FATHOMIERS NEWSLETTER FREEDIVING SPEARFISHING COMPETITION SINCE 1957 Clint Alan Koberstein December2006/ January 2007 On Nov. 11, Clint was diving off the Channel Islands breakwall for lobster. He was found by his diving partner, Craig Dockendorf floating face up. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, too much time had passed. A few days later, His wife Tina made the difficult task of letting him go. His death was described as a heart attack induced drowning. Clint was in excellent physical condition, but had a mild heart arrhythmia. Not usually something to kill a person, and it is a condition doctors can control. Clint is survived by his parents, brothers and sisters, his daughter, and his wife Tina. I am putting together a scrapbook type of newsletter about Clint, it will be ready for the banquet. Clint was only 33 years young. A special thanks go out to Craig, Rene, Richard, and Erik for their work to make the arrangements, the boat, everything to come together and to try and comfort Tina. Inside this issue: Costa Rica 3 1 Yearly records 2 The year in review Competition results 3 4 Currents 5 Photo of the month, tuna pics Costa Rica 3 continued 6 7 Costa Rica, take 3 Well here we are again the Dirty Half Dozen. Gregory (The Russian), E. Huff, Zoilo, Stath, Doctor Steve (from Aspen) and me, back in Costa Rica for the third time. First time we were at the bottom of the begging line as to charter time. Nothing but hundreds of 25lb Tuna. Second trip we were one month away from the prime time and got beaten to death by the weather and virtually no tuna. However Tuna hunting is like going to Vegas and Stath hit the jackpot by jumping on a World Record 311lb Yellowfin tuna. It was nearly the only tuna seen on the trip. Now we re big shots in seniority and have Prime Time boat scheduling. Its a slow year for tuna according to the charter service but the weather is perfect and we re anxious to get wet. Basically we run around looking for schools (Continued on page 7) Special points of interest: Awesome story of tuna hunting. Currents is focusing on getting fit from fat! Larry Staat meet. I am done with the newsletters for now, It s been fun!!! Mike Thomas is now on the hook.
The Fathomiers Newsletter is the official monthly publication of the Los Angeles Fathomiers The Fathomiers is a Southern California club dedicated to Freediving and Competitive Spearfishing. Membership is open to the public. To become an Active member, you must fulfill obligations and conditions. You can also become an Associate Member for $30 Contact the Fathomiers for further information. President: Randy Weston. Email: Randy@Wellington signs.com Ph# 310-521-8151 Vice President: Richard Balta. Email: Seaholic@aol.com Treasurer: Bob Sellers. Email: Bobsellers@yahoo.com Secretary: Paul Romanowski. Email: Rojodiablo@socal.rr.com Newsletter: Mike Thomas. Email: mnm_thomas@yahoo.com Recorder: Mark Navas. Email: Navas@aerovironment.com Editor s address: Mike Thomas. December 2006 Minutes Meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by president Erik Banados. Visitors introduced themselves. We had a few new divers show up. Voted/ conscripted, accosted guys to fill the board positions. Bob Sellers has agreed YET AGAIN to be the treasurer. Something has got to give on this one. Someone give him a break. Watched some videos, including an incredible video of giant bluefin tuna speared in New Zeland. Heard some good fish stories, saw some good photos of fish. Meeting ended around 9:45. New Fathomiers Board members for 2007 It was pretty easy. About 5 of the positions needed to be filled, and a few of us decided to take on the tasks needed to be filled in the club. President: Randy Weston. Vice president: Richard Balta. Recorder: Mark Navas. Treasurer: Bob Sellers. Secretary: Paul Romanowski. Newsletter: Mike Thomas. The editor reserves the right to make spelling and grammatical corrections to submissions, and may rewrite sections for purposes of clarity and/or space considerations. The intent and meaning of submissions shall be maintained as closely as possible. Anyone who has submitted an article may request a preview of their article as it will appear in the publication. At that time the submitter may request changes or withdrawal of the article. The editor and the club officers will determine which submissions to include and which to exclude. While reasonable effort is expended to ensure accuracy of the information in this newsletter, we do not guarantee it. The editor, and the Fathomiers and it s officers, shall not be held liable for errors in this newsletter. The Fathomiers do not accept paid advertisements. Submissions are needed. Articles or information may be mailed, emailed, or communicated over the phone. Photographs submitted will be returned to the owner after publication. Please take the initiative to contact me or to send me materials. 