International Pacific Underwater Fishing Championships

The core members of this competition are Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Tahiti. After competing as guests for 3 consecutive years Hawaii became eligible to host this year's event.

On April 23, 2008 the Women's event was held in Kona, Hawaii, with teams from Hawaii and New Zealand competing.

The following 2 days were designated for the Men's Competition with teams from Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Guam, Kona-Hawaii, and North Shore Oahu competing.

The competition was fierce. There were even some recognizable faces from the last World Championships in Portugal. For example, Ian Puckeridge from Australia and Frank Tsiou Fouc of Tahiti were competing.

Hawaii's Women's Team, consisting of Kimi Werner and Tanya Bierne, pulled off a decisive victory. However, the Hawaii Men's teams did not fair quite as well. Australia and Tahiti enjoyed a seemingly insurmountable lead after the first day of competition, with the Kona Team in a distant third. It became apparent the visiting teams were top-caliber spearfishermen, and that Hawaii could not simply rely on the home field advantage.

The next day would require double the effort and a change of strategy by the Hawaii teams. However, in the end, Australia and Tahiti were able to hold on to their lead despite a strong first place finish by the North Shore Spearfishers Team on Day 2. Although, the Oahu team, consisting of Mark Healy, Marnie Balubar, Kapono Zukevich and Dave Wassel, were able to jump up to third place overall. This was quite an accomplishment considering the ground they needed to make up and the last minute illness of Dave Wassel. Event coordinators were scrambling until the final moments prior to the start of the tournament to find a replacement. Luckily Kona Diver Bruce Ayau was able to save the day.

Congratulations to all the participants!

Note: Next years event will be held in Australia.

Inter-Pacific Championships