#RESCUE - Six people were rescued from a cruiser that ran aground in high winds on Lough Derg at the weekend.

The Irish Times reports that the group had been wakeboarding near Youghal Bay on Saturday afternoon when the 37ft boat's propeller fouled on the tow rope.

The crew attempted to free the propeller but the boat began drifting to the rocks in Force 7 gusts.

The Irish Coast Guard were quickly notified and put out a message for assistance to all vessels in the area while Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat responded to the scene, finding the cruiser on the rocks but not seriously damaged.

The boat was subsequently towed to Dromineer Bay. No injuries were reported.

Elsewhere, the Irish Coast Guard was called to assist a man who had been camping on an island bird sanctuary off Co Clare.

According to the Clare Herald, the harbourmaster at Doolin noticed the man camped on Crab Island, some 400 metres from the mainland, amid "extreme" sea conditions.

One of Ireland's worst drowning tragedies occurred in the same area in July 1983, when eight young men - including three brothers - drowned while swimming at Trá Leathan.

It's believed that the man made his way by kayak on Friday evening to the island - designated as a protected area due to the presence of a particular seabird species.

The Doolin coastguard unit made three trips to the island to retrieve the man and his belongings.

#rnli – Ballycotton lifeboat rescued a pleasure craft one mile south east of Capel Island, off the East Cork coast yesterday. The Coastguard received a call for assistance shortly after 1500 and requested the RNLI lifeboat to launch. The 25–foot vessel with five anglers aboard were experiencing mechanical difficulties and were in need of assistance.

Weather conditions in the area were poor at the time with the winds blowing force 5 / 6 and poor visibility. When the Ballycotton RNLI lifeboat arrived at 1600 they established a towline and took the vessel under tow to Ballycotton, arriving at 1800. The pleasure craft was safely secured alongside the pier wall.

#rnli – The RNLI's newest lifeboat station on Lough Ree received its first callout yesterday afternoon just a few days before it officially goes operational.  The call for help was made by a man onboard a barge who had become grounded five miles south of Lanesborough and needed assistance.

Two volunteer lifeboat crewmembers, Róis Ní Dhochartaigh and Jane Walsh, were out on exercise at the time with RNLI Deputy Divisional Inspector Tristan Murphy when the Coast Guard raised the alarm and asked the lifeboat crew to respond.  It was the first callout for the new volunteers and enabled them to put their lifeboat training into practice.

A lifeboat crewmember was transferred onboard the casualty vessel and a tow was established to take the vessel off the rocks and out of harms way. It was then transferred to Lanesborough.

RNLI Deputy Divisional Inspector Tristan Murphy commented, "While out on training with the volunteers we try and deal with all types of rescue scenarios but the lifeboat crew didn't expect to come across a real life one just yet.  As expected the training took over and the man and his vessel were brought to safety by the lifeboat crew."

The new station has eighteen volunteer crewmembers and will operate an Atlantic 75 lifeboat out of Coosan Point in Athlone.

#LIFEBOATS - IOM Today reports that the Isle of Man's Peel RNLI lifeboat crew went to the rescue of the pleasure craft Flying Fox, which suffered an engine room fire some 22 miles off the island's west coast.

Flying Fox was en route from Strangford to Holyhead with one person on board when the fire occurred early yesterday, leaving the 34-foot Nelson-type vessel stranded in the Irish Sea.

Relief lifeboat Bingo Lifeline - replacing the stations main lifeboat, Ruby Cleary, which is currently in Holyhead for a refit - was dispatched with a volunteer crew, who found the boat after a "difficult" search.

The vessel was taken in tow back to Peel in moderate seas. No injuries were reported.

#RNLI –  On Sunday afternoon, Bangor lifeboat received a request from Belfast Coastguard to launch and rescue a canoeist who was in difficulty off Groomsport.

Relatively calm sea conditions allowed for the Lifeboat to proceed at full speed to the scene which was close to the entrance of Groomsport Harbour

Upon arrival, lifeboat crew spotted a young man standing on an isolated outcrop of rocks with his canoeing companion paddling close by. With tides rising, the young man was plucked to safety by Lifeboat crew.

The young man was taken to the safety of Groomsport Harbour where he was attended to by paramedics.

RNLI volunteer crew man Tim Lee who was involved in this rescue took the opportunity to stress four very important sea safety tips for canoeist going afloat this summer.. He said. 'Always wear a lifejacket, secondly tell others where you are going, thirdly carry some means of calling for help and finally always check the weather and tides' He added 'We are glad that this young man is now safely ashore'.

