2012.01.16 21:43:42

FaoiDiver

AIDA *** Freediver

I arrived in Sharm El Sheikh on Sunday 11th Dec at 5:30 pm Egyptian time. The purpose of my trip was to complete the A.I.D.A*** 3-Star Freediver Training Course. Blue Ocean Freedivers arranged the Airport transfer to Dahab where I would stay for the next six nights. Brian Crossland , AIDA Instructor, who was going to be training Vladimir and I on the 4-Day Course has built a fantastic freediving training pool at his Freedive School in Dahab.

The pool is 30m long,1.5metres wide and 2metres deep the whole way. Pool sessions in the morning and Open Water in afternoons until we had a 2min 45sec Breath Hold and a 24m dive down the rope respectively. With Brian's fine tuning I achieved a 3min 26sec Breath Hold on Day one and 28metres on my first Deep dive on Day 2. This was great as I only had to complete the lectures and sit the exam and then it was time for some fun diving and of course the trip to the "Blue Hole". 

By the 3rd Day I had broke the 30m mark and by Friday (at the Blue Hole) I was zipping up and down to 30metres + in several disciplines such as Free Imersion; Monofin; Bi Fins; Variable Weight; (see examples of these in the clips ). I learned a new technique to improve my equalisations at depth and my ears felt great all week. I hope to return next year to complete the AIDA**** 4-Star course which is the Assistant Instructor Level and maybe we might get Brian back to Portroe for a second AIDA Course in 2012. I would like to say thanks to Brian for a great experience and his huge emphasis on Safety Measures and of course that amazing 30m Pool and facilities.

2012.01.10 13:21:25

Seawolf

I can see 2012 bringing in some new changes, the Dives logged will cetainly be a challenge as the recession bites even further and costs sky rocket.

In the meantime, this was last years summary for reference.

Dives in 2012 have already been logged last Sunday.  The Boat handling training continues every weekend for the would be trainee Coxswains. One or 2 places still left..

Coxswain course on in UL on 21st January in Room CG054/Ref:7076

 

BRIAN O'LEARY	80
NOEL HICKEY	57
FRANK HOPKINS	51
MARTIN BOWES	51
EAMON MOLONEY	39
EMMA SHEEHAN	34
DAVE KEANE	34
THERESA O CONNOR	33
EIMHEAR O'BRIEN	24
PAUL DOHERTY	22
WILLIAM O'SULLIVAN	21
DAVID O ROURKE	19
DAVID RYAN	19
MAEVE CALLANAN	18
JOHN BREEN	18
TOM MC DONNELL	16
MIKE ORTH	16
JOHN MULLINS	15
JAMES GAFFNEY	15
MATTHEW WARDLE	16
MIRIAM DONNELLY	14
KENNETH DEVEREUX	10
KIERAN BOWLER	9
RICHARD RYAN	9
JOHN HASSETT	8
ROSE KELLIGAN	6
RICHARD E ROCHE	6
ALMA POWER	5
ANTOINETTE MCNAMARA	4
JASON MCGRATH	4
CIARAN ENRIGHT	4
BRIAN KEARNEY	3
PAUL JOYCE	3
TOMAS HANRAHAN	3
COLUM MC CARTHY	3
RONNIE HURLEY	3

All in all 692 Dives were logged through 2011, 319 dives were logged in Portroe accounting for 46% of the Clubs Diving. So a huge thanks to Portroe for supporting the Clubs wish to dive. The training has been invaluable to the training population.

 

 

 

2011.12.18 01:40:13

Keano

Well guys, just a few words to let you know whats happening. The equipment team have been busy busy getting the boat trailer road worthy again, considering the state it was left in Johny's yard at the first attempt, I think we preformed pretty well. Sorry John.

Read more...

2011.10.16 19:19:07

Bravo

Hi everyone as most of ye know my name is Martin Bowes, I've been diving since 2001 and spent 7 years with another sub aqua club in Dublin called true blue sub aqua where I done most of my training. I'm currently a leading diver since 2006, and hopefully will be successful in passing my Mon* next year. When I joined the club earlier this year, I didn't know what to expect and was a little apprehensive of what type of people and club I was going to encounter. But after a full year of diving with the limerick sub aqua I found the club very well run and organised but yet with a relaxed and fun theme to the diving and also an excellent and well experienced bunch of people. Most of ye will know that I have recently been voted in as diving officer of limerick sub aqua and also to my surprise awarded the club member of the year. I have to admit that filling Brian O'Leary's shoes will be virtually impossible because of his vast experience, knowledge, understanding and patience with the members of the club and also the huge amount of time he puts in behind the scenes that most people never see. All I can say is that I will do my very best to organise and run dives to the best of my ability and try to make them interesting, fun and try to cater for everyone’s diving needs. I look forward to working with the members of the committee and having a great diving season in the coming year.

 

Today’s dive in Portroe Quarry;

 

The day started off quite bright and sunny but with blustery winds blowing from the south west, so as usual the only dive site available was Portroe Quarry. I hope the trainees forgive me when I say this but we had what experienced divers would call "a jolly" (no trainees)! So myself, Brian and Mike Orth got to dive together. It was a leisurely start, as we got kitted up. The usual banter and crack was present and we made the arduous trundle down the ramp to the dive platform. After a quick buddy check, I was nominated to lead the dive, and with a few quick hand signals we were at the bottom of the quarry near the ramp at around 17m. I was having trouble equalising my right ear so I had to ascend a few metres to clear my ear, and join the two lads on the dive. Now just to remind ye, I was supposed to be leading the dive but found out very quickly leading these two guys was like leading geese out of a haggard! We all seemed to be going in different directions! We came to the edge of the drop-off and with an OK signal, down we went. With great surprise to my eyes, I saw Brian doing summer salutes down to about 35m gingerly followed by me. We had previously agreed to remain at a depth of 25m, so I saw Mr. O'Leary disappearing into the depths with the faint glow of a torch, looking back up at Mike at 20m I didn't know who to follow. I decided on the safer bet of Mike and we waited until we saw Brian coming back up from depth but I don't know was it his prescribed mask or his compass wasn't working, he swam in the opposite direction over to polish divers on the shot line off the winch, with me hot on his tail. After retrieving Brian and redirecting him in the right direction, I noticed Mike heading off in his own direction! Since my last dive with Mike was a game of hide and go seek, I guessed he was playing follow the leader! Finally we got ourselves together and we had an enjoyable dive with no casualties. So much for the jolly, I probably would have been better off diving with the trainees, experienced divers my foot!

 

2011.10.10 08:00:29

Seawolf

The Club held it's AGM on Friday and so again a new year begins and some faces within the Club committtee.

 

A number of members who could not make the meeting offered their apologies, even Mike Hynes trying to make the ferry from the Isle of Jersey. Hope you got home safely.

 

Overall, thanks to all that attended. Great meeting and incoming committee are:-

Chairman - Mike Orth, also announcing a hope to obtain a position on the CFT committee. Good Luck.

Diving Officer - Martin Bowes

Secretary - Eimhear O' Brien

Treasurer - Frank Hopkins

Training Officers - Peter Walsh, Brian O' Leary

PRO -Child Liason Officer - Teresa O'Connor

Equipment Officers Team - Dave Keane, Noel Hickey

Search & Recovery Diving Officer - Richard Roche

 

Well done to all.

 

Here is the Diving Officers report for 2011.

