Now if you don’t know me, you’re just going to assume I am crazy on this one, but here goes nothing.

Being a diver, you are well aware of DCS (Decompression Sickness) A.K.A. The Bends. Well one thing as a diver you may not be aware of is Diverticulitis. I mean why would you, after all, it has nothing to do with diving. In short, here is a quick snippet on Diverticulitis just to catch you up to speed a bit. Now bear with me, it gets to a diving point at some time.

Many people have small pouches in the lining of the colon, or large intestine, that bulge outward through weak spots. Each pouch is called a diverticulum. Multiple pouches are called diverticula. The condition of having diverticula is called diverticulosis.

About 10 percent of Americans older than 40 have diverticulosis. The condition becomes more common as people age. About half of all people older than 60 have diverticulosis.

Diverticula are most common in the lower portion of the large intestine, called the sigmoid colon. When the pouches become inflamed, the condition is called diverticulitis. Ten to 25 percent of people with diverticulosis get diverticulitis. Diverticulosis and diverticulitis together are called diverticular disease.

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Hawaiian free diver Kimi Werner unseated Californian Amanda Ernst as the women’s national spearfishing champion Thursday in Newport.

Werner, 28, shot three tautog and two striped bass — including a 33-pounder — during the U.S. National Spear Fishing Championship at King’s Beach. A native of Maui now living on Oahu, Werner said the water off Newport was murky, compared with her home waters, but it was clearer than she had expected.

Nonetheless, she used a 90-centimeter gun instead of her usual 75-centimeter gun because of limited visibility, she said. She fished off Land’s End, where the current and breeze were milder than what she is accustomed to.

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Dave Hochman’s 68.4-pound bass, shot on a reef in Block Island Sound.

Photo courtesy of Dave Hochman

Written by TOM MEADE

Dave Hochman set a world spearfishing record on Independence Day, when he shot a 68.4-pound striped bass on a reef in Block Island Sound. The fish was 55 inches long with a 32.5-inch girth. The diver was in 54 feet of water.

Hochman has been diving on that reef for years, he said, because it holds big bass.

“I know the bottom there better than the charts know the bottom,” he says.

Hochman is a chiropractor who lives in Oxford, Conn. He has shot several bass weighing 58 pounds, his previous personal record.

When he is lining up a shot, Hochman can lower his pulse to 32 beats a minute.

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