Living Water Freedivers is a spearfishing club based in Lake Macquarie , near Newcastle, NSW Australia. We are a club that enjoys both social and competition spearing, however our focus is on catching quality seafood through selective and sustainable methods. Our species list reflects this with mainly good eating fish included.
We meet once a month to talk everything spearing and organise our monthly club dives.
We have members from Port Stephens to Caves Beach.
The main areas we dive are out of Swansea and Port Stephens although the club has at least one trip away where the club pays for accomodation, this year it’s to the SolitaryIslands out off Coffs Harbour.
If you would like to know more please ring one of the members in the Contact Us section
History of Living Water Free-Divers.
Living Water Free-divers Club was formed in mid 1998, however the club was formed under another name whilst in its early conception ( Lake Macquarie Christian Freedivers Club). This name changed to Living Water Freedivers 6 months after its initial conception after a vote on names by then current members.
I remember moving from Coffs Harbour to Newcastle, I used to wear my Bluewater Classic shirt to church each Sunday hoping that some other Spearo in the church would see it and introduce themselves, this strategy worked and I met top local spearo Tony Weimer, after the initial meet and greets and some diving, I mentioned my desire to start up a club with the focus of being an extension of the church and reaching and making friends with other people who did not hold to the faith that I had.
I was surprised by Tonys response who said that he too, as well as a good friend of his Ben Homard had discussed the same things however they were not sure how to make it happen. Having been involved in Coffs Harbour Blue Water Freedivers I had a bit of an idea (Very Little really). Flyers were designed and placed in local dive shops and an information night was held at our church, this meeting saw 10 interested guys.
Both Tony and Bens ability to encourage guys and promote the club was found to be the early strength of the club becoming what it is today.
Starting a club from scratch is a very challenging undertaking and relies heavily on other peoples desire and time (lots of it) to make it happen. The club started with a fee of $15 to be a member, we aligned ourselves with the Australian Underwater Federation, and worked heavily on creating a constitution that outlined our operations and executive leadership team, we later became Incorporated as to protect committee members from litigation in case of and accident when some one was diving. [PBN-CLIENT]
In the early stages we relied on an old set of scales from Shane Spicer, this was later rectified when the club had enough money of its own to buy the scales we have today.
Fund raising in the form of a Trivia night, selling hats and shirts, as well as sign on fees and membership fees slowly saw the clubs bank account rise.
The club slowly grew in size and by its 3rd year had a membership of 66 divers making it Australia’s second largest club.
The leadership of the club believes that a club is there for the members so we endeavour not to have too much money in the bank at any time, we pay for accommodation for every one when the club goes on its annual away comp to the North Coast and try very hard to have good prizes at the end of year presentation.
Due to the clubs formation in the church it has always held to be a club that supports its members and their families in times of need. The club has a very relaxed atmosphere were friendships are held as more important than the diving. Competition can be competitive at times however the underpinning of the club is about learning, mateship, friendliness, and love for all other people and the sea.
The club still has connections with the church however the membership of Christians is a small percentage compared to those who may not have the same belief as we do. Contra to early beliefs, new members are not beaten over the heads with a bible and expected to attend church we respect everyone’s position in life and will show respect for every ones life view.
The club became incorporated in 2002 and has 20 million dollars public liability insurance. To ensure the safety and protection of all its members each new club member receives an information pack which gives an outline of the gear to buy and the hazards that are present when spearfising. Individuals who are under the age of 18 need a parent or guardian to sigh the membership form and sign the understanding at the end of the information pack.
The current score sheet reflects the club members beliefs about sustainable fishing and as a result we are one of 3 clubs in Australia (That I know Of) who have such an approach to sustainable spearfishing. We hold a Biggest Fish Comp at Nelson Bay every year where only one fish per competitor can be weighed. This is the only comp of this nature held annually in Australia (That I know of).
So if you would like to know more give us a call.
Cheers and God Bless
Tony Payne