 

The Stats

Club Membership Grades comprise of

5 *          Instructors Grades,        

5 *          Leading Diver Grades

6 *          Rescue Diver Grades,    

8 *          Club Diver Grades

14 *        Trainee Diver Grade: Of the trainee grades, one due for test very soon with a potential 4-6 candidates for test early 2012.

6 *          Snorkel Diver Grades,   

7 *          Search & Recovery Diving Grades

14 *        DFR Grades,                      

14 *        Coxswain Grades within the membership also.

This year produced 6 * DFR grades, 1 S&R grade and 1 * Club Diver grade and 4 * Nitrox Divers with another 3-4 Club Diver candidates for test very soon.

In summary, the Club membership logged over 662 dives – Refer to Stats. Despite the poor weather conditions the availability of Portroe Dive Centre has served to provide diving opportunities in times of poor weather or where diving responses have not made it worthwhile to pursue Diving at sea. In all 289, Dives were logged @ Portroe Dive Centre.

The Club away outings to Dingle, Portmagee, Miltown Malbay and Hook Head were generally well supported and offered some very favourable diving and great Club social enjoyment.

Finance

The cost of transferring boat to a dive site must and should continue to be a consideration. The numbers interested in availing of diving have for the most part made it worthwhile to run dive operations compared to previous years.

 

Towing

Towing resources continued to be a problem. Available options were diminished with the unavailability of towing vehicles and yet again,

A Club Towing vehicle should be considered the absolute must priority to provide flexibility of diving to a larger population of drivers.

 

Training and Lecture series

With the surge of Trainee numbers last November, the dilemma of conducting training was managed with the support of a number of Club Diving grades and leveraging the association with Aughinish Sub Aqua Club.

A great debt of thanks is due Aughinish Sub aqua that supported and managed the lecture series and helped with the expense of the pool session costs.  All arranged through our Chairman Mike Orth.

Thanks especially to Dave Ryan, Frank, Johnny, Mike, Ciaran, Dave K and so many more throughout the year, who sacrifice their personal Pool training interests to support the lecture & pool training sessions. 

Dive summary 2011

36 Club members completed 662 dives, credit is due to  Noel, Eamonn, Bill, David and Kieran as new trainees for 2011 and all have been making good progress with their dive training throughout the year.

Well done to Eimhear on passing her Club Diver test 2nd October.

The week long period of Diving in Portmagee continues to be very successful, so I would hope that the tradition will continue. The membership have benefited from the good year of diving and have able to push boundaries of diving experience, particular seen with higher grade attainment, course participation and generally a clear demonstration of greater dive skills.

Fortunately, the August Bank Holiday for once allowed Diving in Miltown Malbay, the opportunity to dive in Doonbeg and Miltown Malbay by the Club membership was well received.

The trip to hook Head was also very enjoyable.

I must take time out to recognise Frank Hopkins, Dave Keane and Martin Bowes who in particular have facilitated dive support of the trainee population in Portroe. The Club membership, in particular, the trainee grades owe them a debt of gratitude for making themselves available to dive with and learn from their skillset and experience.

 

Incidents 2011

Thankfully, few incidents to report to CFT, again thanks to all members for been safety conscience and vigilant with dive behaviours throughout the year.

Free Flow incident in Portroe 

 

Comments

Divers are asked to prepare well in advance for diving. Dive operation schedule should not be compromised by failure to have adequate air supply or equipment issues prior to diving. Divers are reminded to be aware, adhere & respect CFT rules & recommendations.  Always prioritize the safety of ones diving buddy’s above the needs of personal dive goal’s. It would be advisable to get used to ones own gear & upgrading diving skills before new optional equipment is obtained.

 

All diving activities and incidents should be reported to the Diving Officer. Divers should make the D.O. aware of intention to dive prior to dive and obliged to report back upon dive completion.

Ensure Bottles filled from Club Compressors are within VIP & Hydro dates. Please feedback issues on diving to Diving officer at all times please. 

 

Persons notable on Dive sites

I must commend Teresa, Emma and Eimhear who gelled the Club membership together with the onsite picnics & (BBQ in Portmagee) at the back of whatever vehicle served to offer a suitable table space to oversee the ritual nattering sessions and slagging sessions.

Noel Hickey with 50 dives for a trainee grade, amazing stat for the year and always helps club dive operations.

Dave Ryan always dependable to help and makes dive organisation simple relaxed and is an example for all  members.

Eamonn Moloney, the Video clips have served to be a welcome and dismayed addition to the club profile. Great blogs and archive material for the Club.

Martin Bowes whose help, support, advice, encouragement and banter have made running dive operations relaxed, safe and very enjoyable. The Club Blogs speak to a great and very enjoyable safe year of diving. 

Overall the help and support advice provided by you, Frank Hopkins and Dave Keane have elevated the skillset of the trainee membership.

 

Note

The Diving officer should be alerted to all Diving activities prior to taking place.The Instructors grades would encourage all members and grades to Always strive to be a better diver!  Respect & support your fellow Diving members!

 

Development

Wearing  my Instructor hat, I have seen the Club grow from a club struggling to dive &  support an imbalance in Trainee numbers. That has changed over the years, thankfully, but, need to continue this development.

An emphasis on Coxswain development, encouraging Leading Diver and Instructor grades from within the membership is a recommendation going forward. For the 1^st time in years, I can feel confident that the Club can recommend divers for the upper grades and easily excel and represent the club  with ease.

 

Meeting’s attended

CFT AGM

S&R Regional review – Indicate Issue to highlight in new Committee

Weekly club get together in Locke bar. 

 

Thanks

 

Overall as Diving Officer, it’s been very successful and rewarding time served as D.O. for 2011.  I like to thank all the Club membership for their help & support throughout the year.

Thanks especially and as always to the equipment officer’s team for ensuring the boat and trailer are available for diving which is an ever more difficult task as the years roll on. A major over haul to the Club trailer will be required for 2011 and will need to be considered by the incoming EO team.

Thanks to all who helped with the organisation and support of the Children Of Chernoybl BBQ. It was a very well organised and enjoyable event. Credit is due to KBSR, Killaloe Coast guard , Frank Corr and all those who helped on the night to make it a very enjoyable and safe event.

 I’d like to thank John Breen for relaying CFT and Club related communications.

With that, I hope that I will be allowed to finally step down as Diving Officer for Limerick Sub Aqua. I will continue to help & support an incoming Diving Officer and membership of Limerick Sub Aqua for 2012.

I hope that Limerick Sub Aqua will continue to grow, develop, diving grades, leading divers and Instructors Grades and have enjoyable and safe dives going forward.

 

Yours in Diving,

Brian O’ Leary.

 

 

 

2011.10.06 21:32:26

FrogmanEamonn

This Sunday we returned to the Atlantic after a prolonged wait for good weather. After making the most of training dives at the sheltered quarry site in Portroe for the last while, Sunday was an overload for the senses, I saw two conger eels, lobsters, dozens of wrasse, a shoal of baby cod and even a curious dogfish that butted into my torch.  Everywhere there was loads to see.  Drift dive with a swim through (no sign of Cathedral Cave) in the middle of the bay in Kilkee was followed by a fantastic dive at Diamond Rocks, that was worth waiting for.

The other highs the day included

Eimhear O’Brien aced her Club Diver test, setting the bar high for the rest of us.

Brian made the day look effortless getting the boat in with Dave Ryan before we got there and out again with Matt and Martin an hour after the rest of us had cleared off home. Its only easy if you know how, and the effort to make our day go smoother is much appreciated. 

