Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Words: Lance Uchida
Photographs: John Johnson + Dane Nakama + VOICE

One week before a scheduled “Fundive” and the surf starts turning sour. A couple of months earlier, a bunch of guys from the Hawaii Skin Diver Online Forum agreed to help out in planning a get together as a gesture of thanks from HSD to the users of the newly launched, redesigned website. Spearfactor, Seals, Biologist, Stody and me, Shallowman, settled on a Sunday date the weekend of the Fourth of July holiday for the event.

Seems that whenever we plan one of these things, the weather and surf conspire to do us in, and this one is no different. I offer this online prayer on the forum—this chant usually carries us through. Sure enough, the surf settles down and the weather is great—Shallowman saves the day again.

The great thing about “Fundives” is that you get to put the faces to the names. All year, we peruse the forums, posting back and forth, sharing our diving know-hows, our wise-cracks and our opinions. Jmack, Manini Huntah, Khanzye, Sushiman, Just Lucky, Ulua08… We’ve been talking like we’re brothers for months and we don’t even know what each other looks like. Heck, what if my brother turns out to be a sister?!?!

It always amazes me, how the guys on the forum are so willing to help each other out—the Fundive begins that same way. ‘Ol Dirty Diver agreed to give a short talk on techniques that he’s learned on breath holds and, as advertised, he’s an oxygen depleted encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to this subject… I’ve been diving for what, 40 years? This guy started just 5 years ago or so, and already he’s doing it deeper and dirtier than me. I must say though, I’ve learned more about diving on the forums, these past 5 years that I’ve been on, than the 35 years that I’ve been diving before that and it’s because of guys like ODD who are so willing to share what they know.

After the talk, everyone’s ready to get in the water. We chose Makapu‘u because it offered diving conditions for guys of all skill levels. Beginners can hug the shore, mid-level divers can venture outside and the hardcore guys can take their yaks all the way out and dive Rabbit Island—and the real hardcore guys can swim to Rabbit Island. It was neat to see guys pairing up, finding partners that they never knew before, checking out each other’s equipment… ahem, that would be dive partners and spearing equipment.

Everyone was eager to see what the divers are hauling in. Just Lucky has a bunch of tako on his kui. Johnny bags a couple of nice uluas. Others come up with uhu, somebody bagged a big table boss—a nice assortment. We always push for divers to dive smart, just take what you need, and that’s just how they did it. Groups of divers are getting together, sharing stories, talking smack. It’s funny watching them out of earshot. You can’t hear what they’re saying but you can almost tell what their conversation is about by watching their hand motions and body language.

With the majority of the guys back, we gather around for some fun. Our webmaster, Stody* is challenged by HSD covergirl, Kimi Werner to a cookoff. Both were told to come ready to prepare 2 dishes within a 45 minute time limit, using fish donated from the dive**. Man, I can’t even bake that frozen lasagna from Costco in 45 minutes. Amazingly, both came up with two awesome dishes each… Me and Biologist were pegged to do the honors and be the judges ala Iron Chef, and let me tell you, not only do the dishes taste good, but the presentation—they sure look good too. In the end, Kimi edges Stody out, but don’t feel bad for him. We find out that Kimi has a culinary arts degree (a ringer) and had not one post on the HSD forum***. We’re considering if those were grounds for a DQ.

The committee also came up with the idea of having a beach cleanup with the winning teams receiving prizes. As I scour the beach for trash with my latex gloves and handy bottle of hand sanitizer, Gummybeah808 and Fisherboy25 are coming back to the tent with rugs, car batteries and the kitchen sink. I give up but am amazed at the amount of trash we’ve gathered. In the end, everyone goes home with a full belly, a raffle prize and a fun experience.

If you made it, it was great meeting you. If you didn’t make it, we’ll be doing it again, but in the mean time, come check us out on the forum. You’ll get lots of good advice, make a lot of good friends, have a lot of fun—and waste a lot of time. PAU

* Since this writing Sean “Stody” Stodelle has been battling “glioblastoma multiforme, Stage IV,” an aggressive form of brain cancer.  For ways to help and keep up with his progress go to: www.savestodysbrain.com

** Recipe’s are posted in the HSD forums at www.hawaiiskindiver.com
As Sean would so politely put it “Use the search function” Stody’s Tropical Rice // Kimi’s Firecracker Papio.

*** Kimi Werner now has 27 posts as of 11/08 : )

View the video HERE

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