The decision to disband the club was made at a special general meeting in late February.
''We discussed our options and it was put to a vote of our members and it was decided to disband the swimming club,'' club president Matthew Heaton said.
The Waves Club was formed in 2004 to promote a more competitive attitude in Dunedin swimming because the sport had gone into the doldrums.
''Waves was set up as a professional swimming club and needed a head coach,'' Heaton said.
''Under the new Dunedin Swim Coaching Board model it would not have a coach.''
Under the new model there was no incentive for any budding competitive swimmers to join the Waves club. They could belong to any club and still be coached.
The Waves club members realised that over time, membership would decrease.
''We decided to go out on our own terms,'' Heaton said.
He was disappointed.
''The Waves Swimming Club achieved a lot in the nine years it was there. We were one of the key players in improving the level of swimming in Dunedin.
''We were a strong club and won the Otago championship teams event eight years in a row. We put swimmers on to New Zealand teams and broke New Zealand records.''
Ninety percent of the Waves swimmers have switched allegiance to other Dunedin clubs.
Heaton said all the serious competitive swimmers in Andy Adair's Waves squad had been absorbed into the Dunedin Swim Coaching Board model and were now coached by Gennadiy Labara's Osca group.
''They have all been catered for if they wish to continue competitive swimming,'' Heaton said.
He admitted it had been an ''unsettling time for the swimmers and the Dunedin City Council has apologised for prolonging the changes.
''We are on the cusp of something really good happening for swimming in Otago and I don't think that has changed.
''Now that we have a model in place I think we can kick on and be a real force in swimming.''
Under the new model, Labara has been appointed head coach and the Dunedin Swim Coaching Board is looking for another professional coach to work alongside him.
While in Auckland on business this week, Heaton took the time to meet representatives of the North Shore Swimming Club to discuss how they provide choice and structure their systems. North Shore is the top swimming club in the country.
Adair, the founder of the Waves club, said from Nelson yesterday that at its height during the 2011-12 season, Waves had 117 swimmers in its training programme and about 90 were members of the Waves Club.
He was disappointed by the decision to disband the club.
''The reason I was approached to coach in Dunedin in the first place was that there was only one coach and Neptune was the dominant club,'' Adair said.
''People in Dunedin wanted that changed.
"We are now back to one coach and one dominant club.
''I am disappointed because in the long term that system is less effective than healthy competition.''
Adair believes the recommendations from the independent panel that investigated Dunedin swimming have been ignored.
''The Waves club was simply a mechanism to give the swimmers a good chance of success,'' he said.
''It was a highly successful structure.
''My view was that if we wanted to create a total competitive environment we needed our own club.
''Waves was not designed to destroy other clubs. Because swimming in Otago took off, the other clubs became healthier.''
Adair is concerned the strong competitive environment the Waves club helped to develop in Otago swimming will be missing under the new model.
The chairman of the Dunedin Swim Coaching Board, Lindsay Dey, said the board was ''promoting the growth of clubs''.
His committee met representatives from Dunedin swimming clubs last night.
''Each swimmer must belong to a club and our board provides the professional swimming coaching for swimmers who choose to be coached professionally.''
The majority of the elite swimmers from the Waves club have joined Neptune, but some have gone to Zenith, Kiwi and Taieri.
''There is a feeling that there are too many clubs in Dunedin and it would be good for some of them to consider working more closely together in order to grow the sport.''
Dey highlighted the work Sport Otago's Brent Ward is doing promoting swimming in schools and which he hopes will benefit clubs.
