#RNLI - A busy Bank Holiday Sunday (3 June) for RNLI lifeboat callouts began just after 9am, when Baltimore RNLI was tasked to a yacht that ran aground upriver from the West Cork village.

The vessel, with two on board, got into difficulty while trying to navigate the River Ilen near Old Court. Conditions at the time were described as good but the tide was falling.

Baltimore’s inshore lifeboat, with helm John Kearney and crew members Ian Lynch and David Ryan, arrived on scene at 9.27am.

After assessing the situation and checking the area around the vessel for any further navigational hazards, a tow was established and the yacht was pulled clear.

There was no apparent damage to the yacht and no injuries to anyone on board, so they continued on their journey down the river and the lifeboat returned to station.

Later in the morning, Wicklow RNLI launched to a 13m fishing vessel that suffered engine failure off the Wicklow coast.

The all-weather lifeboat Annie Blaker, under the command of coxswain, Nick Keogh launched shortly before 11am and was alongside the stricken vessel 50 minutes later, near Bray Head.

Conditions on scene had a sea state slight, with a south-westerly Force 3 wind and poor visibility due to fog.

Two lifeboat crew members were transferred onto the fishing vessel to assist with establishing a towline and assess one of the three fishermen on board, who was found to have sustained an arm injury. He received first aid and casualty care from Carol Flahive and Alan Goucher as the vessel was towed back to Wicklow harbour.

The fishing vessel was brought safely alongside the South Quay in Wicklow at 2pm and the injured fisherman was handed into the care of an ambulance crew.

A third callout was at Lough Derg on the Shannon, where a cruiser with two on board had run aground at Tullabeg over lunchtime.

The Lough Derg lifeboat was on scene within minutes as the crew were already in the area on exercise.

Once established that the boat had no structural damage and the two people on board were fine, the vessel was towed into deeper water to allow its journey to continue.

“With the good weather continuing there are a lot more people on the water,” Lough Derg RNLI helm Owen Cavanagh said. “We would always advise to plan any water-based activity well in advance and if out on a boat to make proper preparations for the trip, including taking the correct equipment and keeping a close eye on the surroundings.”

#InlandWaters - A Taste of Lough Derg, now in its fifth successive year, will return this summer to feature over 30 food events taking place in villages and towns along the shores of Lough Derg.

The initiative is co-ordinated and supported by the Lough Derg Marketing Group and sees businesses from Clare, Galway and Tipperary coming together to host food events to promote the Lough Derg Lakelands.

The calendar of events was officially launched in the stunning surrounds of Portumna Castle and newly opened tea rooms by Sinead Hennessy, Fáilte Ireland’s food tourism officer, earlier this week.

The series is as a key guide in bringing visitors to the best destinations along the lake where an array of activities are on offer coupled with high quality food experiences and something to suit everyone’s taste buds.

The offerings will entice visitors domestic and international to linger and enjoy the unique and vibrant setting of Lough Derg with events like paddle picnics, ‘taste and make’ chocolate sessions, yoga in nature, ‘meet the cheesemaker’, guided foraging, mindful bread-making, barbecues, garden tours, afternoon tea, tapas nights and much more.

Find out more from the official website for A Taste of Lough Derg.

#RNLI - Lough Derg RNLI launched yesterday evening (Thursday 10 May) following a request by Valentia Coast Guard to assist a person on a 23ft speed boat broken down by The Goat Road on the eastern shore of the River Shannon lough.

The lifeboat, with helm Dom Sharkey, Eleanor Hooker and Ger Egan onboard, arrived on scene at 6.28pm where a passenger vessel, the Shannon Princess, was waiting by the speedboat.

Weather conditions had south-easterly Force 3/4 winds, with very good visibility.

The skipper of the speedboat had dropped anchor, but it was dragging and bringing the vessel close to rocks on the Clare shore.

An RNLI volunteer was transferred across to the casualty vessel, where the person on board were found to be safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejacket.

After a thorough check of the cruiser, it was determined that the issue was most likely an electrical failure.