2006 Record catches, in country. White seabass: 57.52lb, Randy Weston. Sheephead: 25.8lb, Richard Balta. Halibut: 40.32lb, John Hanson. Calico Bass: 10.35lb. Ritchie Ota. Sand Bass: 7.50lb Petros Bonito: 13.80lb Richard Balta. Dorado: 17.06lb, Paul Romanowski. Yellowtail: 35.52lb, Brandon Wahlers. Triggerfish: 4.70lb, Clint Koberstein. Cabezon: 10.0 lb, Richard Balta. Lobster: 10.60lb, Richard Balta. All Time records, 2006, out of country. Gulf Grouper: 148.2lb Richard Balta, Baja Mexico Sawtail Grouper:17.30lb Ryan Moore, Baja Mexico Leopard Grouper:25.80 Ryan Moore, Baja Mexico African Pompano: Richard Balta, North Carolina Jack Crevalle:30.8lb Richard Balta, Louisiana Great Barracuda: 38.60lb Richard Balta, Mexico Largest open water fish: Yellowfin tuna, 84.65lb. Erik Banados, PV, Mexico Page 2
The year in review, 2006 2006 was a banner year for the Fathomiers, with several lows along the way. The year started with John Hanson pulling in a 40lb. halibut. The white seabass run in Palos Verdes was decent, but the really big fish were absent for whatever reason. The big seabass were anything but absent at Catalina, and in June, Kent Hill got 3rd in the Neptunes Blue water meet. Erik, Randy, Mike all got white seabass over 50lb, with Randy Weston coming up with a 57lb white. As summer started, a funny thing happened; dorado showed up in record numbers, and stayed for several months. Thank you, Global Warming!!! Yellowtail were thick as flies for a couple months, and several were taken during beach dives! But not many large ones were taken. Richard wound up with a world record grouper, and he figures they just don t get much bigger than 148lb. The Scrambles meet had many new sponsors, and very good attendance. Mike Petruskos fish chowder chuppino hit legendary status! Richard won the Scrambles meet with almost 100lb for 3 fish. Zoilo weighed in the first ever dorado in Fathomiers competition history. In Florida, Brandon and Ryan teamed up and won the nationals as a team. Ryan had the biggest fish, placed 3rd, and won the rookie of the year in one incredible dive. Richard won the Helldivers rodeo in Louisiana, and Rene Rojas won in Hatteras, North Carolina. As fall came, we lost Billy Meistrel, the founder of Body Glove. Big John Carrol was voted at our newest Lifetime member. Richard won the Sturgill Pole spear meet, after years of trying, and coming close several times. President Erik Banados and Zoilo both finally got their first tunas( Congratulations!) In November, we lost Clint Koberstein in a diving accident. Very tragic, as he was so young and full of life. In the last meet of the year, The Larry Staat polespear meet, Ryan Moore used his handicap to win the event. We would like to take this time to thank the President of the Fathomiers for the last 2 years, Erik Banados. He has had a thankless job, and it seems it is always uphill, both ways. He has done a wonderful job for all of us, and wether or not he knows it, his work has been deeply appreciated. Also, Stathis has retired from the secretary position he has held for several years, he figures it is time to take a rest. Please have a fun, safe 2007. Sincerely, the board. Volume 1,Issue 1 Page 3
Competition final scores, 2006 In the end, Richards unstoppable consistency made him champion. Unfortunately, Clint was not able to push Richard right to the end. To show his solidarity, Richard is having Clint included with him on the Ed Gulley trophy. Congratulations also to Fil, Mark and John. In the December dive, beautiful conditions at Pt. Dume for the Larry Staat meet. Bill Ernst won the club dive, and the Al Shuck point with an awesome 21lb sheephead. But Ryan Moore won the Larry Staat meet with his handicap. AL SHUCK POINTS: Richard Balta: 2Fil Labastida:1Bill Ernst:1 Fathomiers 2006 Monthly Competition Scores NAME JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC TOTAL Richard Balta 81.76 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 54.29 0 80.00 916.05 Clint Koberstein 90.96 0 97.24 0 83.83 51.78 32.18 0 57.06 713.05 Fil Labastida 0 88.98 26.08 23.03 43.56 35.93 43.88 59.71 59.46 81.70 562.33 Mark Navas 66.43 74.47 0.00 31.15 14.45 39.34 42.72 46.54 62.51 30.10 95.19 502.90 John Hanson 33.21 79.39 68.71 83.42 62.60 64.11 391.44 Eric Banados 51.52 12.62 21.67 40.29 25.24 63.18 86.62 301.14 Petros Yiannikouros 56.11 36.40 33.51 27.46 75.54 36.12 265.14 Paul Romanoski 43.43 34.09 72.33 249.85 Mike Thomas 37.92 43.38 29.42 48.13 73.23 232.08 Dennis May 20.38 28.72 76.53 37.13 58.87 221.63 Tyson Curtis 11.92 14.88 41.30 95.91 164.01 110.8 Ryan Moore 44.35 3 155.18 Bill Ernst 0 Dave Galich 83.81 83.81 Eddie Ota 80.38 80.38 Carlos Serrett 39.75 12.54 11.60 63.89 Gary Thompson 33.50 28.65 62.15 Zoilo Velazquez 25.45 31.78 57.23 Brandon Wahlers 57.06 57.06 Micheal Fiorentino (A) 52.50 52.50 Rene Rojas 36.43 36.43 Ernie Schultz 16.35 13.48 29.83 Kevin Sakuda (T) 28.72 28.72 Randy Weston 14.21 8.58 22.79 Craig Dockendorf 14.82 14.82 Page 4