Great day, here’s the video.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtRtg6NS5ZI

2011.09.17 17:01:46

MikeO

We need everyones help to have another succesful recruitment drive for the 2012 season. We are looking for volunteers to help out with the Try-a-Dive night. The 1st night will be October 11th, at 7:30PM in UL Arena. We will have members at the front door to meet and great anyone with questions. Anyone that wants further info or who wants to try out SCUBA in the 50m pool is welcome to come along.  Please pass the word to friends and co-workers - and anyone else that might have an interest!

 

From Drop Box

2011.09.07 10:27:32

Seawolf

He has achieved so much in Irish Cave exploration - He will be sadly missed.

 

 

Rescuers continue efforts to recover body of cave diver

 

Cave diving trainer Artur Kozlowski, from Shankill, Dublin, whose body was discovered in a cave network near Kiltartan in Co Galway last night

By Barry Duggan

Wednesday September 07 2011

Efforts will resume today to recover the body of a diver who died exploring a cave in Co Galway.

The alarm was raised when Artur Kozlowski, (34), a Polish man who was one of Ireland’s most experienced cave divers, failed to resurface from a diving trip in a flooded inland cave on Monday night.

Members of the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation located his body last night, nearly 24 hours later, about 52 metres down in the deepest section of the cave.

They plan to bring it to the surface during the day.

Mr Kozlowski had been living in Ireland for a number of years and held several records in Ireland and Britain, including one for the longest and deepest cave traverse of 103 metres.

He had enough oxygen to last more than six hours when he went into the water at Pollonora cave, Kiltartan about two and a half miles north of Gort at 3pm on Monday.

His close friend and experienced diver Jim Warney found the Polish national's body in an underwater passage at around 6pm yesterday.

It took Mr Warney an hour to dive to the narrow passage where the victim lay with his oxygen tanks and guide rope fully attached.

The location where he was found is almost a kilometre from the access point to the cave and is 52 metres deep.

The family of the diving training instructor in Poland were informed of his death shortly after the search diver returned to the surface.

The rescue team has now requested the assistance of a UK dive rescue unit to assist in the recovery of Mr Kozlowski's body.

Mr Kozlowski was on the final day of an underground expedition when he vanished.

The Polish national was regarded as the most prominent cave diver in the country -- and it was hoped that he had sought sanctuary in an air pocket in the extensive underground cave network.

Experienced

Originally from Poznan in Poland, Mr Kozlowski lived in Shankill, Dublin, and was known to his Irish friends as Artur Conrad.

He arrived at the rural location in Co Galway on Saturday, and spent Sunday diving, before going underground for a final exploration on Monday.

Mr Warney's search last night was his second dive in less than 24 hours, having spent Monday night searching after the alarm was raised.

After two divers searched an initial 350 metres to no avail, Mr Warney examined an un- searched area of the 800 metre-wide cave which is 52 metres deep.

Conor McGrath of the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation said a considerable air space had been discovered halfway into the underground cave and that they had hoped to uncover more. "The air space is near the surface so that gives us hope that the cave may have more similar air spaces and that he is in one of them," Mr McGrath said before the discovery of the diver's body.

"He is very experienced. He has very good equipment, very good training and very good knowledge. He is the only one who has been into this cave to its known limits,"

All five divers involved in yesterday's search were friends of Mr Kozlowski. A quantity surveyor by trade, he had been living in Dublin since 2006 and began cave diving in 2007.

Friends said he quickly became involved in all aspects of cave diving and soon opened his own training company.

In 2008, he recorded the deepest underwater cave dive in Ireland and the UK at Pollatoomary, Co Mayo.

Explored

For the past two years he had extensively explored the vast underground cave network in south Galway.

Tom Nolan (86) of Croker House in Kiltartan, Co Galway, had known Mr Kozlowski since he first explored the cave at the rear of the family home in 2007.

Mr Kozlowski became a familiar face at the the bed and breakfast. "He'd come and ask: 'What room am I in? I'll dress the bed myself'.

"He arrived on Saturday night and was diving Sunday and Monday.

"On Monday he told my son, John, that he was going for the last stage. He wanted to see if he could connect this with the caves in the Burren. If so, it would be the biggest underground cave network in Europe.

"Artur was underground there one day and he could hear this noise," said Mr Nolan.

"He checked all his gear to see if there was something wrong and couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from.

"He kept listening though and eventually figured out it that the noise was from the traffic on the road above him. That is how big it is underground here."

2011.09.01 21:38:02

FrogmanEamonn

Hook Head

We’re spoiled having a boat.  On a normal weekend, we step off the quay and it does all the work getting us to someplace interesting and then home again.  This weekend, to get to the dive sites it took a bit more work.  Hook Head was great fun and I learned loads, like

*how heavy all the gear is after a 400metre shuffle across grass, rocks and slippery seaweed.

*Martin does occasionally come up trumps in choosing a dive location, Wexford was great craic.

*If the local club offers you space in their boat, bite their hand off accepting it.

*Baby cuttlefish hovering and sandeels ambushing like arrows everywhere are brilliant to see on a night dive.

*It’s foolish to follow a huge seal into a dead end cave under the lighthouse to try getting it on camera, luckily I got away with it and it just watched us amused while me and Brian quietly and hastily backed out the narrow entrance.  Be prepared to receive a well deserved slagging afterwards.

Here’s the video, thanks for a great weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4akWzaGrsk&feature=channel_video_title

2011.08.19 19:13:39

FrogmanEamonn

Cathedral Cave Kilkee

It was worth the mid week rush from Limerick for a post work dive at Middle Rock in Kilkee.  It was worth braving the queasy bobbing boat waiting for the first stick of divers to resurface while Mike Orth optimistically tempted reluctant mackerel from a choppy sea with old feathers and one and a half rusty hooks.  This dive was something special.   

Our diving group comprised me and Mike, Brian O’Leary and Richie Ryan.  After a customary ritual battle of torch superiority from our tribe elders Mike and Brian with accompanying obscene gestures we proceeded along with the shelf on our left heading south.  The local sea life was obviously impressed with the lads display of torch one-upmanship because they turned out in force to greet us.  It was beautiful, an illuminated wall of red with endless pockets of life among the endless sea caves and under the rocks, the air bubbles congealing under each rock shelf overhead like liquid silver mirrors glinting back at us.  I lost count after three types of wrasse, four types of Blenny, squat lobsters, shrimp, conger eels (including one out in the open) Pollock and Mackerel. (That was €13 well spent on John Breen’s Sea Search wildlife book last week) 

Thanks to Brian’s navigation we found the elusive Cathedral Cave rock formation. It comprises an almost circular hole in the shelf with an impressive arch at the entrance, again with loads of life and a massive conger eel in residence. I didn’t know this was a rare occasion until I saw Mike and Brian doing a giddy dance of joy in the middle of it.  That alone was worth the trip.  Today was the day Richie Ryan got his Leaving Cert results, he probably brought us good luck.  The setting sun met us at the surface, looked like an orange spotlight from the underneath.  We marked the location from the boat instruments on GPS so hopefully there’s a return to follow.  I’m new at this but I reckon it doesn’t get much better than that, how much fun can you pack into a 40 mintues training dive?   

Here’s the video, the light lets it down but we’ll just have to go back in the full daylight to see it again.  Little Lens needs lots of light but the picture is only a shadow of the memories.

