Spearfishing New Zealand

2019 InterPacific Spearfishing Championship 
Managers Report.

The annual InterPacific competition was held in Australia this year. Based in the town of Eden in Southern New South Wales. New Zealand sent one of its largest teams ever.
Mens team : Paul Best, Julian Hansford, Graham Mackerath, Jackson Shields,
Reserves: Leo Stothart, Jamie Wilson
Ladies team : Alex Edwards, Sophie Hamilton , Reserve Alex Barclay
Junior Development squad: Josh Bird, Tyler Maugham.
Manager: Steve Crabtree, Graeme Heapy
All the team were selected from the results of the Wellington Nationals. Taking 2 mens reserves was unusual but both were so keen to go that they agreed to split the funding of the “extra” between them. Josh & Tyler were next in line for team selection with their excellent Wellington result and were funded by their respective clubs. The opportunity to take an extended party came about as accommodation and boating were fixed cost regardless of the extras. The teams were a good mix of some of our most experienced campaigners and first timers who hopefully will spread the word.
We only planned 5 scouting days before the competition. Unfortunately the weather was not kind we were not able to get out every day to look at the areas. A large regional competition, The Narooma classic the weekend before was cancelled due to rough seas.
Even on the days we did get out we were limited where we could dive by the weather. The water was colder than expected so some frantic calls were made for thicker suits.

Day 1 of the comp was in the only area we did scout well. We had a plan to go for the fish we had found and everything went perfectly to plan. It would have been hard to imagine it going any better – one of those days were the fish just kept coming. Graeme and myself will long remember watching Graham & Julian standing in waist deep surf shooting Kahawai. Julian got two whoppers with 1 shot. The 4 they got were the only ones speared in the comp.
But even with a brilliant day the mens team were 1 fish behind Australia, The Kahawai and 2 big Bonito from Paul & Jackson had us ahead on weight but the margin was very slim. Local knowledge savedTeam Australia with 4 swallowtail ( sort of Golden Snapper ) & 2 bastard cods.

The ladies team plugged away and had a steady supply of fish coming in. They worked to their strength of not doing long swims but just plugging away in a comfortable depth.
For the second days comp Graham Mackerath made the decision to sit out the second day and let our reserve swim. That is one of the hardest decisions a competitor will ever make and was very generous. The reserves were forced to choose between themselves and Jamie Wilson became an International competitor.
The second day was in a zone we did not know much about. It was also approximately 9 kms long despite the rules specifying no more than 5. More about the rules later.

Jackson and Paul did have one spot that showed promise on our scouting days and headed there despite it being 3 kms from the start point. The other mens and ladies pairs just had to follow their eyes and look as they swam.

From early on it was obvious it would be a slow day. Watching from the boat we could see that none of the other nations were putting many fish in the boats and divers were swimming one way then another, never a good sign. Jackson and Paul did get some quality fish in their deep spot including Swallowtail but were hampered by a strong current and dirty water that made it difficult to stay on the spot. Our other pairs just picked up bits and pieces but never really got going.
During the swim back to the boats one of mens team was cramping badly so the managers decided to replace him with the reserve. The rules say a substitution can be made in the case of injury and the substitute swimmer must be provided by the host nation and may not spear. The host nation did not have a swimmer prepared out on the day.

Before the sub was made we called the competition director by radio to clarify. After several minutes deliberation he replied that he was OK with the change so long as BOTH of the pair did not have spearguns. We did the change with the NZ reserve with approx. 45 -50 minutes to go.

Our catches for both teams were OK but heading back to the weigh in I was not hopeful as we had missed out on several basics which I felt Team Australia would not do.

The fish that were weighed on the day gave the mens team 90% which with the 100% from the first day was a good score with Australia on 199% combined.
The Ladies team also struggled on the 2nd day and fell behind the Australian pair a little more. Our lack of scouting time was a factor in the second day. Once again team Australia got several local knowledge fish.
But then the protests started. The essential points of contention were this.

What constitutes an injury ?
What jurisdiction does the director have ?
What do the rules mean by reserve/manager ?
The decision to penalize the NZ team 50% of the day 2 score was made. But the protest had been accepted , then overturned , then accepted again, then overturned again, then acceped for a 3rd time but that decision made after the team had returned to NZ.

So what have we learned? The rules are not as clear cut as we would like them to be. They probably need a major review. Given the level of mistrust between some of the nations it is hard to see that happening.
I still do not think the substitution made a material difference to the fish we speared that day and was within the rules and that we acted in good faith by seeking the authority of the Director. But not to be.
What good things happened ?
We all came home safe and there were no diving related health problems on the trip.

7 new people got to experience International competition
I have never seen such a group of happy healthy divers at a competition. My hope is that some of them might take positives out of this a want to do it again.

The Budget
SNZ set a record for InterPacific financing with $8000.00 A spreadsheet detailing all the spending has been sent to all SNZ executive.
The Mangers set a record for living expenses. About 17$ a day each including travel Melbourne to Eden & return. We ate well .

It would seem the tradition of local divers helping out with boats and time is lost. We paid fuel plus boat hire in Australia. Boat hire is quickly becoming the biggest cost. It has been so on the last 3 events I have attended. The costs involved in InterPacifics have the greatest potential to limit participation of new entrants. We need to be careful.

Thanks from The team mangers and SNZ to all the competitors for giving it all your efforts and representing us in a terrific manner.
Steve Crabtree

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