The Reluctant Student
Nick had been spearfishing on and off for 20 years. By his own admission, he thought he was pretty goodâmaybe even the best spearo in the world. He was a comfortable 10-meter diver with a deepest dive around 20 meters. He’d spent plenty of time in the water, knew how to equalize, and had acquired skills through sheer experience.
But here’s the thing: he’d never done a course. Never invested in formal training. And for years, he couldn’t bring himself to take that step.
Why? The same reason so many middle-aged men struggle with self-investment.
“It’s just the responsibilities of being a father and a husband,” Nick explains. “There’s just a lot of people that you really need to look after before you could get a look in. As things go on, you start to see that looking after yourself is an integral part of looking after everyone else. They kind of go hand in hand.”
The breakthrough realization: “You can be better as a father and a husband when you recharge yourself.”
Life Moving Too Fast
When Nick finally signed up for the Stradbroke beginner retreat, it wasn’t because he suddenly had more time or fewer responsibilities. It was because life was moving too fastâwork stress, family, all the plates spinningâand he needed something on the horizon to look forward to. Something to slow him down.
“When life’s getting too fast, spearfishing gives me something to slow down on,” he says.
He’d joined his local club, done some pool training, which paradoxically made him think he was even better than he was. But deep down, he knew: after 20 years of self-teaching, there had to be more to this sport than what he’d figured out on his own.
“I found it hard to make the leap to invest in a spearfishing course,” Nick admits. “Part of that’s probably a bit of self-reflection on valuing yourself and going, ‘I can spend money on myself.'”
When he finally showed up on day one, he was teachable, approachable, and ready to learn. And what happened next changed everything.
“When life’s getting too fast, spearfishing gives me something to slow down on,” he says
The Awakening
“After 20 years I thought I was the best spearo in the world. Then I came to the course and realized how much more enjoyment there can be when you skill up, and how quickly you can skill up when you’re in active instruction.”
The tangible skills made an immediate differenceâstreamlining, duck diving, all the constant battles every spearo goes through. But the feedback was what accelerated everything.
“The instructors’ hearts were in a similar placeâthey wanted to meet you where you’re at and give to the level that you need to get you where you want to get to. So it was a pretty nice place to get feedback.”
But Nick’s biggest insight wasn’t about technique. It was about terminology.
“You call it a retreat now, not a course. That’s honestly a much better description because the learning is incidental to just having a good time and hanging out with good people and going diving. That’s the best weekend you can have.”
The distinction mattered to him: “The retreat is less focused on the outcome and more focused on the experience.”
Nick aboard the Sail x Spear with Blackspot Tuskfish and Coral Trout
The Deeper Truth
Here’s something Nick learned that most people don’t talk about: “Lots of the limitations come from emotional baggage. When you take away that fundamental need that we all take for grantedâthe breathâlots of stuff comes up.”
“You might think you’re going to do a course to be a 15-meter diver, and you might find you actually end up walking through the fire with some personal demons to get to that level.”
The social dynamic mattered too. Being surrounded by people on a similar journey, voluntarily together doing something they all loveâ“a fair bit of magic happens then.”
The Flywheel Effect
After that first retreat, something shifted. Nick started doing two to three dives a year. His kids grew up enough to accommodate it better. But more importantly, he discovered something profound:
“My enjoyment of life and my productivityâif you think of life in those terms, which I do sometimesâlike getting maximum return on my invested energy. If I’m spending time with my kids, I really want to be with my kids and make sure that’s a really quality interaction. All those things go up when I’m fed as well.”
The evidence kept stacking up: “The more recharged I am, within reason, the better I show up in the world. Everyone gets the better version of me.”
And the momentum built:
- The course built momentum
- Momentum made him enjoy it more
- More enjoyment meant he felt justified doing it more
- Doing it more meant he upgraded his gear
- Better gear made it even more enjoyable
- “It’s this beautiful positive flywheel of pursuing a hobby.”
“It’s really hard to get the momentum if you’re just learning by trial and error yourself,” Nick reflects.
