearfishing and who perpetuate the art, to all of you that are beginning where others have passed on, to all of you that have inspired us and brought the sport to a new level by diving deeper or spearing fish never thought possible, to those that have chosen to document other divers adventures through pictures and video, to those who support the diving community but who might be unable to partake themselves, to the parents who take the time to show a child the world unknown to most people in a safe, compassionate way and to pass on the legacy so that their children's children can do the same. The Blue Water Hunter looks forward to the next ten years striving to serve it's customers better than ever before and to continue to be a leader in the industry and art of freediving and spearfishing.

This concludes our Blue Water Hunter Ten Year Anniversary Spearfishing Tournament. There were many comments from everyone present about the great food and great prizes but also about the excitement for next years event which they were sure would be even better. Well, I guess it's going to be an annual event now so sponsors and participants alike please keep your calendars open for next years Blue Water Hunter Eleven Year Anniversary Spearfishing Tournament, Saturday November 8, 2008 because we'd love to see this humble local event grow.

Peace and safety to all,

13-17 Division Standings

1st Place Total Weight 23.25 Points
Henry Greenspan

2nd Place Total Weight 6.35 Points
Craig Rivera

3rd Place Total Weight 1.5 Points
Mikey McKum

4th Place Total Weight 0 Points (At least he tried)
Sloan Deleon

1st Place Largest Fish - 12 Pound Uku
Henry Greenspan

Open Division Standings

Largest He'e, Largest Fish & Top 10 Total Weight

1st Place largest He'e 6.85 Pounds & 6.20 Pounds
Shane O'brian
Carlton Arai

1st Place Largest Fish 38.6 Pound Ulua
Delvin Navaro
Danny Navarro

1st Place Total Weight 203.85 Points
Hanalei Adric
Calvin Lai Jr.

2nd Place Total Weight 71.1 Points
William Perez
Wendell Dupree

3rd Place Total Weight 70.15 Points
Delvin Navarro
Danny Navarro

4th Place Total Weight 66.05 Points
Steven Boreni
Michael Corbino

5th Place Total Weight 50.30 Points
Bruce Ayau
Jeff Silva

6th Place Total Weight 36.30 Points
Sheldon Suzuki
Dell Agricula

7th Place Total Weight 32.50 Points
Allen Meno
David Marumoto

8th Place Total Weight 27.00 Points
Sean Stodelle
Christopher Llanes

9th Place Total Weight 25.90 Points
Grant Wilson
Fred Ufano

10th Place Total Weight 18.80 Points
Moku Colon
Bryson Alcorso

Honorable mentions:

In the 13-17 division Henry Greenspan speared his first ever Uku at 12 pounds. It won him Largest fish category in his division and it was the largest Uku of the day overall.

In the Open division Delvin Navarro speared his first ever Ulua at 38.6 pounds and it won him Largest fish overall.