In this Issue

Chairperson's Report

Getting Started.

There`s always a concern when the pool finishes up that the weather will let us down and nobody will be brave enough to face the elements and head for the sea. This year however March was mild and calm and most of our trainees had a few dives under their belts by the time the Club headed west for Killary in Mid April. Here again the weather was remarkable and we all enjoyed our visit to Scuba Dive West and Tullycross also. Thanks to Peadar for putting it all together.

Unfortunately the conditions in May were poor but we still managed to get some diving in throughout the month despite having to cancel the away trip for the Bank Holiday weekend. Siobhan McGlinchey put a huge amount of work into getting the June bank Holiday trip to Malinbeg together having had to rearrange from Mullaghmore at short notice. A big group travelled to the northwest and had a wonderful time despite the weather and almost sinking the Northcraft. I`m told that the recovery strategy was worthy of a military campaign. More on this elsewhere.

There continued to be good turn outs on the weekends and as a result there was a great deal of interest for the trip to Inishbofin in mid June. This was a very successful trip and many thanks to Neill Bannon for all the effort in organising this trip. This was also the inaugural year of the Inishbofin challenge, there is more on this and Inishbofin generally in other sections.

As I write plans are well underway for club diving trips to Burtonport and Seafield.
Hopefully we will get a couple of other trips in before the end of the season weather permitting.

Equipment

The perennial problems in having equipment ready on time persisted. Great efforts were made by a lot of people to get boats ready for the June Bank Holiday. The steering on the Nortchcraft and the battery was replaced thanks to Einars skilful efforts. The Northcraft trailer needed a new winch, spare wheel and jockey wheel.
And then when we think that we`re okay the boat itself almost sinks in Donegal.
Many thanks to all who assisted in the recovery work in the bad weather.
The June Bank Holiday also coincided with the delivery of the new Coltrisub compressor to the club house and our efforts to convert the existing electric motored Bauer to a mobile petrol powered unit in time for the trip to Malinbeg. Paul worked wonders to get the transformation done on time. Unfortunately Ken O Mahony was forced to wait in Dublin while the final piece of work was done Paul Cullen`s negotiation skills ensured that all worked out in the end. Sorry Ken for the delay.
Peter Davitt once again came to our assistance in ensuring that the stricken Northcraft engine got to hospital before serious water damage was done on its return from the country.

While not fully fit it was declared ok to travel with the Lencraft and also the KENcraft to Inishbofin. I think Kens boat was renamed the Barbie boat during that week for some reason. Neill with his usual style ensured that sufficient equipment went west including a few kitchen sinks and a couple of spare compressors.
Unfortunately both Yamaha engines needed some maintenance on return and the Northcraft trailer needed some attention also.

Many thanks to people who have been assisting in towing and transporting equipment to and from the various destinations during the year.

Training

Niall Stapleton worked hard on getting some of our 1* divers from last year up to standard and beyond for the club diver test, two of which have already passed and two more on the way.

Siobhan, Niall, Paul Walsh and the returned Shane Tyrrell are all assisting on getting this years 1*s up to Club Diver level. Lectures are now complete and we should have a few people ready for testing before the end of the month.
All divers of 2* and higher please should if possible give assistance and support to the trainees in working up to Club Diver level whenever required.

Local Diving

Diving in Dublin has been good particularly in the bay where a lot of life has been seen, visability went back a bit in early July but now seems to have recovered again. The Lencraft has been well tested on runs to the Muglins, South Dalkey and The Guide Me 2, and the grab rail is now in place which helps. The club also dived the HMS Vanguard for the first time in many years in July. We have been getting big groups out both mid week and at the weekend which is great to see.

The inflatables have not been getting much use and this should be addressed to ensure that they are maintained in good working order. We still need to do some work on getting the boat boxes properly stocked and up to date as well as the first aid kits.

Reasonable efforts are being made to keep the clubhouse tidy, please keep it up and do your bit if you can assist with cleaning now and then.

The new compressor is now installed and working again thanks to all who assisted in getting the various tasks complete.

Other issues

An incident involving a diver in Sandycove was notified to CFT in May. A swimmer reportedly jumped from the wall in the harbour and landed on a diver under the water, (not a CSAC member). Please ensure that you keep out of the way of swimmers on busy days and surface clear of swimming areas if you can manage it. After the recent navigation lecture you have no excuse. There are a number of interested parties who have over the years objected at every opportunity to diving in Sandycove, we don’t want to add any fuel to their fire.

Please also ensure that when parking in Sandycove that you don’t obstruct private entrances as this always gets us in the bad books locally.
In the meantime happy diving

Michael O'Loughlin
Chairperson CSAC