** Postponed ** Rhode Island Bluewater Meet

[TitsnSharks]

Due to inclimate weather and a severe storm watch in effect for Rhode Island the meet will be moved to Saturday July 8. Based on all weather information from NOAA and local sources reasonable safety will be compromised. All other details will remain the same.

[capteider]

i just want to get this right.. the blue water meet is an "all state" meet, so than i must assume that all waters, the entire coast, every bay, every breakwater and harbor in the entire state of rhode island will be unsafe , that is to say "reasonable safety will be compromised". Noaa weather says SW 10 to 15, gusts of 20 seas 3 to 5 feet. Who are these locals ? Where do they get their info? Do they do superbowl picks or stock market predictions ? Seriously, ask them if a hurricane is going slam us this year. It would give us a heads up and we could start boarding up now. lastly, ask them if they were planning to fish some special spot off block island and because that's blown out they decided the entire state's "reasonable saftey" was compromised.

[stripey]

Capterider, I agree with you. Last Saturday was supposed to be beautiful, but totally got blown out with rain. I still dove, and it was awesome. Going tomorrow with my kayak, unless it's "unsafe"! Look out bass and fluke...

[Capt. Matt]

It was the right decision! We have had meets in hurricanes and it ain't no fun
We have had the Coast Guard out looking for divers after meets and that is no fun. It is not just about water conditions you also have to be concerned with the limited visibility above water. No one said you couldn't dive just that we could have a better meet in 2 weeks.

Isn't the whole idea to have fun?

[dmay]

...it ain't no fun

Soooo...it is fun? :p

[Wet irishman]

Its all for the fun of it. Like Capt. Matt said no one is telling you that you can't go out just that the event was rescheduled, no club or group wants the liability. I for one wouldn't want to hear someone getting lost during the meet. With that all said I did go out saturday morning, between the rain, fog, swells, 5 foot waves, 4 foot vis at best, thunder and lighting I asked myself severals times, WHY AM I OUT HERE? Oh yeah to poke holes.

[TitsnSharks]

I am baffled by the pure stupidity and ignorance of the posting of "capteider" regarding the rescheduling of the Bluewater meet. Because I personally contacted all 30 divers by phone I can say that this person is the only one who seems to have a personal problem with the decision. I can appreciate a difference of opinion in evaluating the weather conditions but to insinuate that individual motives were served based on dive locations is ridiculous. There was only one person that I am aware of that was diving Block and he was already on the island Thursday for the start of a two week stay. I am very displeased with the comments made and do not appreciate the tone. Since this person has chosen to make there comments public via a post I will do the same. Lets not forget that the tournament is meant as a memorial to a club member who passed away doing what he loved, freediving. It would be very irresponsible as a club affiliated with the USOA to sanction an event under these potential hazardous conditions (fog, heavy rain, wind, potential severe thunderstorms) when very simply a local fun meet can be moved to another day. Lastly, you calling out the local divers as 'who are they"? and your disrespectful rant. Here they are: John Murphy, Dave Sipperly, Dave Hochman, Joe Patzelt, John Warnock, Brian Jesserun, Sergio Dasilva, Jay Moore. The collective number of years diving, number of National meets, overall experience and local knowledge more than qualifies this group to make this decision. Afterall, in the end, they were concerned with your safety.

[Sergio DaSilva]

lastly, ask them if they were planning to fish some special spot off block island and because that's blown out they decided the entire state's "reasonable saftey" was compromised.

That's just plain ignorant.

It's a conspiracy! They're stacking the deck!

Whatever. :rolleyes:

[capteider]

