#RNLI - Skerries RNLI's volunteer crew headed to the West of Ireland this month as they paid a visit to their colleagues in Clifden RNLI.
Once a year the volunteers in Skerries undertake a team-building and fact-finding trip to other rescue services and lifeboat stations.
Despite being located on opposite sides of the country, Skerries RNLI and Clifden RNLI had previously exercised together, along with Clogherhead RNLI, off the East Coast back in 2014.
On that occasion the Clifden crew were being trained on the Mersey-class all-weather lifeboat that the station took on for a 12-month trial.
Last Saturday (16 April), Clifden RNLI launched all three of their lifeboats – a Mersey-class, an Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat and a D-class inshore lifeboat – to take the volunteers from Skerries afloat and give them a taste of the challenges they faced on the West Coast and at their own station in particular.
Skerries RNLI would like to thank volunteers Philip Ferguson and Laura Boylan for organising the trip; Irish Rail, who very generously subsidised the travel costs; and most importantly all, the volunteers at Clifden RNLI for giving up their time and extending a warm welcome.
Speaking about the exercise, Skerries RNLI volunteer lifeboat press officer Gerry Canning said: "It’s always a great learning experience for our volunteers to see the challenges that face other crews around the coast, and how they deal with them.
"The guys from Clifden RNLI were fantastic and really pulled out all the stops to make sure we went afloat and got a good insight into why they require each of their boats."
