2004 National Dive Conference

NordicDiver

2004 NATIONAL DIVE CONFERENCE



Hosted by : Dundalk SAC

Location : Fairways Hotel, Dundalk

Date : 20th and 21st March 2004

Guest Speakers

Leigh Bishop (Lost Liners Presentation)

Mike O’Meara (830ft Edinburgh Gold Recovery)

Film Producer Michael Portelly (The oceans Daughter and Martra New Millennium)

Trade Exhibitions – Outdoor Boat Show – Workshops

Entrance Fee : € 5 per Day or € 8 Weekend Rate

(Includes Free Entry into Raffle)

Peace

Leigh Bishop huh, i'm definately gonna make it to that.

Excellent post Nordic...cheers.

Peace

Any further info on this anyone...it would be good to know which day the talks are being held on ...

NordicDiver

Some info here, but not any time/date for the talks

www.scubaireland.com/news.html

Mick L

Some further info from the very helpful people in Dundalk SAC:

Saturday 20th
10 - 12 National Dive Conference
12 Official Opening by Dermot Ahern TD
2 - 3 Leigh Bishop, Lost Liners Presentation
3 - 4 Mike Portelly, "Ocean's Daughter"
4 - 5 Mike O'Meara Gold recovery from HMS Edinburgh
5 - 6 Search & Recovery, Irish Coast Guard, Garda Underwater unit, PSNI Underwater unit, CFT

Sunday 21st
10 - 12 CFT Delegate Conference
2 - 3 Mike O'Meara Gold Recovery from HMS Edinburgh
3 - 4 Mike Portelly "Oceans Daughter"

Workshops Saturday 20th
10 - 12 and 2 - 4
Photographic, CFT Science Officer Stefan Kraan
P.R.O., CFT PRO Liam Finnegan
Youth Officer, CFT National Childrens Officer Kate Hills
Monitor 3***, Mairead Egan


This info is also published in the current edition of Sub Sea.

Peace

Grand...saturday it is then.

jeem

Hi All,

Just some updated information about the show:

The PSNI underwater unit cannot make it up for their talk on Saturday, due to other commitments, however the talk is still going ahead with the GARDA water unit and the coast guard.

There is of course the usual trade show on both days and i think some exhibitors will be running special deals on the days.

There should also be a large outdoor display as the Civil Defence and Irish Navy are taking boats and other gear with them and there should be some boat exhibitors along too.

The conference/show should be easy enough to find as the AA have put up signs on both Dublin and Belfast approaches, if you do get lost just ask for the Fairways Hotel as most everybody in the town will know it.

Finally, there are some tickets left for the party night on Saturday, which can be bought from any of the Dundalk SAC members or at the door.

If anyone has any questions about getting here or accomodation or anything else you can use this board or PM me.

Hope everyone going has a good time!

regards

Peace

So the show is over.... it was ok... just ok.

By the time we got out of dublin it was looking like we were going to be late for leigh bishop talk. With the complete lackage of sign posting we ended up driving around dundalk town when the Fairways isn't in dubdalk town...its about 2 miles outside dundalk town.

Anyway, arrived with about 25 minutes to go on Leigh Bishops talk.... ffs... but it looked very nice. Saw the section about the Titanic and the Britanic - missed the Justicia and the Lusitania which i really would have liked to see as i would say these are wrecks i'll dive in the next year or two.

The displays where grand as well. The middle of the floor was dominated by displays from Flagship scuba and Firststage - bith of which are a bit over priced IMHO. There were other smaller displays which i didn't really pay much attention to.

Did however meet up with Tim Doyle (previous instructor) and he was there keeping the IANTD side up. Also got to try on a Rebreather (Buddy Inspiration) and man did it fit like a glove. It was like the thing was custom built for me. Beats the helll out of a twinset (about half the weight) and the running cost over an extended period for trimix costs... a hell of a lot cheaper!

The other talks were Mike Portelly with the Oceans Daughter.... this was... to say the least... abstract . Not my cup o tea at all.

Mike O'Meara and the gold recovery was very interesting. A good presentation.

Couldn't hang about for the search and recovery talks - had to head back to dublin for an Italian debacle (long story)...

All in all it was pretty much what i expected. Lots of PADI centres selling over priced scuba pro equipment. Although it was interesting to see a couple of Technical Dive exhibits with rebreathers on show....

