Join up!
GFD/AUF Insurance
- To participate in club diving activities with Geelong Freedivers Inc. you must also be a member of the Australian Underwater Federation (AUF).
- The club has members with interests in a range of underwater sports such as freediving, underwater hockey, recreational diving, finswimming, SCUBA, conservation, photography, and spearfishing among many other interests.
- For simplicity of club management, the GFD Inc. has been set up under only one commission of the AUF.
- We picked the spearfishing commission due to the value of the benefits available in Victoria, even though the club does have many members with no interest in spearfishing.
- We invite all members of the public to attend our club meetings to get a feel for what the club is like: the people, the activities, and the upcoming events scheduled.
- Once you have taken that recommended step, feel the GFD is right for you, and wish to become a member, then please follow the steps to join up.
Steps to join up
- Go to the AUF website
- Scroll down the page to the section headed ‘Spearfishing/Snorkel/Freediving’, select “Geelong Freedivers” as the Club, and a new page will pop up.
- Login, or register as a new user.
- Select the level of membership you require (eg. “Senior member, etc”- See below)
- Confirm that you have read the AUF Terms and Conditions, and click “Next”
- Fill out all your details, making sure your email address is correct!
- The system will automatically send an email outlining how to get involved in the club. To gain full benefits of joining the club we strongly recommend using the GFD Members-only Facebook page as that is our primary (often only) communication of events for members.
- A club committee member will manually set up your personal log-in for this webpage. This may take a few days so don’t worry if you don’t see anything until the weekend: and check your junk email folder.
Detailed Membership Information
- The AUF is the Australian Government recognized peak sporting body for underwater activities (such as SCUBA diving, Underwater Hockey, spearfishing, snorkelling, etc), and provides a political voice for divers. the AUF works with, and lobbies, Government, and other bodies to provide, promote, and manage access to the resources (including fisheries) we all enjoy. The AUF also provides membership administration support for the GFD and other clubs.
- A full ( Senior, Junior, or family) AUF membership includes indemnity and sports injury insurance when partaking in club dive activities. GFD Inc. requires you to have this insurance to cover the club’s dive activity obligations.
- Senior membership is for those over eighteen years old, and Junior membership is for those under 18 years old and you must have one of these membership levels to dive with the club or the AUF.
- Social membership is for membership of GFD Inc. only and does not include membership of the AUF at any level. Social membership does not include activity insurance and does not enable access to dive activities (pool training, social dives, or competitions) convened by the GFD Inc. or AUF.
- All levels of membership, including Social, use the same AUF registration process.
- If you’re already a member of the AUF through another club, but would like to participate in Geelong Freedivers activities then you don’t need to join the AUF twice: just send us an email at geelongfreedivers@gmail.com with your AUF membership number, and we can organize your Geelong Freedivers Inc. membership for the cost of GFD Inc club membership only (Senior: $20, Junior $10 using PayPal).
- Your membership period will start when you pay the fees, and expire one year later. A week before your membership expires we will send a notice to the email address you provide to us, this is the only reminder notice you will receive. If you don’t pay on time then your membership will expire. If you later re-join then your membership will be valid for one year from the date of re-joining. If you are unclear on your membership status then contact the club through geelongfreedivers@gmail.com.
- The membership levels, the breakdown of where the fees are distributed, and the associated benefits are outlined in the table below. The breakdown of how the funds are distributed is shown below, the fees to be paid are the total.
- Once a person is accepted as a Social, Senior, or Junior member, they retain access to the GFD members-only Facebook page.
Funding breakdown
| Membership class | |||||
| Recipient | Senior | Junior | Social | Past members | Public |
| GFD | $20 | $10 | $40 | $0 | $0 |
| AUF State commission | $15 | $10 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| AUF Federal commission | $15 | $10 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| AUF Insurance | $65 | $35 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total | $115 | $65 | $40 | $0 | $0 |
| Senior | Junior | Social | Past members | Public | |
| Benefits | |||||
| Club meetings | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Full website access, including access to training information, presentations, and maps | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| Facebook Members – Only page access | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Pool training | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| All competitions incl AUF | Y | Y | N | N | N |