 

2011.07.11 12:53:24

Seawolf

Nancy's seen a few of the members get together on Friday night to get out an wish Eimhear a happy birthday. Indeed, a "few" pints were consumed and some were led to the Outback to "shake a tackie" into wee small hours of Saturday morning. The sun rise was been watched by some once again. :-)  Much Chattin was done, some hangovers were been walked off, cooled off by Adare farm food ice cream or dissipated by a good hearty breakfast-lunch on Saturday. Many photos was taken in evidence, however, they are deemed not suitable for public display. :-)  

Reports from the night suggest all had a great night and never know some new relationship may soon kick off :-)

 

Diving update

Apologies to those who thought that we were finally going to get out of Kilkee and go diving in Doolin, alas, getting out the boat on Sunday morning proved to be a bit of a challenge, but we finally sorted it out, only to revert diving back to Kilkee. So yet again, Club membership were spoiled for Diving around Kilkee. 14 divers came to Dive Kilkee and indeed it was great to see Lough Derg and Athlone out in force also. Thanks to the DOD's John and Frank for organising the proceedings and getting diving running to cater for the numbers coming to dive.  I think the hot sunny day twarted the desire to run the boat a 4th time, however, not bad when the boat was back in the yard at 4pm.

Rest assured, however, Doolin will finally see the Club boat next Sunday, weather permitting. 

Also, please note, no harm turning on your phones early in the morning when setting off for diving, it may help with getting up to date messages regarding deviations or delays. Fortunately most of the diverted divers turned up in the right spot!

John Breen reported that he had 2 lovely dives in Doolin. 1st in Chinaman's Hole and the other in Bones Bay. Roll on next week's trip to Doolin.

 

Next Thursday sees the Annual BBQ @ 2mile gate for the Children of Chernoybl. Lookin forward to it.

 For those into Stats so far 351 Dives have been logged by members so far this year. Club has already surpass last years dive numbers for this time last year.

 

Name	Dives
BRIAN O'LEARY	47
NOEL HICKEY	27
EMMA SHEEHAN	25
FRANK HOPKINS	20
DAVE KEANE	18
MARTIN BOWES	18
WILLIAM O'SULLIVAN	18
EAMON MOLONEY	16
THERESA O CONNOR	16
PAUL DOHERTY	14
JOHN BREEN	13
EIMHEAR O'BRIEN	11
TOM MC DONNELL	11
JAMES GAFFNEY	11
DAVID O ROURKE	10
DAVID RYAN	9
MIKE ORTH	9
KIERAN BOWLER	8
RICHARD RYAN	7
KENNETH DEVEREUX	6
MIRIAM DONNELLY	5

2011.07.07 08:15:48

Emma

A great night was had at Fun World Bowling. Thanks for all who turned up & those who send apologies.

Of the teams of two, the winners were Frank & John Breen who were presented with beautifully hand crafted Tweety Birds . . . (stuffed toys rather than the real thing)

We discovered that the best way to get a strike was not to try at all, the “roll & run” method was good but not as good as the “drop & hope for the best” method

A quick drink & a long chat with countless bags of Taytos were enjoyed in the Woodfield afterward rounded up a very present evening with much chatter of our Club social on Friday night

There was premature Birthday wishes, praises of Sally Hansen with the promise of a few songs on Friday night thrown in for good measure.

2011.07.04 21:39:40

Seawolf

As our Chirman Mike was tending to his own celebrations, preparing for the christening of G Tyler Dallas Orth on Sunday. Myself & Emma dropped by to wish the latest addition to the Orth's a great day. Mike's was busily "flipping the burgers" for his guests and thankfully the great day came to an end in the late evening.

Indeed the BBQ theme was in the air over the weekend as we dropped into to make an appearance in the Skinny for the Aughinish BBQ. Prior to making an appearance, we managed to pick up the Club boat and launch it in preparation for Sunday's diving. The crowd and the music in the Skinny was great, great to chat with our Aughinish Diving Buddies :-).

Sunday unveiled a perfect day for diving, while overcast, the seas was calm and so did the members of Limsac. Despite missing 5 of our regular divers, Emma & John were tasked with organizing diving for initial 15 divers, but 2 late addiitions were announced on Sunday morning.

So dive operations kicked off at 9.30am with dry coxswains for each dive outing"Stick", All 17 divers were catered for with dives on Middle rock, The Diamonds and Toni's craic :-) All 4 dive outings were wrapped up at 5pm even with the lunch time break. Thanks especially to the Dry Coxswains and the folks for going with the flow. Even the 1st boat of divers managed to drop into Cathedral caves.

Ronnie even logged his 1st dive of 2011 with the club, and I really enjoyed our dive on middle Rock with Ronnie and Eimhear. I dearly would like to get to the age of 79 and still be able to dive... Wow!!!

Thanks to all for keeping to the Dive schedule in a timely manner. Indeed the Textsof thanks to Emma and John were very much appreciated

Martin even wowed the Club with the introduction of Zelda, me thinks he has his hands full, but, you never know we could get another coxswain for the Club :-)  But, was the dive on Toni's craic as good as the wedding bash celebrations in Bunratty?

Meanwhile, those Touchy feely days are not quiet over for some of us. Don't worry - Be happy

Bowling night on Tuesday night at the Leisure Bowl on the Ennis Road and not forgeting that little celebration in Nancy's bar.

The weather is deteriorating, so hopefully it will be ok to get the boat to Doolin to support the seasearch course next weekend. A dive is been planned for Kilkee on Wednesday, so fingers crossed, conditions will be ok. Also, dont forget our annual Children of Chernoybl BBQ at 2 mile gate, Killaloe. All help appreciated.

 

 

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2011.06.27 10:33:22

Seawolf

Well now I am back at work, recovering from a busy Day's diving out of Oysterhaven(The deep South), diving the recently found UC42 and then on to the Santo Wreck in the mid afernoon. A long but, very enjoyable day while the Club went to home ground(South West) and dived Kilkee.

The links on the earlier blog say it all. Great to see them, and then see the reality of the bones to reinforce the message, it is a grave. The visibility was good until "Ciaran of Inbher Sceine was ploughing down the Starboard side towards thankfully the end of our dive which prompted me to crossover the bow and head for the mine housings for another look back up towards the conning tower. Respect to the guys who found it and laid the plaque. Great tribute to the memory who lost their lives on this Iron Coffin.

Credit and many thanks due to Nigel who orchrested the outing and invited myself & Emma along aswell as Brian Kearney & Suzy who made the outing a home away from home.

Basically, the dives are both about 30meters and ideal for Nitrox divers to use a bottle without going into Deco. Those on air did suffer the need to cut bottom time and do an approximate 10 min Decompression if the stayed over 25mins. Only drawback was the transit times to the wrecks, between 30 and 40 mins for both sites, so more ideal to either use OceanAddicts or try an find a launch site to the east side of Cork Harbour for a Club dive boat run.

The Santo wreck, is interesting in terms of the extent to which the site is desimated. Very little is left and all that remains are the dredging buckets, boiler, some huge gearing, the prop and gear shaft. A wide debris field with a lot of Conger and wrasses using the wreckage as a home. Certainly, the wreck is worth a vistit. :-)

 

Kilkee did not endeer itself to some as the choppy conditions of the morning, encouraged a few green faces, best cure is to get in the water and snorkel, alas Poor Kieran suffered on. Thanks to Teresa and Eimhear who brought lunch for the guys, great bonding session and naturally the ribbing for those who "popped their heads above the parapet" .....  Car keys & Locked doors - Did the special one get another treat in the Chinese in Kilkee?? .... Again a song comes to mind.. Once, twice, three times a lady.... :-D

Eamonn will testify on behalf of the anybody that does any towing for the Club in the future, even if a crime is committed... "Major respect to the "Tower possee" :-) Fair play to Ken, offering words of support and encouragement " Your're doin a great job. Eimhear got that also, HanCock 2 " the Kilkee trilogy comes to mind :-)

As for Martin & Mike, well, the Wilds of Kilkee yielded some edible trophies for the free Divers on Saturday.

