On Sunday we held the final round of the Surf Coast Cup, this one being a shore dive. The week leading up to the comp was a nervous one that started with big swell and continued with gale force winds all week but the committee stood their ground and called it on and for Kennett River, and boy was it a good call!
Driving down the great ocean road in complete darkness we couldn’t get a glimpse of the ocean to give us any indication as to the conditions but we couldn’t hear the waves either so that was a good sign. We arrived at kennett along with the first rays of sunlight and were greeted by a dead flat ocean.
We had 13 people signed up for the comp including non GFD AUF members which was great to see and everyone was so keen for the comp they arrived a half hour early! This allowed us to suit up and have the safety brief and ready to hit the water by 8:15. With a big increase in swell predicted in the afternoon (which never came) we decided to call the comp shorter, closing at 1pm.
Divers had different strategies at the start of the comp with the majority of divers heading around the corner to the west and a few others hitting the bits of reef in the bay area. Viz was variable with mostly around 6m and up to 10m in other spots. Plenty of fish were around but they knew what we were up to and made things harder for us.
A few divers got out early whilst some spent the whole time in the water, getting out and back to sign off with minutes to spare. The extra time spent hunting was reflected on the scoresheets.
A big thank-you to the Kennett River Caravan Park for coming to our BBQ rescue when the clubs one suffered technical difficulties. It definitely made the BBQ and weigh in better having a proper cover from the elements with the local wildlife.
As we all made the most of the return of Kelly’s famous BBQ pork banh mi’s the weigh in commenced. Some great fish were bought in, a couple real big Banded mowies which unfortunately weren’t on the scoresheet this season but could be weighed in for theClub Spearfishing Championship, lots of crays which were the same as the banded, some nice snook and pike and some of the usual bread and butter species.
 
Leaving Kennett we were all amazed at just how good the water looked, so much for that swell increase and if we weren’t all too full from the BBQ there would have been more diving done in the afternoon.
SCORES:
Paul 6466
Gerard 4658
James 3181
Timon 2796
Danny 2533
Steve 1645
Jake 1634
Tyson 1536
Russel 1282
Nam 1160
Hayden 595
Scot 556
Final points and the overall cup winner will be announced at the GFD awards night (details to come).
A big thank you to everyone who came for the event, despite no tuna being speared it was (in my opinion) the best comp out of the series. We seek any and all input regarding the event, the rules and the scoresheet so that we can continue to improve the competition for the next season.
