BLUE WATER WORLD CUP INVITATIONAL REPORT

I wanted to let you know the world cup went off without any major issues, just the minor ones. You know, mexico, AC doesn’t work in rooms, we lost power, no water in a couple of rooms, that sort of thing.

BUT, the meet was a huge success! Lots of fish, great crew, top divers, GREAT prizes, calm seas and mixed vis.

Mark Healey (first row) from Hawaii, first time in a competition such as this whooped everyones butt, cutting dives to 100ft, and taking the only two yellowtail submitted for a total of 11 fish, 280pts!!! This guy is amazing!

GR Tarr (second row) from florida was close on his heals for a couple of days, also diving to below 100ft waiting out the jacks. He finished 2nd with 190.7pts

Dennis Haussler (third row, right), thats right, me, stayed on these guys for 4 days, and lost to GR by .7 pts. Thats about 8 oz of fish in a 190lb total. I was diviing strong, hanging at 85ft plus and taking some nice fish, really trying to pull ahead of Mark, but no go. I missed a big rooster that would have clinched the deal, but then I guess they probably missed a couple also, so its a wash on that. Mike Mcguire 4th (fourth row). Keith Love 5th (fifth row), with the only billfish taken, a 151lb striped marlin.

John Perretti, largest Wahoo 66#, 2nd largest fish, also took 6th.

18 out of 21 divers put fish on the board, and we sold a ton of it to donate money to the local school in La Ventana. Prize table was HUGE, thanks to all of you, and everyone went away with something nice, from top caliber spearguns, to dive computers, lfoats, flashers, fins, suits, rash guards, hats, you name it.

I want to thank you all for your support, and the stories will be in Hawaii Skin Diver, IAFS, Apnea france and spain, and probably more publications, so you will ALL get top mentions and pics.

I have plaques for those of you that entered at that level, and everyone gets shirts, so let me know sizes and I will get them off when I return from RI after the nationals.

Once again, many thanks for all your supports, you guys are the ones that make it possible to pull divers from all over the world to attend the class event.

I will send full report when I get one writen, along with pics of fish and awards ceremony.

Best Regards, Dennis Haussler  www.20fathoms.com

World-renowned free diving team offers free talk to Hawaii divers

Kirk Krack of Performance Freediving to address safety and Shallow Water Blackout 

Performance Freediving International (PFI) and Hawaii Skin Diver (HSD) magazine be will addressing concerns about diving safety and Shallow water Blackout (SWB) on Friday, July 25 at the University of Hawaii Manoa Lower Campus Physical Education/Athletics Complex Lecture Hall 241 (across the Stan Sheriff Center main entrance) starting at 7 pm. Divers of all experience levels are encouraged to attend this FREE one-hour informative session, particularly those who are new to free diving and spearfishing.

With the recent tragedy of Sergio Goes, who was taking photographs while free diving off waters of Waikiki, HSD magazine and PFI have organized a free diving safety awareness session for the local diving community. Goes had taken PFI’s intense free diving courses twice before his tragedy. Kirk Krack, President of PFI, had trained Goes and over 2,300 others, including several world champion divers over the past seven years. Krack’s quality of free diving programs stress safety as well as performance to its students. After finding out about the loss of his former student, Krack was motivated to hold a special talk for Hawaii’s diving community, on top of his scheduled intermediate free diving clinic at Hickam Air Force from July 26-29.

“My condolences go out to Sergio’s family and friends,” said Krack. “While the circumstances of Sergio are undetermined, we still need to reduce these types of tragedies by keeping divers educated and aware of the importance of safety issues.”

In 2007, an article written by Dr. Terry Maas, a free diver and spearfishing national champion, author and videographer, estimated there were 5,000 spearfishermen in Hawaii. The article also estimates there are 10,000 spearfishers in the United States. Maas calculated six Shallow Water Blackout (SWB) deaths in Hawaii compared to three in the U.S. mainland where there are double the amount of divers. He also estimates Greece having 50,000 divers and six SWB deaths in that year. These U.S. figures are conservative to some, who have seen the sport grow exponentially like Krack who constantly travels through California, Florida, Virginia, Canada, Norway and Hawaii to conduct his free diving classes.

SWB is a loss of consciousness caused by cerebral hypoxia towards the end of a breath-hold diver in water typically shallower than five meters (16 feet), when the swimmer or diver does not necessarily experience an urgent need to breathe and has no other obvious medical condition that might have caused it. Many drowning and near drowning events occur among swimmers who blackout underwater while free diving or doing breath hold pool laps. Blacking out, or browning out, near the end of a breath-hold dive is common. Although the mechanism is well understood, it is not common knowledge among breath-hold divers.

