
Noob Spearo Podcast
NSP:322 Trivia mashup x Southern GBR Debrief
Shrek left the building, so Sam the Waterman grabbed the mic, and it went about how you'd expect. Recorded on night two of the first ever 1770 Beginner Spearfishing Retreat run without the big fella, this one starts with a full trivia night: buddy rules, Boyle's Law, world record bluefin, Molchanov's 136 m dive and a Bali Files round about Noffs' travel disasters. Then Ben Rennie wins the Shrek-impersonation bonus with a Killshot ad read, and "Bulletproof Buddy Protocol" gets exposed as something nobody has ever heard Shrek say. After that the students and instructors "dob in a legend": Tom Smythe tells the story of a cobia fight that ended in a tangle of float lines, Ting shoots her first fish ever (having never freedived before), and seasick Matt comes back to crack 10 m and have a fish in the boat within 25 minutes. It's for anyone who's wondered what a Noob Spearo retreat is like from the inside, and for every spearo who keeps being told to "slow down". Important Timestamps 00:00:41 β Sam the Waterman takes over the intro. It's the first 1770 retreat ever run without Shrek, and the crew report on how it's going. 00:01:00 β Meet the crew: Mark (lead), Bri, Ben Rennie (camera and scorer), Nick and Tom Smythe (up from Coffs) and Brad (Gold Coast). 00:03:15 β Round 1, Safety and Fundamentals: the four-word buddy rule, and the bonus "Noob Spearo version" nobody has heard of. 00:04:10 β Which gas hyperventilation strips from your blood, and why that sets you up for a blackout. 00:05:40 β The recovery breathing every instructor drills for the moment you surface, then 10 m neutral buoyancy and Boyle's Law. 00:06:40 β Ikejime and the thing it delays (spelling was marked strictly, so "rigatoni mortis" didn't count). 00:07:50 β Answers. "Bulletproof Buddy Protocol" gets a room full of blank faces. 00:10:30 β Round 2, World Records: Terry Maas's 1982 bluefin, a Kiwi who shares his name with a Rat Pack crooner, Greg Pickering's Spanish mackerel from Dorre Island and Carlos Siqueira's 301 kg blue marlin. 00:13:30 β True or false: the women's Indo-Pacific blue marlin record beats the men's. 00:17:00 β Round 3, Freediving and Physiology: the mammalian dive reflex, why most blackouts happen in the last 10 m, samba/LMC, Molchanov's 136 m CWT and Mifsud's static record. 00:21:30 β Round 4, Equipment: why spearos avoid ultra-low-volume masks, shackles vs shark clips, what a flasher does, and speargun rubber in the tropics vs the Arctic. 00:23:30 β The Shrek-impersonation bonus. Ben Rennie's Killshot ad read takes the three points. 00:26:40 β Equipment answers, where Shrek loses a point for his own flasher answer. 00:27:50 β Round 5, the Noob Spearo round: Full Froth No Ego, the launch year, 99 Tips and The Floater (a.k.a. "the big turd"). 00:32:50 β Round 6, The Bali Files: how many things went wrong for Noffs on the way to Bali, the instructor course in Amed, Adam's mindset tools (the nana voice, the poo emoji, no plan B) and the discipline that "feels like cheating". 00:36:50 β Final scores. Nick takes the trivia crown with 21. 00:38:00 β Mark wraps day two: instructors scouting reefs before the students even got wet, and a 100% pass rate. 00:38:50 β Fish comp results: Holly and Andy tie for first, Zach's big fish, Ting's award for the loudest stoke, Matt's one-shot best kill and Sam winning the instructor comp again. 00:42:10 β Dob in a Legend starts. Fozzie on Matt coming back from the dead, Zach's cobia, and staying calm on the drop. 00:44:00 β Brad's instructor takeaway: teaching others keeps you learning. 00:45:15 β Bri on how buddy care between strangers turned into the highlight of the trip. 00:49:10 β Tom Smythe's cobia story: a float line wrapped around two spearos, a fish fighting hard, and then a second "cobia" that turned out to be a shark. 00:53:00 β Tegan's first fish is a coral trout, and her lesson: go slow, but not too slow. 00:55:10 β Andy's trout lesson: dive-bomb them, and wait when they square up. 00:58:30 β Nick on keeping your eyes on the fish through the duck dive, and why a spearo sometimes has to dive before the perfect breathe-up. 01:01:40 β Dan on persistence, and on getting properly familiar with your gear before the trip. 01:03:40 β Holly learns to slow down, and Sam admits what his GoPro footage revealed about his own "slow" diving. 01:07:10 β Chris, a Sydney spearo, gets his first taste of the Great Barrier Reef. Dropping on top of coral trout changed everything for him. 01:12:20 β Kate on women getting into spearfishing, and why the no-ego vibe matters. 01:15:30 β Zach, the retreat's biggest frother, on why a group celebration beats his own cobia. 01:18:10 β Ben Rennie wins People's Choice, then shares Alex's parrotfish moment and his motto: "you make your own luck". 01:21:40 β Alex takes home two fixes: the 45-degree eyes-on-fish descent and a splash-free duck dive. 01:23:10 β Matt: slow down, and remember the look on everyone's faces when the reef came into view. 01:25:00 β Ting's first ever freedive and first ever fish, while understanding "maybe 30%" of what the Aussies were saying. 01:28:10 β Mark on leading without Shrek, what goes on behind the scenes, and Matt and Ting's comeback from 5 m to 10 m. 01:34:30 β Sign-off, with a group "Full Froth, No Ego". Links Mentioned, Partner Deals and Discounts + Froth Ben Rennie β @benrennie_ Sam the Waterman β @[CHECK: find Sam's handle] Instructor socials β Mark, Bri, Nick, Tom Smythe, Brad: @[CHECK: add handles] Next 1770 Beginner Spearfishing Retreat β [PROMO PLACEHOLDER β confirm current link with Shrek] The Bali freediving instructor course episode (source of the Bali Files round) β [CHECK: add episode link] Blue Water Hunting and Freediving by Terry Maas β [add Amazon affiliate link] 99 Tips to Get Better at Spearfishing β Listen on Audible The Floater email newsletter β Sign up here YouTube: @noobspearo Instagram: @noobspearo Sail x Spear Charter Information and Booking Spearfishing Courses, Retreats, Charters and Adventures (with Noob Spearo) Adreno Spearfishing β Buy your spearfishing equipment here. Use the code NOOBSPEARO save $20 on every purchase over $200 at checkout β Flat shipping rate, especially in AUS! Neptonics Spearfishing and Freediving β Use the code NOOB10 to save 10% off anything store-wide. Free Shipping on USA orders over $99 Old Man Blue | Wickedly tough and well thought out gear! Spend $300 or more at oldmanblue.com.au and use code NOOBSPEARO for a free vinyl filleting apron! Aqualyte Hydration | 10% off for listeners with code: NOOBSPEARO Noob Spearo MAD GEAR | Merch for Frothers Audible.com Get a free audiobook along with a 30-day trial here. Listen to 99 Tips to Get Better at Spearfishing Dog & Gun Coffee | 10% Off Discount Code: NOOB10 HohnkeOutdoors.com β 20% off with code NOOBSPEARO 50 Patrons are powering the Noob Spearo Monthly β find out more HERE 3500+ frothers are subscribed to the Floater Email Newsletter β find out more HERE Audio Engineering by Nick Santalucia






