Crosshaven Lifeboat rescues boat from Whitebay beach

At 15.22 on Saturday Crosshaven Lifeboat crew was requested to launch to the assistance of a 23' motorboat reported on the rocks at Whitebay in Cork Harbour. Under the command of Kieran Coniry, the lifeboat was underway six minutes later with its crew of volunteers on board. On arriving on scene, the lifeboat found the casualty vessel with one adult and two young girls on board firmly aground on the beach in Whitebay. As there was no immediate danger to life, an attempt was made to refloat the motorboat using the lifeboat and another large rib, "Eyecathcer" who had also responded to the Mayday. By coincidence, Eyecatcher had Crosshaven Lifeboat Sea Safety Officer Jon Mathers and Kinsale Lifeboat Crew Annette Coughlan on board. Crewmembers Ian Venner and Kevin Higgins swam through the two-foot surf to bring towlines to the stricken vessel.

After several attempts, the boat was refloated and then escorted back to Crosshaven by the lifeboat. Speaking later about the rescue, Kieran said "they were very lucky where they went aground as it was all soft sand. However, they all were wearing lifejackets and had a VHF radio to raise the alarm. It just goes to show you have to be prepared and that's why the RNLI gives a free SeaCheck service".

Crosshaven Lifeboat has now launched on service 26 times so far in 2008.

Four calls in two days for Crosshaven

With just under half the year gone, Crosshaven Lifeboat has a total of 25 services to date, with 4 over a 2-day period on the weekend of the 21 & 22 June. Early Saturday morning, the boat was launched to a powerboat lost & aground in poor visibility. Later that afternoon, a 30' yacht was disabled off Crosshaven and was towed in. On Sunday, while on exercise, the crew responded to reports of a 34' yacht dragging moorings in Aghada. The weekend ended on a tragic note, however. At 2037 on Sunday night, the lifeboat was tasked to reports of a 13 year old swimmer in difficulty in the River Lee in Cork City. Cork City Fire Service, the Gardaí, Crosshaven Coastguard unit and Rescue 117 also responded to the incident. Despite an extensive search, no trace of the swimmer was found until the Naval Service diving team recovered his body at about midnight close to where he was last seen.

With the summer months of July & August ahead, and over 400 yachts visiting for Cork Week, it looks like the rest of the season will continue to place demands on the volunteer crew of Crosshaven Lifeboat.