#RNLI - Lough Derg RNLI’s volunteers were surprised to find a man whose cruiser had grounded near Hare Island had spent the night alone stranded in the lake as he was reluctant to call for help.

Valentia Coast Guard requested Lough Derg RNLI to investigate a report from a passing cruiser this morning (Friday 28 July) of a vessel, thought to have slipped its moorings, that was aground behind Hare Island.

At 9.15am the lifeboat crew located the 16ft cruiser in Church Bay, behind Hare Island on the Clare shore. Church Bay is known for particular hazards such as sudden shallows and rocks. 

The lifeboat proceeded with caution and, when sufficiently close to the cruiser, an RNLI volunteer waded to the vessel – where a man was found on board, asleep in the cabin below.

Within half an hour the boat was off the rocks and taken under tow to the harbour at Garrykennedy.

Its skipper, who was safe and unharmed and wearing his lifejacket, told the lifeboat crew that he had been stranded on his boat since 8pm the previous evening, but was reluctant to call the rescue services, anxious not to put anyone out. 

Winds overnight on Lough Derg were strong westerlies blowing Force 5 and gusting up to Force 7.

“No callout is routine — our training and experience tells us to expect the unexpected,” said Lough Derg RNLI helm Eleanor Hooker.

“We approached what we thought was an empty vessel which had slipped its moorings and found a person onboard who had spent the night alone, stranded in stormy conditions, and without help coming for them. 

“The RNLI are there to answer any call for help. No lifeboat launch is ever a waste of our time or resources.”

Pat Garland, deputy launching authority with Lough Derg RNLI, added: “I would urge all boat users when is difficulty to call 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard.

“RNLI lifeboats are launched at the request of the Irish Coast Guard, who then make the correct call on which search and rescue assets to deploy to the scene. 

“We would urge the public not to delay calling for help. This could have had a very different outcome.”

On Saturday July 22, Valentia Coast Guard requested Lough Derg RNL to assist two people and their dog after their 38ft cruiser ran aground at Ryan’s Point, on the eastern shore of Lough Derg.
At 2.35pm the lifeboat was launched with helm Eleanor Hooker, Keith Brennan and Darragh Quinn on board. Winds were northeasterly, Force 2. Visibility was good.
Both passengers and their dog were found to be safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejackets. The RNLI made numerous attempts to take the cruiser off the rocks, but it was stuck fast. The RNLI volunteer crew decided to take both people and their dog to Dromineer and to arrange for the cruiser to be lifted off the rocks by a specialist crew from the local marina. They informed Valentia Coast Guard of their decision.
The lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service again at 4.32pm.
At 7.22pm, the lifeboat launched following a request from Valentia Coast Guard to assist four people in a 40ft cruiser with engine failure by the Goat Road, at the northern end of Lough Derg. At 7.40pm the lifeboat, with helm Eleanor Hooker, Owen Cavanagh and Kevin Dooley on board, located the cruiser adrift on the navigation route. The wind was northerly, F2/3.
The lifeboat took the vessel on an astern tow to Dromineer Bay, where the lifeboat volunteers changed the tow to an alongside tow before bringing the boat into Dromineer Harbour.
Once the cruiser was safely tied up alongside at Dromineer, the lifeboat returned to Station and was read for service again at 9.07pm
Brendan O’Brien, Deputy Launching Authority at Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat Station, advises all boat users on the lake, to ‘bring charts of the lake in addition to electronic systems of navigation, and plan a safe passage before leaving harbour’.

#Rescue - A cruiser with four on board was aided by the Irish Coast Guard after it suffered engine trouble and snapped its anchor line in poor weather on Lough Derg yesterday (Sunday 2 July).

As BreakingNews.ie reports, the alarm was raised around 1pm yesterday after the 33ft cruiser heading south from Portumna was reported in difficultly near Terryglass.

Killaloe’s coastguard unit, who were training in the area at the time, responded to the distress call and took the cruiser under tow to the safety of Terryglass Harbour before it could run around or become a danger to other vessels.

The incident comes a month after Lough Derg RNLI launched to two yachts that grounded at either end of the lough, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

#RNLI - Lough Derg RNLI rescued three people from two grounded yachts in two separate callouts on Sunday (4 June).

At 11.22am, as the lifeboat crew were returning to station following morning exercise, they were requested by Valentia Coast Guard to assist two people on a 22ft yacht aground 1km above Killaloe on the Tipperary shore, at the southern end of Lough Derg.