Limsac Divers presented some challenges and unfortunately some weight loss, but, a search and recovery event was conducted, Coast guard, kilkee Lough derg and Aughinish dive clubs were involved and through a long and intensive search and recovery with a post dive review in the Skinny or scots, the weight belt that attempted to escape was captured and held in evidendce by our RDO.  The Club D.O. had to submit an "near miss" incident report on the matter. However, in saying that, all is well with every Limerick Sub aqua member, and we can now all breath a sigh of relief and joy now, that a successfully recovery has been conducted!

So very soon, Tuesday, in fact - in the Locke, I will be conducting teambuilding exercises with Limsac members, tackling the most pressing issues of the day.

Avoiding weight loss, Filling a bottle - Navigate around middle rock - Towing, the mystery tour, Reg freeflow - Avoid  tank contents loss, singing the "green, green, grass of home when seasick - Lost - Car keys - Send for super wife...   While there, I will be signing copies of my new book - Diving - A Dummies guide to ---- :-)

Great turn out in the Locke last night, great craic :-) Ken's words of encouragement " Your doin a great job" made it a night to remember :-D

2011.06.24 10:46:21

Seawolf

From Portroe Jun 24, 2011

After hearing the tales of Last nights trip to Portroe, I kept thinking of that line from a song, " where's me jumpa(Jumper), where's me jumpa... Dancing at the Disco, bumper to bumper" .. Etc.

Poor Eamonn.. After devising a plan to get diving arranged for Portroe on Thursday, alas, it all backfired, his BCD mysteriously did not make it to his jeep and the cries went out... Anyone got a spare BCD! Alas Poor Eamonn, no dive after all!!

Talk about the last minute hick up's.. Teresa's Reg decided it was sick of Portroe but, that minor free flow was copped before departure to Portroe, so fortunately my spare reg made it to Portroe via Mike to sort her out for a dive.

As for Martin, well, Stuck dump valves on the his  BCD caused havoc and the hunt for Bill and Mike turned out to be an incredible story of hit & miss or was that hide & seek ....hee hee... Me thinks a slagging is coming Martins way hee hee... Leading Diver grades are up for anything :-D

Meanwhile Dave and Miriam really had a cracking dive relishing in the light that was penetrating the water and the trip along the far wall of Portroe - 42 mins of a dive, told Ya, Miriam, really getting into this diving lark afterall.  Thanks Dave for leading the way.

Well, as for David and Kieron, yet another opportunity to practice - Lessons learned I hope on every dive?? , all we need now is to see them log some sea dives and get the benefit of some of the beauty of Irish Sealife and vegetation here on the West Coast of Ireland :-)

Meanwhile Kilkee is the Dive location for Sunday, while myself and my buddy Emm -check out diving on the UC42 Sumarine and the Santos wreeck in advance of an Organized Club outing very soon. Planning long Nitrox dives on them to get a look look around them.

 

Santo: http://www.iol.ie/~mkeniry/kkSanto.htm

UC42: http://www.iol.ie/~mkeniry/ccuc42.htm

UC42: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuG1tykKHI8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

UC42: http://www.afloat.ie/watersport/diving/item/14853-german-u-boat-rediscovered-in-cork-harbour?tmpl=component&print=1

 

Looking forward to a great weekend of safe and enjoyable diving for all :-)

 

2011.06.20 13:14:55

Seawolf

As conditions in Kilkee were reported as been bad, Diving was arranged for Portroe. The likelyhood of poor visibility prompted DOD's to halt diving in Kilkee. While a few used Portroe on Saturday for some training and compass work, Sunday unleashed the Trainee Divers to practice some more in Portroe. Eimhear however, in preparing for her Club Diver test fitted her Octupus only to find it got snagged on the way to the dive and appeared to be resisting the opportunity to go diving. Needless to say Eimhear won out in the end with those fists and the obey me tones :-) "Resistance is Futile"

Meanwhile, Miriam was going boldly where "No Newcastle west woman has gone before"... Dave kindly opted to lead her for her 1st dive of the year in Portroe, Success all round as she quickly remembered her training after the initial few minutes of getting settled. I keep telling ya, you'll be a good diver, so come diving more regularly now that you have restarted!!  Kilkee next week...

As for Eamonn he is getting his dives in and the dives logged by the Club thus far are beginning to surpass last years totals for the same period.

So, future dives upcoming are the Cork "New Sub" dive.. Moving the Boat to Doolin/Quilty for July Time frame. Hopefully, weather for the Kilkee diving next weekend will be better.

Now have to start Prepwork for Eimhear and Noel and maybe 1 or 2 more divers for their Club Diver grading :-) 

Club Dive Stats.

BRIAN O'LEARY	40
NOEL HICKEY	24
EMMA SHEEHAN	19
DAVE KEANE	13
WILLIAM O'SULLIVAN	13
PAUL DOHERTY	11
FRANK HOPKINS	11
EAMON MOLONEY	11
MARTIN BOWES	10
THERESA O CONNOR	9
DAVID RYAN	7
JOHN BREEN	7
JAMES GAFFNEY	7
KIERAN BOWLER	7
RICHARD RYAN	6
DAVID O ROURKE	6
MIKE ORTH	6
EIMHEAR O'BRIEN	6
KENNETH DEVEREUX	5
JASON MCGRATH	4
TOM MC DONNELL	4
ALMA POWER	3

 Happy Diving Days all round :-) 

 

 

2011.06.13 22:58:08

Seawolf

Wow, it was with great sadness that I left Portmagee today, pulling out of Portmagee after an intensive week of Diving and suppin my last pint of the "Black Nectar" (Guinness) in the Bridge bar last night.  A week of mixed weather, that cut back diving on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, but, never mind, the club membership logged 81 dives over the course of the week.

Sites like Long Island, Cus Diarmuida, South & North Puffin were all visited during the course of the Week. Despite that, I still did not get opportunity to visit Basalt Cliffis and north side of Valentia. :-(

 

A great turn out over the weekend and a nice daily boat boat load through the week.

 

The Club BBQ on Sunday organised by Teresa and Suzy was a great affair. The food feast was excellent and it was great to see the membership all together after an eventful days diving out of Glen Pier. Well done to Teresa, Suzy and all who assisted with the BBQ :-)

 Indeed diving on Sunday yielded a surprising addition to the boat numbers as we returuned from my drift dive on Puffin south on the second Boat trip. Doc Tom and Richie picked up 2 divers that were missed by OceanDivers. Tom dropped us in about 1.15pm and when we surfaced I could see there were 2 new divers in the boat. The drift on puffin was amazing, so much so, that Tom had to scoot out for Dave & Noel were pushed off puffin by it. It appears that our visitors were left behind in the maze of divers on South Puffin, so I'd say the 2 guys from Dublin were extremely lucky that Limerick Sub Aqua were diving in the same area as, Tom informed Valentia Coast Guard that Limsac had picked up 2 divers. The Irish version of Open Water came to mind. Anyway all's well now, we returned to Glen pier where fortunately, the guys were able to alert OceanDivers and arrange pick up back to Knight's town.  Monday seen the Guys back in Glen Pier using, this time,  with the services of Willie Kennedy to Dive around puffin.

