#RNLI - Howth RNLI had a busy start to the weekend, towing two motorboats to safety in separate incidents between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Pagers sounded at 7.15pm on Friday evening (22 August) with a launch request for the inshore lifeboat to locate and assist a motorboat drifting without power in the vicinity of Howth Sound. The motorboat with two people aboard was quickly located and towed to Howth Harbour.

The following morning (Saturday 23 August) pagers alerted again at 11.05am for the inshore lifeboat to locate a motorboat adrift off the nose of Howth. The motorboat with two crewmembers aboard was taken in tow to Howth Harbour.

"On both occasions the crewmembers were able to make radio contact with the shore, supply an accurate description of the vessels and their location which allow us to locate and offer assistance in the quickest possible time," said Howth RNLI helm David Howard.

"We were pleased to see that all crew members on both occasions were wearing lifejackets."

Howth's volunteer crews have one of their busiest seasons yet, with 50 callouts so far.

#RNLI - Galway RNLI came to the rescue of two men and a child whose boat got into difficulty off Barna Pier in Galway Bay yesterday afternoon (Friday 22 August).

The 18ft bayliner was about half a mile off Barna when its engine failed. The boat drifted for some 30 minutes before the men on board called 999, at about 2.20pm.

The Irish Coast Guard sought the assistance of the Galway lifeboat, which launched from the city docks 10 minutes later.

The lifeboat crew of helm Kieran Tolan, David Badger, Olivia Bryne and Dara Oliver quickly arrived on scene and took the vessel in tow back to Barna. None of the people on board required medical attention.

Speaking after the callout, Tolan said: "Conditions were calm, with an offshore breeze, and although at the time they were in no immediate danger, they did the right thing in calling the lifeboat as situations on the water can change very quickly into more serious incidents."

#RNLI - Rosslare RNLI was called out twice yesterday afternoon (Friday 22 August) to help two separate boats with ropes wrapped around their propellers.

In the space of two hours, both boats – a RIB with two people on board off Carna Pier and a motor cruiser with two on board near Waterford Harbour – were freed by the volunteer lifeboat crew.

The double callout also came on the last day for retiring lifeboat operations manager Michael Doyle.

"Two callouts in one afternoon is a fitting way to say goodbye," said Rosslare RNLI volunteer lifeboat press officer Jamie Ryan.

"Thankfully both call outs were to vessels that had their propellers fouled and no lives were in danger. The lifeboat is there to help anyone in trouble at sea and we were happy to provide assistance in these two cases."

Elsewhere on the east coast, Wicklow RNLI's all-weather lifeboat launched at 4am yesterday morning to the aid a yacht in difficulty eight miles north of Wicklow Harbour.

The yacht was on passage to Greystones when the propeller became fouled in ropes and was unable to make any headway.

"We located the yacht with four people one mile south-east of Greystones Harbour," said coxswain Nick Keogh. "Two lifeboat crew were transferred onto the yacht to assess the situation and they managed to clear the rope obstructing the propeller.

"With the propeller free the yacht was able to make her way into Greystones under its own power."

#RNLI - A major rescue operation swung into action early this morning after reports of a speedboat crashing into a channel marker buoy in Cork Harbour en route from Cork city to Crosshaven.

Crosshaven's volunteer lifeboat crew were paged at 45 minutes past midnight to the incident in the lower part of Lough Mahon after the report of a boat with one person on board believed missing after the collision with a navigation buoy.

The area was extensively searched by Crosshaven RNLI along with the Crosshaven Coast Guard boat, the pilot launch Fáilte, Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 117 and coastguard shore teams.

The casualty boat along with its slightly injured owner were eventually located at a marina in Crosshaven. All teams were stood down shortly before 3.30am this morning.

Crosshaven's lifeboat crew on this service were helm Ian Venner, Vince Fleming and Kieran Coniry.