Topics being covered by PFI at the free session will be:

·      Safety and Buddy Procedures

·      Shallow Water Blackout

·      Basic Protocol for Free Diving technique

The popularity of free diving in Hawaii is evident by local television show Hawaii Skin Diver TV and magazine. During the 4^th of July weekend, a fun dive was organized on the Hawaii Skin Diver website forum that attracted over 50 divers. The goal of the gathering was to get newer divers oriented with the sport through responsible participation. The free event featured an informal talk about breathing technique held by PFI participant and local diver Kurt Chambers, prizes for all entrants and three grand prizes for the heaviest trash pick-up. The fish caught were donated to the Family Assistance Center at Kalaeloa.

Please click on the link below to download a pdf of the flyer shown above.

It’s letter size (8.5 x 11) so you can print it out and pass it on.

HSD_PFI_FLYER

This was posted in our forum. In light of the recent events we’re putting it up front.

Terry Maas wrote:

Three young freedivers blacked out within weeks of each other in two separate incidents. While they all survived, their mothers made a vow to publish their accidents so that other young freedivers might avoid this killer. Commissioned by these two mothers, Julie Richardson and Chris Dimond, and with support from DAN, I filmed and produced this 6-minute video for You Tube. The primary goal of this spot is to alert new divers to the dangers of freediver blackout and how insidious it can be. Sheri Daye co-wrote and narrates this in-your-face video for young folks. Here is the link and share it with a kid you love.

Freediver Blackout

Other related recent posts:

http://www.hawaiiskindiver.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6438

http://www.hawaiiskindiver.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6465

Performance Freediving Clinic - Intermediate Freediver Level 

Hosted by Island Divers Hawaii, Oahu

July 26-29, 2008   

8:00 am- 5:00 pm (5 classroom sessions, 3 pool sessions, 3 openwater sessions)

Course taught by Kirk Krack (President and Founder of Performance Freediving) &

Mandy-Rae Cruickshank (has attained numerous World and Canadian National records)

Instructs competent and comfortable freedivers in essential safety and problem management with a high emphasis on proper technique development, training and equipment.  A thorough understanding of the physics and physiology of freediving is instructed along with training programs to better further the freedivers physical and mental performance.

Please Call Island Divers Hawaii to register:

808-423-8222 or 808-394-0852 Or  Scott Williams 808-216-1043

www.oahuscubadiving.com

www.performancefreediving.com

Recovery Video:

http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/8168/40/

http://www.kitv.com/video/16866659/index.html

Tribute to Sergio:
http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/8173/40/

SERGIO GOES:

http://www.sergiogoes.com

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Body found off Waikiki

It is believed to be photographer Sergio Goes

The Hawaii chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists last night awarded Goes its top photo essay prize at its annual awards ceremony. The judges felt the pictures he took for a Honolulu Magazine photo essay showed dedication of time and an appreciation for the island lifestyle and its customs and traditions.

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Well-known photographer and friend of the Hawaii Skin Diver Ohana, Sergio Goes, missing while freediving off Waikiki yesterday (7/11). 

The search resumed today (7/12). Please keep him and his family in you thoughts and prayers.

Sergio shot of one our ads for the magazine.

He was just as passionate about freediving as he was with his photography and with life.

Here’s and example: http://www.sergiogoes.com/

Here are some other links in the media:

http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/8162/40/

http://starbulletin.com/2008/07/12/news/story04.html

On the late afternoon of July 11, 2008, we lost a talented photographer, acclaimed filmmaker, dedicated father, outstanding member of our community, and longtime friend.  Sergio Goes was free diving off of Waikiki, a hobby he recently picked-up while working on a photo assignment. With his love of nature, his adventurous spirit and his creative drive, you could often hear him say, “Lucky we live Hawaii.”

The response from friends and the community have been tremendously kind and comforting. Thank you all for your messages of condolence.

A memorial will be held to scatter ashes at Kaimana Beach on Saturday, July 19th at 7:00 AM. Please join us on the beach, paddle or swim out and bid farewell to our friend.

Next month the Goes family from Brazil will be in town for Sergio’s ”Celebration of Life”, which will also be a fundraiser for his son Gabriel. Details to come.

Cards and condolences can be mailed to Andrea Torres, 1260B Saint Louis Drive, Honolulu, HI 96816

Please feel free to pass this information forward to friends of Sergio.

** The family request that television crews please respect the privacy of this memorial. Media filming is NOT welcome.

A Tribute page from our friends at HONOLULU Magazine

http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/Sergio-Goes/index.php

Sergio’s work

www.segiogoes.com