In 1989 a young South African woman hung mid-water off a reef 20km out from the Mozambique coast, held out a 1 metre gun, and whacked a fish the same size as she was. It dragged her across the reef until her mask and snorkel came off, they had to cut it into four pieces to weigh it on a 20kg scale, and nobody on the boat could tell her what it was — 52 kilos of dogtooth tuna, an unknowing men’s world record that got broken by an Aussie three days later and still stands as the women’s international bluewater freediving record today. Jean Napier-Hattingh spent a year in hospital as a seven-year-old being told she might not walk again, decided right there she’d have the most adventurous life on earth, and has spent the 40 years since backing that up — a 138kg marlin on a 1.2m Cape gun with a rusty spear, a 26kg barracuda world record in Sierra Leone she also didn’t know about, and a nickname (Parrot Queen) she earned before she could shoot anything else. She’s also the woman who accidentally invented the flasher, using a wrist full of silver bangles worn on the outside of her wetsuit to out-shoot every bloke on her brother’s boat. Whether you’re a woman wondering if there’s a place for you in this sport, a game fish hunter after species-specific tactics, or anyone who reckons you need a big gun to shoot big fish — Jean will straighten you out.

• 00:01:00 — Shrek sets up the chat: a South African spearo holding records from before women’s records even existed, and why her book Against the Tide is worth your time
• 00:01:20 — Listener Sam Livings’ voice message: a 15kg kingfish, a perfect head shot, and a completely seized flopper. Check. Your. Gear.
• 00:03:30 — Trip news: 1770 Retreat (two spots, September), the final ever Sail x Spear trips out of the Whitsundays, and PNG with Tim McDonald and Ben Rennie
• 00:06:00 — The “queppilat” (quince stick) above the pelmet, a farm childhood, and the year in hospital at age seven that made Jean decide she’d live the most adventurous life on Earth
• 00:07:30 — Why water felt safe when her legs didn’t work, swimming from age four, and how underwater hockey at UCT built the breath hold and stamina base for spearfishing
• 00:09:30 — Learning in the Western Cape (deep, icy, reef fish, head-in-caves) versus life now in Natal chasing pelagics in warm water — and why the transition was easy
• 00:10:30 — Marine parks north of Durban, why pelagic-only rules keep reefs alive, and the difference between poaching and subsistence fishing in Mozambique
• 00:11:00 — The weirdest intro to spearfishing going: scuba instructors ditching tanks, planting a loaded gun outside a cave, and sending Jean down the float line to shoot the fish
• 00:12:30 — How deep, how long: 25m these days, a lockdown breath hold app that got her to five minutes, and “I hold it for as long as I need to shoot a fish”
• 00:13:30 — “Girls do not do this sport” — getting knocked back off boats, entering comps because comps had to give her a boat spot, and slowly forcing the blokes to take notice
• 00:14:30 — The 52kg dogtooth. Baixo Danae reef, a 1 metre gun, a fish the same size as her, 30m of float line, mask and snorkel gone, water-skiing, and a 40kg potato bass turning up to help
• 00:18:00 — Cut into four pieces to weigh it on a 20kg scale. A men’s world record for three days, and a women’s record that still stands 35+ years later
• 00:19:00 — Why the lateral line shot was the only thing that saved it, and what she actually felt when she realised the size — “I just thought, well, that’s another fish, let’s get in and find another one”
• 00:21:00 — Two great white encounters at four-and-a-half to five metres, having to pull her gun back so she didn’t touch one, and why she didn’t move
• 00:22:00 — Five whale sharks and five manta rays in four metres of crystal water, with Jean in the middle of them
• 00:22:30 — Jean on Australian sharks: “the sharks in Australia have gone rogue.” Shark Shields on every diver on her Aussie boat, none in South Africa, and her overfishing theory
• 00:28:00 — Earning the Parrot Queen nickname on Natal knifejaw in Port Elizabeth — the friendly fish that come and sit on the end of your spear
