Gas Blenders now available in ASAC

Four club members successfully completed the CFT gas blending course last Saturday in Mullingar SAC. It was important to get this done as Nitrox diving had been put on stop due to the lack of gas blenders in the club. Liam Sherringham, Robert West, Aiden Henry and Ger Craven completed the course. The club has all the necessary equipment for blending, a filler whip with digital gauge, O2 analyzer, personal filter and O2 bottles in the clubhouse. Any qualified Nitrox diver with O2 clean bottles are welcome to approach the above to get their bottle filled. We need and welcome the practice.

Well Done

Well done to all who passed there water fitness test on Sunday. Now your training will begin. Make sure you have Fin masks and snorkel for next Sunday. John Malone from Midland Water Sports, will be over in our club house next Sunday at 11 o'clock, so you can purchase the gear from him then if you don't already have it.

The Medical Form can be downloaded from the Irish Underwater Council website. Go there by clicking on the link on this page. Then go to the menu on the left hand side and click on "Document Download". Then click on the folder "General Forms" inside here you will find and can download a copy of the Medical Form.
Please take some time to browse the Irish Underwater Council website as you will find a lot of information about Scuba Diving in Ireland.

Defibilator Training Course

The club will be running defibilator's training courses before and after christmas, so any club member who is interested in been trained in using this life saving equipment should ring or txt the club phone and leave you details (086-8216670).................

Try a Dive

Todays Try a dive brought a great turn out. Next for our new members is the acceptance test, this is a simple test on your water fitness. It consists on doing 8 lenghts or 200 metres of the pool on your front, and 2 lenghts or 50 metres of the pool on your back. You can do any type of swim stroke you like. Then within 5 minutes of doing these lengths, you have to hold your breath underwater for 30 seconds. So get practising in the pool during the week and we'll see you there at 12.30 next sunday.......

New Members buying gear

Dont rush out and buy all the gear yet. Wait and see if the sport is for you. Instead just buy the basic equipment. This gear should be bought A.S.A.P in order to start training.

Basic Equipment:

(1) Face Mask (Tempered Glass Only)
(2) Snorkel
(3) Fins (With Strapes)
(4) Booties
(5) Weight Belt (Optional for pool training)

This gear can be bought from: John Malone, Midland Watersports, Mulingar. 087 9180470.

Kilkee Search

The bank holiday weekend was our last dive trip away for this season. Ger and Noel had a night dive on the friday and a dive to Bearaty Mor and another night dive to chimely bay was had on the saturday. Unfortuantly about 8 miles south of Kilkee on Sunday, two Polish men were washed off rocks into the water at a place known as 'Tullaig Point' with the result of one of the men loosing his life. We were approached by the 'Kilkee Search and Rescue Unit' and asked would we carry out a underwater search for the man early on Monday morning, as the weather was due to get bad that afternoon. So at 07.30hrs on Monday, the Athlone R.I.B along with Lough Ree Sub Aqua Clubs and Kilkee Search and Rescue boat left the slip at Kilkee. Liam, Derry and Noel travelled on the rib while our divers travelled by road. This proved to be a good idea as the seas were rough, with 3 to 4 metre swells. It took about 50 minutes to get to the search location, the Shannon based helicopter was also on location when we arrived carrying out an arieal search. We proceded futher south to a place called 'Rosses Bay' and picked up our divers, who by now had arrived by road, and returned to 'Tullaig Pt.' Due to the bad weather and rough seas diving was only permited in one loacation, so in a team effort with the other clubs all divers were put in togeather in a line. The divers from A.S.A.C were Ger Loughnane, Ger Fogerty, Colm O'Reilly and Derry Mc Mahon, The dive lasted for approx 30 minutes. Unfortuantly the body of the man was not recovered and due to the falling light we were all forced to return to Kilkee. This just proves the the Athlone Sub Aqua Club can be at any time called apon to carry out 'Search And Recovery Operations' be it at sea or on the inland waterways. We will be carrying out Search and recovery training this winter for any two star or snorkeller thats interested in taking part..........

GERTIE WALSHE FINSWIM RESULTS

The results of the swim are as follows

1st Damien Mellett
2nd Conor Holohan
3rd Cian Hynes
4th Mervyn Huston
5th Col O Reilly

Thank to all who particpated and to all who helped out. Sponsorship cards are due back so return to Colm or Cian.

Sacppa flow 2007

Any one interested in diving in Scapa Flow June 2007. Anyone interested must be well dived up before going as average dive depths are 35+ meters

Contact Stewart for more info.  3 places available

 

Wednesday nights

Hi Folks

Due to the current financial strain on the club, can we refrain from using the large boats on a wednesday night if there is small numbers. The Zodiac is an ideal boat for small numbers. The clubs fuel bill is rising so we need to start watching how we use our resources.

Thanks

Club Member Performs Heroic Rescue

Club member Alan Heeney was involved in a rescue in Kilkee on Monday last. Alan was down for a weeks diving with the army. He received a call from the Kilkee Rescue Centre for medical assistance as they knew Alan was a medical technician. Alan went with the Kilkee Rescue Team to Georges Head, on the behest of the Coastgaurd who raised the alarm. Luckily Alan had his own trauma bag with him as he was the team medic for the army diving group.

The patient was found approximately 600yards from the car park in Georges Head. The patient was suffering from hyperthermia and was in shock. The patient had suspected spinal injuries. Alan treated all the apparent life threatening injuries and the not so apparent dangers like the potential spinal injuries. The coastgaurd arrived by helicopter and winched the patient by strecher from the scene direct to hospital with Alan's assistance.

Many congratulations to Alan on a job well done, if there is a lesson to be learnt here is that we should all keep our Diver Medic skills up todate and that having Emergency Medical Equipment at hand and in proper order is critical for a successful rescue outcome.

Alan was interviewed by Midlands Radio 3 and he stressed that the good medical training he received from the Athlone SAC and the Army were the primary reasons for the successful outcome.