Following Thursday evening’s callout, Lough Derg RNLI’s lifeboat volunteers were back at the Goat Road on Friday afternoon (26 August) to assist two people on a 30ft cruiser aground at navigation marker E.
At 4.45pm Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat, Jean Spier, launched into Force 3 northwesterly winds, with helm Eleanor Hooker, Doireann Kennedy, Chris Parker and Richard Nolan on board.
The lifeboat arrived on scene 15 minutes later to find the casualty vessel bow-up on a shoal inside the Goat Road, a location midway up the northeastern shore of the lake.
Both people on board were safe and unharmed and were requested to don their lifejackets.
An RNLI crew member transferred across to the casualty vessel to check that it was not holed and, after being requested to do so by the helm, set up an astern tow.
At 5.15pm the lifeboat had the casualty vessel off the shoal and under tow to safe water, where the drives and propeller were checked and found to be in good working order.
While the RNLI volunteer was providing guidance on lake buoyage before the cruiser continued its passage south under its own power, the Lough Derg RNLI boathouse contacted the lifeboat to report that a 16ft motor boat with four people on board was in difficulty in Scariff Bay at the southwestern end of the lake.
Once the crew member transferred back, the lifeboat made way to Scariff Bay, calling in for an exact location while en route. It was reported that the people on board the casualty vessel could see Rabbit Island.
At 5.40pm the lifeboat located the casualty vessel deep inside Scarriff Bay near Castlebawn Castle on the southwestern shore opposite Rabbit Island. All four people on board were safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejackets.
The lifeboat volunteers set up for an alongside tow and the RNLI helm asked the skipper of the casualty vessel to raise his outboard engine to reduce drag. The lifeboat took the vessel to the safety of Mountshannon Harbour, where volunteers assisted with the recovery of the vessel to a road trailer.
Commenting later, Christine O’Malley, lifeboat operations manager at Lough Derg RNLI gave advice for all boat users to “anticipate each navigation buoy on your route and keep a constant lookout, and especially for the Goat Road navigation mark which is closer to the centre line of the lake than might be expected”.
