#RNLI - Volunteers from Arklow RNLI in Co Wicklow are to feature in RTÉ's Irish language programme Abhainn.

The TV series features the rivers of Ireland, and this episode (to be broadcast in September) looks at the Avoca River from its source high up in Wicklow Mountains to the river mouth at Arklow.

An RTÉ film crew spent the afternoon and evening of Thursday 5 June filming at what is the oldest of the RNLI's lifeboat stations in Ireland.

During the day the film crew had the opportunity to experience firsthand and get a glimpse of the level of training required by the highly skilled and efficient RNLI volunteers in their lifesaving work, which can often be difficult and sometimes dangerous.

New station operations manager John Tyrrell said: "Filming with RTÉ was a great opportunity to showcase the commitment of volunteers not only in Arklow but in the many other coastal and inland water communities across Ireland."

He added that the RNLI wouldn’t exist without fundraising. The charity is totally reliant on the generosity of the public and indebted to the work of fundraisers at station branches as well as those raising money inland.

"It is because of the willingness and selfless nature of our volunteers, who will readily swap leisure, comfort and sleep for cold, wet and fatigue, that the charity can provide an on-call, 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service here," said Tyrrell.

#RNLI - Arklow RNLI’s volunteers were alerted by pager at 09:47am yesterday morning (Wednesday 4 June) to a call for help from a local fishing boat.

The vessel had suffered a fouled propeller and was adrift just south of Cahore Point, halfway between Arklow and Wexford.

The lifeboat Ger Tigchleaar and crew - consisting of coxswain Roger Tyrell, station mechanic Michael Fitzgerald, Andrew Loughlin, Jimmy Myler, Craig O’Reilly, David Lee and Scott Heaney - launched within minutes and proceeded to scene.

After locating the casualty vessel, the lifeboat crew established a tow line and proceeded with the long slow tow back to Arklow, arriving back at the station at 2.20pm.

All four crew aboard the fishing boat 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 people who take to the water whether for a living or for pleasure should always wear their lifejackets and have a means of raising the alarm."

#RNLI - Lough Derg RNLI's lifeboat launched on Sunday 1 June to investigate reports of a dinghy adrift off Parker's Point on the Clare shore.

At 6.35pm Valentia Coast Guard requested Lough Derg RNLI to investigate reports of a dinghy adrift in open water in the direction of Meelik Bay.
 


The lifeboat launched three minutes later with helm Eleanor Hooker and crew Ger Egan and Liam Knight on board. Winds were south-westerly Force 3 to 4 and visibility was fair to good, with frequent line squalls.

Coastguard staff gave the lifeboat crew the co-ordinates at which the dinghy was seen, and a description of the boat. 

The lifeboat reached the location at 7pm and its crew calculated the drift of the dinghy given its size and the wind direction. 

On the shore where the dinghy would have landed, a remote location, the RNLI crew could detect an oar being raised and lowered above the reeds, and went to investigate. 



It was soon discovered that a local family of five a fishing trip had seen the dinghy and had towed it to shore, where they safely moored it up. The dinghy did not have an engine and there was no evidence of it having been occupied. 

Reporting these findings to Valentia Coast Guard, the lifeboat was stood down and returned to station. Later, the owner of the dinghy made contact with Valentia explaining that his tender had broken free from his cruiser in rough weather earlier in the day.



Lough Derg RNLI deputy launching authority Pat Garland said: "A small craft adrift in the middle of the lake has implications other than the boat might have slipped its moorings, which, thankfully, is the case today."

He commended the boat users on the lake for their "diligence on their watch and for reporting the dinghy".



In another false alarm, Donaghadee’s all-weather Lifeboat Saxon launched around 8.00pm on Saturday 31 May after reports of an object in the water off the coast of the Copeland Islands in Co Down.

A witness described what appeared to be people in the water, and the lifeboat was on scene within 15 minutes - to find nothing more than a bunch of helium-filled party balloons that had come down in the sea.

