In this new series of articles, Sports Editor Adam Schmitz takes a look at different UCD Clubs and what it is they do. In the first edition, we take a deep dive (no pun intended) into UCD Sub Aqua Club with their Public Relations Officer, Victoria Hastings Rafferty.
UCD Sub-Aqua club is your go-to UCD club for all things underwater. From Scuba Diving to snorkelling, if you’re a fan of underwater sport or are looking to take up a brand new activity, this club is certainly different from anything you’ve taken part in before. I recently spoke with UCD SAC’s Public Relations Officer, Victoria Hastings Rafferty, to have a look at this club in focus!
What’s the basic function of your club?
Victoria: We teach scuba diving to everyone, from complete beginners to instructors. We travel along the Irish coastline in search of the best underwater scenery Ireland has to offer, allowing our members to dive at all levels. Besides diving, we also snorkel (especially in winter when diving conditions aren’t ideal).
We have an underwater hockey team—the UCD Krakens. Underwater hockey is played on the pool floor with a puck and a stick. Our activities are governed by Diving Ireland, and we follow CMAS diving regulations.
What does an average week in your club look like?
Victoria: Our weekly routine includes committee meetings on Monday evenings. On Tuesdays, our trainee divers attend a scuba classroom lecture, followed by a training session in the pool. Over the weekend, we dive in Dublin Bay, often around Dalkey Island or Muglins Island, with dive depths typically reaching about 20 metres. These sessions are always followed by a social lunch! During the winter, we switch to weekend snorkels or coxswain training (learning to operate the dive boat).
What were the highlights of the last year for your club?
Victoria: 2024 has been a fantastic year for UCD Sub-Aqua. We've certified four two-star divers, one three-star diver, and four diving coxswains—a significant amount of training and examination for a typical Irish dive club.
Victoria says that the true highlights of the year have been the club trips. She describes them as “unforgettable experiences” and mentioned multiple trips around the country to places including Mayo, Clare, Galway, Wexford, Cork and Donegal.
How has this year started for your club?
Victoria: It’s been an excellent start! We had an extremely busy summer of diving when the season was in full swing. As the season slowed down, we shifted our focus to training our newest group of 25 trainees, whose program began in early October. We’ve also concentrated on coxswain training and examinations. In late August we provided aid to the UCD School of Geography and Engineering on a research project examining sediment in Loch Dan Co Wicklow, we provided one of our boats Barramundi and a dive leader to help. A new committee was elected in September, and they’ve been doing a fantastic job. Our latest major event was the Intervarsities weekend, where we joined with DCU Sub-Aqua, UGATUG Sub-Aqua, UCC Sub-Aqua, and UL Sub-Aqua at Killary Fjord for group dives. We have a strong relationship with other college dive clubs, and there’s always a great sense of camaraderie when we come together. We also wrapped up the year with a trip to Donegal for Halloween, where we even tried night diving!
To finish the interview, I asked Victoria what’s coming up for the club in the coming weeks.
We’re excited to host a talk by the Geological Survey of Ireland and the Marine Institute on seabed mapping off the Irish coast. Everyone is welcome to join at 7pm on Tuesday November 19 in room 1.16 of the Agricultural Building.
We'll also be running our annual CPR and oxygen administration course, which all members are encouraged to take. Safety in diving is extremely important, and winter is the perfect time to focus on classroom-based training. We have started a ‘women in diving’ initiative to encourage more females into it and we have a group of women now undergoing snorkel training every Friday with the UWH team! Snorkel skills are the fundamentals to diving!
As a parting word, can you sum up what it’s like to be in UCD Sub-Aqua Club?
Members often refer to UCD Sub-Aqua as their ‘dive family.’ We are a diverse group of current students and alumni, all incredibly supportive of each other. Due to the nature of our activities, we’re always looking out for our dive buddies, both underwater and on land.
Thank you to Victoria for telling us all about life in UCD Sub-Aqua club. For more information head to @ucdsubaqua on instagram and @ucd_subaqua on TikTok.