The Victorian State Titles was hosted by the Southern Freedivers over the long weekend that just passed. It was a 2-day competition with the scores calculated for each diver per day and both days scores being added to determine the standings and ultimately the Junior, Ladies and overall winner of the State Titles. There were representatives from three Victorian spearfishing clubs including Southern Freedivers, Shipwrecked Coast Skindivers, Geelong Freedivers and 1 independent diver. There were also divers that travelled from interstate including Duncan from QLD and Dave and Liam from SA.
Day 1The first day was called on with the dive location as Pyramid Rock on Phillip Island. The forecast was for low winds and low swell. This was welcomed by all divers, considering a Southern Freedivers aggregate competition was called off the week before due to poor conditions. When arriving to the dive site, we were delighted to see that both sides of pyramid rock were reasonably flat. The lines of reef vs sand were clearly visible from up high, giving the impression that the visibility would be good. There was a little bit of wind affecting the right side, but was still diveable and better conditions seen there for a while. 23 senior divers signed on and 4 juniors. This included Fitzy that slept in and was powering down Pyramid Rock road with his hand outside the car window with entry form in hand to make the 8:30 sign on cut-off.
After the safety gear checks, the comp started from the carpark and then there was a mad scramble down various parts of the hill. Everyone spread out at the start and a keen few walked a fair distance to get in at their favourite spot. I thought I got down relatively quickly, but there were a few floats already in the water towed behind divers finning hard. In close the visibility was over 10m in either direction, but got hazier in the deeper water. My experience was patchy areas that were really fishy and weedy sections with little fish life. With the swell being low it was easy to get close into the rocks and shore like to target the fish that hang around the white wash.
For divers that went on the right side, they were diving in deeper water with some reef coming up out of 15m and current in places. The faster current being out past the left most bommie. The conditions held for most of the day making it an enjoyable dive and allowing large area of coastline to be covered. Some divers finished early, with the majority within the last hour to 30 minutes. A keen few maximised the time and signed off with minutes to spare.
The barbecue was started and everyone lined up their tubs of catches for the weigh in and were well presented. After a quick bite of snags and home-made hamburger patties, the weigh in started. With the average catch around 8 fish, hopes were high of an evenly scored comp, until Murray presented his catch.
Murray took out day 1 with 19 species, the closest competitors were Watto with 14 species and Dave Scholefield with 12. Brett and Andrew competed with pole spears and scored 6th and 13th respectively. Jervis lead the junior category with an impressive 8 species and was 12th for the day. With 1 fish more than Blake, the second day would be crucial.
There were decent numbers of King George Whiting and Red Mullet over the minimum 340gm weighed in and historically haven’t been as common in comps. Some notable fish weighed in include a 350gm true sweep, 1010gm black drummer, 1760gm rock ling and they were just from Murrays catch. He nearly topped it off by tagging 2 kingfish, but both busting off his spear.
After packing up and ensuring no rubbish was left behind most headed home. Some caught up at the Cranbourne pub, while a small group stayed at the Big 4 caravan park and went to the San Remo pub. Brett reminisced about being in bar fights there many years ago and being banned for life on multiple occasions. Finding out there was one or more 80’s bands playing that I had never heard of, explained the abundance of hens parties and cougars strutting their stuff around the pub. We wanted to stay but made the smarter choice (I think) of going back to the campsite for an early night, knowing we had another big day ahead of us. After a few quiet drinks and a few stories, we called it a night and left Brett and Scott to their 8 bed cabin.
Day 2The second day was called on at Shelly beach and there was hesitation from some divers as to the fish life in the area. That was far outweighed by the wind whether or not the wind would drop throughout the day. 16 senior divers signed on and all 4 juniors also signed on for the 2nd day. The comp started from the carpark again and Watto set the pace for getting into the water. Again everyone spread out and before long, there weren’t too many divers inside the bay.
The visibility was greatly reduced compared to day 1 and the choppy conditions made the dive less comfortable too. Within the first 2 hours it was evident that lower numbers of fish would be weighed in as the fish life wasn’t as abundant.
Andrew and Brett took out the pole spears again and Brett managed to come across some kingfish out wide. He speared 2 but unfortunately both times the fish wriggled off the pranger. Greater numbers of snook were seen / taken and a rare 515gm banded sweep was weighed in by Dave Scholefield. I was also happy to beat my previous personal best snook of 4.01kg with a bigger 4.38kg snook.
A pair of dyneema gloves and a 100cm aluminium gun were donated by the VSC. The divers that entered both days were in the random draw to win either of the prizes. Tim Fitzpatrick won the gloves and Watto won the 100cm aluminium gun.
With 16 species, Murray had the highest number of species on the 2nd day and took out the State Titles in the open category. Blake had a cracker 2nd day and with 9 species overtook Jervis and took out the Junior category. Carly also took out the Ladies category. Congratulations to all the winners and especially Murray for such a big result.
We would like to thank everyone that made it to the comp and appreciate that Duncan, Dave and Liam came from QLD and SA to dive with us. Also a big thanks to all that helped out. It was an enjoyable 2 days of diving and look forward to seeing everyone at future comps / events.
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