Strong winds had been forecast and after an early briefing, during which the teams decided on a 4 hour competition, we launched at Rocky Bay. We had plans to dive some distant locations, but due to to shorter format and rough conditions, decided to dive a similar location to the one where Graham had sighted the Great White 2 days earlier. This proved to be a good decision as the South African A team wasted time getting to a distant location and did not give themselves enough time to spear enough fish to win in the shorter duration competition. The SAUFF team were not fairing much better. They had elected to dive the deep Scottborough area closer inshore where we had been in the Interprovincial competition 2 days earlier.
We dived 4 spots without moving too far and spent a lot of time in the water, bringing in quality high point scoring fish at a steady rate most of the day, but did not land much during the last hour of the competition. Rick left a reel gun in a cave after his spear was stuck and his reel jammed. In hindsight we should have visited a 5th spot an hour before the end - instead we stayed on the fish we had at our 4th spot.
We had about 23 fish in the bag for the day and were not at all confident of our fortunes when we beached. however it soon became apparent that the other teams had not done particularly well either. A large Black Muscle Cracker speared by SA captain, James Lawson-Smith - the most prized fish and envy of all the spearos who had attended the 4 days of competition diving! A great fish worthy of recognition and for a moment I had a feeling of being done yet again. Upon collecting my thoughts i noticed 3 crates of fish and recognised ours as the middle one - also the fish looked heavier and more numerous in that crate. A moment later I looked up and the story in the expressions was told - we had won the day by an incredible stroke of fortune and some lucky decisions which went our way.
James' fish stole the show on the final day, but we were happy to take the honours for our combined efforts, which included quality fish, amongst which were a Red Flush Cod, 2 large Rubberlip, Santer Englishman and Green Jobfish. Afterwards we attended a great prize giving dinner at the Shelly Beach Ski-boat Club.
While we all had our attention focussed on the weigh in, a thief walked off with Graham's dive bag - a gentle reminder that we need vigilance when travelling abroad.
We can't say enough to thank our hosts, the Hibiscus Underwater Club, their Chairman who also chairs the SAUFF, Brent Addison, his son Mark and the use of his facilities at Blue Wilderness in Rocky Bay, the Shelly Beach Ski-boat Club for the use of their facilities, Gyula Plaganyi for the use of his double cab ute, Ryan Hanson for the use of his boat, and so many others.
On behalf of the AUF and my fellow team members, Graham, Rick and Rob, I would like to extend our sincere thanks for a great time in South Africa. We hope, that in the not too distant future, we can host a South African team on our shores
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