Dun Laoghaire RNLI’s volunteer crew were called early on Saturday evening (20 June) to reports of four children waving paddles on an inflatable dinghy in Killiney Bay.
The call came in at 5.12pm and the crew assembled in the lifeboat station to launch the inshore lifeboat Joval, but were stood down a short time later after it emerged that the children had made it safely ashore.
Pagers sounded again at 7.38pm as Dublin Coast Guard tasked the lifeboat to two sailors aboard a small angling boat that put out a Mayday call as they were being blown into rocks near Poolbeg Lighthouse.
RNLI volunteers aboard a nearby RIB and a Dublin Port pilot boat assisted the sailors while the lifeboat was on its way.
Dun Laoghaire inshore lifeboat volunteers Gary Hayes and James Traynor | Credit: RNLI/Caroline Traynor
The casualty boat was meanwhile towed from the rocks by the pilot boat, after which it regained power. When the Dun Laoghaire inshore lifeboat arrived on scene, the sailors were escorted to Poolbeg Marina.
Aoife Ward, Dun Laoghaire lifeboat press officer said: “I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the many fathers among Dun Laoghaire RNLI lifeboat station volunteers and wish them a very happy Father’s Day.”
The volunteer crew on the first call-out were helm Gary Hayes, Nathan Burke and Dan Phillips, with birthday boy Ciarán Deane and launching authority Kevin Byrne acting as shore crew. On the second call-out were helm Paul Cummins, Hayes and James Traynor, with Burke and Byrne as shore crew.
