“Mother Nature delivered a solid bitch slap to both experienced and newbie divers this last weekend at the Picasso Open hosted by the FreeDive Shop at the Caspar RV Park. And based on the amount of divers walking around with smiles on their faces, both Ma and the diver’s won.”

No one could have said it better than Sven Anderson in his SpearGearShop.com Blog.

The waters were rough for our 86 divers, fish were hard to find and Ab hard to come by but our divers were out there for more than just prize fish and ab. This is the nature and purpose of the tournament, to bring freedivers together not only to compete but to strengthen the freediving community, to meet new divers and catch up with long lost dive partners.

For this Picasso America staff member, this was the first time I’d attended and helped run the tournament and I have to say that I was greatly impressed by the good nature of the group. It’s hard to come by such an open-armed and close knit community. There was truly a feeling of family and friends there to just share a good time.

Congratulations to our top divers this year! The results are as follows:

Top Fish: Andrew Stepanick, Blue Rockfish weighing in at 2.25 lb
Second Up: Jake Showmaker, Blue Rock fish weighing in at 1.85 lb

Top AB: Leslie Russo with her 9.46” to win not only the Women’s Division but the Men’s as well!
Second Up: Jess Fernandez (9.42”)
In Order: Kurt Strauss (9.35”), Eric Sabbe (9.25”), Brian Gross (9.18”), Jake Showmaker (9.12”), Tino Bernozoni (9.10”, Kris Hanna (9.06”) and Andrew Stepanick (9.00”).

We would also like to recognize our only Junior Diver, John Christofferson.

We would like to say thank you to all of the divers who showed up for the Northern California 2009 Picasso Open Tournament. Additional thanks to the guys at Caspar Beach RV Park & Campground for their support and their contribution of both time as BBQ Extraordinaires and money to provide awesome meat.

Many thanks from the Picasso America and Freedive Shop owners Greg & Vanessa Fonts and staff, Stan & myself (Sarah), to all who helped out and participated in this year’s event.

Happy Diving and see you next year!

2009 So-Cal Picasso Open

We were up at 4:45am Saturday morning, eager to drive to San Pedro Park and begin checking people in for the Tournament. Some early birds started showing up around 6:00, even though check in was scheduled for 6:30. As we began checking people in, you could feel the excitement and anticipation as the divers signed waivers and looked over the tournament rules. By 7:00 all divers had checked in and drove off to their predetermined dive spots eager to start shooting fish.

While the divers were hunting for trophy fish, we set up the weigh station, prize tables, picked up the catered sandwiches, and set out a large quantity of Rockstar’s, Gatorade, and water. After everything was set up, we proceeded to play a couple hands of cards while waiting for the competitors to start returning from their dives. Around 1:00 some of the first divers started to show up. As soon as a diver returned, Greg and Rene would begin weighing and measuring the fish, while Vanessa wrote down the results, and I took pictures of the diver with his/her catch (for tournament pictures please see our “Gallery”). After each diver had their catch weighed and recorded, Vanessa tallied up the scores and Greg posted the results on the whiteboard.

After everyone had eaten and drank their fill of sandwiches and Rockstars, it was time to announce the winners. Roy McDennon took first place with a score of 52.45 and picked up a beautiful pair of Picasso Carbon fins. Kelsey Albert took top women’s place with a score of 42.45 and shot a potential World Record Sheephead. Mike Pender had the biggest fish, a 27lb Sheephead, and took 2nd place with a score of 44.75. Each competitor walked away with at least one prize, although most walked away with a Rockstar prize, and a Picasso prize. Thanks to Phil DiRocco and Rockstar, were able to provide additional Rockstar prizes such as shirts, trucker hats, and flat billed hats. After we completed the raffle, the crowd began dissipating and it was time for us to clean up, pack up, and begin the 8 hour drive back to Sacramento.