The volunteer crew of Youghal RNLI were paged today (Tuesday 4 May) at 4.31 pm to a report of two people in a small boat who had failed to return from a pleasure trip in the Redbarn area of Youghal Bay.
Arriving in the area eight minutes later, the lifeboat crew located the two people in the small, 2.5m boat approximately 1 mile offshore from Redbarn beach. They were struggling to row the vessel against an ebbing tide and a north-westerly force 5/6 offshore wind after the engine had failed.
Both casualties, who were wearing lifejackets, were brought aboard the inshore lifeboat, where it was established all was well with them. The boat was then towed safely back to Redbarn beach. The two people were then handed over into the care of the awaiting Youghal Coast Guard unit. No medical assistance was required.
Speaking after the call out Mark Nolan, Youghal RNLI Deputy Launching Authority said: ‘Today’s rescue highlights the importance of always letting someone know an estimated time of your return. Had friends and family of these people not been expecting them and had not raised the alarm when they didn’t return, the outcome could have been very different. They did the right thing in calling 112/999 and asking for the Coast Guard’
He went on to say ‘Today’s shout out was the fourth one in a week, I’d like to thank all our volunteers for responding to their pagers in what has been one of the busiest weeks in our station's history’.