Bugg Season Opening

Well it looks like we might be getting in for the opening of bugg season. At home the vis is only 4m with lots of brown water up north. So if the east does not blow too hard we will be in for some diving.

Down south the water is looking a whole lot better, some places are already 6-8m!!!

I will check again this arvo!

Coatesman

Dangerous Weapons Act

Hey guys,

The Dangerous Weapons Act has more teeth than we think, Jeremy Williams from the Dive Factory gives his ten cents on the Salty Diver forum : DANGEROUS WEAPONS ACT

Spearfishing Update - Bugg Season is Comming

Well the swell has finally subsided, and will flatten off more through the day. The sea is still a little green and undiveable, and unfortunately the south is not going to be very strong today so I dont think the sea is going to clean up in a hurry.

That said I have seen the north east clean things up lately, so for all you pillages of crayfish you might just get lucky. Saturday is the start of the new bugg season and I am sure that every dog and his cat is going to be frothing to club da buggs. Like I said there might be enough vis to grovel a few out on Saturday.

I think Monday is going to be the day :-)

Coatesman

Spearfishing News - The Dangerous Weapons Act

Hey Guys .. heads up!!

Its usually the bunny huggers that we have to deal with, and Ross and Co do a good job at fending for us spearo's.
But a new challenge is ahead of us!!!

Down load the original PDF here ... DANGEROUS WEAPONS ACT

Add your comments or post on the forum : Dangerous Weapons Act fourm

Cheers

Coatesman

NEW PROPOSED DANGEROUS WEAPONS ACT

4 No. 30717 GOVERNMENT GAZElTE, 1 FEBRUARY 2008

PROPOSED NOTICE UNDER SECTIONS 2 AND 3 OF THE

DANGEROUS WEAPONS ACT, 1968 (ACT NO. 71 OF 1968)

GOVERNMENT NOTICE NO. Date:

1. Whereas I, Charles Nqakula, Minister for Safety and Security is of the

opinion that the objects specified in Schedule 1 are dangerous

weapons, I hereby -

(a) under section 2(2) of the Dangerous Weapons Act, 1968,

prohibit any person to be in possession at any time of any object

specified in Schedule 1 at any place to which the public

generally has access to, including any public road, railway

station or premises, or at any demonstration or gathering

defined in section 1 of the Regulation of Gatherings Act, 1993

(Act No. 205 of 1993);

(b) under section 3(1) of the Dangerous Weapons Act, 1968,

prohibit the manufacture, sale or supply of the objects specified

in Schedule 1 ; and

(c) under section 2(3) of the Dangerous Weapons Act, 1968,

prohibit the possession of any firearm as defined in section 1 of

the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No. 60 of 2000), or any

replica of a firearm, whether legally possessed and carried in

accordance with the Firearms Control Act, 2000, or not, at any

gathering or demonstration as defined in section 1 of the

Regulation of Gatherings Act, 1993, any political rally or

meeting, or at any polling station during an election in terms of

the Electoral Act, 1998 (Act No. 73 of 1998);

STAATSKOERANT, 1 FEBRUARIE 2008 No. 30717 5

2. The prohibition in -

item 1 (a) shall be subject to the exemptions specified in

Schedule 2:

item 1 (b) shall be subject to the exemptions specified in

Schedule 3;

item l(c) shall be subject to the exemptions specified in

Schedule 4.

3. 1 hereby, under section 2(5) of the Dangerous Weapons Act, 1968,

repeal the previous notices issued under section 2 of the said Act,

specified in Schedule 5.

Signed at

Thousand and Eight.

on this day of Two

C. NQAKULA

MINISTER FOR SAFETY AND SECURITY

GOVERNMENT GAZE-E, 1 FEBRUARY 2008

SCHEDULE 1

OBJECTS WHICH ARE IN THE OPINION OF THE MINISTER

DANGEROUSWEAPONS

Projectile discharging devices which are designed to discharge a

projectile by means of compressed gas, compressed air or a spring,

electrically or manually and whish is likely to cause serious bodily injury

if used to commit an assault, including but not limited to BB guns,

airsoft guns, bows and arrows, spear-guns, blowpipes and darts,

hunting slings, slingshots and catapults.

