Home

Sheephaven SAC congratulates Annie Marie on her sucessful swim across the North Channel from Ireland to Scotland. Annie Marie arrived safely in the early hours of Thursday morning after nineteen hours in the water, battling cold and at least two tide changes.

On this her fourth attempt Annie Marie entrusted the navigation to Club member Derek Flanaghan who along with Noel Brennan, Ryan Ward, Owen Fogarty, Gus O' Driscoll, Ivan Irwin, Brendan Proctor and Joe Devenny accompanied her on her outstanding personal achievement.

Well done to Annie Marie and all her loyal supporters.

We are staying in Birmingham city centre in the Copthorne Hotel (nice 4 star hotel in the centre of Birmingham), which is £47 per room per night but sleeps 2, (so flights and accommodation for 2 nights will be £87 per person sharing.

If you are interested, contact Aggie on 086 8072545 for more details.

Sunday's dive was a multi-club affair, with divers from Monaghan and Omagh adding their names to Sheephaven's dive log, lead by Gerry Donnelly from Monaghan SAC .  Donegal Bay SAC joined us on the slipway for a group photo, with 4 dive boats in the background.  Weather conditions prevented the planned swim through on the west side of the Green Isle, but the Gully's before the Green Isle, suggested as an alternative site by local man Oscar Duffy, had all divers reporting successful dives of between 15-25 metres for bottom times of between 30 & 40minutes.

During this time Monaghan coxn candidate Martin Breslin was put through his coxn test by Agnes Westwood, Mon 1, under the guidance of Doug Fox, Mon 2.  The difficult weather and sea conditions didn't prevent Martin from performing all the pre-requisite manoevres and the club would like to take this opportunity of congratulating him on passing his test.

Following a tasty Surface Interval in the Lobster Pot, Claire McGeever rounded up the remaining divers joined by JohnJoe & Margaret Rowland together with Michael O'Donnell lending a helping hand and brought the two boats back to the gullys at the Green Isle.  Again, all divers reported relaxing 30min dives of between 15 and 20 metres. 

Many thanks to Claire for suggesting a 2 dive Sunday - a very successful days diving all round!

Club Polo Shirts for sale at €19
Sizes - Men's small, medium, large & extra large. Ladies 10, 12, 14 & 16
Contact Anne Boyle

Check out the Sheephaven Sub Aqua Club divers tagged on the inaugural Wet n Wild Glenveagh 28K Challenge. The event was a great success and has raised much needed funding for Donegal Downs syndrome association and the Friends of Abbey Court a community based sheltered employment scheme for people with an intellectual  disability.

The presentation of the sponsorship monies raised will take place at the Thatched Cottage in Kilmacrennnan on 20th July at 8pm and any Sheephaven divers who walked or helped out are invited to this event.

Check out the photo albums and the Sheephaven divers who did  the walk on the Facebook site "The 'Wet n Wild' Glenveagh 28K walk 2010"

On 7th October members of the Search & Recovery team who have contributed 10 years continuous service will be awarded medals followed by a meeting with President Mary McAleese at Aras an Uachtarain. 

Anyone who wishes to be included in this unique honour should contact JohnJoe Rowland.  Further details to follow.

If you use any of the O2 kits or notice any problems with them (including the J cylinders) please
- notify JohnJoe
- write a note on the white board in the boat house part of the clubhouse. 

Anyone taking a boat check
- the O2 before you leave the clubhouse
- the white board for any new notices.

Anyone with sponsorship money still to be handed in can give the money & card to Kevin or JohnJoe. 

You can also lodge the proceeds to the special Fin Swim account in AIB Falcarragh, a/c no. 71943563 & sort code 937320.

Make sure you put your name on the narrative (at the bottom of the lodgement slip) so your donation can be identified.  The card should still be given to Kevin or JohnJoe or left for them in the glass cabinet in the clubhouse.

A big thanks to Sheephaven Sub Aqua Club members Hugo Mc Fadden Eddie Mc Fadden Damien Rodgers Kieran & James Doherty for participating in and successfully completing the challenge raising much needed funds for the recipient charities Donegal Downs Syndrome & the Friends of Abbey Court.

A note of thanks also to the Sheephaven club members John Jow Rowland Joe Devenney Eoin Fogarty & Donal Mc Eleney who helped out on the day with transport & errecting the canteen tents. The event was a great success in no small part due to the participation & help provided by Sheephaven Sub Aqua club members. Well done!

