Author: hayden

Hi all,

we have our monthly club meeting on this Wednesday and we have a special guest coming! Toby from VFA is coming to talk to us about the progress on the lobster tagging program now that it has been running for two years and about to enter the third.

This will be of interest to all spearfishers and divers who take rock lobsters so I highly encourage everyone, not just club members, to attend and ask any questions that they might have.

Date: 10th July
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Function room at the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel
3 Brougham St, Geelong

According to our club calendar we have a schedule this Sunday and its a good thing that the swell is down and we have preceding northerlies, so lets try for a late season cray or two!

As we are without a club BBQ there will be no BBQ after the social dive (but doesn’t mean we can’t head out for a bite to eat) so don’t add the BBQ option when signing up at https://geelongfreedivers.org.au/members/social-dives/

Date: 7th July
Time: 8am
Location: Point Lonsdale, out the front of the surf life saving club

Last Sunday we held the second (and final) photo comp of the series. Initially scheduled for Springs Beach Point Lonsdale but the conditions were terrible. Several members scouted all around our side of the bay but there was dirty water all around except in one location, Swan Bay! Ideally we would have liked to have held it at a different location as the first comp was in Swan Bay but when the sea gods give you lemons you dive where you can. It was also interesting to see how different it would be now that the water was a lot colder then it was back in December.

We had 5 people signed up For the comp and 2 social divers which included the comp Sponsor Luke from Ninepin Wetsuits. It was great to have Luke come to the event, meet some members and also for us to check out his new range of pelagic wetsuits.

Whilst everywhere else had brown water SB has crystal clear in a couple meters but got a bit hazy green when looking out in the distance. Everyone noticed 2 things on the day, the water was COLD and the fish were scarce! The average number of fish scored was just 3 or 4 so it was really up to the framing bonus points to seperate the winner from the pack.

The comp was called on for 4 hours but I knew it was time to leave the water not when the time was up nor when my gopro was flat but when I could no longer operate the thing due to my fingers not working anymore because of the cold! An ill fitting wetsuit in the cold of winter is not a good thing.

Upon leaving the water we all headed to the public BBQ’s at St Leonards to go through our photos and select which ones we would submit for scoring while warming up with some BBQ pork rolls and some taste home made beverages (thanks Ivan!).

Despite it being a cold quiet day it was still great fun. Due to some equipment malfunctions only 4 people entered photos to score and the results are as follows:

1st: Malcolm scoring with 4 species with an average score of 493
2nd: Hayden scoring with 4 species with an average score of 488
3rd: Ivan scoring with 3 species with an average score of 375
4th: Nam scoring with 3 species with an average score of 355

Thanks to all who competed during the season making it a fun and enjoyable event and of course to our sponsor Ninepin for giving us that extra incentive to win.

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Geelong Freedivers are pleased to announce that we are finally offering pool training again, this time (as voted by our members) on Monday nights at the Geelong Aquatic Centre with the first one being next week 24th of June! As it’s been a while since we have run training, we would like everyone to complete a safety induction again. We have scheduled an Induction night for the 24th, sign up as usual through the website

Pool training is great for all levels of divers, from beginners who want to understand the basics of apnea and to get comfortable before hitting the ocean, to the intermediate divers who just want to keep touch with their skills during the colder months, to the move advanced divers who are training for specific events/goals. There is a reason for everyone to attend.

For the people wondering why they should pay $15 to swim laps in a pool when they can just go to any pool anytime and just pay the entry fee, its all about doing it in a safe controlled environment with skilled people watching out for your safety and can give you pointers on your technique. The cost is more then normal pool entry as we hire out a lane just for us to use so that we don’t have to contend with other pool users.

We have a wealth of experience in the club for all apnea based activities and our most competitive freediver, Danny Hurst, is also offering up his own time to work with individuals one on one. Danny will work with you to understand your motivations and then help set goals which will lead to the base of a training plan specific to you. This is a fantastic opportunity and I highly encourage members to take him up on this generous offer.

To keep things interesting and spice it up a bit we are looking into having special one off nights. This is all a work in progress but some things that we are thinking about are; once off fin swimming night, PB night, specific workshops to concentrate on individual skills, game night, etc.

So all members and prospective members, sign up for the induction and lets start training!

Apologies for the later then usual notice but we are finally holding another photo comp this Sunday. It’s crunch time and we need to get at least one more in and so we have called it for this weekend.

Entry via the club website as usual: https://geelongfreedivers.org.au/competitions/competition-entry/

Rules and scoresheet can be found here: https://geelongfreedivers.org.au/competitions/photofishing-comp-series/

Again, a big thanks to our sponsor for the series Ninepin Wetsuits who have kindly donated one of their quality wettys as the main prize!

