South African Spearfishing Records

Year Location Winning ProviWinning Individual

2008 Sodwana Bay Southern Natal Garret Staats
2007 Plettenberg Bay Eastern Province Hein Eksteen
2006 Port Elizabeth Eastern Province Jaco Blignaut
2005 Natal Natal Jaco Blignaut
2004 Stilbaai Natal Jaco Blignaut
2003 Natal Natal Jaco Blignaut
2002 Hole in the Wall - Transkei No dive No dive
2001 Bird Island (PE) No dive No dive
2000 Cape St Francis No dive No dive
1999 Hole in the Wall - Transkei Natal Jaco Blignaut
1998 Stilbaai Natal James Vine
1997 Durban Natal Tommy Botha
1996 Hole in the Wall - Transkei Natal Len De Beer
1995 Port Elizabeth Natal Tommy Botha
1994 Struisbaai Western Province Bertie Meyer
1993 Stilbaai Western Province Charl Blignaut
1992 Scottsburgh - Natal Natal John Girzda
1991 Plettenberg Bay Western Province Philip De Bruin
1990 Port Elizabeth Western Province Tommy Botha
1989 Kenton on Sea Western Province Tommy Botha
1988 Durban Western Province Colin Walker
1987 Knysna Natal Tommy Botha
1986 Struisbaai Western Province Tommy Botha
1985 Port Elizabeth Border Tommy Botha
1984 Glengariff Western Province Philip De Bruin
1983 Durban Western Province Tommy Botha
1982 Cape St Francis No dive No dive
1981 Plettenberg Bay Western Province Tommy Botha
1980 Struisbaai Western Province Tommy Botha
1979 Port Elizabeth Western Province Tommy Botha
1978 Coffee Bay - Transkei Natal Anthony Benjamin
1977 Sodwana Natal Peter Dexter
1976 Lake Kariba - Zimbabwe Natal Peter Dexter
1975 False Bay Western Province John Hughes
1974 Port Elizabeth Western Province Peter Marx
1973 Durban Natal David Maltby
1972 Ponta Malangane - Mozambique Western Province Jannie Smit
1971 False Bay Western Province Laurie Plumridge
1970 Port Elizabeth Western Province Brian Clark
1969 Coffee Bay - Transkei Western Province Brian Clark
1968 False Bay Western Province Brian Clark
1967 Ponta Tofa - Mozambique Western Province Brian Clark
1966 Durban Natal Brian Clark
1965 Plettenberg Bay Western Province Brian Clark
1964 Cape Point Western Province W. Pengelly
1963 Salt Rock No dive No dive
1962 Umgazana Border Not Recorded
1961 Durban Natal Not Recorded

an interesting interview with Len Turner; owner of Fibretech, and a reknowned SA spearo:

Len, what does it entail to be a spearfisherman?
Once a spearfisherman – always a spearo!
Spearfishing is not a way of life, it is “life”. Every dive could possibly take you to the very edge of existence, so for me, spearfishing is a continuous celebration of being born free and living free to free dive.

Apart from the personal satisfaction, where has spearfishing taken you?
Spearfishing is a sport for the restless soul.
Spearfishing takes you on an everlasting journey, both literally and figuratively. I remember driving in a car, with two dive buddies from Durban, 200 km north and then turning around and driving another 200 km south in the elusive quest for clean water and good diving viz (visibility). As a spearo living in Gauteng now, I have to travel many hundreds of kilometres every month to the nearest sea (north coast or Mozambique).
Apart from the places spearfishing has also taken me to places that are not geographic. A place of tranquillity and altered states of consciousness through meditation, it’s a place of health through all the cardio-vascular and anaerobic exercise. Being over 50 years old now, I don’t have my schoolboy figure anymore, but I have an adolescent constitution and zest for life. It is also a place of excitement; nobody can describe to you the sheer exhilaration of having a 55 kg sailfish on the end of your spear line or a 50 kg ignobilis kingfish “reefing” your rig, unless you have experienced it yourself.

What and where has been your greatest hunting experience and why?
I have written up many of the stories over the years that my friends and I have experienced together.
I had a fatal encounter with a Tiger shark at Kozi bay when a huge Tiger swallowed my Spanish Mackerel (‘cuda), buoy and all and then proceeded to try and swallow me. It was sadly fatal for the shark, as I did not taste so good. Another was spearfishing, Tigerfish and great Vundu barbel, Bottlenose, Cornish Jack and Niloticus bream in Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. This was amazing and not even the crocodile attack on my mate Rob Gates could deter from this experience.
Diving the deep drop-offs at Cape Vidal’s Levin point where the continental shelf comes close into the shoreline. I have seen leatherback turtles the size of Volkswagen beetles with moss and barnacles growing on their shells and 1000 lb marlin, so big that they look like nuclear submarines. And one day seeing a shoal of eight sailfish, herding bait fish in the dance of life.

In rugby one can get hurt from a bad tackle, what had gone wrong for you before?
Too much to tell. My nine lives are well used. I have been knocked against a cliff face on the Transkei Wild coast and been knocked unconscious. I have got a cramp in both hamstrings when chasing after a fish in 20 metres of water on Aliwal Shoal and then still have to try and swim to the surface with no breath left only with my arms. I have been on a flipped boat on a surf launch three times. And I have been bitten by a moray eel, poked by a sailfish bill, a fin bitten off by sharks, swallowed a blue bottle that exploded in my stomach and gave me violent cramps. I have been chased by crocodiles in Lake Kariba, and also attacked by a pack of sharks on Protea Banks. Yet I still feel safer in the sea diving the deep blue than walking down the street in Jozi.

Tell us about your boat?
I have had a number of really good boats. My current rig is a little C-SKI 4.40 m made by Steve at Fibre Tech. It is powered by a single 40 HP Yamaha. It is a spearfishing boat made by a spearo for spearo’s. I really recommend it to anyone.

Johann Stadler and Len Turner

Len Turner is a member of Gauteng North Underwater (GNU) “Blue GNU’s’ spearfishing. Anyone who wants to join their Pretoria based club or who is interested in learning to spearfish can contact him 0836332851.

Wow, Tommy sure did the Western Province proud!

Note the one year the nationals was held in fresh water lol. In the interview with Len, he talks about a crocodile encounter.

No water source is safe! Unless you dive in your fish pond at home