Report of the XXVIIIth Spearfishing World Championship in Vigo July 2012
The XXVIIIth World Championship took place in the city of Vigo, Spain on the 7th and 8th of July, 2012.
20 countries were present at the event: Algeria, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Greece, Finland, Italy, Slovenia, Great Britain, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Russia, San Marino, Spain, Tahiti, Turkey, USA, Ukraine and South Africa.
After looking through the CMAS Inscriptions of all the countries present, the appointed International Judge came to the realization that South Africa did not qualify according to the CMAS Rules, therefore the team's captain had to be informed that they could not participate in the Competition so the Championship went on with participants from only 19 countries.
At 10 a.m. on the 5th, presided by the International Judge, Mr. Lourenço Silveira and supported by the local Director, Mr. Antonio de Saa, a Technical meeting was held, where the following topics were discussed:
Revising and clarification of doubts in the Particular Rules
Information concerning the Security Plan
The Opening Ceremony took place at 4 p.m on Friday the 6th, in consideration of all CMAS protocols. Mr. Xavier Duran, the President of the Sports Committee representing the President of the CMAS officially opened the Championship.
The first round of the Competition started on Saturday the 7th at 10:15 a.m. This round lasted 5 hours and took place in the zone named among the Particular Rules as "Zone 2".
The condition of the sea was satisfactory with good visibility, light waves and light wind, 3 knots from North.
The Competition went on without any problems and no complaints had been reported.
"Zone 1" was used on the second day during which the weather conditions turned out to be somewhat less fortunate concerning visibility, an increase of waves and stronger wind: on the other hand the athletes in general managed to present a larger number of fish.
Once again everything run smoothly without any problems.
No claims were presented after the weighing of the fish caught by the athletes and so the winners were announced after the calculation of the final results.
The Championship was officially ended following the CMAS protocol of closure, with the presentation of the CMAS medals to the top 3 athletes, the lowering of the CMAS Flag, the CMAS Hymn and the official speech of Mr. Xavier Duran concluding the Championship.
Later that night a dinner was served, where the Organization handed out souvenirs to all the teams and participants of the Competition.
Barreiro, 14 July, 2012
António Júlio Cruz
President of the Spearfishing Commission