Sword;

Bayonet;

Baton;

Spear or assegai;

Panga;

Cattle prod;

Flick knife;

Dagger;

Knuckle knife;

Trench knife;

Throwing blade;

Non-metal or ceramic knife;

Tonfa;

Throwing star;

Any knife other than knifes mentioned above, the blade of which

exceeds 10 centimetres; or

Any other article, which is not a firearm, and which is made or modified

to be used -

(a) to injure or disable a person;

(b) to cause a person to fear that someone will be injured or

disabled by that use; or

(c) for attack or defence in the practice of a martial sport, art or

similar discipline.

STAATSKOERANT, 1 FEBRUARIE 2008 No. 30717 7

SCHEDULE 2

EXEMPTIONS IN RESPECT OF THE PROHIBITION

IN ITEM l(a) OF THIS NOTICE

UNDER SECTION 2(2) OF THE ACT

1. Any conduct for the purposes only of making the objects referred to in

Schedule 1 available for one or more of the following purposes:

For the purpose of a museum or gallery;

for the purposes of theatrical performances and of rehearsals of

such performances;

for the production of films as referred to in the Films and

Publications Act, 1966:

for the production of television programmes;

for the pursuit of any lawful employment, duty or activity;

for the participation in any lawful sport, recreation or

entertainment;

for the legitimate collection, display or exhibition of weapons; or

for the possession for the sale or supply of objects specified in

Schedule 1, in accordance with this notice.

2. The possession of any object specified in Schedule 1, by any member

the South African Police Service as defined in section 1 of the

South African Police Service Act, 1995 (Act No. 68 of 1995);

the South African National Defence Force, as defined in section

1 of the Defence Act, 2002 (Act No. 42 of 2002);

the Department of Correctional Services, as defined in section 1

of the Correctional Services Act, 1998 Act No. 11 1 of 1998) ;

any peace officer defined in section 1 of the Criminal Procedure

Act, 1977 (Act No. 51 of 1977);

8 No. 30717 GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 1 FEBRUARY 2008

(e) any metropolitan or municipal police officer contemplated in

section 64 of the South African Police Service Act, 1995 (Act

No. 68 of 1995); or

(f) a security service provider as defined in the Private Security-

Industry Regulation Act. 2001 (Act No. 56 of 2001),

in the performance of his or her duties, of any object determined

in Schedule 1.

SCHEDULE 3

EXEMPTIONS IN RESPECT OF THE PROHIBITION

IN ITEM l(b) OF THIS NOTICE

UNDER SECTION 3(2) OF THE ACT

Under section 3(2) of the Dangerous Weapons Act, 1968, the following

exemptions shall be applicable to the prohibition in paragraph l(2) of this

notice:

Any object specified in Schedule 1, may be sold or supplied only from a

registered business premises which does not include any open air, street or

flea market, on condition that it may be sold only -

(a) to a person who is older than 18 years;

(b) to a person who identifies himself or herself by means of a green

bar-coded identity document;

(c) if the transaction is recorded in a register kept for that purpose,

reflecting the full names, address and identity number of the buyer

and the purpose for which it is bought;

(d) if the register is kept available for inspection, and inspection thereof

by a police officer is allowed at any time during business hours;

(e) if the transaction is performed face-to-face and not by mail, post or

internet order;

STAATSKOERANT, 1 FEBRUARIE 2008 No. 30717 9

SCHEDULE 4

EXEMPTIONS IN RESPECT OF THE PROHIBITION

IN ITEM 1(C) UNDER SECTION 2(3) OF THE ACT

1. An imitation firearm which is brightly coloured in orange or green or a

combination thereof, or made of a transparent material; or to which is

permanently affixed a blaze orange plug inserted in the barrel thereof,

is exempted from the prohibition. Such plug shall be recessed no more

than six millimetres from the muzzle-end of the barrel of such imitation

firearm.

2. The possession of any object contemplated in item l(c) by a member

the South African Police Service as defined in section 1 of the

South African Police Service Act, 1995 (Act No. 68 of 1995);

the South African National Defence Force, as defined in section

1 of the Defence Act, 2002 (Act No 42 of 2002);

the Department of Correctional Services, as defined in section 1

of the Correctional Services Act, 1998 Act No. 11 1 of 1998) ;

any peace officer defined in section 1 of the Criminal Procedure

Act, 1977 (Act No. 51 of 1977);

any metropolitan or municipal police officer contemplated in

section 64 of the South African Police Service Act, 1995 (Act

No. 68 of 1995); or

a security service provider as defined to in the Private Security-

Industry Regulation Act, 2001 (Act No. 56 of 2001),

in the performance of his or her duties.

