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#COASTGUARD - Russia's ambassador to Britain has proposed rewarding rescuers involved in the search for missing seamen in the Irish Sea last week following the sinking of the cargo ship Swanland.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the cargo vessel - carrying 3,000 tonnes of limestone - went down some 10 miles west of the Lleyn peninsula in north Wales in the early hours of last Sunday.

Two of the eight crew, who were all Russian, were recovered from the sea. A third was found deceased, while the remaining five are still missing.

As many as 11 coastguard rescue teams were involved in the search operation, which also saw an RAF rescue helicopter - piloted by Prince William - lend assistance.

At a meeting with the two rescued sailors in London last Wednesday, Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko commented: “What if we propose [the rescuers] to be rewarded by the Russian side?”

Russian news agency RIA Novosti has more on the story HERE.

Published in Coastguard
#SWANLAND–Eleven coastguard rescue teams and an RAF helicopter have completed a search of the north Wales coast this morning, following the loss of the cargo carrier 'Swanland' in the early hours of yesterday morning. Although some additional wreckage including a lifejacket and a lifering have been found, the missing seafarers have still not been located.

This morning's search for the five seafarers began at 8.00 am and covered 105 miles of coastline from Holyhead to Aberdovey. Although that search is now complete, coastguards will carry out a short low water search from 3.00 pm until dusk.

Five lifeboats, six helicopters, four coastguard rescue teams, three merchant vessels, an Irish naval patrol vessel and a fixed wing aircraft searched an area of approximately 300 square miles yesterday. However, the only sign of the missing seafarers was their two liferafts, a lifebuoy from the vessel and a survival suit.

Holyhead Coastguard Watch Manager, Ray Carson says:

"Sadly we still have not been able to locate the missing seafarers. We will carry out one final search at low water today."

Published in Coastguard
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New York Yacht Club’s biennial Invitational Cup

Ireland has a proud history in New York Yacht Club’s biennial Invitational Cup, with Irish participation from the very start and a podium result in 2019.

In 2009, two Irish Clubs,  Royal St. George in Dun Laoghaire and Royal Cork in Crosshaven, entered into New York's newest sailing competition that was reminiscent of Newport’s America’s Cup days when 19 yacht club teams from 14 nations descended on this “City by the Sea”.

The Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is a competition between yacht clubs, with strict eligibility rules ensuring that each team is comprised exclusively of amateur sailors.

The competition, which was first run in 2009, has drawn entries from 49 clubs from 22 nations on all six inhabited continents.

The New York Yacht Club won the inaugural event in 2009, with the Royal Canadian Yacht Club winning in 2011 and 2013, England's Royal Thames Yacht Club winning in 2015 and Southern Yacht Club from New Orleans winning in 2017.

In 2019 the regatta was sailed for the first time in the New York Yacht Club’s fleet of IC37 yachts, and Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, from Australia, became the first Southern Hemisphere club to win the trophy. And it was in this edition that Anthony O’Leary’s Royal Cork team took the bronze medal.