Location: Sachuest Point - Middletown, RI
Event: North Atlantic Junior Spearfishing Championship
New England Freedive Spearfishing Co had the pleasure to be a sponsor the 2015 North Atlantic Junior Spearfishing Championship at held at Sachuest Point this past Saturday. This event is hosted by the Mass Freedivers Spearfishing Club. The tradition of this meet goes back to Mass Freedivers Club founder Phil Stevenson who wanted to organize and host an event to help introduce freedive spearfishing to the next generation. Most of the young competing are usually doing so with limited gear and the great sponsors who have been involved with the Mass Freedivers Club supporting this event over the years have made it possible to help outfit the young competitors with a wide variety of gear to help get them going, or help further their development as they progress in the sport. My children have competed in this event the past couple of years and I have seen how they have directly benefited by the generosity of the sponsors and the efforts of the Mass Freedivers Club. It was an honor this year to do my part to sponsor this great event and get to spend the day with such a great group of kids, families and friends.
I was diving with my 10 year old son Ethan that day and planned to join our dive with friend Teddy O'Rourke and his son Patrick. My boys and Patrick have become good friends form attending this event the last couple of years so the boys were stoked to be able to dive together, overseen by the safe presence of their dads. The wind and water cooperated offering flat seas for the kids and safe conditions. A short walk out on the point to the spot we had picked out and in few minutes we were slipping into the warm water to find mother ocean was going to give the kids some decent visibility for the day.
For the next couple of hours the kids were gifted with a chance to see some of the visiting tropical fish to the area which had us parents yelling back and forth, "hey do you see this", "we've got a couple of ---- over here" . I think we were just as stoked as the boys as this was a treat for us too. Finally I glanced over a ledge on my left side and saw a harvesting size tautog lying hiding in the crack between the ledge. As i tapped my son Ethan on the shoulders and pointed to my left and said "good fish .... you can shoot him". Not occurring to me that i was directly between my son and the fish he tried to swim around me and the rock to get an angle on the fish. But with the added commotion of two people gawking at him, the fish was only going to stick around so long..... gone. Outside of quick trigger fish coming off a shelf a few minutes before that, that was the only legal size fish we saw on our dive.
But the tropical fish, big schools of peanut bunker and bay anchovies were remarkable view for the boys to take in. When it was time to get out the boys met on the rocks on shore and were exchanging their stories about all the sea life they had seen, and each had the infamous "one that got away" story. Man they sounded just like their two dads I thought to myself, that's exactly how Teddy and I end each dive together... sitting on the gunnel of the boat or rock on the shore exchanging stories. Each day we are gifted to spend in mother ocean should be cherished and hopefully enjoyed with a dive buddy who feels the same. Along with all the safety protocols of freedive spearfishing, this "experience" is what I hope my boys gather from each of these trips and it will help build a love for the sport and respect for the ocean and friends.
Back at the weigh in, it was great to see new comer Sam Anderson had harvested a nice blackfish and was going to place first in the tournament along with winning the largest fish category. He was extremely grateful to his cousin Mike who has taken the time to get him interested in the sport, bring him to the event and be his adult dive buddy for the day.
The Mass Freedivers Club awarded prizes to all the young competitors, who went away from the tournament with some great new gear to help them progress in their sport. A sincere thank you to the Mass Freedivers Club for continuing this tradition. My day ended when I tucked my little guy into bed and he hugged me and told me "Dad this was best day ever ! We are going next year again right?". Me... "Of course we are, and it was my best day ever too buddy". He threw me a shaka sign as I left the room and well, that just hit home.
Anyone who has an interest in sponsoring the next 2016 North Atlantic Junior Spearfishing Championship, please contact the Mass Freedivers Club for information. Getting involved is easy and very rewarding.
See you and your juniors at the 2016 North Atlantic Junior Spearfishing Championship !
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