10 No. 3071 7 GOVERNMENT GAZElTE, 1 FEBRUARY 2008

SCHEDULE 5

NOTICES REPEALED

The following notices are repealed under section 2(5) of the Dangerous

Weapons Act, 1 968:

1 929 1 13883 / 19 March 1 992 I

Notice No. Government Gazette No.

1487

Date

1633

17413 2 September 1996

17490 1 October 1996

Down load the original PDF here ... DANGEROUS WEAPONS ACT

No Diving is Making Me Cranky

The swell is still smashing the coast! There were some waves this morning but nothing special. It might get better on the lower tide. I am sure Durban beach front is going nuts!!

Its been ages since we dived at home ... it just has not been our season. The down side is that we are missing out on the best time of the year for quality fish!

Iain Ewing braved the swell and dived off the Bluff ... check his report:

Got out two beaut queen fish on Sunday 8 and 9kgs. Started with Garrick and Craig. Headed to Umkomass but the swell was cooking! To big to take the risk of launching so we headed back to Durbs and launched from Durban ski boat club. Gnarly launch and headed out to No1 in 28m of water. The water was BLUE to begin with but after three south north drifts the kak water started to move in. Binned the dive and went to have breakfast at DUC. We met Shane and two other divers who had got fish round the bluff. FK so we rested for an hour and launched again! Hehehe

Arriving around the bluff and clean blue juice! Top15m was very clean with the vis dropping dowm to about 3/4m on the bottom. Not sure if it was a thermocline or from the beeg swell running [ we have a little cyclone sell here at the mo] Guys where doing some filming of tow in surfing as we where trying to launch! Hehe

Craig did well getting out fish. Queenies pick handle and few cuda.. We all got taxed badly, I lost fish to the ever present [massive] zambos that where swimming in the murk below us on every drift. Got some good advise from Craig and did not let me fish get into the murk after shooting them. I shot both fish off the backs of zambos, the queens where swimming next two and behind the sharks. As soon as a fish was shot the zambos went shipo on payday! Very eerie trying to dive into the murk, I have never seen shark action that intense on the bluff! Or that close to land! But the fish where thick so that may explain it!

The other boys saw tunny and had shots at snoek and cuda. I dropped a good cuda on the last drift.

Nice drift for a south north reverse currant.

Sweet

L8r
Iain

A west is supposed to pull in and sort things out tomorrow ..... lets hold thumbs!!

Coatesman

Swell Still Pumping

Flip the cutoff low south of Madagascar is still pumping the swell. This morning was a solid 6ft on the big sets and it was still breaking on the high tide.

The swell strength is incredible on this swell that we are experiencing, it is interesting to notice the difference between wind swell and a 'deep ocean' swell.
This morning I went surfing and got my ass kicked a good couple times. The water was moving very fast today. I have been surfing the swell the last few days, but today the swell was quicker than usual.

It was probably a combo between there being less resistance to the swell on the high tide. And the strong swell.

Anyway I had a couple over head waves that crushed me, One I did not even get to the bottom! I free fell and did not stick the landing. On another wave I got near the bottom and little 6'0" spun out and I got axed by the lip.

Freak, I got my ass kicked! I would like to blame it on my little board being under gunned. But I have ridden way bigger waves on smaller boards ..... I think it has something to with my fat ass!!!

I have just checked the forecast and guess what .... the swell ain't dropping!! It looks like we will have more swell this week only dieing off on the weekend.

The down side to all this swell is that the banks that were just coming right are going to be totally flattened!!

Catch ya Later

Coatesman

We missed the Dive!!!

We Missed it!!
At the beginning of the week the sea was looking epic, blue blue blue ..... then this swell came along. I thought, "well how long will this last? a day or two?"
Wrong .... but never mind that the skies opened up and the rivers pumped mud for two days and in an instant the sea looked kuk!

All except one spot ........ flip I went to a building sight up north yesterday morning and to my surprise the water was clean. You could sea the brown river water north and south of this 'last outpost' and it was definably diveable.
I was keen for to get in but the north east pumped and all hopes of an arvo dive were erroded. By now the river water has claimed the 'last outpost' and the barbel reign supreme.