Oisin from GSAC was in fine form over the weekend. Those local ladies really enjoyed his dancing in the bridge. The Bridge was alight with the two Clubs having the craic. Francis was testing out his leading Diver skills with the Limsac on Saturday and had to deal with a case of Salt Water aspiration and a bad ankle sprain, the acting was only brill from Emma and Dave...hope it helps his prep work for it. :-) Good luck to him. 

Monday seen the arrival of Martin Bowes, who added a laugh or two and an un ending chatter to the wilds of Portmagee. We were enlighten by a trip to Cahirciveen to get fuel on Tuesday and got lost talking to Mick Walsh re the enlightenment and Philophosy of Buddahism. Wow, what an afternoon :-)

Saturday allowed us to escape with Gearoid to the Northside of Puffin. We were dropped at the entrance of a gully that ran back into Puffin. It was amazing, in that it had so many swim throughs and it was very sheltered at the end of the dive. Lovely and certainly a dive to repeat upon our return back to Portmagee.

 

 Overall, I'd say the Week was yet again a great success, lots of dives Logged, safe & enjoyable. Fun was had by all and I am already can't wait to get back next year. Diving, that you just cannot beat.

2011.05.24 13:52:03

Seawolf

What was in the water before Xmas??  What a baby boom, some clandastine arrivals of Babies recently, one could even say that there has been a flood of babies to boost the membership figures of limerick Sub Aqua.

Wow, firstly I was suprised to see Matt in Portroe as I arrived up there in the afternoon to dive with Alma on her second open water dive, after realizing that Matt was indeed alive after all these months, he discretely mentions that he recently had a new addition to the family, Baby girl Aishling.  That will keep you quiet for a while :-D

Then, Mike and Shirley new arrival popped on the scene over the last 24hours, another boys to fight with the dogs. Alas, I fear, another trip is pending for poor ole Mike, until a little girl pops on the scene, me thinks :-)

Ciaran Enright also has a new addition.... No, stop, don't fret.. Yvonne did not have a baby!!.... Ciaran rescued another Cairn terrier from the pound and so the family too are expanding, hopefully Meg will like her new buddy...

Christine Ryan also had a little baby boy.... Doggie, A bichon frise pup called "Buddy", a loveable rogue, who loves biting toes, Ouch!!!

To cap it off, then I get reminded about Thomas Hanrahan... and so baby Ronan has indeed completed the suprises for the day... or at least I hope that is the case....  Be aware now folks... Emma is running for the hills!!!

 

Happy days all round, hope you are enjoying the Sun out there in tenerif Johnny Boy... Lucky So and so!!!

2011.05.20 15:09:21

Seawolf

Firstly, I must apologize, as I have not had the opportunity to contribute to the Blogs as actively as I would like. Busy times all round.

A chance to meet up for a chat with other members and non members is there, for all those interested now. Club members get together in the Locke bar every Tuesday night from about 8pm onwards. You are guaranteed to get a crowd @ about 9pm. As the music is starting about this time, you may see us in the side section to the right side of the main bar. If any1 wants to get logbooks signed off, go over notes or answer any questions, or chat about the last dives, well that is a good opportunity to bring it up...  :-)

 

Weather for sea diving has been poor for May and the coming weekend is no different. Portroe is it for the moment, which is great for all our starting trainee diving grades, at least they are able to log in the dives now. In fact, I have to congratulate some of the new members as Noel, Kieran, William, David and Eamonn will soon be getting their 1st formal CFT dive qualification.  Well done so far!!! Thanks to all the members who have dived Portroe in helping the new members with loggin up their initial open water dives.

Noel has been the more prolific new diver, taking advanatage of all opportunities to dive.

Well done to William, Noel and Eimhear on the DFR participation and Emma, Eimhear and William for the Coxswain course.

The Rescue course test is pending, but, as the Club's 2 candidates are pre occupied with building upon the club membership figures, I think they will have to postphone their test :-) 

Club went to Dingle for Easter and Kilkee for th May Bank Holiday. I must say, that despite some minor glitches, the Diving on saturday and Sunday was great and very enjoyable. Regretably a small group turned out to dive Brandon Creek on Saturday & it was the easier option to shore dive it. Emma spotted and Octupus and thankfully, both dives there were very good, despite a good pull. The dives were moved to Parkmore, Ventry on Sunday, and I must say I was amazed with the visibility on both dives. Martin finally joined us for boat diving on Sunday with his holy Semi dry suit. Brave man stuck it for 25 mins on a throughly enjoyable dive. Suzy dropped us in a large shoal of Coley. Alot of life about, but, the Vis made it fantastic.

It's a pity that more could not make it for the weekend and Martin's engagment with the bunch of American girls in John Benny's pub on Saturday night was a howl. The craic was mighty, not forgetting the huge slice of apple cake with icecream!!. I don't know what the kerry men thought of the blow in from Tipperary!!  So sad to see the girls head of back to Kilarney, aaahhh, poor Martin. :-D

May Bank Holiday diving was out of Kilkee. Conditions for diving were not as smooth as I had hoped, as a good south westerly swell along with the Spring tides were playing havoc. The strong easterlies did not help enough, but we did manage to dive on Bearity and between Georges and Middle Rock for the second dive. We had a good turn out for both dive outings.

Portroe has been the dive location of choice since then, thankfully, the members who need to train and work up dives can at least log up dives.

There was a great turn out there last Saturday and especially mobbed with Divers on Sunday. Even John Breen ventured up there to log a dive.

However, we must continue to support Portroe again this weekend as the westerlies are making it impossible to have good sea diving.

Tomorrow, see's me assisting with a M2 jurors course in Portroe, but, looking forward to it and getting a dive in Portroe also.

Alas, the Regional Dive weekend, while a great success, did not encourage Divers from Limsac to travel. I think weather and the noticeable and understandable tightening of the belts is more obvious this year. The recession and fuel costs are certain factors to contend with, these days.

Thankfully, the winds are dropping and weather appears to be improving early next week, so hopefully, Portmagee will be a great week of diving... Finger crossed. 

 

 Don't forget to look at the latest photo's on the site and feel free to pop along to the Locke bar on the Tuesday nights to chat with members of the club to hear the latest gossip :-)

 

Happy and safe diving!!

 

 

 

 

2011.05.16 12:04:17

FaoiDiver

Well done to Limerick SAC members Mike; Graeme and Martin for joining me for Freediver Training in Portroe at weekend. Sunday was crazy busy in the quarry and its great to see the the facility been utilized. We began with Safety around the lines and observation during the dive. Then it was getting correctly weighted and the all important Equalisation and Relaxation and also Recovery Breathing. Mike quite righly compared the whole process to "Golf" as it involves mental and physical preparation if its to be done to its best. Everyone performed well and Mike gave us a demonstration of a labrador exiting the water. I hope we did not scare any scuba divers while the lads were showing off there new techniques. I will put up some video clips of the event here.

2011.04.18 16:41:12

Keano

As the new season has begun in earnest, I'd like to say thanks to the E.O team for giving up their free time and valued experience in keeping the boat in working order. Honestly, without them we would be limited to shore dives (boo). 

We even have our own marine engineer in training, how many clubs can boast that eh? 

There are a few courses running at the minute and are well attended, pity the sea cant co-operate as well. The rescue course went well on Saturday except for the washing machine that was Kilkee bay, and with a spring low to boot, i think we managed 11m in the middle of the bay. Good fun on the day watching LDSAC trying out their rescue techniques on their towing vehicle. Thanks to all the moniteurs for helping out, and for the use of the Burren and Lough Derg boats.

