Question about the long cave dive

Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Hello folks,

I have to write something for the Cave Diving Group and this will involve mention of the two extremely long through dives done in northern England (Keld Head to Kingsdale Master Cave and Keld Head to King Pot). However I also want to mention the through dive done in Ireland in recent years which involved Artur.

I know this through dive was longer than the above two. My questions are:

1. What are the names of the two underwater caves which were linked? (I want to ensure I spell these properly.)

2. What year was it completed (the actual through dive)?

3. What was the length of the dive?

4. Am I right in thinking this is in the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland?

I know a lot about cave diving but (embarrasingly) not a huge amount about all the fantastic stuff that's been done in recent years by your folk. I do want to get this right so I'd be really grateful if anyone could answer any of the above questions for me.

Thanks!
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Thanks for taking the time to respond Peter. I know there's a fair bit of stuff out there on the 'net but in order to avoid my being confused, or introducing inadvertent mistakes, I wanted to ask those direct questions on this forum.

Please can anyone help?
 
langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
According to a quote taken from his own words in his obituary in Descent 223, the traverse from Polltoophill to Polldeelin was 2.4km. I don't know whether he actually dived through from one to the other, but the connection was made on 7th August 2010.

The same article also mentions that  he dived to a depth of 103 m in Pollatoomary.

Descent 216 talks about Jim Warny making a 2,970 metre traverse between Pollaloughabo and Moran in June 2010.
 
graham

graham

New member
John

On here, Penguin's probably your man. If not try the Irish Technical Diving site, which is where Artur recorded a lot of his dives first hand.
 
Subpopulus Hibernia

Subpopulus Hibernia

Active member
1. Pollaloughabo and Moran's Cave (Dive was from Moran's travelling downstream at an average depth of -20m)

2. Jim Warny, June 2010

3. 2970m

4. Galway, Rep. of Ireland

Polltoophill - Polldeelin was never done as a through trip, Artur was never particularly interested in those. If it was to be though, it would probably be the most challenging through trip you could do in these isle -  2.4km long, down to a maximum depth of -62m and with difficult routefinding.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Wait a minute - is that distance definitely right? (It's just that the King Pot to Keld Head traverse is quoted as 3050 m, although more recent survey work suggests 3000 m)
I'd got it in my head that the Moran's through dive was now the longest.

Maybe I've got confused over what I've read though. In which case, here's another question; what was the longest penetration dive (i.e. in and out) done in Ireland? Wasn't that done by Artur?
 
langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
Pitlamp said:
Maybe I've got confused over what I've read though. In which case, here's another question; what was the longest penetration dive (i.e. in and out) done in Ireland? Wasn't that done by Artur?
Click to expand...

According to the source previously referenced, Artur made the connection at the half-way point in Polltoophill to Polldeelin, so the in-out distance was 2,400 m in that particular cave.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
So that's 1200 m in and then 1200 m out again - that right? That can't be the one I was thinking of  because I'm sure Artur did a penetration dive longer than the longest done in mainland UK (which was 1900 m). I remember sending him a message to congratulate him at the time.

Are any of the Irish folk actually on the scene able to shed any light on this? Thanks.
 
Subpopulus Hibernia

Subpopulus Hibernia

Active member
Pitlamp said:
So that's 1200 m in and then 1200 m out again - that right?
Click to expand...

Yep.

Longest penetration dive was one of two places.

1. Pollnacapple 1520m in, steadily down to -71m at the end. Jim at the start and then Artur at 1km onwards.

2. Moran's Cave (Upstream) 1495m, at a steady ~25m depth, though may be a bit longer as I'm not sure if the final section was surveyed and Jim may have been back to push the end since 2009. Dived in tandem by Jim and Artur.


 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Thanks Subpopulus. I think I'd better send you a PM later this weekend, if you wouldn't mind?

I should stress that my only reason for wanting to get this right is to ensure that Artur is properly credited for his achievements.
 
graham

graham

New member
Talking about cave divers' achievements, I see that Rick Stanton got an MBE in the New Year's Honours.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Just to save anybody else replying now - I have all the information I was looking for. Thanks to those who helped.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top