Crosshaven Lifeboat crewmember attends Lifeboat College Opening

Ian Venner attended the opening of the Lifeboat College with 232 other Coxwains and Helmsmen from all the stations around the coast of the UK and Ireland. The college was opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II, the patron of the Institution. The event was covered in the Irish Examiner. Also visit our Gallery for photos of the college.

Presentations to retired crewmembers

At a recent function, the crew presented bronze statues of inshore lifeboatmen to retiring crewmembers Paul Brierley and Ruairi Higgins. The statues, from sculptor Anthony Powell in the UK, are cast in bronze and are limited edition.

New paging system online

On Tuesday 16th December, Crosshaven Lifeboat Station went live with the new CallOut And Communication System, or "COACS", for alerting crew to a launch. This system is common across all lifeboat stations, and enables the Coastguard to pass information to the crew by text messaging pagers or a printout in the station. The system can be activated by the Coastguard, Launch Authorities or directly via the station. The crew can also use it to send messages about training, meetings, etc. to each other. The RNLI website will soon show if a station has been launched with a real-time link to this system. The same day, the station turned on the Christmas lights - photos to follow in our gallery.

Crosshaven Lifeboat carries on 200 year-old tradition

Crosshaven Lifeboat Station will be firing two maroons from this weekend each time the lifeboat launches on service. Maroons, which are similar to flares, go up to one thousand feet and explode with a loud bang. Before telephones and modern paging systems, maroons were the only way to call out the crew in the past. The RNLI continues to use them nowadays to signal to the casualty that the lifeboat is on its way. It also alerts crews’ families, lifeboat supporters and water users that the lifeboat has launched and is heading to sea. Many survivors, their grip on life fading, have said "When we heard the maroons we held on, knowing help was on the way". The maroons are fired from a fixed launcher in the station following strict procedures and training. They will only be used between 0800 and 2100 during the winter, and up to 2200 in the summer. They may also be used to call out the crew in the event of the main pager system failing. So far this year, Crosshaven Lifeboat have launched on service 32 times - the busiest year since the station was founded. For more information or to keep up to date with the latest news visit www.crosshavenlifeboat.org.

Crosshaven RNLI Race Night

The Crosshaven RNLI race night at the Curraheen Dog Track in Bishopstown was a fantastic success with over €10,000 being raised for the lifeboat station in Crosshaven. There was a very good attendance at the outing with over 200 corporate tickets sold for the event with many local companies buying tables and everyone certainly enjoying the atmosphere, keeping a close eye of the form, with some punters doing remarkably well on the night!Crosshaven RNLI chairman Mick Good said "It was a fantastic night and immensely successful and we were very pleased with the response from the business and people of Crosshaven on this particular venture. There were a lot of people who did and enormous amount of work over the past five to six weeks in preparing for the race night here in the Greyhound track and it has all paid off handsomely". He paid tribute to the sponsors of the 10 races to the people who bought dogs for the event and to Stephen McCarthy of Astra Construction who were the main sponsors of the fund raising night. There were 10 races on the cards during the evening, with local businesses sponsoring each race, many of which were present on the night. However the main race was the seventh race of the evening, The Astra Construction Stakes, which was won by "Cool Gamble", trained by Paul Hennessy who was presented with the winner’s cheque by Mr. McCarthy. As a mark of appreciation to the main sponsor of the evening, the Crosshaven RNLI committee made a presentation to Mr. McCarthy of Astra Construction for his valuable assistance and support of the Crosshaven Lifeboat. Emphasizing the need for funding, Mr. Good went on to say that it costs an estimated €2,800 just to launch an Atlantic 75 lifeboat such as the one in Crosshaven, through such expenses as stores, maintenances of the boat and station, and that it costs approximately €5 million to operate the RNLI in Ireland each year.
Report by: Howard Crowdy, County News Irish Examiner, 18th March 2003.

B-782 Returns to station

'Miss Betty' returned to Crosshaven on Wednesday 24 September. The boat had been in Cowes undergoing repairs following the damage on service. She is now back on service and safeguarding the mariners around Cork Harbour! B-774 is on station at Helvick Head while their station boat goes for a four-yearly refit.

B-782 Damaged on service

'Miss Betty' suffered hull damage during the search on Tuesday morning (see Shouts 14/03). The lifeboat was taken off service that morning, and a relief lifeboat, B-774 'Braemar' was despatched from Cowes and placed on service around Wednesday mid-day. The crew anxiously await news of the 'Miss Betty' and look forward to her return. Unfortunately, the service in question was a hoax, which deprived Cork Harbour of its lifeboat cover for just over 24 hours.

Station Open Day a huge success

Crosshaven Lifeboat Station's first Open Day was a roaring success; the station was packed with visitors all afternoon. Kinsale Lifeboat also visited, and the crowds were entertained by a barbershop quartet. In addition, the crew launched the boat every hour for Man Over Board demonstrations. The Chairman, Michael Good, handed a cheque for €18k to Claire Sweeney, Area Organiser with RNLI, which was the final proceeds from the Race Night.

Station Open Day Announced

Crosshaven Lifeboat Station will have its first ever Open Day on Sunday, 6 July 2003. The station will be open for all visitors and further details will be announced closer to the date.

Station Opening and Naming

We have dedicated a whole page to our opening - follow this link. It will be updated as stories become available. Photos are in our gallery.