With Kilkee abandoned due to poor conditions, we ventured to Portroe on Sunday for a few handy dives. As required by club law, i as DOD turned up late and set about hurrying everyone along, even though they were ready! Myself, American Mike and Richard Roche were joined by Noel, Dave O and Kieran. Good dives at about 20ish m were had and the trainees are well on their way. Brian, John Hassett and Alma arrived on later and we went in for a second dive, again a good dive was reported and all went home happy, especially me as i didn't get as burnt on Sunday as on Saturday. 

Looking forward to seeing more of the club diving in the future, with Dingle next weekend, the regional and Portmagee coming up ye have no excuses.

2011.04.11 13:56:44

Seawolf

Kilkee with Trainees Apr 12

Finally, Sea diving for the Club with the Boat began yesterday.

The boat was cleaned up and prepped, ready for diving on Saturday afternoon with the help of Dave, who was nursing a hangover, after a night of celebrations, Richie, "Big Dave", john and myself. Peter popped in to supervise the work. Great job getting boat ready and thanks and appreciation to the E.O. team for looking after the gear over the last year. Thanks to John & Shelly for the tea and refreshments to keep the troops energized.

 

With last minute repairs and checks complete, boat was towed to Kilkee to be greeted by an overcast day, flat seas :-) with a slight chilling breeze in the air. Thankfully, we arrived on the slip to launch boat at 10am sharp.

With the dive brief complete, Jason decided to make an unannounced appearance. Communications don't work too well in LIT - Mobile phone technology, thesedays (tut).As we found out later to our surprise, kilkee was turning into a bit of nudist colony going by the post dive changing room carry on. Did someone forget to wrap a towel around themselves, can't figure if Kilkee Cam caught the full moon or not :-)

 

Inner Bishops was chosen for the 1st dive, a nice handy 20 meter dive in a sheltered area. I was surprised with the pull even with the neap tide, but, nice to get back into sea once again and visibility was reasonable for the time of the year.

The battle of the torches yielded an outstanding winner(for this time at least), even if Mike's torch needed to be charged, so the battle of Magicshine Vs kowalski must be postphoned until the night dive coming very soon.

Anyway, a second dive at 2.15 was ordered by Emma, the DOD and after some light refreshments on the slip, a introduction to Eamonn and Jason to sea diving was due, so we opted for newfy, Shallow, great visibility.

Mike was involved in a major S&R activity before the 2nd dive. The KBSR training obviously shone through as he found the car keys he dropped in the water on the way out to the boat. Excellence - Certification really due... :-)

 

I think Jason was suprised with the sea Cucumber I pickep up to show him and took out my reg to bite it (Naah, only joking) as well as squeezing it so that it would eject some opaque gloopy  liquid. (Yuk)

Eamon, hopefully warmed up after the dive, balls of a brass monkey, but all dives went well and enjoyed by all.

 

Weight Stoppers, Drop/Add weight, Dive watches, Semi dry wetsuit,  became the comments of summary of the day.

Funnily enough, yesterdays full moon in Kilkee did not reflect in the tidal conditions :-).. Hmmm why???

Alas, the "keys" dilemma affected somone else also, another rescue effort was conducted before long as the spare car keys were ferried from six mile bridge at the cost of a chinese in the Chinese in Kilkee :-)

 

Also, I understand that Dave K could not make it to dive yesterday, not surprised if yourself and Loretta are going to add a new member to the Club soon. Congratulations and hope all goes well :-)

 

The Club send their best wishes to Eimhear at this time...  Hope things work out ok...  Fingers crossed!!

 

Reminder: Dingle for Easter : Portmagee for June.

 

 

 

2011.03.28 19:21:40

Seawolf

From One if by land, Two if by Sea, 3 for Portroe Quarry

Well, that is what I felt when I arrived in Portroe, While it was a quiet, Sunny day great day to get in a series of dives, I noted a few customized Rebreather as well as the usual suspects, the AP Values Inspiraion tas well as the rEvo, rebreather http://www.revo-rebreathers.com/#/en/home/ an option I had not seen before.

Anyway, I was brought back to reality with continuing to run dives with Noel, Jason and David. I managed to do a series of 4 * 25minute dives. Noel manage to squeeze in a second dive with me. Not put off by the gush of water into his dry suit. Hopefully we will soon get to the bottom of the leak, in his neckseal. At least next week may be a degree warmer :-)

Visibilty was excellent and when I took David and Eimher of on a dive, we managed to dive on the Shamrock, David's 1st wreck dive, a privilage for a trainee grade.  All are making progress and so a sea outing is beckoning closer. All we are awaiting for now is for Alma, Eamonn,  & Jason & Hayes to join in on the fun :-D

Theresa, Frank braved the conditions also to log their 1st dives of the year. Good luck to Theresa in her drysuit.

Reminder to all, don't forget logbooks, Congrats to Dr. Tom, John, Paul and Rose who Dived the Bridges of Ross yesterday, nice day's diving by all accounts.

Nothing more will be said for the crew that secured diving with the Aughinish Diving Club, The Pinnacle got a visit,  Dave testing his new drysuit out with Bill at sea for time, Bill had his1st open water Dive with the Club, introduced to the regional Club Diving culture and Mike decided to test his full face mask at 38M with Kevan. Some busy and hectic weekend of diving.

All enjoyed the dives :-) All back safely, just that the DO has to write up the Dive log for the day.

Coxswain course next week, so diving plans to be announced closer to Saturday. Boat will be ready for next saturday morning early run to Kilkee.

Reminder Coxswain course next weekend followed by DFR course later in the week. 

 

 

 

2011.03.28 03:15:53

MikeO

One if by land, Two if by Sea, 3 for Portroe Quarry

I was never gonna be able to call this blog Paul Revere's ride. The reference to the famous American Hero who in-famously warned John Hancock and Samuel Adams (of the big signature and noble pilsner) of British troop movements before the battles of Lexigton and Concord was apt though. If you stay with me I will tie this all together I promise.  You may or may not know the phrase One if by Land, Two if by Sea, taken from that same famous ride. Well back in 1775 they apparently had no phones for texting and they had to send messenger by horseback to put a lantern in the steeple - I cant imagine what the "mobile bill" was for a message like that.  Luckily for us, we can manage with a few calls/texts on a Saturday to figure out where our LSAC members are going to be diving on Sunday.

Well our Sons of Liberty were spread all over the country - from Portroe to Kilkee and beyond the Loop Head. For my part I will blog about my first club dive of the year, and I hope that Brian O'Leary can add something about Portroe and maybe John Breen can manage a few words about the Tea Party that went to Bridges of Ross.

Our plan was simple enough - meet at Kilkee slipway for 11am sharp, dressed and ready to go. But this was complicated by the clocks spriging forward at midnightish (another Ride reference). I can explain my dilemma with reference to my Facebook status Saturday night...

"I have to be somewhere in the morning at 11 sharp. Add in travel time, now i need to set my alarm for 8. Do i set if for 7, knowing that it will be 8, or will my phone know to change the time? I better get up an hour early and check my phone. So If i set my alarm for 6... wait, that would be 5am right? Im only going to the beach - its only 90 mins drive. Ill be like 4 hours early. Ah man im not gonna sleep tonite."

