Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Fastnet Race Rambler 100

#PORTS & SHIPPING REVIEW - Over the last fortnight, Jehan Ashmore has reported from the shipping scene, where a brand new multi-purpose heavy-lift vessel Abis Dublin made her maiden 'Irish' call to her namesake port carrying wind-turbine components.

In this year of The Gathering, Dublin Port is to welcome a record number of cruiseships, with more than 100 calls this season to include several new operators.

The fleet of Irish Ferries vessels are taking turns to undergo dry-docking maintenance at the Cammell Laird facility in Birkenhead, where French routes cruiseferry Oscar Wilde is due next month.

The tug that 'righted' the Fastnet Race entrant Rambler 100 in west Cork in 2011, had recently towed a completely different type of vessel, Skerchi, a construction barge to Dublin Port, where the vessel is currently in dry-dock.

Galway Harbour is to welcome The World, the 41,188 tonnes exclusive ultra-luxury residential passenger ship when she opens the 2013 cruise season in July with a two-night anchorage call.

Having operated 12 days of Christmas service, Stena Line's HSS Stena Explorer is taking a break off-service, however, the fastcraft returns for a second year operating a seasonal-summer only schedule.

Shannon Foynes Port Company's draft masterplan "Vision 2041"  is to develop port infrastructure and services of the estuary over the next three decades.

Once again the former Dutch dredger Lough Foyle has been contracted by Drogheda Port Company to carry out work at to the mouth of the Boyne.

An extra 3,000 'coach' passengers will have an opportunity to visit Ireland as part of an Irish Ferries initiative worth up to EUR60,000 to promote the nation to UK and overseas tourists.

London 2012, a 82,562 dwt bulk-carrier which after docking at Auginish on the Shannon Estuary, recently weighed anchor offshore of the world famous Ballybunion Golf Course. At the next Olympics of Rio de Janeiro 2016, golf will return to the Games.

Published in Ports & Shipping

Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) in Ireland Information

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity to save lives at sea in the waters of UK and Ireland. Funded principally by legacies and donations, the RNLI operates a fleet of lifeboats, crewed by volunteers, based at a range of coastal and inland waters stations. Working closely with UK and Ireland Coastguards, RNLI crews are available to launch at short notice to assist people and vessels in difficulties.

RNLI was founded in 1824 and is based in Poole, Dorset. The organisation raised €210m in funds in 2019, spending €200m on lifesaving activities and water safety education. RNLI also provides a beach lifeguard service in the UK and has recently developed an International drowning prevention strategy, partnering with other organisations and governments to make drowning prevention a global priority.

Irish Lifeboat Stations

There are 46 lifeboat stations on the island of Ireland, with an operational base in Swords, Co Dublin. Irish RNLI crews are tasked through a paging system instigated by the Irish Coast Guard which can task a range of rescue resources depending on the nature of the emergency.

Famous Irish Lifeboat Rescues

Irish Lifeboats have participated in many rescues, perhaps the most famous of which was the rescue of the crew of the Daunt Rock lightship off Cork Harbour by the Ballycotton lifeboat in 1936. Spending almost 50 hours at sea, the lifeboat stood by the drifting lightship until the proximity to the Daunt Rock forced the coxswain to get alongside and successfully rescue the lightship's crew.

32 Irish lifeboat crew have been lost in rescue missions, including the 15 crew of the Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) lifeboat which capsized while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Palme on Christmas Eve 1895.

FAQs

While the number of callouts to lifeboat stations varies from year to year, Howth Lifeboat station has aggregated more 'shouts' in recent years than other stations, averaging just over 60 a year.

Stations with an offshore lifeboat have a full-time mechanic, while some have a full-time coxswain. However, most lifeboat crews are volunteers.

There are 46 lifeboat stations on the island of Ireland

32 Irish lifeboat crew have been lost in rescue missions, including the 15 crew of the Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) lifeboat which capsized while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Palme on Christmas Eve 1895

In 2019, 8,941 lifeboat launches saved 342 lives across the RNLI fleet.

The Irish fleet is a mixture of inshore and all-weather (offshore) craft. The offshore lifeboats, which range from 17m to 12m in length are either moored afloat, launched down a slipway or are towed into the sea on a trailer and launched. The inshore boats are either rigid or non-rigid inflatables.

The Irish Coast Guard in the Republic of Ireland or the UK Coastguard in Northern Ireland task lifeboats when an emergency call is received, through any of the recognised systems. These include 999/112 phone calls, Mayday/PanPan calls on VHF, a signal from an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) or distress signals.

The Irish Coast Guard is the government agency responsible for the response to, and co-ordination of, maritime accidents which require search and rescue operations. To carry out their task the Coast Guard calls on their own resources – Coast Guard units manned by volunteers and contracted helicopters, as well as "declared resources" - RNLI lifeboats and crews. While lifeboats conduct the operation, the coordination is provided by the Coast Guard.

A lifeboat coxswain (pronounced cox'n) is the skipper or master of the lifeboat.

RNLI Lifeboat crews are required to follow a particular development plan that covers a pre-agreed range of skills necessary to complete particular tasks. These skills and tasks form part of the competence-based training that is delivered both locally and at the RNLI's Lifeboat College in Poole, Dorset

 

While the RNLI is dependent on donations and legacies for funding, they also need volunteer crew and fund-raisers.

© Afloat 2020