Did anyone else turn up?

xzodia

wasnt a bad show but have to disagree about the prices of stuff at the dive show. picked up some nice equipement there on saturday from flagship who seemed to have a huge amount of stuff and was very nicely priced.

picked up a 12ltr tank for 235 euro including boot and handle
picked up a set of apex 40 reg with atx 40 octo for 400 euro
and finally got a cortex dry suit and uder suit for 925


have to say was very happy with those prices as i checked the web and even without shipping was cheaper than getting from england

Peace

APEKS ATX Star Buy 2 IN STOCK

Item Type APEKS ATX STARBUY 2 - This Package Contains:-ATX40 DV/Reg ATX40 Octo Rig 2 Console Combo + FREE REG BAG
Web Price £320.00
Estimated Euro's € 451.20

That includes a console though...without the console

Apeks TX40 Reg (1st & 2nd Stage) IN STOCK € 225.60
Apeks TX40 Octo IN STOCK € 125.49

if my calculator serves me correctly that adds up to € 351.09

The 12ltr tank...i wouldn't buy from the UK as you get screwed on shipping due to weight but the price was

FABER 12 Ltr Tall 232 Bar Steel Cylinder € 184.00

The drysuit i'm sure you can get cheaper but i'm not going to bother looking...i would have bought a Gates Pro VSN 1100....no wait i did.

All the above prices were excluding shipping so tot on another 20/30 euro's.

xzodia

thats not bad prices.

but as far as the regs are concerned when ordering them in the dont tend to be assembeled so you would have to pay someone to assemble

defo on the tanks as again its way too much bother getting sent over from england

drysuit nah ill stick with the cortex and the main thing for me i was able to try them on and make sure they fitted properly.


a mate of mine ordered stuff online and none of it fitted the way he tought it would

and been able to walk away with the stuff even if it did cost a few extra euor is better then waiting a week or 2

but thats just me im sure other people feel different

i would have loved to buy the black perl they where selling for i think 500 euros but i had to draw the line somewhere

Mick L

I bought my drysuit online from the UK but that was only after visiting the London dive show and trying on a few suits to get the right measurements. I got one of my regs online and one from a dive show.

xzodia, not sure what you mean by the regs not being assembled. I assume you mean the second stage hose not being screwed into the port on the first stage? IMO you don't need to pay anyone to do this for you, all you need is the right size spanner and be sure not to lose or damage the o-ring*.


*I assume no responsibility for broken regs here.

NordicDiver

Seems like i did not miss to much, had to go to Norway on short notice.

Leigh Bishop was also in LIDS and I was amased by the pictures and how deep they got inside Britannic. And the times they had on the rebreather dives -45minutes/100+meters !!!

I got to try the Inspiration too, in the pool at LIDS and what a machine !
Have to consider going to Norway to kill some gigant crab (55 eur per kilo) to pay for it...or scallops

Peace

Originally posted by NordicDiver

I got to try the Inspiration too, in the pool at LIDS and what a machine !
Have to consider going to Norway to kill some gigant crab (55 eur per kilo) to pay for it...or scallops

Let me know when you are heading over Nordic.... Giant crab killing sounds like a lot of fun! Also challenging. Whats the usual life expectancy of an individual who comes up against a giant crab anyway?

Peace

Another question, how big is your average "Giant Crab"...

I'm picturing a battle scene 10 times better than the underwater fight scene in James Bond - Thunderball ... GGGGRGRRRR

NordicDiver

This is an average kingcrab, they can be as much as 2meter in diameter.
When they get angry they tend to jump to try to get you :eek:

But relax they wont be her for another 10 - 15 yrs. So you will have some time too adjust your buoyancy .

NordicDiver

Nothing is better than having crab and champagne after the dive in a lappland tent with -20 celsius outside.

Mick L

They're some mighty big crabs, I'm thinking Starship Troopers, but underwater. Might have to rethink the strategy, starting with some of these

Out of curiosity, how do you go about killing the crabs?

Peace

Originally posted by Mick L
Out of curiosity, how do you go about killing the crabs?

pfffft

Sub Maritme High Energy Optical Phaser Beam.

:rolleyes:

Mick L

I read somewhere that Radioactive Mutated Killer King Crabs were immune to all but the most powerful nuclear submarine based Sub Maritme High Energy Optical Phaser Beams

Peace

Assuming its a cross between Star Ship Troopers and Godzilla, then consider my name on the list.