In the end we were an hour early - which isn't too bad - better early than late I always say.  We met up with the good guys/gals from Aughinish SAC to avail of a few free spots on their boat (our trailer is in for repair I hear). A huge Thank You to Kevan, Martin, Aude and Christoph (and the others) for making us feel very welcome.  They were heading out to the Pinnacle for a handy one - and they even had a dry cox! Kevan organized the dive pairs - but he must have made a mistake as he ended up with me - I'm not complaining though - always great to have an expert lead the way. Kevan had depth on his mind so I did my best to mind by air intake (thanks Peter - I think your breathing lecture paid off...) as I was on Full Face Mask. I tried to stay a little above my buddy so I could conserve air, but when we approached 38 I had to stick the arm down so I wouldnt be outdone by anyone in Portroe.

It was all over faster than I liked, but Im sure we did a full circle of the Pinnacle cause I think we past two rebreathers at least once or twice. Never ran into Dave Keane or Bill Sullivan - but Im told they had a decent dive to 22m for Bills first dive with the club, welcome and hope to dive with you again. Second dive was in Newfee for the Aughinish trainees and I offered to do dry cox as payback.  There were even a few snakes and shamrocks jellies on the boat, I hope Martin managed to get one.

Oh yeah - I bet all you dirty mided people thought there would be a big payoff at the end linking this all back to the famous Ride. Im a yank but im not stupid. Basck home in Washington DC when you drop off your spouse to the Metro there are signs to mark the designated spot for your car - Kiss N Ride. My visiting Irish cousins used to get a huge laugh our of that - and now I know why.

2011.03.23 13:57:46

Seawolf

From Drowning the Shamrock

St. Patrick's day was an ideal time to drown the Shamrock and get in a bit of a snorkel & Dive. The troops were raliied to Portroe and myself and a few willing souls ventured into the water to assist/watch the drowing of the Shamrock.  Lovely day, water temps were ok and indeed Myself, Noel, Jason and David once again were testing our snorkelling in the clear waters of Portroe. Refer to some of the photos on thephoto section of the Website.

I then decided to kick off the 1st open water dives with Noel and David.  Well done to all for getting in the water and so Noel and David had their 1st taste of Portroe, hopefully, not too bad. Nice and slow to hover around the van and play with inflating the Tyre to see it rise adn redrop to the bottom somewhat later once again.

Roll on diving for next weekend. I believe the boat is as yet, unavailable, so interest in diving is split between Kilkee and Portroe.

Rest assured, I'll see some Divers on Sunday. :-)

2011.03.14 17:25:21

Seawolf

Had a great nite in South's on Friday to congratulate Martin Kiely onhiselection to NDO role and Aude Richards to a role on the TC.

Don't forgot, the Club are going to the dogs on 25TH March... Stand by for more info via Email and Text.

2011.03.11 11:02:43

Seawolf

Folks,

Lets start the ball rolling.... An introduction to Boat operations and Open water snorkelling on Sunday moning at 11am.  Limited option for Open water dives on St. Patrick's Day in Portroe for trainee grades and on Saturday 19th March. Sunday Diving option subject to confirmation.

For Sunday's snorkelling, please have good warm change of clothes, bring logbooks, lifejackets if possible please. If you have a warm flask, bring it along also.

Club text will go out shortly.

 

Also, Please note Anybody need anything from Francis Jenkins? Someone from Club is meeting him on saturday, so last chance to pick up any items.

2011.03.08 10:43:55

Seawolf

Folks,

Just a quick note to summarize the events of the AGM.

 

Main point no change to Insurance fee's.

The controls on expenditure have managed to "stem the tide of losses" and those controls will remain in place until the next AGM. 

 

New Course roll out and Presentations

The Club Diver instructor course details were communicated and will be implemented in a Pilot course very soon.

The course is aimed at Club Diver grades with an interest to assist with In club training, to lecture and assist with practical Pool and initial Open water diving activity. Suitable Candidates recommended by Diving Officers will be eligible to attend these course will kick off quite soon, so stand by for the entry requirement detail very soon.  This is a great development and will ease the burden on in Club Instructor grades.

 

Nitrox course changes

A course will now be available to allow trainee diver grades to obtain and receive certification in Nitrox diving. It is then possible to easily upgrade and move to pursue the Advanced Nitro and Extended range courses.

 

Coxswain Course

At long last the coxswain course has been revamped/updated and is currently been rolled out in any future courses. There are  some additional lectures and certainly the focus on the practical initial training has been emphasized in this new course.

Specific detail and trainee logs have been updated to reflect a higher standard of candidates, that hopefully the new course material will improve Coxswain skills.

Please note, that affiliation with other Boat handling organization/standards remains an issue as the stumbling block is the requirement of membership to that organizations is the problem. So for now, Coxswain will be unique certification within CFT.

 

Trade Show

 The trade show was appropriate, but  notably smaller than previous years, the focus is on Suit, Reg & BCD sales.  Lots of choice for Red sea holiday deals, all you need is the money and time to select your option.

 

Presentations

 I sat in on the presentations by Jack Ingle, Equipment configuration, some very interesting comments on streamling dive equipment aimed predominately at the Techie diving community.

Some good tips…   Website for reference is jack@jackingle.co.uk

 

Timmy Carey and Eoin Mc Garry - Asgard II Expedition

Timmy and Eoin recanted the events of planning and diving the AsgardII which sank in the Bay of Biscay. The Dive was shrouded in controversy, however, the details, the video stills and footage of the wreck were a great display and the trip was indeed something the Irish Diving community should be proud of.

Well Done, great accomplishments to Timmy, Eoin and the rest of the team in bringing back the BELL, compass and Boat steering wheel from the Asgard II.

 

AGM & Elections

The CFT AGM elected its new executive and members of the Technical commission on Sunday.

The various officers submitted their reports for November 2009 to March 2011.

However, the AGM was marred will a lot of controversy of the Search & Recovery Medal Award ceremony and the level of communication around the award recommendation procedures. Regrettably, as with such inaugural events, there were some persons missed and recommendations were not balanced, finally, the discussions re the issue were terminated and the matter will be resolved in due course.

 

Finally,

I was delighted to learn that Martin Kiely was elected to the role as National Diving Officer, and Aude Richard also elected to the Technical commission.  A great honour and privilege for the Aughinish Diving Club.

 

Well Done to Martin & Aude.

 

 Please refer to the CFT website for specific details re the course changes and details of the new Executive members and rest of the TC members details over the coming days.

2011.01.25 12:57:45

SilverFazer2000

It has come to my attention that a certain “experienced committee member” has forgotten the difference between HP and LP.
Now LP to those of the bald and grey diving community, might refer to the vinyl records that once were the in thing and to which Ronnie has the biggest collection on the North Circular Road.
Similarly HP might refer to the only loans that banks can offer in this time of uncertainty, the fine weather or the sauce you use on your hairy bacon

So Mr Chairman, I’ve have it in good authority (from Brian O’Leary no doubt), that HP in this instance refers to Hewlett Packard.
Therefore when buying hoses make sure you use a HP computer to order the correct fecking hose the next time !

2011.01.05 13:53:06

Seawolf

Well, as we all got back to pool training yesterday, all members are reminded to get in the pool for Pool fitness tests, Treasurer is looking for your money ASAP. Best keep the treasurer happy!!!

A reminder to start getting equipment serviced and ready in time for the new year.  Francis Jenkins is on his way, so start dropping of equipment for test to John please.

I think we have stabilized the numbers of 12 new trainee membersfor 2011, so a big welcome to Limerick Sub aqua to

Angelique, Alma, Frances, Ger, the 2 Jason's... Noel, David for rejoining, kieran, Bill, Mark and Dwane.

Can all member hand over logbooks to D.O. Please and all members are asked to log into CFT profiles and complete On line medical disclaimer please.