Matt Jevon of South West Tech to speak at the Dive Show
Diving has provided me with challenges and rewards that appeal to both my CDO (that’s OCD in the right order!) and my interest in human performance, my own and others.
I dived initially just for fun, as a business and sports career did not allow me the time to develop my interest in the underwater world further. In 2009 I rekindled my interests and in particular in technical and sidemount diving. I trained initially with Steve Martin, which is where I met my current cave team mate and partner in our dive centre South West Technical Diving (www.swt.ie) Greg Jagielski.
I run a page on Facebook called psychological skills for diving (I am a trained sports psychologist) so I know that one size fits all training is not appropriate. Learning a skill physically is not the same as developing a knowledgeable and thinking diver, one comfortable with all environments and stressors. I believe in attention to detail, a passion to ‘get it right’ for my students and I am a complete deco nerd. As a mixed gas open circuit and trimix JJ-CCR instructor for TDI, I am lucky that I get to share this passion with so many people in so many beautiful places.
My sports and business careers have involved me in coaching at the highest level, internationally in Rugby, and with some very talented business people. I believe in a coaching approach; if you want a pseudo-military approach, you won’t find it with me.
I started, as many do, in the warm waters of the Bahamas in the late ’80s, then progressed through to some incredible fun diving in the Maldives, Spain, Tenerife and more, until the tech bug bit in 2010.
I completed full trimix open circuit in sidemount configuration in 2012 and have dived comfortably past 100m using sidemount. Although I am a passionate CCR diver now (over 1,000 hours and a mixed gas (Mod 2) instructor) for deeper dives in wrecks and caves, I use the sidemount principles for stage/deco cylinder rigging and management. The advantages are huge.
I now enjoy teaching overhead, technical dpv and mixed gas courses, but there is a true pleasure in sharing with a student the freedom and feel of a properly configured sidemount system. Building on this for a student to learn skills and theory is only a start. How to apply that knowledge, when to apply that knowledge creates thinking and confident divers. Divers I would be happy to dive with or have dived with someone I loved. If I put my name on your cert card I will be proud of what you have achieved and certain that you have reached a level of diving where you will have earned that recognition.
I ensure I only teach half the time I dive, the rest of that time is for my own personal development, for fun or for exploration. I have been privileged to join expeditions in Croatia (wreck), The Philippines (cave), China and more. I cannot share experience while teaching if I do not invest in that experience. Don’t worry though, I dive a lot so half my time teaching is plenty of time to fit you in.
I dive now all over the world, in Open Circuit predominantly in sidemount and in closed circuit on my JJ. Recent adventures have included 70m plus dives in caves in France, Truk Lagoon, The Philippines, Egypt, Croatia, Mexico and more. Philippines revisit for teaching and China for a project in late 2018 is already booked!
I am based in Ireland and own 50% of South West Technical Diving, an exclusively focused technical centre. We have been recognised as an Apeks tech centre and are dealers for Apeks, Xdeep, Razor, JJ-CCR and more. We service Apeks and JJ-CCR and we only sell equipment we actually dive ourselves. I’m happy to teach in Ireland, Croatia, Egypt and globally as needed.
Thailand cave rescue diver Jim Warny to talk at the Dive Show
Jim Warny was born in Belgium in 1982. He started diving in 1997 and soon got attracted by the technical side of the sport.
He modified and built custom diving equipment to enable him to progress deeper into caves. He has participated in multiple expeditions in France, Italy and recently in the Huautla cave system in Mexico.
But when Jim moved to Ireland in 2004 he truly found his calling in the dark caves and resurgences in the Galway/Clare region.
Following in the footsteps of previous explorers, Jim extended explorations in various sites, amounting to many kilometres of new caves, one of these being the longest sump in Ireland, amounting in a 2.9km.
Jim continues to be very active in the Irish caving and the cave diving scene.
In June of 2018, he was part of the team of British cave divers who played a leading role in the 2018 Tham Luang Thailand cave rescue
Photographer Barry McGill to talk about deep wreck exploration
Barry McGill is an Irish based deep wreck photographer and CCR instructor trainer with Indepth Technical. His main area of focus is exploration of deep water shipwrecks around the Irish coastline and he has been fortunate enough to discover and explore many significant virgin shipwrecks.
Barry was deeply moved by the naval history of both World Wars in the North Atlantic and was inspired by the stories of lost ocean liners with cargos of gold such as S.S. Laurentic and the Empress of Britain, which lies just off his native Donegal. Since his first adventure on these famous wrecks, his passion for exploration and wreck diving has been fuelled by the vast marine history that surrounds the Irish coastline.
Exploring iconic shipwrecks such as the R.M.S. Justicia, H.M.S. Audacious and R.M.S. Lusitania left a significant impression on Barry, which helped develop his desire to discover and explore shipwrecks. Barry has organised and led many deep wreck expeditions exploring the deep wrecks off the North coast of Ireland, which included the S.S. Empress of Britain in 162m and S.S. Transylvania in 130m. Barry was also part of the teams that first discovered and explored the wrecks of H.M.S. Curacao in 125 m, White Star Liner Carinthia in 116m and H.M.S. Hurst Castle in 85m.