CURRENTS Well, we have made it to another new year. And I will go over some simple points for you about the simple side of health, safety, and fitness to avoid tragedy if possible. Many of us have gotten FAT (Doug,Erik and ME ) LAZY (Richard and me), or INJURED (Dave Galich) None of this was done while diving, but now it affects our diving, for sure. Sooo, I am doing the UNTHINKABLE. I am getting back into shape. I encourage all of you to join me in this endeavor. I ll give you a breakdown how to jumpstart your regimen, to ease you into some better health, and diving. I am using MY personal path, which will take 3 months before full training will commence. I am 36 now.. Getting a little older. Now, I have to watch for the things I teased all the Old farts about for so long.. Dec. 30. The cruelest blow of all. I gave up BEER. If I were you, I d dump all my holdings in Bud Light; that stock is gonna TANK HARD!!!! I also have given up all sodas. Only ice tea, water, juices, etc. Minimize caffeine. This in itself is enough to start, many will drop 10 lb. by just doing this. I don t drink coffee, if I did, I would limit it to 1 cup of regular in the morning, then switch to decaf. In 2-3 weeks, I would go to all decaf. I will stick to this only for 2 full weeks, just to let my body get used to the minimal caffeine, and let the excess beer flush out of my system. ( It may take 2 months..oops!) Start stretching, daily walking. Mid Jan: Go get a complete physical. I d suggest this to all of you. It s pretty cheap. I am doing it when I get my new life insurance policy dealt with. Not making light of anything, HAVE YOUR HEART CHECKED. I expect to be told I am about 11lb. Over my ideal weight. I expect to have a body mass index ( Fat to bone, muscle ratio) that is going to show me being around??16% body fat. 173lb of me, that = 27.68lb of body fat I am carrying around. I ll ditch about 1/3 of that in 3 months. At this time, I will begin running, bike riding. Run 2 days, bike 2 days. A day in between each, and alternate. Start with mild jogging, 11 minute mile pace. If you are a bigger guy, start with a 13-15 minute mile pace, save your knees and ankles. Continue this for 3-4 weeks, let body adjust. Minimize fatty foods, add more fruit, more chicken/ fish than burgers!! Mid Feb. This is where my training will take off, you may want to stick with jogging and bike rides. My run times will drop to 8 minute mile for 2 weeks, then I will push up to 2 miles, keeping the 8 minute mile pace. The days off of running are important for this, as my knees have both been worked on already. I will add beginning phys. Training. Sit ups, push ups, leg extensions on weight bench. No real upper body work for now. Weight will be dropping slow but steady. More conversion of fat to muscle, so the actual weight will come off slow. The older you are, the more pronounced the weight will actually come off, as you do not generate muscle mass as quickly, so as metabolism goes up, fat will be burned, extra water will be pushed out. A young guy like Brandon can still eat all day, and run all night, he can t lose weight, his body would convert the fat into muscle mass. Mid March. Increase run distance to 3 miles, run at 9 minute pace for 2-3 weeks, then drop back to 8 minute mile pace. Add more weight training, some upper body work. Concentrate on stretching, mixing routine to keep boredom down. By now, bike rides will be in the 20 minute range, with an expected distance of 6 miles. Mid April. Back off weight training, run 2 times a week, bike 2 times a week for cardio. Stretching a lot, keep simple phys. Training for overall fitness. Make sure to dive every week, or at least get some kind of pool time if diving sucks. By mid May, I should carry a run time of 3 miles in 24-25 minutes, a 6 mile bike ride in 20 minutes. My weight by mid may should be a stable 165. I can adjust my regimen after that depending how much work I have, but that will put me in good condition for long dives, and especially heavy current work. I can t stress enough how important it is to try and be in decent shape to dive. The difference in over-exertion when you carry just 10lb. Extra is a lot. Many are carrying as much a 40lb of extra mass they could cut in half, rather easily. Just some light exercise, and dropping sodas and really greasy food will make a HUGE difference. And if running hurts the knees, ride a bike. I don t ever want to write about another diver dying from a heart attack. I have now had 2 friends lost this way. And though neither of them were avoidable, there are lots of guys here who if it did happen to them, it could have been minimized, if not avoided. Volume 1,Issue 1 Page 5
