BLACKWATER DIVERS HONOURED DURING THE UNVEILING OF THE AUD ANCHORS IN TRALEE
Attended by almost a thousand people, the unveiling of two anchors from the 1916 gun-running ship, the Aud took place in the Brandon Conference Centre in Tralee on Friday, 12th February last. The Aud is considered to be one of the most significant events in 1916 outside Dublin. At the event hosted by the Tralee Bay Heritage Association, the German Ambassador Matthias Hopfner and Minister Jimmy Deenihan performed the unveiling.
The excitement was almost palpable as the two anchors were unveiled from under a black cloth, after being recovered from the seabed in 2012. Special guests included divers from the Blackwater Sub Aqua Club Tim Carey, Gearoid O Looney and Peter Mullen who were involved in the archaeological recovery of the anchors. A slideshow provided detailed images and information of the recovery off Cork Harbour by the Blackwater SAC.
Annual excursion to Bere Island falls foul of the weather.
Last weekend saw a group of ten divers travel to Bere Island for a weekend of training. With Bere Island being quite sheltered, unfortunately for everyone, the weather was atrocious for the entire weekend, resulting in only four dives being logged under extreme challenging conditions. Despite the weather, a great weekend of training was had by all. Many thanks to Graham and Elden.
Search and Recovery Course
Ten divers from clubs around the regions including Lough Derg , UCC, Daunt and Cork Sub Aqua successfully completed their Search & Recovery course this weekend. With a number of different underwater search patterned completed at Knockananig reservoir. Having completed a full lecture program the previous day culminating in a theory written exam. The course was organised by club instructor and Search & Recovery coordinator Noel Hayes. All diving was carried out under the watchful and experienced eye of our Search & Recovery Dive Officer Dave Carey ably assisted by Club instructors Finbarr Murphy & Mossy Carroll. All our Search & Recovery equipment was well presented in full working order by Olan O Farrell, Ken Barry and Eugene Whelan. A very successful weekend course was had by one and all. Thanks to all involved.
A Shackle of streaming anchor after hand cleaning to bare metal
Blackwater Divers Gearoid O Looney and Graham Burke preparing to dive the wreck of the Aud in Cork Harbour 2012
Search & Rescue Course included divers from Lough Derg, UCC, Daunt and Cork Sub Aqua Clubs.