The story of "Los Tiburones" (or The Sharks) begins sometime in the beginning of the year 1998, when 3 spearfishers from New England decided to make a team for the coming U.S. National Freediving Spearfishing Championships at King's Beach, Newport, Rhode Island. The team name was decided to be "Los Tiburones" as a courtesy to the team's oldest member who is a lawyer by profession. (Legend has it that the name was also intended to protect the team from sharks in an attempt to make the sharks of New England think that the team members are actually sharks beyond their human appearance. There's no historical evidence to prove this theory, though).

Tom "Bitter End" Campbell, Jose "El Tiburon" Fernandez and Ata "Togs are Easy To Shoot" Bilgili joined forces to become the next U.S. Spearfishing Champions, the undefeatables, the legends, the "one"s. However, there was a problem!... None of them were competitive!... They were actually known to "aim and release" fish for stupid reasons like "it was very cute", "it was too big", "it looked at me like my mom", "it was biting the spear tip" or "it just sat in front of my spear and did not try to swim away"...
 
Well, the"Good", the "Bad" and the "Ugly" (not necessarily in this order; see picture) started their extensive training. Tom and Ata spent the winter doing pool dives on every occasion they could get (this totaled 1), testing and calibrating guns and other equipment... Ata also attended a medical workshop which helped him increase the number of his red blood cells (the ones that carry oxygen to tissues). He recommends this workshop, entitled "Wines of the World: A Complete Understanding", to anyone whose breath hold is less than about 8 minutes (If it is more than this, you probably do not need any blood cells anymore anyway).. Besides the work he's done with Ata, Tom exercised on mind control, a very important factor in freediving, trying to get over an old girlfriend who left him the summer before. Jose is also known to spend the winter training for the Nationals. His training included cooking red seafood chowder and eating it with joy in order to develop the amount of fat around his belly necessary to keep warm in very cold July Rhode Island waters!...

When the winter was over, it was "field exercise time" for "Los Tiburones". The three members got together in Rhode Island many times to exchange their knowledge, to improve their underwater skills and to scout the competition area. During many times of those many times, it was raining like hell, it was cloudy as hell and it was choppy as well. With the knowledge that they were already "close to perfect", the team used those Rhode Island get togethers to search for new bars and restaurants and they increased their knowledge of the species of the area by asking the waiters (well, mostly waitresses, I should admit) what kind of fish is that that they are being served...

When the Nationals were one month away, the team members were at top condition. They were able to shoot tautogs in 5 meters of water. They were even able to see striper silhouettes every now and then. The only thing that was missing was a knowledge of the area where the Nationals were going to be held. The team decided to meet one more time and spend a couple of days together scouting the area, two days before the competition. However, spearing in the competition area was against the rules and the only thing that you could do there was to take pictures and well, "to scout"... When the driving force of the team, Tom, could not make it to that last meet because of professional reasons, Jose and Ata could not resist the "call of the wild" and ended up diving another area, known by its similarity! to King's Beach: Point Judith !!... That day before the  competition, Ata expanded his knowledge of paddling and anchoring solo his tandem kayak in high winds and high seas and Jose practiced "how to attract fishermen's boats by using your dive buoy" method. One thing that Ata learned that day was how good he became in spearwishing!... Ambushing him on the lee side of a rock, he "shot and released" a monster striper who towed him about 15 meters in choppy waters. The legend has it that the same wish was also seen by Jose 10 minutes after the incident on the offshore side of that same rock with a hole right under his dorsal fin. Ata actually ended up with a 29 inch striper that day. Jose was going to end up with a huge lobster located on the leeside of the Point Judith breakwater but this never happened because he was not licensed to take lobsters... That night, Tom, who was finally able to join the team, Jose and Ata celebrated the team's next day's accomplishment.

The next morning, all the team members woke up with joy. It was the day long awaited... After a good breakfast, they headed towards King's Beach and met many of their friends there.Out of joy and euphoria, Jose even dyed his hair blonde that day (I know I am pushing it now but; see picture). Anyway, it really was a great sight. Most of United States' best freediving spearfishers were there. Gerald Lim, Rene Rojas, David Sipperly, Warnock brothers, Los Tiburones, the Canadian immigrants from the New York Council, the guys from Hawaii and many many more. It was a sight of joy with colorful kayaks spread around King's Beach.... After chatting with friends for a short while, Los Tiburones found out that nobody but them was in a chatting mood. They concluded that people were stressed because they were not as prepared for the competition as Los Tiburones were and decided to set up their kayaks and get ready for the competition. Ata still remembers the way their flagship, the "Firebird", looked that morning, shining under the bright sun, loaded with equipment and ready for the victory. Jose's new "Seal Rock" was also a proud display, especially with her rounded lines and her captain standing proudly next to her. The team still get shivers when they look at those photographs of that sacred day. Just look at the pride of Captain Ata and the First Mate Tom!...

Anyway, the time was quick to slip away and the start time was close. After being checked for life jackets, dive flags and knives, Los Tiburones launched their boats. The Atlantic Ocean was calm and in a welcoming mood: nothing like the day before!. Sure to know where they're going to hunt, the members of the team were taking it easy and enjoying the splendid view that launched kayaks had to offer. While other competitors mentally prepared themselves for the competition which was minutes away and checked their gears for a last time, Los Tiburones enjoyed the time, taking pictures of each other as well as others.