"Better safe than sorry" that's the same thing they tell me when i standing in line at the airport for three hours having idiots x-ray my shoes.Truth be told there was no reason that the meet couldn't have been held. Admit it, that very statement went through your mind on Saturday, be truthful. you though it . You said to yourself, "i guess we could have had the meet today" Sure, now your piss off at me; so it's hard to remember. But you said it and you ment it.
There were plenty of divers out on saturday, I even ran into a scuba school giving "novice" divers an open water course. Am I suggesting it was a blue bird day??? no. Were some spots unsafe; I'm sure but isn't that where personal responsibility and indivuial judgement come in?
If it all about fun why couldn't have people enjoyed hunting sheltered shore spots or keeping boats closer to shore?? The weather was a limiting factor, but face it, somebody went "chicken little".
A take offence to " ignorant and stupity" , am I an a**hole , or a prick??Yes , without a doubt. But i'm not ignorant , As a charter captain i know as much about maritime weather as everyone on the list, That's why i know the meet was still possible, that's why i said "WTF" when it was called off.
Now back to me being an a**hole, i'll admit i was pissed and thus the tone of my "rant". see it from my shoes, $130 no refundable room, busting my ass all week to have the time to take off this week-end. Not booking two $425 trips,
hiring someone out of pocket to cover weekend check-in at my cottages. Basically a major comittment of time and money. And then it was called of less than 24 hour before the event??? The forecast was the same all week. Thus the tone of the "rant". Was safety really the reason the meet was called off? Or was it because another day would be bring better weather and better possibilities ?? I was commited to your meet and you guys should have followed through. Hell, I didn't have a snowballs chance of even placing but i was willing to make a commitment of time and money to your meet. Every year regardless of weather they run a foot race in Boston, football playoffs happen in the snow, they even hold surfing events when the waves are knee high. Adverse conditions only add to the complexity and sprit of a sporting event. So what i saying is ..sorry if i offended, Like i said I'm an asshole. Hey what about that hurricane prediction??
Sincerly matt swenson, Prick

[holymackerel]

"Better safe than sorry" that's the same thing they tell me when i standing in line at the airport for three hours having idiots x-ray my shoes.Truth be told there was no reason that the meet couldn't have been held. Admit it, that very statement went through your mind on Saturday, be truthful. you though it . You said to yourself, "i guess we could have had the meet today" Sure, now your piss off at me; so it's hard to remember. But you said it and you ment it.
There were plenty of divers out on saturday, I even ran into a scuba school giving "novice" divers an open water course. Am I suggesting it was a blue bird day??? no. Were some spots unsafe; I'm sure but isn't that where personal responsibility and indivuial judgement come in?
If it all about fun why couldn't have people enjoyed hunting sheltered shore spots or keeping boats closer to shore?? The weather was a limiting factor, but face it, somebody went "chicken little".
A take offence to " ignorant and stupity" , am I an a**hole , or a prick??Yes , without a doubt. But i'm not ignorant , As a charter captain i know as much about maritime weather as everyone on the list, That's why i know the meet was still possible, that's why i said "WTF" when it was called off.
Now back to me being an a**hole, i'll admit i was pissed and thus the tone of my "rant". see it from my shoes, $130 no refundable room, busting my ass all week to have the time to take off this week-end. Not booking two $425 trips,
hiring someone out of pocket to cover weekend check-in at my cottages. Basically a major comittment of time and money. And then it was called of less than 24 hour before the event??? The forecast was the same all week. Thus the tone of the "rant". Was safety really the reason the meet was called off? Or was it because another day would be bring better weather and better possibilities ?? I was commited to your meet and you guys should have followed through. Hell, I didn't have a snowballs chance of even placing but i was willing to make a commitment of time and money to your meet. Every year regardless of weather they run a foot race in Boston, football playoffs happen in the snow, they even hold surfing events when the waves are knee high. Adverse conditions only add to the complexity and sprit of a sporting event. So what i saying is ..sorry if i offended, Like i said I'm an asshole. Hey what about that hurricane prediction??
Sincerly matt swenson, Prick


Classic New Englander... :bringit:

[Joespear]

Now lets get serious about July 8th. [I was away and could'nt make it, now I'm in] People make plans and God laughs!

[D. Hochman]

capteider,

If you are a charter captain than you should be able to respect the decision that was made. It had nothing to do with advantages or disavantages. Trust me the people making that decision can, do and have fished in all conditions with success. Not everyone has extensive water skills and it is these people we have to be concerned with. With pending eletrical storms in the forecast one should be concerned. I have personally been witness to the death of divers during meets, and I assure you it takes the fun out of it. Did I fish Saterday? Well yes I did, but with electric storms in the area I felt that we had made a responsible decision to cancel the meet. I am sorry you are dissapointed and sorry you lost some money, but I would be allot more dissapointed if we lost a diver. I personally stand by our decision and feel it was the right thing to do.

