Women's winner: U.S. National Spear Fishing Championship in Newport

[JohnR]

From Tom Meade @ the Projo


http://www.beloblog.com/ProJo_Blogs/...an-wins-n.html

Hawaiian freediver Kimi Werner, pictured here, unseated Californian Amanda Ernst as the women's national spear-fishing champion today.

Werner, 28, shot three tautog and two striped bass - including a 33-pounder - during the U.S. National Spear Fishing Championship in Newport. A native of Maui now living on Oahu, Werner said the water off Newport was murky, compared with her homewaters, but it was clearer than she had expected. She fished off Land's End.
Werner was a member of Hawaii's mixed team. Her partner was Andre Tamasese.
Ernst, 18, shot three tautog. Though she saw bluefish while scouting earlier in the week, she saw only blackfish and undersize scup yesterday. She fished with her father, Bill Ernst of Malibu.
In team competition, Massachusetts Freedivers edged out Rhode Island Freedivers by .8 pounds.
The Rhode Island team scored 140 points with a variety of stripers, bluefish, blackfish, triggerfish, and scup.
The event's rules followed Rhode Island fishing regulations, but added two inches to each minimum size limit. One point is awarded per fish and per pound. The maximum weight to count toward scoring is 15 pounds. The maximum points per one fish are 16 points. So, a 15-pound striper wins the same number of points as a much heavier fish.
Diving for Rhode Island were world record holder Dave Hochman, Jay Moore and John Murphy.

From Ecaptain: http://www.ecaptain.com/node/1305

For the Perty Shot (obviously NOT at Newport) :