Tuna time in Costa Rica Larry Carter and Zoilo Share success with tuna Over 100lb. Greg is about to lose this 150+lb tuna just out of his grasp. Better luck next year!!! A special thanks to Larry for giving me the most, and best articles for the newsletter. It was a lot of work, but a very Good time. Thanks guys!!! Next Club Meeting Second Wednesdy of the Month August 11, 2004 Location: Pizza Hut 3848 Sepulveda Blvd. Torrance, CA Pic of the month: Mark Navas. Mule deer taken in Montana this fall. Next Club Dive To be announced..
(continued from page 1) of spinner dolphin, jump in front of them, dive below them and hope to intersect with YF Tuna. It really is a slow year and it takes us 8 or 9 hours of motoring to find dolphin. We have two 40ft Sportfishing boats with three guys in each one. Two guys will jump at a time and the third waits his turn helping pay out the floats and lines. There is no breathe up you sit on the rail and when the Captain yells go you jump and dive straight down to where you hope the tuna to be. With 500lb dolphin hurtling past and all around you at 35 MP, it s like the running of the bulls in Spain!!. Pretty exciting stuff!! We re told there are some huge Tigers in these waters but you d never see them before its too late so there is no sense worrying about them. Normally a diver will key on a fish when he sees some movement at the edge of visibility. In this case there is constant movement all around you and focus is very difficult. The last thing you want is to be known as that jerk that shot a dolphin. Picture yourself on the deck of the boat removing a spear from a screaming, bleeding dolphin!!! The normal herds of small tuna flow by and again the last thing you want is to shoot a 50pounder and have three or four 300pounders come up and blow raspberries at you. Eric and I are dropping into the dark water and here come three nice tuna from right to left. They are 50pounders or more and I watch Eric layout flat and let the first two go by and then let loose on the third. He s first on the board!! You get two or three dives on a run and on my third dive, which usually has no fish, I am about 35 feet and a group of about ten 50pounders come by. I m above the fish and somehow when I fire my bungee gets tangled in my bands and the fish pulls me down. I need air and we have this tugawar until I make up my mind to let go ($1500 shot in the ass!!) just as I m letting go the gun untangles!!! Eric and I do the same thing later and it s a good day. We end up with two each. I don t see any prize fish, but Eric says he sees at least four 250/300lb fish. The following day its again a all day hunt for the dolphin and we finally find them near dark. I make a jump and drop as far as I can and wait as long as I can and see nothing except dolphin and hundreds of small tuna. Coming up I reach about 20 feet and there in front of me is Moby Dick.just like in the videos slowly cruising totally unconcerned with me. Looks every bit of 250 or 300lbs. I stop my ascent and start moving towards him with gun extended. He could care less!! I go and go and he keeps getting bigger and bigger!! Finally its about SWB time and I have no choice but to fire the 30feet of line goes out and stops short!!! This fish was at least 350lbs!!! Later I get one more jump and in the darkness and see about six nice fish coming out of the murk on level with me. They dive and slide off to my right and I pursue them letting the first two get by and seeing they are all the same size fire at the center one. Looks to be about 70lbs. I drag him up to the cable and see he s a nice fish. Getting the kill gun I nail him and find out he s 105lbs. I hear Zoilo and Greg on the other boat have shot nice fish with Z landing his..110lbs and Greg loosing his. Photos of the fight between Greg and his fish probably place the fish at 150/175lbs. The big one always gets away!! I was in bed all day the third day with a raging flu fever and couldn t dive. The guys didn t get back until 7PM with no luck Tuna Hunting is not a easy sport!!! Be Safe L. Carter