Barry aims to share his passion for shipwreck exploration by capturing and sharing his images of many previously unphotographed shipwrecks including R.M.S. Amazon, H.M.S. Viknor and H.M.S. D6. Barry has been part of a number of television documentaries and his images have appeared in a number of books and other publications, including the New York Times.
‘TED talk’ – Tadhg O’Brien, Burren SAC
Tadhg O’Brien has been a keen diver for 40 years.
He is a founder member and PRO of Burren Sub Aqua Club in Co Clare, and he is a campaigner for marine protected areas (MPAs) in Irish waters.
While Irish territorial waters cover over 500,00 square kilometres, only Lough Hyne (0.5 square kilometres) in Cork can be considered as a MPA in Ireland.
Tadhg’s short presentation will try to explain what MPAs are, their benefits – to divers and the environment – the current situation in Ireland and what divers can do to have at least 10% of Irish waters designated as MPAs.
Robert Foyle to speak about wildlife on Lough Derg
Robert Foyle is a retired Civil Engineer. Born in Kent, UK, in 1948, he has always had a passion for wildlife, and joined the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the UK at the age of 10. He is a member of Birdwatch Ireland, Golden Eagle Trust, Irish Raptor Society, and UK Birds of Prey Group.
Robert is a passionate photographer of all wildlife and fauna, but in particular birds of prey. After studying in London as a Civil Engineer, he moved to Germany in 1974 and lived there for 26 years. He was fortunate to continue his hobby, photographing wildlife throughout many countries in Europe, photographing mostly Eagles and Raptors, and all smaller types of birds of prey.
Living in Ireland for the past 18 years on Lough Derg at Terryglass, Co Tipperary, Robert is a member of Inland Waterways of Ireland. He has sailed extensively on Lough Derg and cruised, on two occasions, the full length of the River Shannon from Rockingham to Killaloe on a 1920s barge – 56M – with his wife.
In 2008/9 Robert became very interested in the White-Tailed Sea Eagle (WTSE) re-introduction programme in Ireland. The White-Tailed Sea Eagle became extinct here in 1910. Robert joined the Golden Eagle Trust to monitor the progress on their website, and made several birdwatching trips to Killarney, Donegal, Sligo, and to Connemara.
In 2012 he made his first sighting, near his house in Terryglass, of a young White-Tailed Sea Eagle, Tag D, released in Killarney in 2010, soaring over Lough Derg between Terryglass and Portumna Forest Park. In 2012 and 2013 he spent many weekends on Lough Derg and at the Campsite at Mountshannon, viewing and photographing the WTSEs there who became the first pair in 100 years to raise chicks in Ireland.
In 2013 he spotted another pair in Portumna who were beginning to build a nest on Church Island off Portumna Forest Park. January and February 2014 was an exciting time when Robert photographed the new pair at their nest, only 2.5km from his house. He reported these again to the Eagle Trust and then began a regular log of their daily actions, mostly viewed from the shore at ‘The Bench’ in Portumna Forest Park.
In 2015 Robert spent six weeks in Germany photographing WTSEs, Kites, Osprey, Red Kites, Red Kites in Wales and UK, and Bald Eagles on the Fraser River near Vancouver in Canada. In the summer of 2017 he spent six weeks in Germany, Czech Rebublic, Slovakia, and Poland photographing Eagles (Golden, Spotted and Lesser Spotted), various Raptors, and Storks.
Coillte and the National Parks & Wildlife Service built a superb hide, which has public access for up to 8 people, with direct views to the Eagles’ nest, approx 350m from the hide. This gave excellent shelter in February and March 2017 as the adults started to rebuild the nest site after the winter storms for another breeding season. The Eagles can be viewed here from March to July and seen on a daily basis.
Robert has spent many hundreds of hours studying and photographing this pair in Portumna, and now has an extensive collection of photographs. He has prepared a full presentation of a 12-month breeding cycle of the White-Tailed Sea Eagle pair at Portumna, from nest-building, mating, through incubation, feeding chicks, to fledging. He has given a presentation several times to various groups including 12 Birdwatch Ireland branches across Ireland, and the Inland Waterways Ireland Lough Derg branch.
Pertti Arvonen of UWIS to give a talk at Dive Ireland 2019
Pertti Arvonen is CEO of UWIS Oy from Finland. He has 20 years of experience in global industry, mainly from the power electronic sector. He is co-founder of UWIS Oy, which was established in summer 2014 for only one purpose – to create a new navigation and communication system for divers.
Pertti is a rookie as a diver (AOWD) but has already participated in many different dive events and exercises, which focused on underwater navigation and tracking.
UWIS – the system and technological innovation behind it – arose from the need of navigation during rescue missions. This system brings all the same features available for the underwater world, which are commonly used above the water surface, provided by satellite location systems.
UWIS – Tracker shows 3D locations of max 100 divers, supporting max 100 different messages and point of interests. It stores diving data to log files for secondary analysis. Underwater, it supports several paired display units like Alltab tablet, mobile phones, GoPro cameras, and later dive computers. Using the UWIS system, it is possible for a diver to follow the whole group and send messages from the diver to the others or with the boat personnel.