The long term forecast is looking bleak with another west coming on Tuesday so hopefully we will get a dive in some time next week.

Flip this is just not how summer is supposed to go down!!!

Interestingly enough looking at last years blog posts we were in a similar situation. With cyclones and the odd dive here and there. The highlight was Andy's Black marlin he shot off Durban on the 23th ...tomorrow a year ago ..... Happy anniversary Andy!!!
Go check out the stories:

Spearfishing Black Marlin - news from the day after...
Andy's Black Marlin - Andys Story Salty Diver


Notice to all Salty Divers!!

I am getting sample jackets for sizing. Please contact me on the weekend or next week. We need to nail down sizes and quantities ASAP. The response has been great ...we should have done this a long time ago .....

Cheers For now

Coatesman

Spearo's high and dry!

Flip, just when things were looking good the rain poured and everything turned to mud!!

That and the swell from the low pressure system off Madagascar is not making our sea all that inviting. The forecast does not even give us any hope for the next few days either ... :-(

I did hear that the guys in Durban getting epic waves yesterday .... unfortunately here at home it was all over the place.

I suppose this would be a good time to get some work done??

Coatesman

Join me on a spearfishing adventure of a lifetime to Madagascar & the famous Castor Banks - FIND OUT MORE HERE
SPEARFISHING MADAGASCAR | CASTOR BANKS & NOSY BE

Salt Divers Spearfishing Club

Hey guys,

Finally got my arse in gear and sorted the Club fees out for the year. And you can now pay your subs, and I have a suprise for you!!!
I have made the fees free for 2008 .......da of course there are conditions!!
But check it out ...... Salty Club Fees

While I was going through some of the club stuff and there were loads of new club records around this time, so dont luck out with not paying your subs.

Just in case you are worried existing Salty memberships will be valid until the next club meet on the 7th March.

Spot ya

Coatesman

Spearfishing Sordwana

Spearfishing Sordwana can be frustrating at the best of times. I commented that we were there this last week and did not come right, this provoked a couple guys to ask me when I thought it did work.

This is a question I have been trying to get answered for some time, I have even put up a section on the forum on this very topic.
Spearfishing Sordwana

Why not go and share your experiences and thoughts on Sordwana. I will some comments and once we have enough info I will put it altogether and we should have a good idea of how the place works.

So please go and write down when you have found the place to work, or when it was dead. Things like: Time of year; Time of day; tides; winds; air pressure; current direction; which spot etc ......

This should be a fun exercise .....

Coatesman

Spearfishing Update

Howdy,

I was away this weekend up at Sordwana, the vis was epic and sea conditions good, but the South East plagued our efforts and we only managed to rustle up some Kakaap.

I heard the guys did dive here at home, not to sure what came out tho ..... probably more than what we got!!

Here is something of interest!!! this week end a year ago was when that guy shot that Marlin off Tiffs. Go and check it out!! The article on the Salties site was also pretty cool.
Black Marlin off Tiffs

Every once and a while Barry Paxman from Oz side sends me a pic ....of just another good fish. Its bloody painful ..... I think I am going to live in Oz!!

Barry Paxman with just another 'Good' Fish

Any way some good wests will bring some hope later this week.

All smiles,

Coatesman

No Spearfishing Love on Valentines ..sob

Well just when we thought that it might come right and we were going to get some love from the sea on Valentines. A very strong swell hit us!! I watched as some seriously strong swells hit the coast yesterday arvo sending all diving hopes down the toilet.

It did mean that we all got some surf .... I suppose thats not the worst thing in the world :-) The waves wernt brilliant as the tides were high and the banks well arnt set up for the swell. That said some waves are better than nothing.

The east is on us already and the swell is dropping, I cant see any diving happening until next week as the next west is only due on Tuesday.

C

Horray the West

Sorry for the late report, its just that very little is going on!!
The water is green and cold 22deg ...cold for this time of the year.
And cuta dont like cold water and neither do I. Good news is that the west is blowing!!!

Maybe just Maybe

Coatesman

Spearfishing Update

We not too much happened this weekend. The dive was out due to a biggish swell and churned up water. We were hoping for some good waves, but when we got down on Saturday the tide was high and the swell was all broken up.

