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Displaying items by tag: Tom Lowe

#Surfing - An Irish wave enthusiast's 'surfing' video on the streets of Manchester has gone viral.

As the Belfast Telegraph reports, Manchester University student Sean-Caio Dos Santos Corr from Derrylaughan made the clip for the craic after spotting traffic splashing barrel waves onto the pavement on a flooded street.

Waiting for another downpour, Corr and his friend Christian Berger pounced with surfboard, camera and Bermuda shorts at the ready – and the results caught the interest of online viewers across Europe.

"We didn't even intend to take a camera with us we just grabbed it on the way out of the house for a laugh," says Corr.

"And now it's quite funny that people are actually interested in seeing eejits on the side of the road getting splashed in the face by a puddle."

In other surfing news, one of Cornwall's most prominent big-wave surfers has set up shop on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way to be in prime position for the giant walls of water the current stormy season is bound to throw up.

Tom Lowe tells the Western Morning News how chasing the biggest and best waves for a living often means sleeping on friends' floors – and jetting around the world at a moment's notice - while keeping in peak physical and mental condition

“It’s a complete package," he says. "Your heart has to be in it, your mind has to be in it and you have to be physically stable.”

Published in Surfing
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#Surfing - Cornish surfing pro Tom Lowe took on Ireland's incredible winter waves, and has the video to prove it!

Shot by fellow Cornwall native Mickey Smith, the clip - via Surf Around Ireland - shows Lowe paddling into some of the biggest swells the west coast has to offer.

Published in Surfing
Surfing magazine MagicSeaweed recently caught up with waveriders Fergal Smith and Tom Lowe to get the lowdown on winter surfing on the Emerald Isle.
The pair describe how flat surf after last November's 'big freeze' gave way to a run of big waves from January to March. For UK pro Lowe in particular it was his best ever season - but also one that left him spent.
"The finisher for me was that Mully morning session [off Mullaghmore]," he told MagicSeaweed. "Ferg towed me into the best wave of my life that morning; sounds wet but I was drained emotionally and physically by it."
For 'Ferg' Smith, the highlight was the paddle session at the Pampa wave near Bundoran.
"I grew up surfing Pampa so I know the wave well but I have never surfed it as big and perfect at that," he said.
MagicSeaweed has more insights from Tom and Ferg HERE.

Surfing magazine MagicSeaweed recently caught up with waveriders Fergal Smith and Tom Lowe to get the lowdown on winter surfing on the Emerald Isle.

The pair describe how flat surf after last November's 'big freeze' gave way to a run of big waves from January to March. For UK pro Lowe in particular it was his best ever season - but also one that left him spent.

"The finisher for me was that Mully morning session [off Mullaghmore]," he told MagicSeaweed. "Ferg towed me into the best wave of my life that morning; sounds wet but I was drained emotionally and physically by it."

For 'Ferg' Smith, the highlight was the paddle session at the Pampa wave near Bundoran.

"I grew up surfing Pampa so I know the wave well but I have never surfed it as big and perfect at that," he said.

MagicSeaweed has more insights from Tom and Ferg HERE.

Published in Surfing

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.

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