Then, with the gunfire, the travel time started. While Los Tiburones were getting ready to plunge their paddles in the water, some members of the Hawaiian teams and our New England pride, Dave Drew, were already half way to their hunting sites. It was a thrilling experience to actually see those guys make their sit-on-top kayaks go faster than their hull speed !... Tom, Ata and Jose let the fast guys waste their energy on paddling and chose a site closer to the shore where they saw fish before. It only took them about 10 minutes to go to their destination and the rest of the time was passed chatting and dreaming under the sun which got hotter and hotter with every passing minute. Tom could not resist after a while and chose to wait in the water with his gun on the boat. Under the combined influence of sun and emotion, Jose even thought that the bottom of the sea was moving at some point. When the hunting time started, all the members of the team jumped into the water. This is when Jose understood that the tiburone in him was not working at all!...

When he first jumped into the water, he felt a presence behind him. This immediately reminded him of that story about a good size mako being seen off the competition area a couple of days before the competition. When he turned back, he saw that huge, oval shape coming towards him to investigate and he found himself praying "please let this end without pain and as quickly as possible". Luckily, it did not end at all because all that huge shape was was a good size sunfish (or mola mola). He then understood that it was the mola mola that he saw from the kayak when he thought that the bottom was moving. After the realization that there was no danger at all, Jose's attitude quickly changed from the "hunted" to "hunter" and tried to figure out if sunfish was an eligible species :) ... Luckily, it was not and the poor mola mola left the scene to scare away some other divers hunting in the area...

While this was happening to Jose, Ata was busy spearing triggerfish and some good sized tautogs and was actually feeling pretty good. After all, 3 triggers and 4 tautogs were not bad at all for 1.5 hours of hunting. However, the action stopped for him after that and although he waited for striped bass at different locations during the rest of the first day, he did not even see one, not even a schoolie. Tom, in his turn, tired himself quite a bit by diving on top of some boulders located on a sandy bottom at a relatively deeper area with no luck. At the end of the day, when the team got together to paddle back, all they had was a good hunt of tautogs and some triggerfish: nothing major. This is when the Tiburones understood that it would be better to take things easier the next day...

Back at the meeting area, they enjoyed the fish that many others brought in for the weigh-in... It was a good show by some top divers and people were more into chatting than the beginning of the competition...

That night, the drive to Providence, where they stayed during the Nationals, was a long one and Los Tiburones felt more like Los Sparrows tired of flying all day long. However, nothing was over yet and plans were made for the next day and equipment were checked and repaired with joy and hope :) ...

The next morning, the team woke up to a rainy, cloudy and miserable day. Although Ata insisted half-asleep that he was going nowhere but the next bedroom, Tom insisted on "seeing it to the bitter end" :) ... While Jose also leaned towards having a good breakfast and go to the weigh-in, the team spirit took over with the help of Tom and Los Tiburones headed back into the meet area in a miserable weather. It was more difficult to carry the kayaks to the beach that morning and none of the kayaks looked as handsome as the previous morning. However, the team was more experienced than the previous day and getting ready for the start took less time and effort.

When the competition started and the travel time began, Los Tiburones contemplated the usual fast-forward of the Hawaiians and Dave Drew, and headed towards Gooseberry Island. The seas were heavier than the previous day and the swells were running and that actually made paddling more exciting and enjoyable.Away from the stress and the excitement of the competition, the team dove some very beautiful places that day and enjoyed some beautiful visibility, underwater canyons, deep waters but, well, no fish, except for some small tautogs and small schoolie stripers. That's when Los Tiburones understood that they really do not feel comfortable with shooting fish for points. It just did not appeal to them to look at those barely legal tautogs and decide if they should be killed for being displayed on the scale or not. They were only hunting to enjoy the feeling of putting some food to the table and it was senseless to hunt and fill the stringers with fish which would probably end up being thrown away somewhere. Hunting something they will not even keep and enjoy just did not bring out the hunter in them and they lost the interest. This was probably the only time that "Los Tiburones" got close to the real meaning of their  team names. The sharks would not kill for fun or for points after all. The following picture of Jose on the "Seal Rock" was taken right after he understood the real meaning of being a Tiburone (see the smile?)...
Tom especially enjoyed that day by making some continuous deep dives. After visiting some more pinacles off King's Beach, the team decided to call it off, especially since Tom's seasickness was coming to a degree that he was even unable to recognize Ata on the kayak. Back at the beach, the team enjoyed the victory of Gerald Lim, Rene Rojas and Bill Ernst. What a nice and consistent team!... Tom Campbell ranked first among the competitors who only caught one tautog the second day :) !... Here's a picture of his tautog.

After the weigh-in, under suspicious looks of Tom Campbell, Ata and Jose went to Fort Adams to do another shore dive and to maybe bring home some food but the visibility was so bad and the currents were so high that they could only stay in the water for only about 45 minutes with no legal fish being sighted. They then ended up at a nice bar in Newport and closed the Nationals with a good meal of lobsters and Guiness.

The next morning, they got together at a breakfast place in Providence and celebrated their victory. After all, they have been through some beautiful moments over the last couple of days and have enjoyed them till the last drop.

The story of "Los Tiburones" does not end here. The saga will continue as long as the Good, the Bad and the Ugly are alive and maybe even after they cease existing :) ...

Cheers to you all...

Thanks to Jose L. Fernandez and Tom Campbell for providing the pictures and the memories...

Ata Bilgili
Feb 20th, 1999

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