#RNLI – A yacht with engine difficulties just two miles east of Adams Island near Glandore Harbour, West Cork made a call for assistance as variable wind conditions impeded its progress. The alarm was raised last night at 20:04.

Baltimore lifeboat responded. The Tamar class lifeboat (with a top speed of 25 knots) made good speed to rendezvous with the distressed vessel.

Coxswain Kieran Cotter assessed the situation of the two male yachtsmen on board the 35–foot yacht and decided the best course of action was to tow the yacht into Union Hall 65 minutes away. Having secured the yacht safely the lifeboat returned to Baltimore.

On board the lifeboat were Coxswain Kieran Cotter, Cathal Cottrell, Micheal Cottrell, Jerry Smith, Diarmuid Collins and Brian McSweeney

#islandnation – THIS WEEK : Smelly humans, the pace picks up in Galway, pirates in Baltimore, the response of fishermen to the condescending RNLI and a Cork beauty are amongst my topics this week, read on .....

GALWAY PACE PICKS UP

There is an increasing buzz of excitement in Galway where the pace has picked up notably this week with work well underway on constructing the Volvo Ocean Race Village and increasing hope that Damian Foxall could be representing Ireland on the overall Volvo winners' podium in the City of the Tribes. It is still disappointing that the general media is not focussing attention on Ireland's two top international sailors in the race - Damian from Kerry and a member of Kinsale Yacht Club who is aboard the French entry Groupama and Justin Slattery from Cork who is with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

The boat hook on Achill lifeboat

FISHERMEN TELL OFF THE RNLI

Dick Robinson, former lifeboat crewman from Valentia Island and author of several books about the lifeboat service, has written to me about my visit to the Achill Island lifeboat when I said I had learned that the two boat hooks on modern lifeboats are the only items remains as a tradition from the past."

Dick confirms that this is a reminder of the rowing lifeboat days:

"The RNLI at that time issued a rather condescending circular that white oars were to be used to starboard and blue to port, as 'the orthodox terms, starboard and port are rarely used in lifeboat work since many lifeboatmen are unaccustomed to nautical phraseology.' The Penlee crew reversed the placings as a protest against the tone of that circular.

"The orders from the Coxswain would be 'Forward the white, Back the blue' or reverse as appropriate. The boats would have no steerage way working in close, so the rudder would not be effective and so oars had to be worked all the time. The oars were the subject of considerable research as oars breaking during beaching or launching operations could be fatal. In 1866 trials were carried out involving 38 different types of wood. The best oars were found to be made from young trees in Norwegian and Baltic Wood, followed by oars made from planks of the same woods. Oregon Pine was also good. A balance had to be struck between oars which would break under ordinary conditions and ones which would not break if the lifeboat struck bottom in shallow waters and thereby might capsize her. Later oars were balanced with lead inside."

Thanks Dick for this information on a fascinating topic.

PIRATES IN BALTIMORE

The sacking of Baltimore village, a very popular sailing destination in West Cork, is the topic of a 'PIRATE SEMINAR' – an unusual addition to the list of maritime events this summer. It will be held next weekend, starting on Friday night, June 29 and running until Sunday, July 1, including events for all the family.

The Schull – Baltimore – Cape Clear ferry departs Baltimore

Des Ekin, Assistant Editor with the Sunday World and author of the book – 'The Stolen Village' will discuss the 'Sack of Baltimore' in 1631 when inhabitants were taken off to slavery in Algiers. Connie Kelleher, Underwater Archaeologist with the Dept. of the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht's Underwater Unit will discuss piracy in southwest Ireland in the seventeenth century.

New to Baltimore is a permanent 'piratical exhibition' at Dún na Séad castle, with details of the raid on the village and copies of rare graphics from the seventeenth century depicting the story of the Baltimore captives who were taken into a life of slavery. Details are also shown of the activities of the O'Driscoll clan and their notorious involvement with the men of Waterford during the middle ages. A depiction of Thomas Crooke, the English 'pirate/planter' is also featured. An accompanying feature of the exhibition is a new book by Bernie McCarthy called 'Pirates of Baltimore,' containing images of lifestyles and events associated with the piratical history of the village. Did you ever imagine the respectable Baltimore of today to have such a history!

The exhibition is open daily 11am – 6 pm.