A VHF course will take place at the clubhouse in Downings on Thursday evenings 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th July next at 6.30pm.  Exam will take place on either Sat 30th or Sun 31st July (again at the clubhouse).  Course costs €250 and there are 10 places available.

Anyone interested contact Derek Flanagan on 086 8095737 or Danny McFadden 086 8740382.

John McGarvey Memorial Fin Swim - Saturday 19th June 2010

YouTube link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoAoGbB1eEE 

In all, 28 swimmers made the journey out from Burtonport pier, through the notorious Black Hole, the name given to the deep, dark, fast moving waters that flow through the narrow channel between Rutland Island and Iniscoo.  Once out in the open Atlantic conditions turned choppier but the boats stayed close to the swimmers, while the Arranmore Ferry gave everyone a wide berth as it continued it’s scheduled service over to Burtonport and back.  The swimmers reached the main slipway at Arranmore in one large group some one and a half hours later.

Full notes in Friday's Donegal News

Team Delta MRU members Gus O Driscoll Joe Devenney & Eoin Fogarty spent Saturday night and Sunday morning aboard Dive Ciara providing MRU cover for Anne Marie Ward as shen enters the final stages of training for her 2010 North Channel swim Challenge which if sucessful would make her the first Irish lady to swim from Northern Ireland to Scotland a 20 mile crossing that is known among long distance swimmers as the "Everest of long distance swims".

Anne Marie swam strongly clocking up 3 hours in the water in a vicious sea blowing a force 6 in the late hours of Saturday night about 9 miles off the Scottish coast and a more kindly 1 1/2 hours in a becalmed force 2 sea off the cliffs north of Whitehead on Sunday morning.

Navigation and passage planning were 100% pefect thanks to Derek Flanagan who had Capt Brendan Proctor aboard Dive Zebedee

Delta MRU looks forward to providing MRU cover to the bravest Irish long distance swimmer in Ireland.

Some nice photos of the training can be viewed on

http://picasaweb.google.com/Sheephaven.SAC/DeltaOnInternationalMRUDutyWithAnneMarieWard#

Sheephaven Monitor 2's John Joe ROwland and Donal Mc Eleneny lead Trainees Owen Appernaty and Larkin Richie from Dungannon SAC on their first open water dive on Sunday.

Pat Mc Gee's provided a sheldered location from the swell for the Sunday morning dive when two Sheephaven dive boats put out from Downings. Additionally two club members began their build up to diving for 2010 with snorkels out from Downings Pier.

Other dives over the week included a dive on Wednesday evening to Pat Mc Gee's and a dive on Saturday morning at Pan Rock.

The Black Rock was the dive site for the first Wednesday evening dive of 2010. The one-stick dive was conducted in reasonable water visibility and good weather conditions.

The dive boat was under the command of dry-coxswain Vaughan Westwood, to whom the divers involved extend their thanks.

By all accounts the dive was an excellent run out.

Calling all Divers

Wet n Wild is sponsoring the Wet n Wild 28K Challenge Hillwalk on Saturday 26th June 2010 in aid of Donegal Downs Syndrome and the Family & Friends of Abbey Court (a project to provide employment in the community for people with an intelectual disability). It promises to me an excellent enjoyable day out on the hills and scenery of Donegal with Breakfast and Lunch provided and offers everyone a chance to put something back into society so show the strength of your character and register online at wetnwild.ie

Downings Divers invite all Sheephaven Club Members past & present to an unveiling ceremony for "The Laurentic Gun" at Downings Pier on Monday 5th April at 3.00pm and afterwards for refreshments in the Downings Bay Hotel. The unveiling ceremony will be performed by Cllr. Noel Mc Bride.

The underlined is the prodecure relating to medicals for 2010 Dive Season

Medicals 

1.             Print off a copy of Form 4092.

2  Bring it to your doctor’s office together with your logbook

3.  If / when you pass your medical your doctor  Keeps Form 409·        Signs & stamps your logbook

4. Show your logbook to the DO

5. The DO will update your profile on COMS

6. Check your profile on COMS before you dive

7. 3 green ticks = clear to dive 

Any other questions or clarifications contact Anne Boyle DO

Sheephaven SAC has traditionally conducted a Fin Swim each year to raise funds for its Search and Rescue Unit. Last year the Fin Swim to Arranmore was a resounding sucess both as a physical challenge and as a fund raiser.