Lifeboat coxswain Philip McNamara said: "While this was a preventative operation, the lifeboat volunteers prefer to attend at an early stage to avoid any risk to life. An object in the water can be a danger to shipping.”

The same day saw Courtown RNLI's volunteer lifeboat launch to the aid of a small angling boat that had suffered engine failure.

However, the launch was delayed by a car and boat trailer that had been parked across the launching winch area for the lifeboat.

Thankfully the lifeboat – crewed by Glen Deacon, Fergus Slevin and Robert Ireton Jr – was launched by other means and was quickly alongside the casualty, towing the boat back into harbour. 


Courtown lifeboat operations Manager Sam Kennedy said: "We urge people not to park across the launching area or to block up the slipway in Courtown. We were lucky that this was not a more serious incident and the delay didn't cause loss of life."

#RNLI - The Wicklow lifeboat launched shortly after 10.30am yesterday morning (Friday 30 May) to assist a fishing vessel 13 miles off Wicklow harbour.

The 13-metre vessel was fishing for whelk when a rope fouled its propeller and it was unable to make any headway.

The lifeboat reached the casualty at noon and the fishing vessel was taken in tow back to Wicklow Harbour, where a diver was waiting to clear the rope fouled propeller.

Speaking after the callout, Wicklow RNLI coxswain Nick Keogh said: "We located the fishing vessel with three crew about four miles north of the South Codling Buoy.

"Conditions in the area were good with sea state calm and a north westerly wind Force 3."

The crew on the callout were coxswain Nick Keogh, mechanic Brendan Copeland and crew Ciaran Doyle, Carol Flahive, Brendan Kavanagh, Tommy Murphy, Graham Fitzgerald and John Vize.

#RNLI - The volunteer lifeboat crew at Portaferry RNLI responded to four separate calls in the space of 24 hours between Thursday 29 and Friday 30 May.

The first call was received at 6.07pm on Thursday to help four people on board a small powerboat with engine problems near Church Point in the Strangford Narrows area of Strangford Lough.

Weather at the time was cloudy with good visibility, a calm sea and Force 2 easterly winds. The volunteer crew launched at 6.13pm and were on scene with the two adults and two children onboard the powerboat within three minutes.

By this stage the people onboard the powerboat had managed to re-start their engine and made their way to the pontoons at Strangford. The RNLI crew made sure that everyone onboard the vessel was safely on shore before the volunteer lifeboat crew returned to station at Portaferry.

Not long after, a second call was received at 8.40pm from HM Coastguard requesting the RNLI to investigate a 10-metre yacht that appeared to have slipped its moorings and beached near the old Katherine Quay in Strangford, Co Down.

Once again, the weather was cloudy with good visibility, a calm sea and Force 1 easterly wind. The volunteer crew launched at 8.45pm and were on scene two minutes later, where they found two men on board and helped fix a line to secure the yacht so that it would not drift when the tide rose.

Once the yacht was secured, the lifeboat crew confirmed that the two men were happy to remain onboard while the lifeboat crew returned to station in Portaferry.

The third and final call of the evening was received 9.57pm from two men onboard another 10-metre yacht with engine problems some 10 miles south-east of the Strangford Bar at the mouth of Strangford Lough.

The two men had set out earlier that evening from Portaferry to travel to Peel Harbour in the Isle of Man. The volunteer crew launched at 10.02pm and reached the stricken yacht at 10.35pm.

Once the vessel was located, they put a lifeboat crew member on board and started to tow the vessel and its crew towards Peel Harbour in the Isle of Man, letting the larger all-weather lifeboat from Peel RNLI take over as they approached. The Portaferry crew departed the scene at 11.20pm.

The fourth call was received at 4.50pm on Friday, requesting the volunteer crew to go to the aid of six people, five in canoes and one in a small motorboat, who had got into difficulty just off Church Point.