The lifeboat volunteer got the casualty vessel ready for tow, lifeboat brought it to Portumna Harbour, where it was safely tied up by 6.50pm.

Dom Sharkey, volunteer helm on the Lough Derg lifeboat, said: “The skipper did the correct thing to drop anchor and to call for help immediately.

“We would like to thank the skipper of the Shannon Princess for standing by in safe water until we arrived on scene.”

At 4.25pm on Sunday May 6, Lough Derg RNLI launched following a request by Valentia Coast Guard to assist three people, two adults and a child, aboard a 27ft cruiser reported to be aground near Kilgarvan on the eastern shore of Lough Derg.

Winds were south-westerly, Force 1. Visibility was very good.

The Lifeboat, with helm Owen Cavanagh, Keith Brennan and Joe O'Donoghue on board, arrived on scene at 4.38pm. An RNLI volunteer was transferred across to the casualty vessel, where all on board were found to be safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejackets. The RNLI crew member made a thorough check of the cruiser and found that it was not holed, but had suffered damage to its propellers.

The lifeboat took the cruiser off the rocks and towed it to Dromineer Harbour, where, at 6.15pm, it was safely tied alongside.

The lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service again at 6.30pm

Owen Cavanagh, helm on the Lifeboat, advises boat users to ‘plan your passage before setting out, and take particular care to navigate the correct side of the navigation marks to avoid running aground.'

#Angling - RTÉ News reports on concerns among anglers on Lough Derg over Irish Water’s plans to pump water from the River Shannon to supply Dublin and the Midlands.

The utility has proposed a pipeline from Parteen Basin, south of Lough Derg, to the capital in order to deal with water shortages due to leaks in the ageing infrastructure.

But the plan has come under fire from campaign groups, who claim the case for such a project is backed by “false statements and mathematical errors”.

And anglers are also fearing the worst over the scheme that would see 330 million litres pumped each day from the Shannon.

Citing difficulties experienced last summer when levels dropped by as much as two feet after a water release by the ESB at Ardnacrusha, Lough Derg anglers’ representative Joe O’Donoghue says the potential harm to boating and the Shannon ecosystem have not been taken into consideration.

#Rescue - A lone sailor whose yacht ran aground on Scariff Bay over the weekend had difficulties again just hours after his rescue.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Lough Derg  RNLI launched its lifeboat on Saturday evening (14 April) to assist the 30ft yacht after it had left its mooring at Mountshannon Harbour.

The Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard was also on scene, helping to remove the yacht from a sandy bank and returning it to Mountshannon.

But the evening did not end there, as BreakingNews.ie reports, as the same yacht required coastguard assistance just a few hours later.

It emerged that the sailor was attempting to tie up his vessel at an anchor point in deeper water when it grounded in the shallows once more, and the coastguard was alerted by a concerned onlooker around 11.30pm.

The yacht was once again towed to Mountshannon Harbour and the coastguard unit returned to base at 1.30am.

At 2.34pm, Monday October 30, Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat launched following a request from Valentia Coast Guard to assist two people and a dog on boat a vessel reported to be on fire. The wind was south-westerly, F1 and with good visibility.

The lifeboat located the 31ft cruiser at anchor off Hare Island off the County Clare shore, the passengers and their dog were safe and unharmed. The skipper had cut his engine and dropped anchor when he noticed black smoke billowing from the engine. When the lifeboat arrived on scene, the engine was no longer issuing smoke and the situation had settled.

With an RNLI crew member on board, the cruiser with her passengers was taken under tow for the public harbour at Dromineer. As the lifeboat was towing the cruiser, volunteer crew were informed that the dog had jumped overboard. The lifeboat immediately stopped its engine and made to recover the dog from the water. However, with encouragement from his owners, the dog swam back to the casualty vessel where he was brought back on board.

After the cruiser was safely tied up alongside in Dromineer Harbour, the lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service at 5pm.

At 12.23pm on Sunday, October 29, Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat launched following a request from Valentia Coast Guard to assist 5 people on board a 40ft cruiser aground behind Illaunmore on the north eastern shore of Lough Derg. Winds were south-westerly and F1.

