Search & Recovery Training

Hi Folks,

Just a note to say SAR training will commence tommorow Saturday the 3rd November at 9.30am. All members are welcome and it is a good oppurtunity to keep water fit over the winter. Here is the Winter Training Schedule.

Rgds,

Ger C

Kilmore Quay - 8th and 9th September

The weather was perfect for the weekend in

Kilmore Quay, this is a small fishing village which is situated North of the Saltee Islands. With small numbers from Athlone SAC showing interest, I invited Mullingar SAC to join us. It was the first time that Mullingar SAC had dived this part of Ireland. On Saturday the Mullingar divers dived the lee side of ConnigMor rock and had the usual group of curious seals playing with them on the dive. The afternoon dive was on the wreck of the Girl Arleen, this is a fishing trawler lying at 30Metres which is covered in codling. Jim Cambell, Mono McDonald, Brian Duffy and I, joined Mullingar on their boat for this dive. Visibility was good apart from all the codling getting in the way.

The only other wreck I have encountered with as much fish on it is the Manchester Merchant off Inch Beach in Dingle. Food and drinks were had in the lovely Kehoes pub on Saturday night, this is a gorgeous spot with lots of maritime and diving memorabilia covering the walls and ceiling. On Sunday morning the first dive was on the wreck of the Idaho which is at 40Metres. Brian Duffy, Mono McDonald and some of the Mullingar divers dived this (the Idaho is shown above) . Eddie O Donnell joined us for the second dive which was the Girl Arleen again at the request of all the divers present. This was Eddies first wreck dive and he loved it. All in all a very good weekend was had by all. I got the GPS numbers for another trawler lying at 30Metres off Hook Head which comes highly recommended by Harry Hannon of Waterford SAC and hopeful we will get a chance to dive it before the season is over. Thanks to Jim Cambell and his son David for driving the club van and boat down to Kilmore.

Regards, Ger Craven.

New Club Diver

Noel Cleary pictured at Kilkee Bay in Co.Clare where he successfully passed his club diver exam without any difficulty on Sunday 27th August 2007.

Well Done Noel!!

St. Johns Point 18th and 19th August

John Dory

A good weekends diving was had by those who travelled to St. Johns Point in Donegal. The weather was very favourable for us, with calm seas and the rain holding off.Robbie West drove the club van down, thanks to Robbie for that. He and Tony Duigan made the most of the conditions with three dives each on Saturday, Yash Agrawal turned up for the last dive with the boys. While myself, Noel Cleary, Michael Touhey and Dominic Kirf did two dives. We saw a large John Dory on the dive which is a fish I have rarely seen while diving. We over nighted in Killybegs where Aiden Henry, Peter Chatterton and Derry McMahon joined us and large amounts of the black stuff was had in the Harbour Bar. Tony Duigan came out a clear winner in this event!!!On Sunday we had some lovely dives while some testing and training was been done. Thanks to Eddie O Donnell who took all the dive details for me. Finally congratulations to Tony Duigan on passing his 1* open water tests.

Rgds

Ger Craven

missing diver off the north coast of Donegal discovered.

A body has been discovered bringing to an end a 24 hour search for a missing diver off the north coast of Donegal.

The diver had been exploring wartime wrecks more than 20 kilometres off the Donegal coast yesterday afternoon.

The deceased, who is believed to be in his 40's and from the UK, was one of seven divers exploring sunken ships, 70 metres underwater north of Horn Head.

The divers entered the water from the 42 foot Rosguill around midday yesterday. The vessel is onwed and skippered by Michael McVeigh from Downings with the boat being based in Mulroy bay.

A extensive air and sea search began at around 2.30 yesterday afternoon when the diver failed to return to the surface.

The search continued today with a body being discovered on the seabed at 2.30 this afternoon.

Aranmore lifeboat was involved in the operation, it's PRO is Nora Flanagan.

