Courtmacsherry RNLI was alerted on Sunday afternoon (12 December) that a windsurfer was in difficuly off Harbour View Strand in Courtmacsherry Bay and needed immediate assistance.
Within minutes of the crew pagers being activated, both the all-weather Trent Class lifeboat Frederick Storey Cockburn and the inshore D Class lifeboat were launched and headed to the scene of the alert.
Under Coxswain Mark Gannon, and a total of nine volunteer crew members, both boats sped to the area quickly as there was a strong Force 7/8 wind with high swells at sea.
Thankfully the windsurfer was able to get ashore safely with the help of other surfers and did not require any extra assistance when the lifeboats arrived.
Courtmacsherry RNLI lifeboat operations manager Brian O’Dwyer said: “It was great to see the quick reaction of our volunteers today, who dropped whatever they were at and rushed to the station in order to help other in danger.
“It was good to get that 999 or 112 call for assistance made straight away, as minutes are so important in these incidents at sea”.
This was the 26th callout of 2021 for Courtmacsherry RNLI, which is an all-time high for the West Cork station.