The main target for the system was and still is to provide a helping tool for professional diving, rescue missions and searching. It also helps dive operators to control big diving groups and avoid anyone getting lost. Above all, it gives divers the opportunity to enjoy the freedom of diving.
Click the logo to visit the UWIS website and learn more.
Rory Golden: Diver, Speaker, Explorer
Rory Golden became the first Irish diver to visit the site of RMS Titanic in August 2000. He was a member of an expedition that recovered 800 artefacts from nearly 4,000 metres. His dive was in a Russian submersible, and he left a memorial plaque on the wreck on behalf of the people of Ireland. He also spotted the main ship’s wheel, which was recovered on the dive.
Returning in August 2005, he left two more memorial plaques from Belfast on the ship. This expedition was broadcast as a documentary, “A Journey to Remember”, on BBC. The trip to the seabed takes two-and-a-half hours, with a total journey time of 12 hours. The submarines have a life support pressure hull of only 2 metres diameter for three, and an operating depth of 6,000 metres. The external pressure at 4,000 metres is 400 Bar, or 6,000 lbs per square inch.
More people have been to outer space than to these ocean depths.
Rory’s talks include: a 15-date UK tour, Titanic – Belfast, the National Museum of Ireland, National Concert Hall Dublin, Belfast City Council, Irish Titanic Historical Society, Belfast Titanic Society, Irish and UK dive shows, National Maritime Museum, National Maritime College of Ireland, schools and colleges, after dinner events, Oceanology International and The Explorers Club.
His presentation includes images from his own trips, but also many unique ones taken by his friend, the late Ralph White, from the 1985 wreck discovery and the first artefact recovery trip in 1987.
MD of Virgin Records Ireland for 15 years, Rory founded his own company, Flagship Scubadiving Ltd, when he left the music industry after 25 years.
He has been involved in diving since 1976, as instructor and commercial diver, as well as PRO for the Irish Underwater Council. His company supplies and services diving and specialised marine equipment to state agencies, such as the Irish Coast Guard, Navy Divers, Civil Defence, Army Ranger Wing, the Garda Water Unit, Inland Fisheries, and Search & Recovery units.
An ambassador for the Titanic100 Cobh 2012 commemoration events, he also spoke at Belfast City Hall on the 100th anniversary of the sinking on April 15th. He is a regular contributor to BBC and RTÉ broadcasting authorities – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDE_9hUPoEQ
He has climbed Mont Blanc and Kilimanjaro, did a tandem freefall parachute jump from 13,500 feet for the ISPCC children’s charity, and set up Ireland’s first inland dive centre in a flooded slate quarry near Nenagh in Portroe, Co Tipperary. He is a regular hiker in Wicklow and Connemara.
In March 2013 he was a member of the Bezos Expedition’s F-1 Engine Recovery Project, which recovered Apollo F-1 rocket engines from 4,200 metres in the North Atlantic, including the centre engine from Apollo 11. The team was awarded a Citation of Merit by the Explorers Club of New York – http://www.bezosexpeditions.com/updates.html
Rory is also a Member International of the Explorers Club, vice-Chair of its Great Britain and Ireland Chapter, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society
Web page: www.rorygolden.com
Testimonials:
“Rory is wonderful to listen to – his passion, enthusiasm and ability to respond dynamically to the unique characteristics of each audience, make the delivery of his subject matter a pleasure to listen to. Charismatic, entertaining and engaging are the understatements of the day. Keep it up, you’re great at it!”
Susan Heaney, Ocean Exploration Manager, Titanic Belfast
“Seascapes attended one of the most memorable events held to commemorate the Titanic. On Thursday evening last you could hear a pin drop – Rory talked without any reference to notes, letting the images on the screen behind him take listeners in the rapt audience on the journey of discovery to the bottom of the Atlantic where the great vessel the Titanic lies at rest.”
Marcus Connaughton, Seascapes, RTÉ Radio 1
“Rory has this remarkable ability to transport his audience, and you find yourself stood on the dock watching RMS Titanic set sail. It doesn’t matter how big or small the venue is, he has a warm storytelling manner that draws you in. Would I hire him as a speaker again? For sure. Rory knows his facts, listens to the brief, tailors his talk to the audience, and judges his timing perfectly.”
Rosemary Lunn, The Underwater Marketing Company
“Rory delivered an unbelievable presentation on the evening and, as required, customised this perfectly to make it relevant to his audience. He spoke about his life events, including his times in the music industry and how these coincided with his adventures to the bottom of the ocean to visit the Titanic and Apollo engines, amongst other things. We found his presentation fascinating, moving and in some places emotional. It was immediately obvious the incredible attention to detail which was put into this event by Rory, not to mention the decades beforehand that come together to allow for such a passionate speech for his audience.”
Brian Dempsey, past President of the IPAV
“I’d like to call out a bunch of thank yous to Rory Golden for his incredible Irish wisdom, which put us on the right track multiple times. Rory also wins the best eye award – nobody could spot faint markings and mentally map twisted, corroded, 90% concealed parts like Rory.”
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and sponsor of the Apollo F-1 Engine Search & Recovery Project