 

Kowloon Bridge

Location:
	Lat./Long.:	51° 28' N 009° 14' W
	Description:	1/4 mile SW of Stag Rocks
Construction:
	Type:	Bulk Carrier (ore/bulk/oil)
	Built:	Belfast by Swan Hunter in 1973
	Hull :	Steel
Dimensions:
	Tonnage:	169,080 ton
	Size:	900 ft x ft
History:
	Sunk:	24.11.1986
	Cause:	Ran aground in SW gale
Depth:
	Top:	17 metres
	Seabed:	36 metres
Disposition:
	Lying:	Upright
	Condition:	Bow intact with main body of wreck open
	Seabed:	Rock
Restrictions:		None
Notes:
		The British flag, Honk Kong registered ore/bulk/oil motor vessel Kowloon Bridge, which was built in 1973 as a sister ship to the ill-fated Derbyshire which disappeared off the coast of Japan in September, 1980, herself also became a total loss in November, 1986 when she was wrecked off the southern coast of Ireland. The Kowloon Bridge was on a voyage from St. Lawrence River port of seven Islands, Quebec, from where she started on 7/11/86 bond for the River Clyde terminal of Hunterston, loaded with a cargo of 160,000 tons of iron ore consigned to British Steel Corporation. However, en route she had to seek shelter in Bantry Bay to effect repairs to deck cracks sustained during heavy Atlantic weather. Then, after having lost her standard anchor in a heavy swell on 22/11/86, she sailed out of Bantry bay but then lost her steerage and began to drift in continuing heavy seas. Due to the dangerous nature of the situation, the 28 man crew decided to abandon ship, being winched to safety by helicopters in mountainous seas. The helpless vessel was then driven aground in gale-force winds on Stag Rock, near Baltimore, Co. Cork. Her 1200 tons of bunker fuel began to leak, causing a serious pollution problem to nearby coves and beaches. Despite the joint efforts of two of the world’s top salvage companies, Smit & Wijsmuller, the wrecked Kowloon Bridge could not be refloated and, when she broke her back on the rocks, all salvage attempts were abandoned. She was left to the elements to pound to pieces. The hull and machinery insurance was £8.4m, while the value of the lost ore was £2.7m.

 

 

Dive Sites Around Baltimore

Check out link on dive sites around Baltimore:

http://www.aquaventures.ie/wcwrecks.htm

 

 

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. - Lightning struck a diver's oxygen tank

The 36-year-old man was diving with three others Sunday off a boat near Deerfield Beach, about 40 miles north of Miami. He had surfaced about 30 feet from the boat when lightning struck his tank, said Deerfield Beach Fire Chief Gary Fernaays.

The other divers struggled to get the man back into the boat and radioed for help, Fernaays said. The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was rushed to the beach, where a rescue crew gave him CPR. He was later pronounced dead at North Broward Medical Center in Pompano

 

C.F.T. National Underwater Photography Competition 2008

Missed out on last years Photographic Competition???

This years dive season is nearly in full swing. Why not
get out there and take some photographs and send
them into us. We are collecting entries throughout the year
and they will be judged at the end of the 2007 dive
Season.

Please post us in your photographs on disk along with an
entry form which can be downloaded from the competitions
folder in the Download area of the CFT Website.

Kilkee - Bank Holiday

The club travelled to kilkee for the may weekend. The week leading up to it, the weather was terrific, but unfortunately for us the weekend turned out to be a wash out. But bad weather has never really stopped Athlone SAC from putting to the water, and on Saturday we dived Newfound out. Saturday the trainees were doing the required snorkels but on Sunday they got there first open water dive from the slip at kilkee. The Vis was crap but our eager trainees spent the best part of an hour in it. The only thing that can be said at this stage to any trainee who may be reading this is: it can only get better�..
After the dive we dropped a new mooring for the Athlone diver, as our previous one was washed up on shore in the bad weather over the winter. Sunday evening the wind calmed a bit and two of our trainees dived newfound out, spotting crawfish, lobsters, and a big conger. We decided to lift the boat afterwards as Sunday night was promised to be particularly bad.
We were woke on Monday morning with the wind and rain beating against the side of the van and we decided to call diving off, till next weekend, where it�s Kilkee again. Finally id like to thank everyone who helped out with the weekend, and thanks to Matt for bringing the van and boat down�..Till next week.

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