Iain Ewing Esq was up at Vidal and sent in this report:

Morning my good man.

Very quiet! Only got out 2 small kingies.

Two cuda came out the whole weekend, on fishing boats!

Very clean, south north and wind pumping se.

Still lekka to see the buss tigers on Oscars.

Did not launch ystd as wind giving it!

It does not look like to much is going on the 'good' weather side and we will have to wait and see if conditions are going to improve.

Coatesman

Almost Dived!

I woke up this morning, hoping to call Morne and get him out of bed for a dive. But my plan was foiled by gusty winds and miserable rain. I checked the real time wind update in Durban and it was blowing 10 knots south. So I crawled back into bed .....

Driving to work the sea was lumpy and not dive able .... well not fun at least. Not sure what the vis is doing, but it did bucket down and I am sure the rivers will have some affect.

Coatesman

Salties Quiet

Dived Salties today .... the vis wasn't bad, but there were just no fish around. There were also a pod of dolphins on the drop off when I first got there. Maybe thats why there were no fish??

Anyway the week end looks good.

Coatesman

Wild Weekend - and the Spot!

Wayne and Gary getting stuck into the action!

Friday and Saturday went nuts down the south coast. And I think it caught every on by surprise, and the only guys out on the spot that was cooking were a tight group of mates. Wayne and Gary got "lucky" and had a fat jol in the process.

The North Coast was not as 'hot' but the water was good though and some fish did come out. But nothing like the South Coast.

At home we have seen quiet a bit of diving pressure as the guys hungry for some action have been scouting the spots. This has meant that guys travel from far and wide to come climb into some fish, causing some crowding at some spots. I dont blame the guys, we all like to get some fish.

But lets face it, no one likes diving in a crowd, its just unproductive! It amazes me that guys will still swim out to a spot when there are already a couple guys on the spot.

That said the other day ..during the week. I went to a remote local spot, its not a secret or anything, just remote. Warren and myself started diving it many many years ago, and to my knowledge no one else really dived it. Any way my mate who was with me that day, a local chap who lives 5min drive from the spot, was keen to get away from the crowds and head out to the spot.

We got in the water as it was getting light, the current was going the wrong way and by the time we got to the ledge another chap who's name I will not mention, was already there.
We kept or distance, just good diving etiquette and actually landed up diving almost off the spot. But hey he was there first!!

About 40min into the dive he comes swimming past in a serious huff. I recognize him (he is a mate who lives an hour south and often comes up here to dive) and say my hello's. Only to be greeted by cursing and that I had "brought every one" along with me. I was actually so gob smacked that I did not even answer him.

This incident was seriously uncalled for, in surfing there is hardcore localism that prevails at some spots. I do hope that this is not going to become the case with our beautiful sport.

That said I have got loads of flack (via the grape vine) by some..... like this chap for this blog. There are some that feel that the blog promotes diving in our area and is ruining the piece of heaven they have.

Funny its the same faces that have been coming diving long before this blog started.
And if any one has a problem, please rather just be man enough to stand up. (that's an invitation!)

Coatesman

Spearfishing - Large Cuta

Its every spearfishermans goal here at home to land a large cuta. Its like the bench mark of spearing ... well almost!! The thing is that you can have all the knowledge and technique down and be unlucky. Or even spend hours in the water, and still unlucky.

Then on the other hand you can be seriously lucky ... let me explain! A number of years ago, long before shooting cuta was a common thing, and we only dreamed of shooting cuta. Some of the mates went diving off a shallow point ... the usual hunting grounds when we were growing up. One of the mates invited a friend who had never dived before to go along and 'check' it out.

The long and short was that this chap in 5 m of water shot a 20 plus kg cuta!! his first ....... and here is the sad and irritating part ..... his last. He never dived again!!!??? Man that ate us up for years, I had spent hours in the water and had never even seen a cuta over 15kg .. man I was bleak!!

And then there is good old persistence and getting out there, some where along the line you will get lucky!! Like yesterday, lucky the fish swam in...yes, but it was also time out there in marginal conditions.

17,48kg Cuta

And here is a real cuta!! Mike Blake with a Big one!
We often joke that a cuta is not a cuta unless its over 10kg and a 'real' cuta is over 20kg.