The RNLI volunteers launched the lifeboat at 4.50pm and arrived at the scene five minutes later. Weather conditions were similar to Thursday, cloudy with good visibility, a calm sea and a Force 1 northerly wind.

On scene, the lifeboat crew discovered that the small motorboat had gone to help five adults in two canoes who were entering the Narrows area of Strangford Lough.

Having secured the two canoes, the motorboat itself started to experience engine problems, resulting in all three craft starting to drift towards the SeaGen tidal power turbine in the Narrows.

The volunteer lifeboat crew intercepted the six people at the Scotsman Rocks South, just south of Strangford, taking all on board the lifeboat, securing the small motorboat and two canoes and bringing all safely into Strangford Marina where they were put ashore.

#RNLI - The RNLI Annual Presentation of Awards took place last Thursday 22 May at London's Barbican Theatre, and in an unusual move the charity departed from the awards ceremony to look at the story behind one particular rescue.

On 18 September last year, Sam Cully's life was saved after the boat he was fishing in sank rapidly in Force 6 winds off the coast of Co Down. 

That day RNLI lifeboat crew from Portaferry and Donaghadee, along with the Irish Coast Guard's helicopter Rescue 116, were involved in his rescue – but there were other groups and organisations behind the story.

While Cully waited for help to arrive, he was able to stay afloat wearing a personal flotation device (PFD) that he had received from a grant-aided scheme funded by the European Fisheries Fund, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Asda, the Northern Ireland Fish Producers Organisation and Seafish.

Last week's awards event saw the RNLI brought everyone who was involved in saving Cully’s life together on one stage for the first time.

At the time of his rescue, Cully commented: "I was only able to swim five or 10 metres or so, and even then the wind and swell were washing me away from the shore.

"The boat went down so quickly, and I was so relieved to find the lifejacket doing exactly what I was told it would do. I cannot thank all those organisations involved enough."

RNLI chairman Charles Hunter-Pease introduced the following groups and organisations who all played a part in the rescue onto the Barbican stage: the Maritime Coast Agency’s Fishing Industry Safety Group, the Northern Ireland Fish Prodcuers Organisation, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the RNLI’s Fishing Safety team, lifejacket and personal floatation manufacturers Mullion, Seafish and the Fisherman’s Mission.

The two RNLI lifeboat crews who responded to the emergency after being alerted by the coastguard were Portaferry and Donaghadee RNLI and they, too, were represented. 

Coxswain Philip McNamara was present from Donaghadee lifeboat station and Portaferty RNLI were represented by deputy launching authority Lennie Lawson, shore crewmember Graham Edgar and lifeboat crew Marko Petrick, Sinead Breen and Paul Mageean.  Luke Murphy, who was also on the lifeboat crew that day, was unable to be present.

Speaking after the event, Donaghadee RNLI coxswain McNamara said: "It was an honour to be present at the ceremony and surrounded by so many people working together to help fishermen stay safe at sea. 

"This was a life saved on the day of the rescue but Sam gave himself every chance by wearing a life jacket and being prepared. Everyone on that stage was a lifesaver."

Poraferry RNLI's Lawson added: ‘It was a very moving occasion. It was lovely to be acknowledged in such good company. So many people work behind the scenes in the RNLI to make sure our lifeboats get to sea and we all do it voluntarily. 

"In this instance the number of people behind the scenes was huge. This scheme has been very important to the fishing community and it shows that by working together we can save lives."

The evening ended with an emotional video tribute by Sam Cully, who then surprised the group on stage and the audience present by coming out with his wife Marie-Clare to thank everyone present in person.

Also honoured on the Barbican stage was Howth RNLI lifeboat operations manager Rupert Jeffares, who received a Bar to the Gold Badge, the second highest honour bestowed by the lifesaving charity.

#RNLI - Skerries RNLI launched on Saturday evening (24 May) to reports of a kitesurfer in distress near Shenick Island off the south strand in Skerries.

