Aligning with a spell of good weather, it was a busy 24 hours for the volunteer lifeboat crew in Dunmore East earlier this week.
The first, on Wednesday 31 July, was to assist a 10-metre sailing vessel with two people aboard. They had lost all mechanical power and combined with issues with their main sail, they called the Irish Coast Guard for emergency assistance.
Dunmore East RNLI’s volunteer lifeboat crew were alerted at 11.39am and the Shannon class all-weather lifeboat, William and Agnes Wray, was launched and made way to their reported location one nautical mile south-west of Hook Head.
The situation was assessed and it was decided to establish a tow. The crew of the sailing vessel had no means of safely returning to port and were effectively adrift.
The boat was towed to the nearest safe port at Dunmore East Harbour and the lifeboat returned to service at 1.30pm.
Twenty-four hours later, the volunteer lifeboat crew had already been afloat on exercise on Thursday afternoon (1 August) and was being washed down when the pagers sounded after a sail training vessel operating in Waterford Harbour experienced mechanical issues and required support from the RNLI lifeboat crew.
The vessel was located half a nautical mile north-east of Creadan Head with 14 people on board. The lifeboat arrived on scene within minutes and assessed the situation. Despite technical issues, the vessel was able to make way under its own power but with very limited manoeuvrability.
It was decided to escort the vessel back to Dunmore East and assist with their safe entry back in the harbour and berthing alongside the dock.
Peter Grogan, lifeboat press officer with Dunmore East RNLI said: “Good weather often brings additional activity to the water. Whatever the conditions, even the best maintained vessels can sometimes have something go wrong, so it is important to be prepared for when it does happen. In each of these cases, they did the right thing in calling for help when they did.
“We would ask anyone going to sea to always carry a reliable means of communication, VHF or a mobile phone in case you need to call for help and always wear a lifejacket. If you do get into difficulty or see someone else in trouble, dial 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard.”
