Freediving & Spearfishing Club.
October see the first of the Species Showdown competitions, Southern Calamari.
The squid have started to come in to breed with several being taken on line over the past few weeks but none taken on spear as of yet (that I’m aware of anyway).
Enter now at competition-entry so that you can have the whole month to submit as many entries as possible.
Due to the ongoing uncertainty with COVID and having cancelled our last seasons competition series the GFD committee have decided to change things up for this season. We have put on hold the Surf Coast Cup and the Underwater Photography Challenge but we are still keeping the Club Spearfishing Championship and adding a new series called the Species Showdown.
The species showdown is a new competition series with month long individual competitions targeting a specific species.
Whilst similar to the CSC there are differences, CSC runs all season long and competitors can submit fish anytime and have a maximum of 2 entries per species and points are awarded for the biggest fish down and the person with the most points at the end of the season wins.
The Species Showdown is actually 7 individual competitions, each comp targeting a specific species and lasting just a month with the exception of Tuna and Kingfish which runs for 2 months concurrently. Each competition will have just a single winner who is the person who submitted the heaviest fish. There is no limit to the number of entries in each comp, so feel free to keep upgrading! Competitors can submit fish from any dive they have during the target species month. And finally, competitors must sign up for each comp at a cost of $8 per competition and must sign on by the date of the club meeting for that month. For more information check the website.
Species Showdown Target Species/Month
We have our monthly club meeting scheduled for this Wednesday and unlike the last couple of months let/s not Zoom, let/s meet up in person! Our sponsor Sir Charles Hotham Hotel are able to host us again so lets rally behind them and meet up in person whilst ordering a drink (or two) and a meal. There is a size limit of 20 people and social distancing rules apply.
Date: 8th July
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: Sir Charles Hotham Hotel
This Sunday we will be holding the Surf Coast Cup boat comp launching from the Queenscliff boat ramp. Make sure you get there early to launch so that you are ready for the comp start which will be 9am. Launch your boats and park your cars and we will do the safety briefing in the car park before jumping in the boats and heading off to the actual starting point.
There’s been a good number of people getting onto tuna so lets hope that a few schools are still about.
As usual, open to all AUF members and sign up by the night before via the website at https://geelongfreedivers.org.au/competitions/competition-entry/ and rules can be found at https://geelongfreedivers.org.au/competitions/surf-coast-cup/.
Date: 23rd Feb
Time: 9am start so be there early to launch your boat
Location: Queenscliff boat ramp
Tomorrow is our monthly club meeting at the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel at 6:30 where we will have a special guest speaker Renée Venville from the Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA).
The VFA is the control agency for all shark hazards in Victoria and Renée is leading the VFA on emergency preparedness. Part of her role includes shark education. The VFA are partnering with CSIRO, LSV and Deakin on research projects; including eDNA, drones and the relationship between whale carcasses and sharks.
So please join us for a presentation and discussion on shark safety, risks and current research projects.
We are calling on the first round of the Surf Coast Cup which is the polespear comp for this Sunday at Aireys Inlet. Entry is open to all AUF members. Participants can only use a polespear, no guns, which makes it an interesting and challenging event. For all rules check out our website.
Please sign up online at https://geelongfreedivers.org.au/competitions/competition-entry/ by midday Saturday so that we can cater for the post dive BBQ.
The Surf Coast Cup is proudly sponsored by Geelong Dive Centre who have kindly donated a Rob Allen gun as the prize for this competition series.
Details
Date: 1st Dec
Time: 8am
Location: Aireys Inlet
The committee decided to hold the 2nd Photo competition down at Port Fairy due to the exceptional forecast predicted. The decision was to add a social dive to the itinerary and the inclusion of Hayden’s Asian style BBQs. Interest was higher than normal and turnout was exceptional. Russell arrived a day ahead of the schedule dive day and gave us a glimpse of what was to be expected.
Due to the distance most of the divers decided to car pool and start their journey early. Many of us checked out different options, Armstrong bay, Killarney, Ponds, all divable but the stand out was The Crags. It was a no brainer to call it.
It’s not often that this stretch of coast is suitable for diving. But once in a while the ocean swell and offshore winds all line up giving us perfect opportunity to dive. Picture speaks for itself.
Before gearing up, a few of us ventured down to inspect suitable entrances down to the water as the area is covered with sand dunes and jiggered lime stone cliffs.
Never seen conditions like this before, I’ve been here plenty of times and this is the first time it’s been flat. Here are a few divers gearing up on the beach.
The most common species of the day! The good reliable sweep. So underrate as a table fish.
Here is one of the social divers pinning one of those fat sweep.
Of fcourse the day finished off with one of Hayden’s famous gourmet BBQ.
Thanks to all those who came along including partners. A good day was had by all and plenty of stories to tell.
Link here if you want to see the clip I put up. https://youtu.be/vmBjfnKt4sE
Here is Ivan with a Banded morwong Parrot; he must have been a pirate in his past life.
Full results from the comp to come…….
So the conditions are holding out and we have decided to call the second photo comp on and at Port Fairy! It’s a bit further west then we are used to travelling and so we will have a later start time of 10am.
The plan is to meet up at the car park at pea soup with some committee members checking out other places along the way (Killarney, the crags) and will decide on the final location on the day.
As this isn’t being held in a marine sanctuary feel free to bang a few species for the club spearfishing championship, just remember take the photo before taking the shot! As usual there will be a BBQ after the dive.
This Competition is open to all AUF members and is being sponsored by https://ninepinwetsuits.com.au/ so for your chance at one of their awesome wettys be sure to join in the fun. Sign up no later then 5pm Saturday the 12 (so we can cater for the bbq properly) at https://geelongfreedivers.org.au/competitions/competition-entry/
Date: 13th OctoberHi all! Time for our first comp listed on our calendar which is a photo comp. Swell is only taking a little dip towards the weekend and the winds are mainly northerlies and some west so we thought we would try something a little different and host the photo comp at the grammar school lagoon. This will give us the opportunity to look around the top end of Corio bay, see what lurks about the moored boats and travers up limeburners bay and even see whats in hovels creek.
Meet at the carpark at the end of foreshore road at 8am for an 8:30 start. Sign on required prior to the day at https://geelongfreedivers.org.au/competitions/competition-entry/
Remember this is open to ALL AUF members not just Geelong Freedivers 😉
Date: 22nd Sep
Time: 8am
Location:
Want to find out what the go with torches is? What’s a lumen? What are all these symbols on the packaging and what do they mean? What do people use when looking for crays or for night dives?
Well come down to the next club meeting on the 11th of September at the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel at 6:30 for a presentation by one of our coaches on this very topic and check out what some of our members are using, even bring your own torch and see how it measures up.