Date: 16th June
Start Time: arrive at 11:30am for a 12pm start time
Finish Time: 4pm
Location:Springs Beach, Point Lonsdale

The end of financial year is closing in on us which also means our current memberships will expire soon. The AUF have release their early bird special so if you are quick you can join/renew GFD for the low low cost of $100. Of this fee the club receives $20 which goes towards administration costs as well as contributes to functions and awards at the end of the season.

To take advantage of this cost saving and to make sure you are covered come day 1 of the new season visit the AUF website and from the membership menu select either new membership or renewal (depending on your current status)

If anyone is having trouble renewing/signing up please contact Russell O’Flynn on: roflynn2@westnet.com.au , 0499 000 020.

We will be holding the second photo comp of the series (of three) this Saturday and we will be diving Jawbone marine sanctuary in Williamstown.

This competition is open to all AUF members and if you don’t have a fancy camera and underwater housing with a strobe don’t worry, last years winner took it out with just a GoPro (and most people who enter use a gopro)! For rules and scoresheet please see https://geelongfreedivers.org.au/competitions/photofishing-comp-series/

As usual we will have a BBQ post dive while we review and submit our photos. If you would like to come along just for a social dive and not compete in the comp then that’s fine but still sign up for it on the website and select the BBQ add on so that we can cater for everyone.

Thanks again to our sponsor Ninepin Wetsuits who have put up one of their quality wettys for the main prize. Without the help of all our sponsors we wouldn’t be able to host such events

Date: 11th May
Time: 8am
Location: Jawbone Marine Sanctuary, Mullins Ct, Williamstown

Winter is coming and the water is getting colder, usually a time when we consider getting a new wetsuit to keep the thermal comfort up. Thanks to our sponsor ninepin wetsuites, we have one that’s still up for grabs through our photo fishing competition series.

So far we have run one comp with another 2 left to do before the season closes out very soon. The overall winner is calculated by using your 2 best scores over the series which means even if you missed the first comp you still have a chance of taking away the top prize.

Stay tuned for competition announcements….

We still have 4 comps to run before the end of season (Surf Coast Cup boat comp and the spear&photo comp as well as 2 photo comps) and this weekends long range report is looking good for that trip out west. So keep your calendars open and the GFD Committee will update everyone during the week with a decision on which comp we will run along with the date and location.

Both the Surf Coast Cup and our photo comp series are still open for anyone to win. So if you feel like upgrading your fins to a pair of custom made Continuum fins or you want to get into a sleek new ninpin wetsuit then enter now, all you need is to be an AUF member.

On Saturday we held the second event for the Surf Coast Cup, the shore dive. Long range forecasts showed there would be a dip in the swell on the weekend with some nice northerlies preceding it which would make for a great days diving. Looking along the surf and shipwreck coasts it looked like we could get in at some other locations that we don’t dive that often and so we put the call out early with the hope of going out west.

During the week we kept scrutinising the updated reports and the westerly winds predicted on the Saturday is what ended up in us deciding to stay closer to home then to risk several hours driving for a potentially undivable comp. So good ‘ol Aireys was it.

Arriving Early the ocean was looking nice and flat but with the low light and overcast clouds it was hard to tell what the viz was going to be like. Once everyone had arrived we all suited up and commenced with the safety equipment check and dive debrief. With the swell predicted to pick up during the day and some 20kt westerly to WSW winds we called it a shorter comp starting at 8:30 and finishing at 1. We had a mixture of people, some competing in the comp and a few just there for the social dive, some veteran divers to beginners.

Most divers decided to walk around the cliffs to the east and try for the reefs in deeper waters. This is when we realised the viz wasn’t going to be great. Whilst Gerard persisted to find some cleaner water further out, most of us headed back towards shore to hunt the gutters in the shallows.

I took Ivan under my wing for the day and warned him that I wouldn’t be diving for long having had very little sleep the night before and forgetting my socks and gloves, I also thought I would be nice and get out early to get the BBQ fired up so the others had hot food waiting for them. So needless to say I was surprised when I made it back to the carpark to find everyone else already out and changed waiting for us and making it there to sign off with just 3 minutes to spare!

We all shared our diving stories for the day while checking out each others catch while the BBQ was cooking and eating it at the same time before commencing the weigh in. Despite the challenging conditions it was good to see that most people had their 5 fish to weigh in and whilst there were plenty of options to upgrade during the day there wasn’t any overkill. But seeing the scoresheet at the end of the weigh in my competitive nature finally kicked in and I regretted not getting a couple upgrades!

Scores for the day were:
Malcolm 100 points
Nam 78 points
Gerard 71 points
Hayden 70 points
Julian 56 points

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