Author: hayden

The committee decided to hold the 2^nd 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 October
Time: 10am
Location:

Hi 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.

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.