This year Hugo Mc Fadden has set the ultimate Sheephaven Challenge, when over a weekend club members will walk from Muckish to Errigal via the peaks in between, then canoe Dunlewy Lake, followed by a cycle to Burtonport when they will finally complete the challenge by Fin Swimming out to Arranmore.

So if you are up for the Sheephaven Challenge then contact Hugo Mc Fadden for more details.

 Ten Reasons Why should I learn to dive with Sheephaven

1. Price- A recession busting €200 which covers all lectures & pool work.

2. Pedigree- Sheephaven is the longest established Scuba Diving club in the North West founded in 1976 having trained hundreds of people to Scuba dive over the past 4 decades

3. Internationally recognised: Sheephaven teaches the internationally recognised CMAS qualification taught and accepted in almost every country of the world since it was founded by Jacques Cousteau in the 1960's

4. There are no hidden charges with Sheephaven for example unlike other dive instruction centres Sheephaven imposes no charges for hot showers use of boats air fills courses diving petrol etc when you join Sheephaven you pay your membership fees & thats it no further sneaky hidden charges

5. Unlike other dive centres who invite members and then dont launch a boat for the entire winter Sheephaven offers unlimited diving  3 days a week 52 weeks of the year!! In fact one of our members Kevin Boylan won the coveted CFT National Diver of the Year 2009 recording more than 95 dives with Sheephaven Sub Aqua Club

6 Travel - and plenty of it! Sheephaven does not confine itself to tame dips in the shallower confines of Sheephaven and an oul shore based cheapy to the Red Sea No Siree join Sheephaven and join a fine bunch of divers who have dived on adventurous liveaboard dive trips over the last ten years in Cuba The Red Sea (North & Deep South) Maldives to name but a few.

7. Explore- Sheephaven has a policy of conducting dives in a wide range of Irish locations and spreads dive objectives across reef diving wreck diving night diving etc In the past year the club has pleasure dived Co Donegal from as far south as St Johns Point to as far North as Malin Head.

8. Qualifications; As Sheephaven is affiliated to CMAS it can offer dive courses right up to the level of Moniteur *** the highest examined grade in International Sport Diving.

9. Comfort: Sheephaven offers a fantastic clubhouse within 500 metres of Mevagh Boatyard and within 1 km of Downings pier allowing non weather dependent diving 365 days a year. Add in hot showers post dive, a fully equiped kitched and dive brief room and gear washing facilities and an air bank pumping air to 300bar it is easy to figure why hundreds of divers have opted for Sheephaven to learn to dive

10. Spirit- As Sheephaven is a voluntary non profit organisation composed of voluntary members who derived their dive tuitition on a voluntary basis and deliver courses on a voluntary basis the ethos of our club is perfect. We are in diving for the love of the sport not to empty your wallet so if you love the water and want to learn to dive to the highest professional standard taught by instructors with the highest internationa diving qualifications for the lowest price Its gotta be Sheephaven!!

Contact Training Officer Gus on 074 91 25118 or 087 2543336 or drop into Wet n Wild The Outdoor Store Letterkenny to have a chat about diving or find out more about the 2010 Trainee diver course

The 2010 Training Officer and Instructors meeting will take place in the SilverBirch Hotel, Omagh on Tuesday 2nd February 2010 at 7.30pm. Club DO Anne Boyle hopes for a big turnout from Sheephaven SAC instructors.

At this meeting the 2010 timetable for Courses  and Tests will be set and Louise from CFT will give a brief run through of the latest changes to COMS.

Congratulations to Ivan Irwin Kilmacrennan who recently passed his Mod 3+4 rebreather course in Malta.

This is the highest level certification course for divers wishing to utilize the Inspiration / Evolution Closed Circuit Rebreather (CCR) for advanced mixed gas diving and Delta man Ivan has the highest level of certification of any diver in the North West!! . The objective of the MOD 3&4 CCR course is to train divers in the benefits, hazards and proper procedures for advanced mixed gas diving on a CCR and to develop advanced CCR diving skills appropriate to technical diving to a maximum of three hundred thirty (330) fsw / one hundred (100) msw.

As a Moniteur 2 diver instructor with Sheephaven Sub-Aqua club in Downings and a member of the Search and Recovery unit Ivan is a highly experienced and skilled diver. Ivan continues to enjoy leisurely dives with the club on Pat Magees to the 40m dives of the Laurentic at the mouth of Lough Swilly.