THE BEAUTY OF TRADITION

There is a great beauty in traditional boats and the one pictured here, the Peel Castle, was for me the star of this year's Crosshaven Traditional Boats Gathering. She is owned by Graham Bailey and deservedly won the top prize at the event. A fishing lugger she was built back in 1929 at Porthleven in Cornwall, carvel, pitch pine planking on oak frames and her original engine power was 2 x 25 hp Alphas - currently 120hp Ford D series.

The Peel Caslte racing off Crosshaven

She was registered PZ17 at Penzance, later BM17 Brixham, Devon. She also fished out of Fleetwood from1968 and finished fishing in 1977 when she was de-registered. Re-registered in Skibbereen in 2008, she has sailed extensively in European waters. Restoration work was done at Hegarty's Old Court Boatyard and is impressive. Graham, a shipwright, also restored her internally. Visitors aboard were very impressed.

GASSY HUMANS!

Human-produced gas emissions are a significant cause of ocean warming!

Average ocean temperatures have been rising by 0.045 degrees per decade for the past half-century and natural fluctuations alone "do not explain warming in the upper layers of the planet's oceans," according to the Lawrence Livermore National USA National Laboratory. "Human greenhouse gas emissions are an added ingredient and strengthen the conclusion that most of the global ocean warming over the past 50 years is attributable to human activities," according to Livermore climate scientist Peter Gleckler.

The Californian Laboratory which made these findings in a desktop computer modelling study of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans also researches protection against weapons of mass destruction!

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#RNLI – RNLI Arklow Lifeboat volunteers in County Wicklow are setting off on June 29th to visit every lifeboat station on the Island of Ireland in a single weekend. Vartry Motors KIA Dealers have partnered with Arklow RNLI to provide two KIA Sportage Jeeps for the rund Ireland trip.

#rnli – Eleven swimmers taking part in the annual Triathlon at Mullaghmore in North County Sligo on Saturday morning (16th June 2012) were assisted by the volunteer crew of Bundoran RNLI Lifeboat.

The Bundoran Lifeboat William Henry Liddington was on exercise in the area as the event was taking place. The swim event of the triathlon, jointly organised by the Mullaghmore Sailing and Triathlon Clubs, started just after 10.30 in cool conditions with a northerly wind blowing through the picturesque village. By 11.10am the lifeboat crew had assisted 3 swimmers with the number reaching 10 by 11.45am and 11 total by 11.50am. All swimmers were assisted to shore but did not require medical attention.

Martin Caldwell of Mullaghmore Sailing Club said afterwards 'we were delighted the Bundoran RNLI Lifeboat was in the area and were able to assist our own safety boats. We had a capacity field of 500 triathletes taking part and the tough conditions meant more swimmers than usual required assistance. Safety is an absolute priority in an event such as this and having Bundoran RNLI in the bay was a terrific support. The event, which is in its 11th year, is one of the most popular triathlons in the country and it is a showcase for some of the country's top athletes'

#LIFEBOATS - "Extremely challenging" conditions hampered the crew of Courtown RNLI after a car crashed into the sea at the Co Wexford harbour, the Irish Examiner reports.

A 19-year-old man died in the incident on Friday night after he and two other teenagers crashed through a sea wall. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene after his removal from the submerged vehicle.

The lifeboat crew pointed to debris from rivers swollen by the heavy rains of the past few days, coupled with gale force winds, as complicating their efforts.

Elsewhere, the Examiner reports that two men on board a yacht that got into difficulties near the Old Head of Kinsale yesterday afternoon were rescued by Courtmacsherry RNLI.

Additional report from Aine Stafford of Courtown RNLI Lifeboat station:

Courtown RNLI Lifeboat launched on Friday night, June 15th, at 22.35 hrs, to a report of a vehicle having entered the water in Courtown Harbour, Co. Wexford.

The volunteer RNLI crew launched the Lifeboat in less than five minutes, and quickly located the car, with the assistance of Courtown Coastguard and Gorey Gardai who were on the harbour side. Gorey Fire Brigade and the local Ambulance service also attended the scene.

An RNLI crew member entered the water at the location of the submerged car, and the Lifeboat then proceeded to carry out a thorough search of the harbour in challenging weather conditions. After 48 hours of heavy rain, quite a lot of debris had washed down the two rivers that enter Courtown Harbour and there was a large swell coming in from the sea.

Unfortunately, a short time later, the Lifeboat crew recovered a man's body from the submerged car. The remains were then taken to Courtown RNLI Lifeboat Station where the man was pronounced deceased by the local Caredoc Service.

Courtown RNLI Lifeboat extends its sympathy to the family of the deceased.