The lifeboat located the vessel at 12.47pm and found all passengers to be safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejackets. The lifeboat transferred an RNLI volunteer across to the cruiser, where he inspected the boat, and once satisfied that it was not holed he prepared the boat to be taken off the rocks. However when the casualty vessel was found to be stuck fast on the rocks, the lifeboat crew decided to take the five passengers and their belongings to Dromineer. Meanwhile RNLI volunteer shore crew made arrangements to have the boat lifted off the rocks.

The lifeboat was ready for service again at 2.35pm

Pat Garland, Deputy Launching Authority at Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat Station, advises boat users to ‘enjoy the lake, but make sure you stay on the navigation route, well clear of the shoreline’.

Killaloe Sailing Club in Co Clare is applying for planning permission for a new clubhouse on the shores of Lough Derg.

The site notice for the proposed development at Carrownakilly seeks permission to replace the existing storage shed and portacabin with a permanent building including shower and lavatory facilities, a small kitchen, assembly rooms and storage space.

The proposal also includes new car parking, bin storage and a waste water tank, a revised site entrance and an extension of the existing boat storage area.

Next steps for the Co Clare club will involve fundraising efforts to cover the costs of the new facilities.

Great to see the site notice up @Irish_Sailing @AfloatMagazine . All we need now is to raise money to fund it @rwycikilrush @cullaunsailing pic.twitter.com/wGWocAqnR1

— Killaloesailingclub (@KillaloeSC) October 14, 2017

The Gortmore Bell Race, sponsored by Union Chandlery took place this Saturday on Lough Derg with 23 boats taking part across two classes.

This is the lough's longest race in the calendar from Iniscealtra Sailing Club’s base in Mountshannon to the Gortmore mark near Portumna and home via Mountaineer rock buoy near Domineer.

Class 2 got underway first at 10:45 followed 30 min later by class 1 at 11:15 in a NW breeze which was set to increase as the morning went on. 1st around the Gortmore mark and heading for home was Serendipity helmed by Robert Bourke, first around in Class 1 was Jumping Jack Flash helmed by Dominic O’Sullivan. The breeze increased to 30–kts at times which made for exiting reaching conditions for the three SB20’s in the fleet who managed to hold they asymmetric spinny’s from Coose mark to Mountaneer bouy. Line honours was claimed by the SB20 Jumping Jack Flash followed quickly by the rest of the fleet with all boats finished by 16:40pm.

Gortmore Bell Winners 2017 – (from left to right) Sean Collins, Mary and Mike Sadlier of La Bamba
1st Place Overall and in Class 1 was LaBamba helmed by Mary Sadlier and crewed by Mike Sadlier and Sean Collins, 1st Place in Class 2 was Serendipity helmed by Robert Bourke, 1st Place in J24 fleet was Jobs for the Buoys, helmed by Barney Power and 1st place in SB20 fleet was claimed by Jonathan Foley’s Jumping Jack Flash helmed by Dominic O’Sullivan.

Full results attached below for download.

#RNLI - Lough Derg RNLI’s inshore lifeboat launched on Monday afternoon (21 August) to assist six people after their 30ft cruiser ran aground behind the Corakeen Islands near Dromineer Bay.

The lifeboat launched on request from Valentia Coast Guard with helm Eleanor Hooker, Ger Egan and Owen Cavanagh on board. Winds were south-westerly Force 3 and visibility was good.

Another motorboat had reported the vessel aground and had dropped anchor close by until the lifeboat arrived on scene.

All six passengers, four adults and two children, were found to be safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejackets.

The lifeboat transferred a crewman over to the casualty vessel, where he reassured everyone on board before he conducted checks of the vessel to ensure it was not holed.

A bridle was then set up in preparation for a tow, and the lifeboat took the boat off the rocks and out into safe water.

Following another assessment, it was found that the cruiser had suffered damage to steering and rudder. The lifeboat then took the cruiser and passengers under tow to the public harbour at Dromineer.

Pat Garland, deputy launching authority at Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat station, reminded boat users to “enjoy the lake but make sure you stay on the navigation route, well clear of the shoreline.”