An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 15 the water with some attempting to learn the eskimo roll at the end of the day. Wednesday was very much the same as Tuesday with the class and instructors travelling down to Limerick again to run the same river, however the class was much more confident this time and flew through the route with a lot less swimming this time. Water safety was thought throughout the week with instructions, demonstrations and the practical learning shown and carried out by the instructors and cadets on what to do in the event of swimming on fast flowing water. This was extremely valuable knowledge and sponged up by the class. On Thursday the group headed for the river corrib, where the class got to experience Galway city from a point of view we had never seen before. It was an extremely enjoyable experience and a lot of fun was had. We paddled down through Galway city with large crowds watching on. We had numerous individuals managing to get the eskimo roll on our last day of kayaking. At the end of the day the group paddled towards the double drop located near center of the city. Approximately 15ft in total a large handful went off the ledge of this waterfall. It was an experience like no other and was clear to see on the faces of everyone who attempted it. It was very clear to see the improvement everyone in the group had made compared to day one. The adventure week training intro- duced us to a sport not many had thought of before but ended up thoroughly enjoying it with a number of us hoping to keep it up. This was a very fulfilling experience and we were very grateful for the great knowledge and skillset the instructors thought us throughout the week. had thought of before but ended up thoroughly enjoying it with a number of us hoping to keep it up. CDT ALAN LUNDON - SCUBA DIVING Over the course of our Adventure week in July, 17 of my fellow cadets and I were given the opportunity to earn our PADI open water diver course in the Oceanlife Dive Centre in The Pier, Kilkee. The course which lasted five days earned us all the ability to be able to dive in any open body of water up to a depth of eighteen meters, a feat that seemed unachievable at the start of the week as our group of first timers nervously stared at the plethora of diving equipment that surrounded us on day one. However, within a mat- ter of hours, we had already learned about the basic ins and outs of diving, including; the effects of water pressure and air volume on the body at different depths of water, buoyancy control and learning how to fit and assemble all of the various bits of kit and equipment we would need for our dives. Operating kit and equipment which at first seemed complicated and confusing, quickly became second nature to us, such as; our snorkels, masks, BCD'S(buoyancy control device), our regulators, cylinders and weight control systems to name but a few, all thanks to the skill and instruction of our team of scuba diving instructors who we worked with throughout the week. As the week went on, our range of skills grew as we progressed to learning hand signals and perfecting emergency drills such as; clearing seawater out of our masks and/or regulator, emergency drops of our weight manage- ment system, before finally moving on to removing all of our kit and regulator under water, making any necessary adjustments and then correcting putting on all of our kit again, no easy task! Our depth of knowledge also grew as we came to learn about the parts of diving which aren't always as apparent but still play a large part in ensuring a safe and enjoyable dive, for example; assessing the water and weather conditions, how to deal with aquatic life and safely dealing with other geographical features of the ocean, what goes in to planning a dive and planning for any emergencies that may arise on a dive. Each day also included an extra dive of some sort whether from the dock, or later in the week from a boat out at sea, that allowed us to practice and hone our skills and drills and explore the rich sea-life that is available off the coast of Ireland. All of this training eventually ensued in our group receiving our PADI license, which was exciting in itself but also for the opportuni- ties it affords all of us to progress further still to more advanced courses in the future if we so choose, something I think is fairly cer- tain given how much each and every member of our group enjoyed the whole experience.

• Cover