The lifeboat responded immediately with helm Eleanor Hooker, Darragh Quinn and Barry Morkan on board, and was alongside the casualty vessel at 11.48am. Visibility was good with winds at a westerly Force 3-4.

The yacht was under sail when it was pushed ashore by a severe gust. Both passengers were found to be safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejackets.

The RNLI volunteers checked the boat and when satisfied that it was not holed, set up bridle and tow to take it safely off the rocks.

Before removing the tow, the lifeboat crew made certain that the boat was not taking any water and the rudder was not damaged. The yacht then made way using its outboard motor to its berth at Killaloe.

The second callout came later that afternoon at 3.50pm, following a distress call for assistance on the emergency VHF Channel 16.

Valentia Coast Guard requested Lough Derg RNLI to assist a lone yachtsman whose yacht was aground by Stick Rock, at the northern end of Lough Derg on the Co Clare shore.

At 4.04pm, the lifeboat launched with helm Eleanor Hooker, Ger Egan and Kevin Dooley on board. Winds were south-westerly, visibility was fair to poor with low clouds, rain and frequent squalls.

At 4.38pm, the lifeboat located the yacht at Stick Rock. The yachtsman was safe and unharmed and wearing his lifejacket. An RNLI crew member was transferred to the yacht to assess it for any damage before it was lifted off the rock and back in safe water 11 minutes later.

With the skipper unable to get his inboard engine started, the lifeboat escorted the boat under sail to Cloondavaun Bay, where the RNLI crew took the yacht under tow through the narrow channel to its berth.

Brendan O’Brien, deputy launching authority at Lough Derg RNLI, reminded boat users: “Check weather conditions on the lake before going afloat and to carry up to date charts of the lake.”

A Lough Derg marina at Kylenashee, near Portumna in County Galway is on the market for the first time with vacant possession. ​

The lake front property, that is suitable for a variety of uses, has been in use in recent years as a marina with berthing for 25 boats.
​
​The property is advertised on Afloat's marine market and has 'substantial lake frontage' on approximately seven acres. 

Read the full announcement here 

On Saturday afternoon, Valentia Coast Guard requested Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat to launch to assist 10 people after their 40ft cruiser ran aground by the Scilly Islands on Lough Derg. Valentia Coast Guard informed the lifeboat that the Killaloe Coast Guard RIB had also launched to assist.

At 5.45pm, the lifeboat launched with helm Eleanor Hooker, Ger Egan, and Keith Brennan on board. Winds was south-westerly, Force 4, gusting 5. Visibility was good. Valentia Coast Guard informed the lifeboat that the Killaloe Coast Guard RIB had also launched to assist.

The lifeboat arrived on scene at 6pm, the casualty vessel was aground north of the Scilly Islands. The Killaloe Coast Guard commenced an anchor and veering down to the casualty vessel. All ten people were unharmed and wearing their lifejackets. As the vessel was high on a rocky shelf, it was decided to transfer all casualties to Mountshannon Harbour, five on board Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat and five on board the Killaloe Coast Guard RIB, and where the land mobile Coast Guard unit was waiting to receive the casualties.

Both the lifeboat and the Coast Guard RIB returned to the casualty vessel. Once satisfied that the cruiser was not holed, she was safely taken off the rock shelf and towed by the Killaloe Coast Guard boat to Mountshannon.

Peter Kennedy, Deputy Launching Authority at Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat, advises boat users to ‘bring charts with you and identify the areas close to shore and islands marked as not navigable, particularly as water levels are relatively low in the lake at the moment’.

The lifeboat returned to Station and was ready for service again at 7.53pm.

#LoughDerg - Independent.ie reports that a man in his 60s has died after falling into Lough Derg yesterday morning (Thursday 9 February).

Emergency services were called to respond around 9.30am after the man fell into the water while walking with his wife at Terryglass, on the lough’s north-eastern shore.

After he was recovered by a local boat crew, the man was airlifted to University Hospital Limerick by the Shannon-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 but later pronounced dead.

#LoughDerg - Two years after Lough Derg Marina sold for more than three times its guide price, another marina on the third-largest lake on the island of Ireland has come on the market.

As The Irish Times reports, more than €2.5 million is being sought for Cloondavaun Bay Marina near Portumna — a 50-berth property with almost a kilometre of lake frontage and a range of modern services for boat owners, as well a four-bed detached home.

Subject to planning, estate agents CBRE say the marina is most suited to aquatic tourism, from private berthing to angling and watersport on the lough.