• 00:29:30 — Strength versus patience. Weak arms mean sneaking closer, half your spears don’t pass through, and the boat can wait an hour while you bring the fish up gently
• 00:31:00 — The 138kg marlin. A 1.2m Cape gun, a rusty spear, an hour-plus swim, borrowing two mates’ float lines to reach 90 metres, and the first spear falling out at the surface
• 00:34:00 — Jean’s speargun setup: conventional Rob Allen 1.4m pipe gun, twin 14mm rubbers, load assist, 30m float line, big orange foam-filled float. “No fancy reels. Old-fashioned and it works”
• 00:36:30 — The silver bangles. A wrist full of glitter worn outside the wetsuit, worn every dive, and how Jean reckons she invented the flasher years before flashers existed
• 00:38:00 — Making provincial teams in Eastern Province and the Transvaal, organising comps, and the state of South African spearfishing clubs today
• 00:40:00 — Funny one: forgetting her husband’s boardies on a month-long Mozambique trip. He dived in her spare bikini bottoms with her wetsuit flapping around his waist — and out-shot her
• 00:41:00 — Doing everything together: a three-month drive right through Africa, bird watching, photography, and why she reckons she got lucky
• 00:42:00 — Arrested in the Trevi Fountain. Hot, huge backpacks, dusk, and a police interrogation in Italian they pretended not to understand
• 00:44:00 — Writing Against the Tide: lockdown alone in Stellenbosch, an online creative writing course, a 12-woman writers group who’d never dived, and one hunt per chapter
• 00:46:30 — The records she never claimed: at least seven world records, ~50 South African records, plus the 10 Australian records she does hold
• 00:47:30 — Why spearfishing is “good for the soul” and Jean’s pitch to any woman on the fence — the sport that’s not actually about shooting fish
• 00:49:00 — What’s changed since ’87: abalone poaching syndicates, crayfish next, dead dynamited reefs in Zanzibar, foreign trawlers, and reserves nobody can afford to police
• 00:52:00 — WA closing demersals indefinitely, the illegal abalone trade in NSW, and why spearos are the most environmentally conscious fishers going
• 00:54:00 — The rest of the gear bag: Freedivers fins, a Rabitech gun, leg knife, and tailor-made wetsuits by Sergio at the Rob Allen factory for 30-odd years
• 00:56:00 — Underrated African destinations: Latham Island in November chasing big doggies, and four and a half years in Sierra Leone diving off dugout canoes into water absolutely teeming with fish
• 00:57:30 — The 26kg Sierra Leone barracuda — another men’s world record she didn’t know she’d broken
• 00:59:00 — Game fish tactics, species by species: chase cooter (Spanish mackerel) flat out until they tire, dive to your flasher and wait for kingfish, and dive away from a wahoo and pretend you can’t see it
• 01:00:30 — Shrek explains throw flashers to Jean, and how they bring spooked wahoo straight back in
• 01:02:00 — “Age is a number.” Why Jean’s diving until she’s 90, the Load-EZ ratchet loader idea that might buy her another decade, and starting weights to keep her arms strong
• 01:05:30 — Jean’s parting shot to women everywhere: “grab life with both hands and just go for it”

• 📖 Against the Tide by Jean Napier-Hattingh — https://amzn.to/3RYK3y0 — available worldwide on Amazon in paperback and e-book, plus all major online bookstores

  📸 Jean’s Instagram: @spearfisherlady 

  🎣 Gear and brands mentioned:

  • Rob Allen Spearfishing — Jean’s guns, shafts, float and float line
  • Rabitech — Cape-based South African speargun maker 
  • Freedivers (Shane Britz) — Jean’s fins 
  • Load-EZY ratchet speargun loader https://youtu.be/9Dx4vlC_2tc?si=6-z5plc76YYOTS_7

  🏝️ Places mentioned: Baixo Danae reef, Mozambique • Cape Agulhas • False Bay • Latham Island, Tanzania • Sierra Leone • Zanzibar • Cape Vidal

  📚 Also mentioned: The Last of the Blue Water Hunters by Carlos Eyles — a huge early influence on Shrek

  🎙️ Past episodes referenced: Rob Allen, Rochele Davey (roller pulley loading system)

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