The Turning Point Conversation
Nick came back to assist on a beginner retreatâunpaid, just supporting the effort. During that trip, he had a conversation with Shrek that would chart his next few years.
“I said, ‘Shrek, how fun’s this? Would you do this full-time if you could?’ And then I thought, maybe I should just ask myself that.”
His answer: “I reckon I’d like to do it like four times a year. That’d be a really sustainable life where you could feel like you’re really fed.”
That became his North Star.
To make it sustainable, he needed to be more comfortable in the waterâdiving below his abilities in most conditions. That would make him attractive to instructors looking for help. “It’s just basically a cheap way to go out and hang out with cool people and do diving.”
So he went back to school. Advanced freediving. Then masters. Then instructor certification.
The Privilege of Presence
Now, as a newly minted instructor, Nick’s excited about something specific:
“By definition, the people that come on these courses are working on an edge. It’s a hard thing to not breathe. People are there going through the fire. It’s a privilege to be with people when they’re in that deep learning state, really open state, working whatever the edge is for them.”
“That’s what I’m excited about. And then wrapped around something else I find really thrillingâto go out and hunt in the water with a spear gun. To be in the world that we are and still be able to spear a fish, that’s pretty deluxe.”
What Teaching Taught Him
One of Nick’s breakthrough moments came from an online course with Ted Hardyâspecifically understanding that the urge to breathe at depth comes from two mechanisms: high CO2 and pressure on the diaphragm.
“I thought I needed to train my breath hold more when it was in fact my diaphragm that needed more flexibility so that I felt comfortable at depth. That was a huge breakthrough.”
But beyond technical knowledge, being in the Noob Spearo ecosystem exposed him to better diversâpeople he could watch, learn from, and emulate without grinding through it all himself.
“Just being exposed to other people that are better than you or that do things differently to youâyou can pick and choose which bits you want to take from which person. Just watching some of them is really helpful.”
The Sail and Spear charter (which he’s now guiding on) gave him real-time instruction and exposure that accelerated his progress exponentially.
The Instructor’s Challenge
As Nick prepares to guide his first Sail and Spear charter, he’s thinking about the balance:
“Finding the most critical thingâbecause you don’t want to give feedback on everything. Finding the thing that’s most critical, that’s gonna get them the best return on their energy. Because it takes energy to change and build a habit.”
He references the golf analogy: one guy spends months consuming content online, hitting balls at the range. Another guy hires a pro for four weeks. When they play their first round together, the coached player is far better.
“You can see four things wrong, but you’re only allowed to give them one bit of advice. That’s about all they’re able to integrate and implement.”
His Biggest Regret
“I should have done it 20 years ago. If I’d done it 20 years ago, I would’ve enjoyed my spear journey so much more. You get so much more out of it when you can feel more comfortable under the water.”
The cost? The time investment? Looking back, none of it matters compared to two decades of struggling through trial and error alone.
His Advice to You
For people in the same position he wasâcompetent self-taught spearos who haven’t invested in formal training:
“Do the course earlier because it builds momentum. It makes you enjoy it more, so you feel more justified in doing it more. Then you do it more. Then you feel justified in upgrading your gear. So your gear’s nicer to use, then you start enjoying it even more.”
“It’s this beautiful positive flywheel. If you can just push yourself to go and do the first course, I’m pretty sure most people would be like, ‘Holy shit, this is so much fun when you don’t have to struggle through learning it all by yourself.'”
And here’s the philosophical truth he discovered:
“Looking after yourself is an integral part of looking after everyone else. Everyone gets the better version of you.”
Nick with a Spangled Emperor aboard Sail x Spear Spearfishing Charter
What Makes Noob Spearo Different
“There’s a focus on the whole cycle of being a spearoâcatching the fish, killing the fish, taking care of it, preparing it, eating it. You get the full hunting course of how to find and then prepare your meal and eat it. It’s pretty all-encompassing.”
Nick spent 20 years teaching himself. He wishes he’d invested in proper training after year one. Don’t wait two decades to give yourself permission to pursue something you love with the guidance you deserve.