Ivan continues to lead the way pushing the boundaries of his diving outside that of recreational divers. Having Dived to depths of 100m and experienced new sights that the average diver can only dream of Ivan has plans to continue his passion for wreck diving. Donegal boasts some of the best wreck diving sights in the world from The Devonian at 70m to the less well known U-89 sub-marine at 68m. Certed up Ivan is now ready to lead Delta deeper!!

Many of you will have seen the article on RTE News about ice diving in Galway. Two foreign, non-CFT divers undertook this adventure.

In general, CFT divers are not trained for diving in such conditions. Specific training and specific equipment are required for such activities. Hazards include an overhead environment, the risk of regulators freezing and ice-breaking where a party of people congregate.

CFT divers who are not appropriately trained, are therefore, not recommended to undertake this activity.

Sheephaven divers conducted a thirty minute dive at Cranford Pier on Saturday morning, despite the Arctic conditions.

Air temp was -5 degrees C, with water temp at entry I degee C and subsequently never over 3 degrees C at any time. This was a stiff test of the thermal property of the dry suits which they withstood, however cold hands were the limiting factor of the dive. There were no problems with iced up first stage regulators causing freeflows.

The dive objective was to view the sunken trawler that lies in 10 metres some distance from the pier. She lies upright on her starboard side heavily covered in Seasquirts on her topside and superstructure.

Finswimming continues from Portnablagh Pier at 10am lead out by club members Willie Sheridan, James Doherty, Eddie Mc Fadden and Hugo Mc Fadden. Any divers who wish to do their Dive Fitness Test can organise with with DO Anne Boyle to conduct their test by joining these hardy club members. 

The dates for the Sardinia trip have been changed, as suitable flights for the original weekend are unavailable.

 The proposed new dates are departure on the 7th May 2010 and return on Monday 10th May 2010.

All interested persons should contact Anne Boyle or Pat Mc Elroy.

Pat Mc Elroy is putting together another dive holiday, this time to Sardinia. The dates are over the 2010 May Bank Hoilday, departing Friday the 30th April and returning on Monday the 3rd May 2010.

The plan is to conduct four dives over two days.

Any interested persons should contact Pat Mc Elroy or club DO Anne Boyle, preferably before the end of January.

Sheephaven SAC members eventually got their annual Christmas Fin Swim in PortnaBlagh on the Sunday after Christmas. The respite in the winter weather allowed some limited road travel that gave the Fin Swimmers the opportunity to get to PortnaBlagh slipway.

The FinSwim was lead by the two most senior club members, Willie Sheridan and Noel Brennan, in waters of poor visibility and just over six degrees Celsius.

However to put the Fin Swim into perspective the participants were joined by Anne Marie Ward in her swim suit - no semi-dry wet suit for Anne Marie - to show how it should be done.

On Monday night the members of An Club Óige Gleann donated €700 to Sheephaven SAC S&R Unit. This generous donation was collected by the boys and girls from the Glencolmcille and Meenaneary regions over the year from fund-raising activities such as organised car washes and table quizzes.

Sheephaven SAC Chairman John Joe Rowland was honoured to accept the presentation on behalf of the clubs Search and Recovery Unit.

Sheephaven SAC Diver Kevin Boylan took the coveted award of Diver of the Year for the 2009 dive season, at the CFT AGM in Athlone today.(Photo in the Photo Gallery)

Kevin scooped the prize with 95 dives in Irish waters. This represents nearly two dives a week over the year for Kevin, during which Sheephaven SAC had at  least one dive every week -irrespective of the conditions.

While Sheephaven divers were aware that Kevins' diving achievements thoughout 2009 were exemptorly, to have this to acknowledged nationally is a great source of pride to his fellow club divers in Sheephaven SAC.

Once again, contragulations to Kevin - CFT Diver of the Year- as it is a truely fitting accolade.

Sheephaven SAC members can pay their club fees directly into the club account at any branch of the AIB.

The fees are directed into the club account in the Dunfanaghy branch of the AIB by entering the branch code 937320 and the account number 71943050 on the lodgement slip. 

The club member must then ensure that they include their name in the narrative box provided at the bottom of the lodgement slip.

The club fees for 2010 remain the same as last year at €400.