Hope to see you on the 8th of July, It will be a good time as always. :thumps:
Dave

[murph]

i also have no regrets about cancelling the meet. i, like d. hochman have been at meets where a diver has died and also at meets where i was personally involved with a search for a missing diver. trust me when i tell that it put a whole new spin on the divers with a cowboy attitudes outlook on things. when we made this choice to cancel the meet, we had to think about all of the divers. not just the divers with lots of experience, or those with very good knowledge on marine weather. we also have to think about liability. what happens if one of the younger divers doesnt come back? i stand by our choice and given the same variables would make it again. it is unfortunate that capteider lost a some money and his plans were messed up but this kind of thing happens in fishing of any kind all the time. i also took offence to the insinuation that the meet was canceled because someones spot was not going to be good or that somehow we were doing this out of selfish reasons. i assure you that that topic was never discussed in the numerous phone calls we went through all day trying to make a responsible decision. in the end we decidided it was the most responsible decision we could make. john murphy

[David B]

Despite the ill feelings of one Capteider... I'm happy to see the event organizers are acting in the best interest of the competitors , rather than corporate sponsors. The easiest thing to do is to do NOTHING and let the event proceed no matter what.
Those of you who were around in Sep 2003 may have had the pleasure of diving the 3rd annual Picasso meet which took place the morning after the remnants of a hurricane had passed through. Not only were conditions poor for fishing, they were downright dangerous !! It was too much of an inconvenience to reschedule because charters would be lost and hotel rooms ect..... It was absoutely the worst tournament I have ever had the misfortune of participating in! The smart spearo's chose not to get into the water at all. The point I'm making is.... rescheduling a tournament is an inconvenience for everyone....... It's nice to see the club officials have the spine to do the right thing ..... I'm sure the top competitors would have been able to land a fish in 5-8ft seas... yet the danger would still have been there especially for the less experienced diver. Perhaps someone was thinking of someone other than themselves for a change? It's nice to see. I miss you guys.

P.S. Rumor has it that Dr. Daryl Wong will be visiting R.I for some fishing this weekend !!! Best of luck.

[David B]

Mike - I thought you were a Gulf diver now??

[Joespear]

How is it looking for Saturday? Where is check in, times regs. etc. Is it too late to get registered?,Thnx

[TitsnSharks]

There is no check in for the start of this meet. It is a pre-registration, diving starts are sunrise, fish anywhere in R.I. waters. Each competitor weighs in one striper, largest bass wins. Registration is $20.00. The weigh in is at Pt. Judith, Rose Nulman Park. Competitors have to be checked in no later than 4pm. Entry mailed to Rhode Island Freediving Club, P.O. Box 10322, Cranston R.I. 02910. There is a previous thread on here detailing the meet specifics. I can be contact at jay@ccxglobal.com.

[Dave Edlund]

Hi All,

I know this is a very old topic, but I wanted to weigh in if I might. It is always a difficult decision to cancel a spearfishing tournament and weather is impossible to fully predict, but if the experienced organizers have some concern, I say "cancel it". I have been the chair of Northern California spearfishng tournaments for about 8 years and we cancelled 2-3 tournament over that time. Some people screamed and were inconvenienced like it sounds happened in this case, but in general our intentions where good. I am sure the organizers of the Rhode Island Bluewater tournament had the best of intentions. Next year I will be at the U.S. Spearfishing Nationals in Fort Bragg, CA and I am crossing my fingers we have good weather for the tournament as as the new USOA Nationals Chairman, I will be in the hotseat. Delay the tournament and I will be the dog, but allow it to go forward in unsafe conditions and you take on great liability. Fortunately in the case of next years Nationals, the competitors will "all" be on the beach the morning of the tournament, so we wil have a lot of face to face discussions. I will say one thing. some USOA clubs only cancel tournaments the day of the meet. The benefit of waiting to the last second is that you get the best read on the weather as it is "meet" day weather. The problem is if you wait till the day of the meet to cancel, then some folks have driven hours to get to the location when there was really less than a 10% chance of getting out. Thre are no easy answers.

Dave Edlund
USOA Skindiving Tournament Director