#RNLI - The naming ceremony and service of dedication of Helvick Head RNLI’s new Atlantic 85 lifeboat Robert Armstrong will take place at the lifeboat station on Helvick Pier on the south side of Dungarvan Bay at 11am on Saturday 30 August.

The new lifeboat was funded through a legacy from the late Robert Armstrong and will be named in his memory. Robert passed away on 9 November 2009 and the lifeboat will be named by his niece Judi Fleming during the ceremony.

Robert Armstrong was born in 1936 and loved sailing, fishing and boats. He crewed in the English Channel and the North Sea. Bob’s main home was Blackheath but he was most relaxed at his holiday home in Potter Heigham on the Norfolk Broads, where he moored his own boat.

Commenting ahead of the ceremony, his niece Judi said: "Robert’s aunt Alice and her brother Charles were the donors of Alice and Charles, Helvick Head RNLI’s previous lifeboat. Robert attended the ceremony back in 2000 and he was given an RNLI jacket which he wore proudly.

"It is great that something is left in his name of such importance as a lifeboat; saving people’s lives. We as a family are very proud of Bob and what he has done. He would have been 78 on 31 August."

Several members of the Armstrong family will travel from the UK to attend the naming ceremony and service of dedication.

The new lifeboat is an Atlantic 85, built at a cost of €255,000, and has a number of improvements from the Atlantic 75, Helvick Head’s former lifeboat, including a faster top speed of 35 knots, radar, provision for a fourth crewmember and more space for survivors.

It can operate safely in daylight in up to Force 7 conditions and at night up to Force 6. It also allows lifeboat crews to respond even faster in emergencies.

Helvick Head RNLI fundraising chairman Oliver Clancy will MC the ceremony and Chaplin Fr Conor Kelly and the Very Rev Dean Draper will lead the service of dedication.

Lifeboat operations manager Ian Walsh will accept the lifeboat on behalf of Helvick Head lifeboat station.

Local dignitaries, guests and RNLI volunteers from other lifeboat stations on the coast and the general public will also be in attendance. Cór Fear na nDéise, the local men’s choir and Pax, Cárthach and Macdara Ó Faoláin will perform at the event in addition to Dónal Clancy, who will sing the RNLI anthem 'Home from The Sea', which was sung by his dad the late Liam Clancy as the Alice & Charles was launched in 2000.

All are welcome to attend this event, but are asked to park their cars on the main road, as access to Helvick Pier from the Erin’s Hope monument will be controlled in the interest of public safety. There will be extra parking in Murray’s field near the pub on the main road in Helvick.

Following the ceremony and with conditions permitting, the Robert Armstrong lifeboat will be launched.

#RNLI - Arklow RNLI’s volunteers were alerted by pager at 9.22am yesterday morning (Wednesday 20 August) and launched the lifeboat Ger Tigchleaar within minutes to a call for help from a local fishing vessel with engine problems.

In a moderate sea, the lifeboat crew – coxswain Ned Dillon, mechanic Michael Fitzgerald, Roger Tyrell, John Bermingham, Andy O'Loughlin and Jimmy Myler – proceeded to scene.

After locating the casualty vessel 11 miles south southeast of Courtown, the RNLI crew established a tow line and proceeded with the long slow tow back to Arklow, arriving at 11.30am.

The two crewmembers aboard the casualty vessel remained aboard during the tow home and all hands came ashore safely at Arklow.

Speaking following the incident, volunteer lifeboat press officer and sea safety officer Mark Corcoran said: “All persons who take to the water, whether for a living or for pleasure, must always wear their lifejackets and should always have a means of raising the alarm.

"Even with the years of experience these professional fishermen have, mechanical problems can still occur. Please don’t take chances when going to sea.”

#Rescue - Lifeboat volunteers on the Dorset coast went to the rescue of a man attempting to sail to America in a 14ft dinghy, as NewsTalk.ie reports.

Mudeford RNLI were launched after reports from a passing yacht that had concerns about the solo offshore boater.

