#rnli – Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was requested to launch by Valentia Coast Guard tonight to assist two persons on board a 35ft cruiser that had suffered steering failure in deteriorating weather conditions.

The cruiser was en route from Dromineer to Mountshannon when it developed steering problems.  The skipper attempted to return to Dromineer but on entering Dromineer Bay the steering failed completely and he requested assistance.  The weather was deteriorating with a SW wind F3-4 with frequent sqalls and rain showers.  The lifeboat, with Helm Eleanor Hooker, Tom Dunne and Ben Ronayne on board, was launched at 17.45hrs.  Once alongside, a crew member was transferred onto the casualty vessel to set up a tow.  Both persons aboard the vessel were safe and unharmed and wearing lifejackets.  The boat was towed to the safety of Dromineer Harbour, where RNLI shore crew helped to tie the vessel securely for the night.

#lifeboat – Crosshaven RNLI lifeboat were called upon to assist two vessels within two days.

The first call came on Wednesday afternoon (22 Aug) after a 16' motor boat suffered mechanical failure behind Haulbowline Island. The boat owner had deployed his anchor while awaiting help to arrive. On arrival, the newest recruit to the lifeboat crew, Ian O'Keefe, managed to get the engine started before the lifeboat escorted the vessel to Monkstown Marina.

Last night, Valentia Coast Guard tasked the lifeboat to a 36' yacht, South of Roches Point. The yacht was on passage from the UK, and had suffered both rigging and mechanical failure during the night. The yacht had been drifting for several hours before being able to request assistance. The crew of four were exhausted with one person disabled due to seasickness.

One of the volunteer crew boarded the yacht and checked on the condition of the crew, before setting up a tow with the lifeboat. The casualty vessel was then taken in tow to Crosshaven Boatyard. The Volunteer crew on this service were Mark Bushe (helm) with Bernard Lynch and Vincent Fleming.

Vessels from the Naval service and the Port of Cork also responded to the scene.

#LIFEBOAT - The Galway Advertiser reports that the Galway RNLI lifeboat came to the rescue of a mother and child from a small dinghy near Kinvara in the south-eastern corner of Galway Bay yesterday.

High winds and an offshore breeze caused the dingy to drift onto Mulrooney Island between Kinvara and Parkmore Pier, stranding the Dublin woman and her four-year-old son, who are holidaying in the area.

The lifeboat crew were dispatched to the scene by the Irish Coast Guard after being notified by a canoeist in the area who assisted the family. Both were wearing lifejackets at the time of the incident, and were taken back to shore unharmed.

#lifeboat – Bundoran RNLI Lifeboat was this afternoon (Monday 20th August 2012) tasked by Malin Head Coast Guard to an adult female who became trapped on rocks whilst walking near Mullaghmore in County Sligo.

The holiday maker was walking along the coastline when she realised that the tide was coming back in and the amount of seaweed along the route made it impossible to turn back. Luckily she had her mobile phone with her and called the coast guard via the 112 emergency number.

The voluntary Bundoran Lifeboat crew launched within 6 minutes of the initial page at 14.54 and were on the scene 12 minutes later where they assisted the female on to the lifeboat William Henry Liddington. Luckily she was uninjured but was checked out by one of the EMT-trained crew and then transported back to the lifeboat station. The Rescue 118 helicopter was also tasked but stood down in an operation coordinated by Malin Head Coast Guard.

Helm of the lifeboat on the day was Daimon Fergus who said 'while we knew there was no immediate danger there was an urgency to get the person off the rocks and to safety before the tide came in much further and blocked her path completely. We would always advise members of the public who are on the water or walking on the coastline to at the very least carry a mobile phone so the alert may be raised in the event of an emergency'.

#LIFEBOATS - The crew of the Sligo Bay RNLI lifeboat rescued two people from a 31ft Norwegian flagged yacht at the weekend.

The volunteer lifeboat crew was tasked by Malin Head coastguard shortly after 3.30pm on Saturday 18 August following a report that the vessel had got into difficulty.

Crew on board the inshore lifeboat Elsinore proceeded to the scene eight miles off Ballyconnell in Co Sligo. Weather conditions were good at the time with strong tides.

A man and a woman onboard the yacht had been on passage from the Labrador Coast in Canada on the final stretch of a voyage from their home in Oslo via the Caribbean and the east coast of America when they got into difficulty across the Atlantic.

Both of the yacht’s main sails were shredded in a gale and it subsequently suffered engine failure.

Arriving on scene, the lifeboat crew established a tow and took the vessel into Sligo Harbour, arriving after three hours. When the yacht was safely secured, the couple were brought into the Sligo Bay station where they were made comfortable.

Sligo Bay RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager Willie Murphy said: "The couple were tired after being at sea for 21 days but were in good spirits. They were extremely grateful to the crew for their service and to all at the station for their assistance after."

This is the second time this summer that Sligo RNLI has had connections with Norwegian sailors. 

In June, a 30-strong Norwegian shanty choir attended Rosses Points RNLI Shanty Festival to sing a song they had specially composed to commemorate the saving of a Norwegian crew off a shipwrecked sailing barque in the late 1800s on Coney Island in Sligo Bay.

#rnli – There was a tragic end to an afternoon sail for a father and son in an Enterprise sailing dinghy in West Cork yesterday. As reported earlier on Afloat.ie the Castletownbere lifeboat was launched shortly after 9.30pm on Monday night to search for a man who was reported by his son to be clinging to an upturned boat. The son had managed to make his way ashore after spending four hours clinging to the boat with his father.