The volunteer crew launched their Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat Louis Simson shortly after 5.30pm. The lifeboat was helmed by Conor Walsh with crew members Eoin Grimes, Stephen Crowley and Adam Scott also on board. 

Dublin Coast Guard requested the lifeboat to launch after a member of public raised the alarm that a kitesurfer was struggling to get back to shore.

The lifeboat launched into a Force 4 north-easterly wind and choppy seas before proceeding directly to Shenick Island to investigate. Skerries Coast Guard and the Irish Coast Guard's search and rescue helicopter Rescue 116 were also tasked to the incident.

Arriving on scene, the lifeboat could see a kitesurfer standing in shallow water making their way toward the beach. Skerries Coast Guard were waiting on shore and were able to confirm that no further assistance was required. The lifeboat was stood down and returned to station.

Speaking after the call-out, Skerries RNLI volunteer lifeboat press officer Gerry Canning said: "In this particular case, the kitesurfer was able to make it ashore safely. However, we would still like to remind everyone that if you see someone in difficulty at sea to dial 999 and ask for the coastguard."

#RNLI - Ballycotton RNLI went to the rescue of a man and his dog from a tidal rock near the West Cork town yesterday afternoon (Saturday 24 May).

The volunteer lifeboat crew was requested to launch at 12.13pm at the request of the Irish Coast Guard, which had received a report from gardaí that the man and his dog were stranded on the tidal rock two miles west of Ballycotton.

The all-weather lifeboat, under coxswain Francis Morgan and with four crew members on board, launched alongside the station’s inshore boarding boat, with two crew on board, and made its way to the scene.

Weather conditions at the time were described as blowing north to north easterly winds, Force 4 to 6.

On arrival, the crew on Ballycotton RNLI’s boarding boat successfully recovered the casualties and transferred them to the all-weather lifeboat.

The lifeboat then returned them safely to the pier at Ballycotton. No medical assistance was required.

Speaking following the callout, Ballycotton RNLI lifeboat operations manager John Tatton said: "I would like to thank the lifeboat crew for their prompt and professional response this afternoon when their pagers went off, and am delighted to say both the man and his dog were returned safely to shore."

#RNLI - Lough Ree RNLI in Co Westmeath came to the aid of four people yesterday afternoon (Monday 19 May) after their cruiser got into difficulty.

The volunteer lifeboat crew was requested to launch shortly before 3.30pm following a report that a cruiser was aground on Hexagon Shoal in Lough Ree. 

The boat, with two men and two women on board, was holed below waterline and was taking on water.

At the scene, the four people and their baggage were taken off the cruiser and transferred to the lifeboat by Lough Ree RNLI. They were then brought safely to the lifeboat station.

#RNLI - Portaferry RNLI's volunteer lifeboat crew were involved in the rescue of 23 canoeists who got into difficulty just off Castle Island in Strangford Lough yesterday afternoon (Saturday 17 May).

The call for help was received at 2.40pm and the volunteer lifeboat crew launched at 2.45pm.

They arrived at the scene just off Castle Island in Strangford Lough in Co Down 10 minutes later, finding six of the party of canoeists in the water.

Weather conditions at the time were cloudy with good visibility, with a slight sea swell and a Force 4 southerly wind.

The RNLI crew recovered two of the people from the water, while a small motor boat which had also come to the canoeists' aid took the other four on board.

The RNLI lifeboat crew then took their two casualties along with two canoes back to nearby Strangford Lough Yacht Club, where the casualties were put ashore into the care of HM Coastguard.

1. lifeboat crew then returned to the scene near Castle Island and from there escorted the remaining 17 members of the canoe party back to the safety of the yacht club.

Commenting on the rescue, Portaferry RNLI lifeboat operations manager Brian Bailie said: "Thankfully everyone was brought safely to shore and it is testament to the training and dedication of the volunteer RNLI crew that a potentially tragic situation was averted.

"Strangford Lough is an extremely popular location for groups of canoeists and it is vital that they take all necessary precautions when taking to the water."