On arrival, the lifeboat crew found the Bulgarian national on the dinghy was "exceedingly cold, wet and violently ill" yet was refusing their assistance.

They soon ascertained that the 30-year-old man, who has a US visa, had bought the dinghy earlier that day, packed it with some meagre supplies – without any suitable safety equipment or navigation aids – and set out to cross the Atlantic.

"He would have died [if we left him there," said lifeboat crewman Pete Dadds. "He was severely sea sick, he had the first signs of hypothermia and his boat was filling up with water."

NewsTalk.ie has more on the story HERE.

#RNLI - At 7.25pm on Saturday evening (16 August) Valentia Coast Guard requested Lough Derg RNLI to launch to assist five people on board a vessel reported broken down soon after setting out from Garrykennedy Harbour to Mountshannon Harbour.

The lifeboat launched at 7.35pm with helm Eleanor Hooker, David Moore and Jason Freeman on board. Winds were southwestly Force 6 and visibility was good.

At 7.50pm the lifeboat located the casualty vessel between Parker Point and Garrykennedy, and found all on board – four adults and a child – to be safe and wearing their lifejackets.

An RNLI crewmember was transferred across, where he reassured the passengers before setting up a tow. The lifeboat then towed the boat back to Garrykennedy, where it was safely tied up alongside at 8.10pm.

The skipper of the cruiser thanked the RNLI crew for their speedy assistance. He said that he had raised the alarm "as with the worsening weather and no boats visible to offer him assistance, I was getting very concerned." 

The lifeboat crew assured him that he had done the correct thing in calling for help.

#RNLI - Arranmore RNLI lifeboat crew had a long callout in the early hours of this morning to a 30ft yacht in trouble off Gola Island.

The pagers went off just before 2am, when the lifeboat crew – along with their Donegal coastal colleagues from Bunbeg Coast Guard – were called out to assist the yacht, with a father and son on board, that had dragged its anchor and got stuck on rocks at Gola Island.

Once on scene a tow was quickly established between the yacht and the Arranmore all-weather lifeboat. But with the tide out it proved too dangerous to try and move the yacht, and both rescue crews waited on scene with the vessel until the water rose and it was safe to try and move the stricken yacht.

At 4:50am a successful attempt was made to move the yacht and the tow to Burtonport commenced. When coming along Owey Sound, however, it was apparent that the rudder on the yacht was broken and great care had to be taken to keep the vessel on course.

Weather conditions were Force 5 to 6 with a north-westerly wind blowing. The shelter of Gola made the tow quite smooth initially, but on leaving the area conditions deteriorated and it was a difficulty passage for the remaining journey.

Commenting on the callout, Arranmore RNLI coxswain Anton Kavanagh said: "Thankfully both father and son [on the yacht] sustained no injuries. Due to the weather conditions the yacht was very lucky to receive only minor damage."

#RNLI - The annual raft race in aid of Skerries RNLI, which has been growing in popularity since its return two years ago, will take place on Saturday 13 September.

The raft race is a great day out for all the family, and the fundraising committee is hard at work to ensure the event is an even bigger success this year. The venue will, as before, be the south strand in Skerries.

Registration for the race will take place at the Skerries RNLI station house on the Harbour Road in Skerries on Sunday 7 September from 2pm to 4pm. The entry fee will be €50 per raft and each raft must be crewed by four to six people.

Lifejackets are mandatory for the event. Mechanical propulsion systems are not allowed and the entry must be a raft. Surfboards, boats, carved foam, etc will be disqualified. All competitors must be over 18.

Speaking ahead of the event, Skerries RNLI volunteer lifeboat press officer Gerry Canning said: "The raft race is a great attraction to everyone young and old. Every year the competitors outdo themselves with their creations and we are looking forward to more of the same this year."

Keep an eye on the Skerries RNLI website for regular updates, so keep an eye on the website, as well as the Skerries RNLI Facebook page and Twitter account @SkerriesRNLI.