There is also scope to expand its berthage to accommodate as many as 100 more vessels.

Canoe facilities and services blocks are being provided at various locations around Lough Derg as part of a new inland waters initiative aimed at promoting water-based activities on Ireland’s third largest lake.

Clare County Council has confirmed that the proposed Lough Derg Canoe Trail, which is scheduled for completion by January 2017, will see facilities installed in Killaloe, Ballycuggeran, and Scarriff, Mountshannon and Dromaan harbours.

The Trail project is an initiative of the Lough Derg Marketing Group and is being funded under the Lough Derg Stimulus Fund. Waterways Ireland is leading the design and development of the project in partnership with the Clare County Council, Galway County Council and Tipperary County Council.

Trail information signage is being provided at Canal Bank, Killaloe, where upgrade works to the existing slipway are also being undertaken. Works underway at the Mill Yard, Killaloe include the provision of trail information signage, a canoe storage rack and planting/screening of same. The works to Scarriff harbour include trail information signage, a canoe storage rack and screening and the installation of a new floating landing/launching step.

The works at Ballycuggeran include the provision of trail information signage, a canoe storage rack and screening, while Mountshannon will benefit from trail information signage, a canoe storage rack, and screening and the refurbishment of the existing service block. Dromaan harbour will see the provision of trail information signage, a canoe storage rack and screening and the construction of a new 3-unit service block and holding tank.

Squibs from all over Ireland converged on Lough Derg Yacht Club at Dromineer at the weekend. Three came from the Royal North of Ireland in Belfast Lough, two from Killyleagh Yacht Club on Strangford Lough, two from Royal St George Yacht Club, and one from Royal Irish Yacht Club and one from the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, One from Howth Yacht Club, three from Kinsale Yacht Club, one from Galway Bay Sailing Club and plenty of Squibs from the home club. Only for a huge rugby funeral, there would have been many more boats from Kinsale. All in all, the entry of 20 Squibs equalled the Irish Championship in Kinsale a few weeks earlier.

Racing on Saturday was held on Lough Derg in the racing area North of the Corrikeen Islands, with windward-leeward courses. Initially there was almost no wind, so competitors paddled to the race area, and racing was postponed till a force two breeze from the south-south-east kicked in. In race one ‘The Worm’ sailed by Sam Lyness and Erk Heyes from RNIYC played the shifty wind and flat water to their advantage, to win the first race from Jack and Jill Roy’s ‘Kanaloa’ from NYC and ‘Fuggles’ sailed by Jeffs Condell and Cochrane who were using the new ‘Olimpic Sails.’ These prototype Squib sails depend on really bar tight rigging, unlike the normal set up for Squibs.

By race two the wind had swung to the south-east, again was light and shifty. This time the order was ‘The Worm’, ‘Fuggles’ and Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan’s ‘Quickstep III.’
There was a quick break, for lunch afloat. By race three the wind was in the east, with the windward mark near the Tipperary shore. ‘Quickstep III’ skilfully handled the shifting winds, which were particularly trickey near the windward mark, and won from ‘The Worm’ and Simon Watson and Brian Kelly’s ‘Volante’ from Killyleagh.

‘The Worm’ nailed the start of the fourth race, with the same wind strength and direction, and held a decent lead from the fighting pack behind. It was Judy Hamilton and Vincent Delany’s ‘Greeb’ who stole second place from ‘Volante’ and ‘Quickstep’. This was the significant result which decided the championship.

On Saturday evening the Lough Derg club, and The Whiskey Still’s hospitality lived up to their reputations. ‘The Worm’ allegedly downed more gin and tonics than his overnight racing score.
On Sunday the forecast was for fourteen knots gusting to twenty-seven knots. Racing was held near Ryan’s Point, with the windward mark off Urra. This would test the skills of the sailors. In the first race the wind only got up to about 12 knots. ‘Quichstep III’ took the gun (in a race with winds shifting up to twenty degrees), from Des Clayton and Paul Henry in ‘Inismara’ in what was almost a photo finish. ‘The Worm’ took fifth place which was enough to give him the championship.

By the final race the wind, as forecast, was very gusty, which allowed the Squibs to plane on the running legs, and produced a few spectacular broaches. This time it was ‘Fuggles’ which won from ‘Quickstep’ and Colm Dunne and Emmet Ryans ‘Allegro’.

Thanks go to Commodore David Meredith and his team for organising a great regatta, and to Lt. Cdr. John Leech for acting as OOD in difficult conditions.

For full results see below.