Castletownbere RNLI was involved in the subsequent search and recovery for the man in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday). A search at sea and along the shore continued all last evening in good weather conditions and at about ten past one in the morning, the casualty was spotted by a helicopter in a place known locally as Cod's Head. He was recovered by the Derrynane inshore boat to the Castletownbere lifeboat and brought to Castletownbere.

Sadly the man did not survive his ordeal and Lifeboat spokesman Paul Stevensl extended his sympathy on behalf of Castletownbere RNLI to the family of the deceased who has been named locally as John O'Leary from Allihies.

Early yesterday evening it is understood that the father and his teenage son went sailing in a small dingy off Allihies in West Cork and shortly after that the boat capsized. Both hung on to the upturned craft for approximately four hours where upon the teenage son made his way ashore and raised the alarm.

Stevens said the whole Beara Pennisula would be shocked by the loss: 'The Beara Pennisula is waking up this morning with a huge sense of shock. It's no stranger to this sort of tragedy sadly. However, every time an incident like this occurs, of course it has great impact on many people in what is really a very small tight knit community. Moreover, this week is festival week in the village of Allihes where John was from, so this sad tragedy will in the midst of the people of Allihes have changed the mood locally to one of great sadness and great sense of loss'.

#rnli – Last night Skerries RNLI were requested to launch by the Coast Guard following report of a sighting of an upturned boat in the water off Gormanstown, County Meath.

A number of the Skerries RNLI Volunteer crew were undergoing assessment by the RNLI Divisional Trainer/Assessor Helena Duggan in the lifeboat station at the time. The lifeboat was launched at approximately 7pm and proceeded to the co-ordinates given by the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard also launched the Search and Rescue Helicopter which started an airborne search off the coast from Skerries to north of Balbriggan. Shortly after, the Trent Lifeboat from Howth RNLI, out on exercise at the time, proceeded to Skerries and joined in the search. The Skerries inshore Lifeboat, along with the Trent Lifeboat from Howth, commenced a thorough grid search at sea with the Helicopter searching from the air.

At 8pm no craft could be found in the water and the Coast Guard called off the search. Howth RNLI Lifeboat returned to station and Skerries RNLI volunteer crew recommenced their examinations and assessments.

#RESCUE - The Irish Times reports on the rescue of a swimmer in distress off the Donegal coast thanks to the help of a woman with binoculars.

And the RNLI has paid tribute to the Malin Head coastguard unit for its knowledge of the area which was instrumental to the postive turn-out.

The man had been swimming off Five Fingers strand in Inishowen on Friday afternoon when he was washed out more than one-and-a-half miles into the sea.

The Malin Head unit of the Irish Coast Guard immediately co-ordinated the rescue effort, which saw both the Sligo coastguard helicopter and Lough Swilly RNLI lifeboat dispatched to the scene.

In an echo of June's 'miracle rescue' of a man in Cork Harbour after he was spotted by telescope, rescuers were assisted by a woman with an elevated view on the shore who spotted the swimmer and guided them to his location.

The man was quickly airlifted to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry for treatment. He was said to be very traumatised after the incident.

“The outcome could have been different but for the local knowledge these guys have,” said Lough Swilly lifeboat spokesman Joe Joyce.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the coastguard radio stations at Malin Head and Valentia are both under threat of closure following a 'value for money' review of the State's marine rescue services.

#rnil – A French yacht with a fouled propelller  on passage to Kinsale in foggy conditions has been towed safely to Crosshaven in Co. Cork by the RNLI. At 7.20pm last night, Valentia Coast Guard tasked Crosshaven RNLI lifeboat to assist a 12m yacht with two people on board, 2 miles south of Power Head that had a fouled propellor. Weather conditions at the time were calm with heavy fog banks rolling off the coast.

Roberts Head is midway between the mouth of Cork Harbour and Kinsale the French registered yacht was on passage to Kinsale when they became entangled in an old lobster pot line and were effectively anchored. Crosshaven Lifeboat under the command of Ian Venner with crew Ritchie Kelleher and Vincent Fleming cut away the line and took the yacht in tow, arriving back in Crosshaven some 2 hours later.

The yacht was safely berthed at the Boatyard.

#rnli – The annual family fun day was held on Ballycotton pier to raise funds for Ballycotton lifeboat yesterday on bank holiday Sunday afternoon. At 12:30 the lifeboat station received a call from a rib with engine failure east of Ballycotton lighthouse and requesting assistance. The lifeboat crew abandoned their posts on Ballycotton pier and proceeded to the all weather lifeboat moored in the harbour. The Ballycotton lifeboat, Austin Lidbury, proceeded east of the lighthouse and reached the rib with four persons on board. The pleasure craft was taken under tow to Ballycotton harbour, where they were closely observed by visitors on the pier attending the fundraising activities.

The afternoon was a hit with the many visitors being able to observe a live rescue. Among the afternoon's activities was "Rock the Boat" which took place at 3:00pm, with in excess of 100 people taking part to fulfil a condition of a sponsor who offered €100 if 100 people or more took part. A short video clip of this is available to view on the Ballycotton Lifeboat website www.ballycottonlifeboat.org. At 3:45pm the Waterford based Coast Guard helicopter did a fly-by over the pier. Conditions were not suitable to demonstrate a lift of a person from the Ballycotton lifeboat which was going through manoeuvres in Ballycotton Bay.

At 5pm the visitors moved from the pier to the village to continue the fundraising activities with a wet t-shirt competition in the Blackbird. The event rounded up a weekend of fundraising events for the Ballycotton RNLI lifeboat, which included a football competition on Thursday evening, a table quiz in the Schooner Bar on Friday and a family treasure hunt and Pitch "n" Putt competition on bank holiday Saturday. The organisers and volunteer crew appreciated the support they received during the long weekend of fundraising events from both sponsors and supporters.